Hi Revealer,
A journalism trade publication asked me to take a stab at what will happen with media in 2026, and this is what I felt confident predicting: The war on the press will escalate. And because you have been there with us through a lot of the attacks that The Center for Investigative Reporting has been through, I wanted to share with you why that seems a safe bet.
We know that the media is Donald Trump’s favorite scapegoat. It’s been that way for a decade now, and as Trump confronts the return of political gravity and the inevitable weakening of his hold on power, we can expect him to lash out—and no better target than journalists.
Some of these attacks will be familiar, like the lawsuits and regulatory threats we’ve seen in the past year. But there are plenty of other tools in the toolbox. We should not be surprised if the first prosecution of a U.S. journalist under the Espionage Act begins in 2026, or if journalists are included among the “extremists” the administration is targeting.
CIR will resist these attacks, as we have for 50 years—because you have our back. We’re one of the few newsrooms willing to stand up to power without fear, because we don’t have a billionaire owner or corporate parent to fall back on. We have you.
With just hours left in 2025, we’re still more than $100,000 short of our $400,000 year-end goal. But here’s some great news: We’ve received an extraordinary matching gift, which means that every donation made before midnight tomorrow will be matched 3X, tripling your impact.
