CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss pulls a 60 Minutes investigative segment about deportee abuse at El Salvador’s CECOT prison approximately three hours before its scheduled Sunday night broadcast. The segment, reported by veteran correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, featured interviews with …
Bari WeissCBS News60 MinutesSharyn AlfonsiStephen Miller+3 moremedia-captureself-censorshipimmigrationcecot-prisondeportation+3 more
On November 29, 2025, the Trump White House launched an official government webpage titled ‘Media Offenders’ (whitehouse.gov/mediabias)—a public enemies list for journalists and news organizations that criticize the administration. Announced the previous day by Press Secretary Karoline …
Donald TrumpKaroline LeavittWhite HouseThe Washington PostMSNBC+22 morepress-freedomfirst-amendmentauthoritarian-tacticsmedia-intimidationinstitutional-weaponization+4 more
A U.S. grand jury added 17 counts under the Espionage Act to the federal indictment against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, marking the first time in American history that the government used the 1917 anti-spying law to prosecute a publisher for receiving and publishing truthful classified …
Julian AssangeWikiLeaksDepartment of JusticeTrump Administrationespionage-actpress-freedomwikileaksfirst-amendmentextradition
On May 15, 2017, award-winning Mexican journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas, co-founder of the investigative outlet Río Doce and renowned for reporting on drug trafficking and organized crime in Sinaloa, is assassinated in broad daylight in Culiacán. Just two days later, on May 17, two of his …
Javier Valdez CárdenasAndrés VillarrealIsmael BojórquezCitizen LabNSO Group+1 morenso-grouppegasus-spywaremexicojournalist-targetingpress-freedom+2 more
Citizen Lab publishes “Reckless Exploit,” documenting that at least 22 members of Mexican civil society were targeted with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware between 2015-2017, including lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders, politicians, anti-corruption advocates, and public …
Citizen LabNSO GroupMexican GovernmentCarmen AristeguiR3D+1 morenso-grouppegasus-spywaremexicojournalist-targetingcitizen-lab+1 more
Former Air Force veteran and NSA contractor Reality Leigh Winner was arrested for leaking a classified intelligence report documenting Russian cyberattacks on U.S. election infrastructure. Her case would result in the longest prison sentence ever imposed for an unauthorized release of government …
Reality WinnerNSAThe InterceptDepartment of JusticeTrump Administrationwhistleblower-prosecutionespionage-actrussiaelection-interferencepress-freedom
The Trump Justice Department initiated a systematic surveillance operation targeting Washington Post journalists Ellen Nakashima, Greg Miller, and Adam Entous between April 15 and July 31, 2017. The operation was part of an aggressive effort to identify sources and suppress national security …
Former CIA officer Jeffrey Alexander Sterling was indicted on espionage charges for allegedly revealing details about Operation Merlin—a botched covert operation to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program—to New York Times journalist James Risen. The case became a flashpoint in the conflict between …
Jeffrey SterlingJames RisenCIAObama AdministrationDepartment of Justicewhistleblower-prosecutionespionage-actpress-freedomiranaccountability
Former NSA senior executive Thomas Drake was indicted on ten felony counts, including five under the Espionage Act of 1917, marking the Obama administration’s aggressive prosecution of national security whistleblowers. Drake faced up to 35 years in prison for allegedly retaining classified …
Thomas DrakeNSAObama AdministrationDepartment of Justicewhistleblower-prosecutionespionage-actsurveillanceaccountabilitypress-freedom
James Risen and Eric Lichtblau published a groundbreaking front-page New York Times article revealing the NSA had been conducting warrantless surveillance of Americans since 2001 under President Bush’s secret authorization. The story exposed that the NSA, traditionally focused on foreign …
James RisenEric LichtblauNew York TimesGeorge W. BushNSApulitzer-prizewhistleblowingfisa-bypassjournalismstellarwind+8 more
Putin’s government arrested Vladimir Gusinsky, owner of Media-Most and Russia’s largest independent television network, on alleged fraud charges. The arrest was widely seen as a politically motivated attempt to silence critical media, marking an early example of Putin’s systematic …
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The Supreme Court decides 6-3 in New York Times Co. v. United States that the Nixon administration cannot prevent newspapers from publishing the Pentagon Papers, marking the first time in American history a publication was temporarily halted due to national security concerns. A federal judge in New …
U.S. Supreme CourtNew York TimesWashington PostDaniel EllsbergNixon Administration+1 morepress-freedomgovernment-deceptionconstitutional-lawwhistleblowinginstitutional-corruption
On June 13, 1971, The New York Times began publishing excerpts from a 7,000-page classified Defense Department study titled “History of U.S. Decision-Making in Vietnam, 1945-1968”—soon known as the Pentagon Papers. Leaked by military analyst Daniel Ellsberg, the documents revealed that …
Daniel EllsbergNew York TimesWashington PostPresident Richard NixonSecretary of Defense Robert McNamara+2 moregovernment-deceptionmilitary-industrial-complexwhistleblowerpress-freedomvietnam-war
On July 4, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson reluctantly signed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), establishing for the first time a legal right for citizens to access federal agency records. The legislation overturned the presumption of government secrecy that had prevailed since the founding, …
President Lyndon B. JohnsonRepresentative John MossSenator Edward LongAmerican Society of Newspaper Editorsgovernment-transparencypress-freedomdemocratic-erosionregulatory-reform
Presbyterian minister and abolitionist newspaper editor Elijah Parish Lovejoy is murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois, struck by five bullets while defending his printing press from destruction. The murder of Lovejoy—whose fourth printing press had been hidden in a warehouse owned by …