Letters from the Field

Press Freedom on the Front Lines

Introduction

When we started CNTI nearly two years ago, it was with the firm belief that an independent and diverse news media is critical to the future of functioning, free societies.

The United States has long been a beacon of such press freedom. It is now, however, facing an unprecedented level of threat. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented 196 incidents targeting press freedom in 2024, including 80 incidents of assault against journalists and 49 incidents of arrests of or criminal charges pressed against journalists.

These attacks are continuing in 2025. Trusted news sources have been banned from press pools, outlets have been targeted with lawsuits, and social media is filled with comments calling reporters “enemy of the people.” Furthermore, in April, Attorney General Pam Bondi released a memo that could make it easier for the Justice Department to pursue journalists to reveal their sources when reporting on the leak of classified material.

For many other countries, this kind of threat has been an ongoing reality for years, if not decades. One hundred twenty-four journalists were killed in 2024, including in Haiti, Mexico and Gaza, making it the most deadly year on record. Countries like China, Russia, Myanmar, Ethiopia and Belarus regularly arrest journalists, often co-opting democratic language to falsify claims of “extremism,” “terrorism” or “fake news.” Pegasus spyware has been used to target journalists in Serbia, Jordan, El Salvador, Armenia and many other countries. And journalists around the world are victims of doxxing, defamation and disinformation campaigns.

Despite these risks and attacks, journalists continue to work to bring verifiable, trustworthy information to their communities, even in closed spaces.

Over the next month, CNTI will share first-person stories from several of these journalists and their advice for American journalists: Zahra Joya, one of Time magazine’s 2022 women of the year, covers women’s issues in Afghanistan from exile, in defiance of the Taliban; Dapo Olorunyomi has been fighting for press freedom since Nigeria was under military rule in the 1980s, when newspapers could not be openly sold; and Tanya Kozyreva seeks to bring important stories to light in Russian-occupied Ukraine.

These nine journalists from around the world offer valuable insights into the essential role journalists play in bringing truth to light, in countering oppression and in how to keep going in face of attacks and insecurity. They work against the odds to carry out the important role of journalism. These voices help build strength and solidarity across countries and provide us with reasons to be hopeful.

As the United States prepares to celebrate Independence Day and the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, let’s remember to celebrate — and to continue to fight for — the constitutional rights our founders fought for, including freedom of the press.

-Amy Mitchell, Executive Director

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Come back on June 9, 2025 to read the next letter from the field.

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