KARACHI: The number of journalists coming under threat in the United States is on the increase, says a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists released on Tuesday. The report, titled “On Edge: What the US Election Could Mean for Journalists and Global Press Freedom,” highlights what seems to be a growing concern about journalists’ hostile environment-from violence and online harassment to legal battles and police attacks-and that have increased since Donald Trump became president.
A report released on Tuesday pointed out the attacks against US journalists, which have increased more than 50% between 2023 and 2024. The statistics show that incidents of attacks increased from 45 in 2023 to 68 in 2024, based on records of the US Press Freedom Tracker. This is a very worrisome trend that followed a polarized political climate that targets and even vilifies media professionals.
Legacy of Trump-Era Media Hostility
Katherine Jacobsen, CPJ’s US, Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator and the author of the report, expressed deep concern over the normalization of these threats: “The scapegoating of journalists has consequences for them as individuals but also dire ones for the public’s right to be informed, a core element of any democracy.” Tracing the roots of this animosity back to the Trump administration, attacks on the press became more frequent under that administration and left behind a dangerous legacy for media personnel.
Lingering effects of the Capitol riot, BLM protests
The current situation is further exacerbated by the ripple effects of significant national events like the storming on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 and the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyd’s murder. Journalists and reporters of those events suffered attacks, and accountability is in short supply. According to CPJ, no charges have been brought in 15 of the 18 cases of journalists attacked amid the Capitol riot; indeed, there has been little accountability in the 273 police attacks on reporters reporting on BLM protests.
Legal and Online Attacks Against Journalists
Besides the physical assaults, lawsuits also threaten the media. These lawsuits could jeopardize their right under the First Amendment. Legal action against reporters casts a shadow on their capacity to protect confidential sources and to defend the free speech right. According to CPJ, “its report highlights legislation such as the one called the Press Act, aiming to prevent surveillance on journalists and forced disclosure of sources. The bill passed House of Representatives but is stalled in Senate”.
Online harassment of women journalists, reporters of color, LGBTQ+ reporters, and any kind of minoritization began to spread like wildfire. The local journalist hardly gets resources or safety training as enjoyed at the national level.
Global Press Freedom Implications
The CPJ report also shines a light on the international implications of the US’s November 5, 2024 election. International journalists fear that a government not friendly to the press will embolden less than democratic regimes around the world and embolden an attack on media freedom. They also fear cuts in US government spending that fund international news media outlets, potentially jeopardizing a large part of the world’s press freedoms.
It is a serious combination of the two sets of threats: one domestic and the other international, making it a heavyweight for journalists to handle, especially because the US election might worsen things soon. The report by CPJ demands that there is an urgent need to respond to these emerging trends of violence, harassment, and legal harassment which are coming up to undermine the process of press freedom in the US and around the world at large.
