Legislation threatening nonprofit media advances

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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])

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s Report of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (screenshot)
Biden should declassify Senate report on CIA torture program

The U.S. keeps too many secrets ([link removed]) about its actions in the aftermath of 9/11. There’s no better example of this than the CIA’s torture program, which can trace its beginnings to a still-classified September 2001 memorandum of notification signed by President George W. Bush. This memo granted the agency “unprecedented authorities ([link removed]) ” to capture and detain suspected terrorists.

Our new Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy Lauren Harper ([link removed]) writes that the outgoing Biden administration should commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the terrorist attacks by ordering the declassification of the Senate’s report on the CIA’s torture program. A fitting date for the declassification to be completed is Sept. 11, 2026 — the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

Read more on our website ([link removed]) and also check out Esquire’s piece ([link removed]) discussing Harper’s article.

The dangers of overclassification

Truthout also interviewed Harper about the U.S. government’s overclassification problem.

“Information is improperly classified between 75 percent and 90 percent of the time,”Harper ([link removed]) said. “This prevents information sharing — sometimes vital information — between agencies, with the public, and with Congress.” She also called for more reporting on excessive secrecy, saying it should be an “ongoing beat,” because “occasional reporting on specific examples of excessive secrecy is not enough to challenge that systemic tide.”

The bottom line, Harper explained, is that secrecy is a control mechanism, and one that prevents the public from basic self-governance. Read the full interview here ([link removed]) .

Bill threatening nonprofit media advances

Earlier this year, Congress almost passed a bill that would allow the secretary of the treasury to deem any nonprofits “terrorist supporters” and revoke their tax status, with secret evidence and almost no due process.

Now they’re trying again. The bill passed the House Ways and Means Committee this week, after its supporters cynically packaged ([link removed]) it with legislation to benefit American hostages and scheduled a vote on Sept. 11.

As Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) wrote last time ([link removed]) this awful bill surfaced, the legislation is a serious threat to nonprofit media — especially outlets that criticize Israel ([link removed]) . Democrats who claim to be concerned about authoritarianism should be particularly ashamed of themselves for empowering its proponents by supporting bills like this one ([link removed]) . Tell your members of Congress not to let it become law.

California police must let journalists cover encampment sweeps

In recent weeks, police across California have threatened journalists with arrests for covering evictions of homeless encampments. It’s unclear why — the journalists aren’t interfering with the evictions. But they are documenting them, and clearly officers don’t want that.

We joined a coalition of over 20 press freedom and transparency organizations towarn authorities ([link removed]) fromLos Angeles ([link removed]) toSacramento ([link removed]) that their ownstate law ([link removed]) supplements constitutional protection of journalists’ right to access restricted areas where newsworthy events occur.

Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a long line of press freedom violations by authorities in California. Read more on our website ([link removed]) , and see the coalition statement ([link removed]) here.

What we’re reading

America’s most secret spy agency now has a podcast ([link removed]) (The Washington Post). The National Security Agency has released a podcast on its role in the Osama bin Laden raid. Does this mean thehttps://x.com/NSAGovNSA has responded to all outstandingFOIA ([link removed]) requests on bin Laden? Because it would be pretty unfortunate if the agency was able to supplant proper declassification with a PR stunt.

Israel says revoking press credentials of Al Jazeera journalists ([link removed]) (AFP). It’s shameful that, after shutting down Al Jazeera's Israeli newsroom in May, Israel is now revoking its journalists’ press credentials. The U.S. should insist the press have full access to cover wars that it bankrolls.

FBI sued for withholding files on Assange And WikiLeaks ([link removed]) (The Dissenter). Defending Rights and Dissent sued the FBI and Department of Justice over its secrecy regarding WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, which continued even after the unconstitutional prosecution of Assange concluded ([link removed]) .

TikTok back in court as government does the ‘national security’ dance ([link removed]) (The Washington Post). “The government says ‘national security’ is threatened” by TikTok, writes opinion columnist George Will. “A bigger threat, however, is the incessant use of that phrase to impart spurious urgency to agendas that are only tangentially, if at all, related to the nation’s safety.”
NYPD cracks down on The Post and free press as scandal surrounds Edward Caban ([link removed]) (New York Post). “The increasingly authoritarian press office of the NYPD (does) not consider themselves taxpayer-funded servants of the people of Gotham, they are thin-skinned propagandists who spend their days lashing out at reporters on X.”

Come see us in London

We’re co-hostingSource! the London Logan Symposium ([link removed]) withThe Centre for Investigative Journalism ([link removed]) on Nov. 14-15 in London, England. Hear from journalists from all over the world about press freedom issues and the challenges they face in protecting themselves and their sources.Register to attend here ([link removed]) .

If London’s too far, find us on TikTok and Instagram

FPF is now live onInstagram ([link removed]) andTikTok. ([link removed]) Click the links to follow us and see our latest posts about press freedom.
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