Fighting surveillance 10 years after Snowden revelations

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Dear Friend of Press Freedom,

Here are some of the most important stories we’re following from the U.S. and around the world. If you enjoy reading this newsletter, please forward it to friends and family. If someone has forwarded you this newsletter, please subscribe here ([link removed]) .

A baseless lawsuit by Elon Musk's X and other frivolous legal actions that followed led to a round of recent layoffs at Media Matters. "Elon Musk ([link removed]) " by dmoberhaus ([link removed]) is licensed under CC BY 2.0 ([link removed]) .

Federal anti-SLAPP law needed ASAP

Recent baseless lawsuits against liberal ([link removed]) and conservative ([link removed]) outlets show the need for a federal law counteracting strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs, Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Deputy Director of Advocacy Caitlin Vogus wrote for The Hill. ([link removed])

As Vogus wrote, "Many states — both red ([link removed]) and blue ([link removed]) — have made clear that they want to protect their citizens’ freedom of speech from meritless litigation. It’s time for Congress to act to ensure that federal courts don’t thwart those protections. It’s time to pass a federal anti-SLAPP law."

You can read Vogus’s op-ed here ([link removed]) . Her point is driven home by news last week that Media Matters was forced to lay off 12 employees largely due to frivolous lawsuits driven by Elon Musk. Our statement ([link removed]) in response to that development called it “the latest example of billionaires and pandering politicians abusing the legal system to retaliate against their critics and harm the public’s right to know.”

11 years after Snowden revelations, surveillance continues expanding

This week marked 11 years since Edward Snowden — a longtime board member of FPF — blew the whistle on mass surveillance by the National Security Agency.

But this year, the uphill battles against surveillance and to protect whistleblowers like Snowden encountered some serious setbacks, like the alarming expansion ([link removed]) of Section 702 of FISA. As Snowden himself put it ([link removed]) , "In my opinion no country that has something like this to enter into force can still be considered to be free."

We wrote on our website ([link removed]) about why we must “remember the sense of alarm we felt when Snowden showed us ([link removed]) the scope of the government’s illegal surveillance of Americans and we should continue fighting back, even more aggressively than in 2013.”

Authorities must drop case against Oregon journalist

A coalition of press freedom groups led by FPF sent a letter ([link removed]) to Oregon’s Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt, demanding that he drop a criminal trespass charge against Portland photojournalist Alissa Azar.

Azar was covering a pro-Palestinian protest at Portland State University on May 2, 2024, when officers shoved ([link removed]) her to the ground and arrested ([link removed]) her, despite her press credentials from the National Press Photographers Association. The case is particularly alarming in Portland, given that a federal appellate court ([link removed]) specifically upheld the rights of journalists there to cover protests even after crowd dispersals.

Read the full letter and our statement on our website ([link removed]) .

What we’re reading

On today’s arrests at the president’s office (The Stanford Daily) ([link removed]) . A Stanford Daily student reporter was arrested while covering a pro-Palestinian protest. California law ([link removed]) and the First Amendment require authorities to drop the case immediately.

Reinvigorating diplomacy: Global tensions and press freedom (Project Censored) ([link removed]) . FPF Advocacy Director Seth Stern joined the Project Censored radio show to discuss the need to pass the PRESS Act ([link removed]) , the federal bill to protect journalist-source confidentiality.

Foot-dragging in Marion raid investigation should fill public with dread (Kansas Reflector) ([link removed]) . "It took the Warren Commission 300 days to investigate the assassination of John Kennedy. It now appears it will take at least 314 days to investigate what happened in our newsroom," said Eric Meyer of the Marion County Record. The delay is unacceptable. ([link removed])

These strange bedfellows want SCOTUS to remind the 5th Circuit that journalism is not a crime (Reason). ([link removed]) The cops and prosecutors who went after journalist Priscilla Villarreal for soliciting information from public officials shouldn’t be able to hide behind qualified immunity. Groups on the right and the left agree: This is a matter of basic press freedom ([link removed]) .
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