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Photojournalist Nick Stern’s press credential was splattered with blood after he was struck in the face with a police officer's baton while covering an immigration protest in LA in June. Assaults of journalists in the U.S. are at a four-year high. U.S. Press Freedom Tracker photo illustration, adapted from image courtesy Nick Stern.

Dear Friend of Press Freedom,

Welcome back to your newsletter around press freedom violations in the United States as captured by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker ([link removed]) , a project by Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF). Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here ([link removed]) to get the newsletter in your inbox.

It’s only the end of August, and more journalists have been assaulted in the U.S. than were assaulted in the entirety of last year.

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We’ve documented nearly 100 journalists ([link removed]) — most covering anti-deportation protests — who have been struck with police batons, shoved, hit with crowd-control munitions and more. Zooming out, our data shows a more disturbing trend. Last summer, I wrote in this newsletter ([link removed]) about how assaults of journalists by June of 2024 had surpassed the total number of assaults from the previous year. And 2023 was already more than 2022.

Over the past four years, the number of assaults of journalists in the U.S. has steadily increased.

Assaults of journalists 2022-August 2025

To pull back even further, the more than 90 assaults of journalists we’ve documented so far in 2025 represent the third-highest annual number in our database — and the year isn’t even over. The outliers are the incredible years of 2020 and 2021, in which we documented nearly 800 assaults of journalists over those two years.

Assaults of journalists 2017-August 2025
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** Responding with legal action
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This year, the majority of the 90-plus assaults of journalists came in the past three months, stemming from anti-deportation protests in California, primarily in and around Los Angeles. In June, as journalists found themselves targeted by the Los Angeles Police Department and other law enforcement agencies, the LA Press Club and reporting network Status Coup filed a federal lawsuit against the LAPD ([link removed]) . A judge granted a temporary restraining order, ordering the Police Department to not target journalists. By mid-August, as assaults continued, the Press Club filed a motion ([link removed]) to hold the city of Los Angeles in contempt for violating that TRO protecting journalists. On Aug. 27, a judge extended ([link removed]) the TRO an additional 14
days, without ruling on sanctions.

The majority of press freedom aggressions from January through August 2025 occurred in California during protests against immigration policies ([link removed]) .


** Other notable updates and incidents
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* The Corporation for Public Broadcasting said on Aug. 1 it was shuttering operations after Congress passed President Donald Trump’s request to cancel the $1.1 billion in funding ([link removed]) earmarked for the organization for the next two years.
* A South Carolina man was sentenced to prison ([link removed]) this month after making hate-based and violent threats against a New York reporter.
* On Aug. 15, Media Matters for America won a temporary reprieve ([link removed]) from being forced to hand over a trove of newsgathering and editorial materials to the Federal Trade Commission. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson opened an investigation into the nonprofit after it published an investigation into the social media platform X.
* Journalist Mario Guevara ([link removed]) has now been in detention for more than 75 days. The Salvadoran journalist was covering a “No Kings” protest on June 14 near Atlanta when he was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.


For the latest on press freedom aggressions across the U.S., explore the database ([link removed]) and follow the Tracker on social media — we’re on Bluesky ([link removed]) , X ([link removed]) and Instagram ([link removed]) .

Best,

Kirstin McCudden
Managing Editor, U.S. Press Freedom Tracker
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A DIGITAL SECURITY TIP:
Device searches have hit record numbers at the U.S. border. Read the latest ([link removed]) from our Digital Security Training team here at FPF to learn how to prepare your devices for a search to keep you and your sources safe. Subscribe for weekly tips ([link removed]) .

TALK TO US:

If you’re a journalist — or know one — who’s been arrested, attacked, lost access to government events, or had equipment damaged or seized in the course of reporting, tell us about it. Submit an incident report ([link removed]) to the Tracker as we work to gather systematic information about press freedom incidents in the United States.

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