‘THE FIRST AMENDMENT IS NOT OPTIONAL’
The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is outraged and deeply alarmed by the arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort by federal agents, and by the government’s escalating effort and actions to criminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement.
Let us be perfectly clear: The First Amendment is not optional and journalism is NOT a crime. A government that responds to scrutiny by targeting the messenger is not protecting the public, it is attempting to intimidate it, and considering recent incidents regarding federal agents, it is attempting to distract it.
These arrests follow Lemon’s and Fort’s coverage of an anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis at Cities Church and appear intended to single out such messengers who were simply onsite to do their jobs. “As journalists, our first obligation is to bear witness and to inform,” said NABJ President Errin Haines. “When those obligations are met with detention or prosecution instead of protection, we must ask: what message are we sending about who gets to report and who gets silenced? A free press, not a penalized one, is essential to democracy; especially, when coverage intersects with contentious public issues.”
This moment is bigger than two journalists. It is about whether the First Amendment has meaning when reporting is inconvenient to those in power. The selective targeting of journalists— especially, Black and LGBTQIA journalists— raises urgent concerns about unequal enforcement and retaliatory policing of the press. It also mirrors a broader pattern in which government actors appear quick to criminalize those documenting injustice, while accountability for official misconduct remains elusive.
When will this stop? When will journalists be allowed to do their jobs without becoming targets? When will the constitutional rights of the press stop being tested, stretched, and ignored to make an example out of those who tell the truth?
NABJ calls on federal authorities to immediately clarify the legal justification for these arrests and to halt all retaliatory posture toward journalists that undermine constitutional press protections. We further call on media organizations, newsroom leaders, press freedom advocates, civil rights groups, legal experts, and allies across the country to not only stand together, organize, and act, but to also closely monitor these cases and unapologetically speak out against any actions that threaten the ability of reporters to do their jobs safely and without interference. The normalization of arrests during lawful newsgathering poses risks to ALL journalists.
Journalism that holds power to account strengthens democracy. That mission must be defended, not punished. Not now. Not this way, and again, NOT ON OUR WATCH!
In Solidarity,
National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ)
Aegis Safety Alliance
Amnesty International USA
Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association
Asian American Journalists Association
Association of Foreign Correspondents in the USA
Center for Journalism & Democracy
Committee to Protect Journalists
Defending Rights and Dissent
First Amendment Coalition
Free Press Action
Freedom of the Press Foundation
GLAAD
Human Rights First
Institute for Nonprofit News
International Women’s Media Foundation
Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE)
Journalism & Women Symposium
Media and Democracy Project
Multimedia Correspondents Association
National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ)
National Association of Science Writers
National Press Photographers Association
National Writers Union
PEN America
Radio Television Digital News Association
Reporters Without Borders
Society of Environmental Journalists
Society of Professional Journalists
South Asian Journalists Association
The 19th
The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists (NLGJA)
The Intercept/Freedom Defense Fund
The News Guild/CWA
The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education
The Trust Project
Tiny News Collective
Trans Journalists Association
URL Media
Whistleblower & Source Protection Program (WHISPeR) at ExposeFacts
WURD
