The Erosion of Freedom of the Press in a Post-Truth America

Photograph courtesy of Gabe Pierce (@gaberce) via Unsplash

In the early hours of the morning, CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez stood on the streets of Minneapolis, microphone in hand. In front of him were a row of state policemen dressed in riot gear. Nearby, a small fire burned inside a liquor store, and black smoke bled into the sky. Like many other journalists, Jimenez and his crew were covering the nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd. But what began as a standard news broadcast soon took an alarming turn.

On Friday, May 28, as Jimenez was live on the air, two officers began pulling the reporter's arms behind his back.

"You're under arrest," said one of the officers.

"Okay," Jimenez responded. "Do you mind telling me why I'm under arrest, sir?" Jimenez's voice remained calm in spite of the situation. "Why am I under arrest, sir?"

The officers did not answer.

CNN anchor John Berman expressed his disbelief at the situation as it happened. Jimenez "clearly identified himself as a reporter," Berman said. "He was respectfully explaining to the state police that our CNN team was there and moving away as they would request and then, for some reason, he was just taken into police custody live on television."

Moments later, the rest of Jimenez's crew, which included producer Bill Kirkos and photojournalist Leonel Mendez, were also taken into custody. Mendez, the cameraman, was forced to put his equipment down, but the camera continued to roll.

"I've never seen anything like this," Berman said from the CNN studio. "We've been listening in, and our team has not been given any explanation for why they have been taken into custody."

Later, Berman reported that one of the crewmembers was told they were arrested because they failed to move when officers asked them to do so. However, the feed told a different story as Jimenez repeatedly told officers they would move wherever they were told.

"Just put us back to where you want us," Jimenez told officers as he held his press credentials in his hand for the officers to see. "We are getting out of your way. Just let us know."

CNN posted a statement on twitter, decrying the incident as "a clear violation of their First Amendment rights."

Jimenez's experience was not an isolated event. Throughout coverage of the George Floyd and Black Lives matter protests, hundreds of incidents have taken place. According to a report by Harvard University's Nieman Lab, whose mission is "to promote and elevate the standards of journalism," U.S. police have attacked journalists at least 140 times since May 28 of this year. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker verified more than 430 aggressions against the press during Black Lives Matter protests. Some journalists, live Jimenez, were arrested. Others were attacked, shot at, or injured.

NBC News staff producer and photojournalist Ed Ou was reporting on the protests in Minneapolis when he too was attacked. Ou posted on Twitter: "This weekend, journalists in a group covering the protests in Minneapolis were hit with pepper spray, concussion grenades, batons, and tear gas by Minnesota State Patrol. We had our cameras out, press badges on and were clearly identifiable as media. I ended up with 4 stitches."

Ou added, "With blood running down my face, I was injured and blinded, but ignored by officers as I asked for help."

In Los Angeles, KCRW reporter Cerise Castle was hit with a rubber bullet. "LAPD just shot me and protestors gathered at Beverly & Fairfax with rubber bullets. I was holding my press badge above my head," Castle tweeted.

University of Maryland student-journalist Julia Lerner was chased by police and maced three times while covering the protests in Columbus, Ohio. "A SWAT officer chased me on his bike for about a block while I was sprinting away," Lerner tweeted. "I had my hands up and a camera in hand. He told me it was 'too fucking late' to leave. He maced me three separate times."

Freelance photojournalist Linda Tirado was left permanently blind in one eye after being shot with a foam a bullet while covering the protests in Minneapolis.

Less than a month before the death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published an in-depth report on U.S. President Donald Trump's administration's relationship with the media.

The report, which was authored by Leonard Downie Jr., makes the argument that President Trump's constant attacks against the press have stoked hatred and distrust in the media.

In his report, Downie explains that President Trump has "devoted increasing amounts of time to angrily denouncing the press at his large rallies of ardent supporters around the country, encouraging the boisterous crowds to react. He regularly pointed to the mass of reporters, photographers, and videographers penned up in the raised press section behind the crowd, prompting people to turn around, boo, and shout things like, 'CNN sucks.'"

In an interview with Downie, Frank Senso, a former CNN cable news anchor who directs George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs, said, "President Trump’s attacks on the press are an assault on the validity of the enterprise itself.”

"It is an Orwellian barrage of dehumanizing language about the purpose of the job, people who do the job and the organizations that employ them," Senso added. "It is a continuing assault on a free press - and on the public’s right to know and the public’s understanding of the role of the press in a democracy."

In 2018, Trump tweeted: "There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly."

These sustained attacks on the press have emboldened some to take action against journalists, as was the case with Cesar Sayoc, a Trump supporter who mailed pipe bombs to CNN and prominent Democratic officials and donors.

But more than just putting in danger the lives of journalists doing their jobs, which in itself is cause for great alarm, they also, ironically, illustrate the erosion of truth in America.

The CJP report states that Trump has "made more false statements than any president in memory." From the number of attendees at his inauguration to major policy changes, Trump repeatedly deviates from the truth. Moreover, his supporters, members of his administration, and Republican lawmakers often parrot and support his lies. 

If the president of the United States can simply decry any news he doesn't like or agree with as "fake news," if thousands of people can ignore scientists' warning about a deadly pandemic, is there such a thing as truth anymore?

Omar Jimenez and his crew were released from police custody approximately one hour after they were arrested. Later that day, Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz publicly apologized to CNN, stating, "I take full responsibility, there is absolutely no reason something like this should happen…This is a very public apology to that team; it should not happen."

"In a situation like this, even if you’re clearing an area, we have got to ensure that there is a safe spot for journalism to tell the story," Waltz added.

While recent years have seen a barrage of attacks against journalists, the press, and truth itself, it is imperative that reporters be allowed to continue to do their work. As Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1786, "Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost."

This article was originally published on June 17, 2020 in Dispatch: Los Angeles Magazine.