When Journalists Become Outlaws

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced this week that she is collaborating with the Justice Department to prosecute CNN for its coverage of an iPhone app called ICEBlock. Citizens use this app to alert each other about nearby immigration enforcement activity. Kristi Noem’s beef? CNN was “actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement” and may have broken the law. It’s no surprise that Noem didn’t cite any specific law that CNN supposedly violated.

In its defense, CNN pointed out that the app is publicly available on iPhones and that there is “nothing illegal about reporting the existence of this or any other app.” The network didn’t build the app, didn’t instruct people to use it to break the law, and didn’t release any classified or sensitive information. This is textbook protected journalism under the First Amendment. Yet, the Trump administration is escalating this as if it were treason.

This isn’t about national security. This isn’t even about the First Amendment. It’s about raw power and political control. This administration has shown that it doesn’t need a conviction to damage its enemies; it just needs an accusation. In the current climate, an allegation is enough to intimidate people and hijack our rights.

Making matters worse, the judicial system—long considered a final firewall against executive overreach—is collapsing. Some judges, including Supreme Court Justices, entertain legally dubious attacks on the press with enthusiasm. They’ve shown a troubling willingness to go along with the administration’s authoritarian agenda, damaging the independence of the judiciary and leaving journalists and citizens increasingly vulnerable.

We’ve already seen the consequences of an administration that cites the press as the enemy of the people. ABC News recently paid a $15 million settlement to Trump’s presidential library in a defamation case over a news report that legal experts widely viewed as defensible and protected. ABC didn’t wait for a court ruling; they simply decided that the cost of fighting the accusation wasn’t worth it. The Don of Pennsylvania Avenue merely had to look sideways at ABC, and it caved in fear without a fight. It’s depressing to consider that while countless soldiers fought and died for our rights, ABC decided that defending those rights wasn’t financially prudent.

If reporting on ICEBlock is considered illegal, then nearly every investigative story involving government power becomes vulnerable to legal challenges. And as truth-telling becomes unlawful, the list of forbidden topics expands like wildfire on dry brush. It won’t be long before every American expressing opinions on social media will face devastating lawsuits.

It’s endlessly frustrating that while our democracy crumbles under the weight of one man’s ego, Congress remains mostly silent. Perhaps they aren’t taking this latest threat seriously. After all, they’ve made this mistake many times in the past. Remember Senator Collins’ remark about Trump “learning his lesson?” The only lesson Trump learned is how far he can push the limits. After all the years of Trump, Congress still scratches its head, shrugs its shoulders, and makes remarks like Hakeem Jeffries’s infamous, “What leverage do we have?" By not taking Trump seriously, Congress makes a mistake with democracy-killing consequences.

If those in power won’t act to protect our rights, then the people must do it themselves. The people must act not through violence, but through mass mobilization, such as peaceful protests, public statements, press support, and an unwavering resistance to the creeping tyranny.

Once it becomes normal to persecute the press, we’ve lost our final ability to check our government. The door to authoritarianism will swing wide open, and a bloated man with an orange face and an oversized red tie will strut through it, whistling as democracy dies behind him.