Freedom of the press – a bedrock principle of American democracy – remains under threat in the United States. We write, once again – this time in the wake of an FBI raid of a Washington Post reporter’s home – to affirm our commitment to supporting and exercising rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
In the raid on January 14 of reporter Hannah Natanson’s home, federal agents confiscated her phone, smartwatch, and personal and work laptops. This appears to be a flagrant violation of the Privacy Protection Act, which shields newsrooms, reporters, and their materials from government search and seizure unless there is probable cause to believe that the person possessing the materials has committed a related crime. Natanson has reported extensively on the Trump administration’s overhaul of the federal workforce.
In an email to staff on January 14, Post executive editor Matt Murray said that neither the paper nor Natanson is under investigation. Rather, the raid involves a government contractor accused of retaining national defense information, who had communicated with Natanson.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post received a subpoena demanding communications with the contractor by any staff at the paper.
These actions represent another alarming escalation in government attacks on the exercise of First-Amendment rights, including rights to political speech and public protest. They imperil the ability of the American press to do its essential job, which includes reporting on government without fear or favor and holding it publicly accountable.
These moves come on the heels of audacious campaigns to silence or intimidate the independent press: President Trump sued the Pulitzer Prize committee, the Des Moines Register, ABC, the BBC, and CBS for coverage he considered unfavorable; Congress and the president defunded and thereby shut down the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; the administration has insisted on hand-picking journalists permitted to cover the White House and Pentagon; the Pentagon has attempted to dictate the editorial focus of Stars and Stripes, an independent outlet; last April, Attorney General Pam Bondi rescinded policies that protected journalists against subpoenas from the Justice Department, except in cases of national security; earlier this month, Congress voted to subpoena the investigative journalist Seth Harp, accusing him of “doxing” the commander of the Army unit that spearheaded the January 3 operation to capture Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, simply by naming him in the course to standard reporting.
We have also seen increasingly aggressive government suppression of political speech throughout the country, including on our own campus, as well as the administration’s violent efforts to quell Constitutionally protected protests in Minnesota.
Nearly a year ago, we issued a statement opposing such threats, which cut to the core of what it means to live in a pluralistic democracy. We are unwavering even as we find ourselves having to re-assert our commitment to the principles.
The Columbia Journalism School stands in defense of First Amendment principles of free speech and free press across the political spectrum. The actions we’ve outlined above jeopardize these principles and therefore the viability of our democracy. All who believe in these freedoms should steadfastly oppose the intimidation, harassment, and detention of individuals on the basis of their speech or their journalism.
Signed,
The Faculty of Columbia Journalism School
