“I can’t do my job to the best of my ability if I’m in handcuffs.”
— Lexis-Olivier Ray, an investigative reporter detained while reporting on a homeless encampment sweep in Los Angeles in October

Dear Friend of Press Freedom, 

Regular readers of this newsletter will know that before the year was even half over, we had documented more arrests and detainments of journalists than the last two years combined. 

As the year comes to a close, that number — at least 48 — is the third-highest since we began cataloging press freedom violations in 2017, according to the Tracker’s just-released annual arrest report. 

We do this work day-over-day, and knew we were on pace for a record year of documenting cases of journalists who were prevented from reporting.

It’s absolutely not, however, the time to become inured to the threats to newsgathering across the country. 

To document these threats is to protect newsgathering. Will you support our ability to report on press freedom violations?

In the report, Tracker Senior Reporter Stephanie Sugars details how sustained national protests, almost entirely in response to the Israel-Gaza war, accounted for 90% of arrests. And nearly half were at the hands of New York City police.

Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, told Sugars that he’s concerned the NYPD is perfecting “catch-and-release” as an art form.

Read the full report.

No one else does the essential reporting work that the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker does every day for threats to press freedom, and we can’t do it without your support. Will you donate to Freedom of the Press Foundation to sustain the Press Freedom Tracker database? 

When it comes to monitoring threats to journalists and journalism in the days and years ahead, we’re all in. I hope you will be, too. Thank you, as always, for your incredible support. 

Best, 
Kirstin McCudden
Managing Editor, U.S. Press Freedom Tracker
Freedom of the Press Foundation