Presented at
The Circle Of HOPE (2018),
July 20, 2018, 9 p.m.
(60 minutes)
Last August, a coalition of more than two dozen organizations dedicated to press freedom came together to launch the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a website that systematically documents press freedom violations in the United States. When the tracker was launched, it was never anticipated that more than 100 cases would be logged in the first year. These cases show that Trump's heated rhetoric in D.C. is far from the only press freedom story. Instead, journalists face obstacles in courtrooms, city halls, and protests. Information from the tracker has already identified concerning patterns, such as the fact that two-thirds of journalists arrested in 2017 were caught up when police used a controversial tactic known as "kettling." It still remains to be seen how much of Trump's legal threats to journalists are bluster, but the press freedom tracker is rigorously documenting them, along with the myriad of other threats that often go overlooked.
Presenters:
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Camille Fassett
**Camille Fassett** (@camfassett) is a journalist and researcher interested in public records, digital security, and witchcraft. She investigates police departments’ use of surveillance technology and relationships to private corporations at Lucy Parsons Labs. She also works as a reporter at Freedom of the Press Foundation, where she co-runs a project systematically documenting all attacks on press freedom in the United States and writes about civil liberties and government transparency.
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Alexandra Ellerbeck
As the North America program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, **Alex Ellerbeck** leads CPJ’s research on press freedom threats in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Prior to joining CPJ, she worked as the senior research assistant and regional Latin America expert for Freedom House’s annual publication Freedom on the Net, which surveys Internet freedom in 65 countries.
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