“It is outrageous that journalists in the United States have faced trial in relation to their reporting activity,” said CPJ U.S., Canada and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. “We are disappointed by the jury’s decision finding journalist Lucas Griffith guilty of failing to disperse while he was reporting. Griffith was covering a matter of public importance and should not be penalized for his work. We are saddened that local authorities saw fit to continue Griffith’s prosecution, using local tax dollars to send a chilling message about journalists’ First Amendment rights.”

But that’s not all

Since his inauguration, the president has challenged media coverage at every turn, including the following.

• The New York Times: In September 2025, Trump filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and four journalists, targeting a book and articles covering his finances. A federal judge dismissed the initial complaint just days later for not meeting legal standards, but Trump’s team indicated they would refile.
• The Wall Street Journal: A July 2025 lawsuit was filed against The Wall Street Journal and its parent company after it published a story about a letter Trump allegedly wrote to Jeffrey Epstein.
• CBS News and Paramount: After Trump filed a lawsuit over a 60 Minutes segment, Paramount Global, CBS’s parent company, settled for $16 million in July 2025. The settlement was criticized by press freedom advocates who said it set a dangerous precedent.
• ABC News: In December 2024, ABC News settled a defamation lawsuit with Trump for $15 million. The settlement was criticized for potentially encouraging further legal challenges from the administration.
• Bob Woodward: A federal judge dismissed a $50 million copyright lawsuit Trump filed against journalist Bob Woodward in July 2025.
• The Des Moines Register: In December 2024, Trump sued The Des Moines Register and a pollster over a survey published before the election. After the case was moved to federal court, Trump refiled in state court in June 2025, a day before Iowa’s anti-SLAPP law went into effect. The refiling is seen as an attempt to avoid having the case dismissed under the new law.
• The Associated Press has been banned from the White House over its refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
• The Washington Post is bleeding staff and subscribers after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the Post’s owner, said the editorial pages could not risk offending the current president. Some 350,000 subscribers left after he also refused to let the newspaper endorse Kamala Harris for president.

• Journalist Mario Guevara was deported on Friday after being held by ICE for 100 days. He was arrested as he was live streaming an ICE protest in Atlanta, where he has lived for 20 years after fleeing militia groups in his El Salvador home. He had a work permit but was returned to his home country anyway.

   

• Voice of America: In March 2025, Trump ordered the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA, putting employees on leave. Reporters Without Borders sued the administration in response to the move.
• Other agencies: The dismantling of USAGM also impacted Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. 

• License revocation: FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, has threatened broadcasters with license revocation for airing content critical of the administration.
• Jimmy Kimmel suspension: After Carr’s public pressure, ABC suspended comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show in September 2025. Trump praised the move on Truth Social. 

• In September 2025, the Pentagon enacted new restrictions requiring journalists to sign a “media agreement” and be approved by an administration official to access officials and facilities. This policy drew objections from multiple news organizations. 

But the death toll

Being a war correspondent or photographer has always been a treacherous occupation, though certainly an important one. My dad’s task in WWII was to help ensure the protection of journalists in the South Pacific and help them get their stories safely back home.

The number of journalists killed in the line of duty varies significantly by year, with the International Federation of Journalists reporting 122 deaths in 2024 and Reporters Without Borders indicating 45 deaths in 2023. As you probably have read, a recent Israeli Defense Forces attack on a Gaza hospital killed six journalists. But the danger is widespread as illustrated below.

• Israel-Gaza war: Ongoing attacks have made this region extremely dangerous for journalists.
  • August 2025: Six journalists were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City. Five more journalists were killed in a strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
  • September 2025: UN experts reported the killing of six additional Palestinian journalists by Israeli strikes.
  • October 2025: In its fifth complaint to the International Criminal Court, Reporters Without Borders documented the targeting of 30 journalists between May 2024 and August 2025, which included 25 killed.
• Yemen: In late September 2025, UNESCO condemned the killing of at least nine journalists in Yemen.
• Sudan: In October 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported that journalists in the Darfur region were trapped under siege. 

• As of July 2025, it was reported that at least 13 journalists had been killed in the region for their work, with eight in Mexico alone. The total already surpassed the previous year’s total for Latin America.
• Mexico: Cases include the murder of two journalists in January 2025.
• Peru: Two journalists were killed by July 2025.
• Colombia, Guatemala and Ecuador: One journalist was killed in each country by July 2025.
• Ecuador: A journalist was killed in September 2025, and UNESCO condemned the act. 

• Ukraine: A French photojournalist was killed in October 2025 in a drone strike.

Also worth noting

 In Hong Kong, 77-year-old Jimmy Lai faces a life sentence for his criticism of the Chinese government in a now-closed newspaper.

In the U.S. one-third of newspapers operating in 2007 are now shuttered with most of their revenue moving online, more to Amazon and Facebook than to their online newspaper counterparts.