A North Carolina jury convicted journalists Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit of trespassing for violating a park curfew to report on a police eviction of a homeless encampment. A judge denied their motion to dismiss the charges on First Amendment grounds. 

The very same day, the Department of Justice made clear in a report on misconduct by the Minneapolis Police Department that “blanket enforcement of dispersal orders and curfews against press violates [the First Amendment] because they foreclose the press from reporting.”

Bliss and Coit already filed a notice of appeal. As Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Director of Advocacy Seth Stern explained: “We don’t have secret police in the United States. Officers are not entitled to operate without press and public scrutiny just because it’s dark out. The Constitution requires that journalists be given sufficient access to public land to report the news, no matter the time.” 

FPF joins call to end warrantless spying on journalists and others

Several senators — both Republicans and Democrats — say they’re fed up with excuses over intelligence agencies’ abuse of a controversial surveillance law that gives them access to huge amounts of Americans’ data. As we explain, Congress should use the coming expiration of the law, known as Section 702 of FISA, to make critical reforms and rein in rampant warrantless spying on Americans, including journalists. 

Section 702 allows intelligence agencies to access Americans’ communications without a warrant, as long as the American is talking to someone outside the U.S. Despite being touted as a national security measure focused on foreigners, Section 702 has become a powerful tool for domestic spying, including for searches targeting journalists.

FPF joined a coalition of more than 20 privacy, civil rights and civil liberties organizations calling on Congress to adopt significant reforms to Section 702 as part of its reauthorization. In addition to imposing a warrant requirement for searches of Americans’ data and narrowing Section 702’s parameters, Congress must improve the transparency of surveillance activities so that the press is not left to rely on information revealed by whistleblowers to inform the public. 

Secret science laws limit access to research records

There’s a long track record of journalists and watchdog groups using public records laws to expose wrongdoing at public academic research programs. But as we recently highlighted, several states have passed laws or otherwise restricted public access to research records from public institutions of higher learning. Most recently, Connecticut considered (but thankfully didn’t pass) a “science secrecy” bill that would have excluded public colleges’ and universities’ research records from the state’s public records law.

Supporters of science secrecy exemptions argue that freedom of information laws have been weaponized to harass and smear researchers. Concerns about abusive requests and their impact on academic freedom are legitimate, but prohibiting public scrutiny of academic research isn’t the right response. Other methods explained on our blog would be effective while still preserving journalists’ and the public’s ability to access newsworthy records. 

What we’re reading

The courtroom conundrum. A federal judge denied media outlets’ request to allow cameras and barred any personal electronic devices from a Miami courtroom where Donald Trump was arraigned on Tuesday. As a result, journalists had to resort to creative but slightly ridiculous methods to get the word out about what happened at the start of one of the most newsworthy trials in American history. There’s no reason for these outdated bans. It’s beyond time to update courtroom policies for the 21st century and allow cameras in courts. 

One of the last bastions of digital privacy is under threat. Journalists often rely on encrypted services to communicate with sources or protect their unpublished work. Despite the benefits of end-to-end encryption to journalists, activists, businesses and regular people, the United States and other governments have continued their efforts to undermine or destroy it. So far these attempts have failed, but we must continue to demand that governments worldwide keep their hands off end-to-end encryption. 

The US is openly stockpiling dirt on all its citizens. According to a declassified government report, the U.S. government has amassed a “large amount” of “sensitive and intimate information” about Americans by buying data from data brokers, companies that sell information about individuals collected from their web traffic, app use and other sources. This surveillance can threaten journalists’ confidential communications with sources by, for example, revealing their location data. Congress must act to put an end to surveillance abuses. For tips on how to protect yourself, check out this week’s digital security digest and subscribe.

Subscribe to our digital security newsletter

FPF has a new weekly newsletter on digital security and journalism! It’s a short update on digital security news, what you can do about it, and other news from our team. Subscribe here.