First Amendment Watch Releases a Citizen’s Guide to Recording Police

The First Amendment right to record public officials such as the police performing their official duties in public is central to our democracy. Without the ability to document and disseminate such information, citizens would lack an indispensable tool for keeping the public informed, and for holding their leaders accountable.

D.C. Circuit Upholds Injunction Blocking White House From Revoking Reporter’s Press Pass

While the White House had a legitimate interest in maintaining a degree of control over media access to the White House, U.S. Circuit Judge David Tatel wrote that the administration could not do so in a way that interfered with a reporter’s due process rights.

Memphis Journalist Sues Mayor For Excluding Her on Media Advisory List

“No politician likes being the subject of critical coverage, but that comes with elected office, and I would be abdicating my role as a journalist if I failed to hold local government, including the City of Memphis, accountable,” Thomas said in a press statement.

ACLU Sues NH City Police Department for Violating Resident’s First Amendment Right to Record Police

“To allow automatic warrantless seizures of bystanders’ cell phones containing recordings of police interactions without any evidence of exigency would deeply chill the First Amendment right to record, as the public simply would not exercise this constitutional right out of fear that doing so would authorize law enforcement to seize one’s phone and hold it indefinitely,” the complaint reads.

White House Asks CNN Reporter to Move to the Back of Press Briefing Room

When Collins and another reporter refused to swap seats, the White House official allegedly told the reporters that the matter would be handled by the Secret Service.

NYPD Seizes Photojournalist’s Drone After He Documented Mass-Burials

"While public safety is certainly part of any reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions...we are very concerned that this antiquated 'avigation' law is being used in an arbitrary and capricious manner to chill newsgathering efforts to report on a matter of grave public concern," Mickey Osterreicher, the general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, said in a statement.

Ted Boutrous Challenges Preferential Treatment Given to OANN Reporter

Ted Boutrous sent a letter to  White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham on April 3rd, demanding  that Playboy White House Correspondent Brian Karem be allowed to attend press briefings. The letter also criticized the Trump Administration’s preferential treatment of a reporter for One American News Network (OANN), a conservative cable show.

White House Orders Federal Health Agency To Put Lid on High-Level Coronavirus Discussions

The officials, who wished to remain anonymous, told Reuters that documented exchanges between health officials about “the scope of infections, quarantines and travel restrictions” have been removed from public record and placed in a “high-security meeting room” at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).