At NJTODAY.NEWS, our publisher and staff stand firmly with journalists, championing the public’s right to know through transparent, independent, and fearless reporting.
On President Donald Trump’s first day back in the White House, he signed an executive order that alleged that the administration of President Joe Biden “trampled on free speech” by censoring “Americans’ speech on online platforms”.
We strongly condemn the Trump administration’s unconstitutional actions that hinder journalists in their essential role of informing the public as well as his hypocrisy after he essentially reaffirmed free speech, which is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
The recent barring of Associated Press reporters from White House events, following the AP’s refusal to adopt the administration’s ridiculous directive to rename the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America,” is a direct assault on press freedom and a violation of the First Amendment.
Furthermore, the administration’s broader pattern of retaliatory measures—including Federal Communications Commission investigations into media organizations perceived as unfavorable and the eviction of longstanding news outlets from the Pentagon pressroom—reflects a disturbing attempt to control and intimidate the press.
Such actions undermine the foundational principles of our democracy and erode the public’s right to access unbiased information.
Trump’s imprudent misuse of the executive branch’s power —from indiscreet discretion to lawless secret-keeping — to keep Congress and the American people in the dark are actions worthy of impeachment.
We call upon the administration to cease these unconstitutional practices and implore Congress and the courts to uphold the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of the United States.
Trump’s 49.9% popular vote margin of victory in the 2024 election was not “a massive mandate from the American people,” as he falsely claims. Trump will never stand trial for the crimes connected to the illegal scheme to overturn his 2020 election loss, including the terroristic violence that happened on one of America’s darkest days, but there’s no denying the reality of Jan. 6, 2021.
However, there are legal limits on what presidents may do and the responsibility for enforcing those limits falls on both the institutions of government and the citizens who are ultimately responsible for our nation’s fate.
“The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government,” said the AP in a lawsuit filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., 10 days after the White House began restricting access to the news agency.
The complaint names White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich and press secretary Karoline Leavitt as defendants.
“This targeted attack on the AP’s editorial independence and ability to gather and report the news strikes at the very core of the First Amendment,” the news agency said. “This court should remedy it immediately.”
The Constitution’s First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press, speech and religion and bars the government from obstructing any of them.
More than 40 organizations that champion journalists and the public’s right to know released a joint statement led by the Society of Professional Journalists condemning the campaign underway in Washington to penalize independent reporting on the government and its activities.
The statement calls on the Trump administration to lift its ban on the Associated Press from White House events and cease punishing news organizations based on their reporting.
“When leaders try to silence reporters through intimidation, legal threats and denial of access, they are not protecting the country; they are protecting themselves from scrutiny. This is how authoritarian regimes operate — by crushing dissent, punishing those who expose inconvenient facts and replacing truth with propaganda,” the statement says.
Joint Statement of Journalist-Support Organizations on Government Attacks on Press Freedom
Fair, accurate, and independent reporting is essential to a functioning democracy. Without it, corruption and misinformation flourish. As organizations that champion journalists and the public’s right to know, we strongly condemn the campaign underway in Washington to penalize independent reporting on the government and its activities.
In a protracted war over words, the Trump administration has banned the Associated Press from White House events because the news service continues to call the “Gulf of Mexico” by its long-standing name while acknowledging the president’s executive order renaming it the “Gulf of America.”
This disturbing challenge to journalistic independence is part of a troubling pattern that extends well beyond the White House press corps. For example, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission has taken extraordinary steps to investigate and intimidate broadcasters over their internal policies and constitutionally protected editorial decisions. These actions by the head of this historically bipartisan, independent regulatory body set a dangerous precedent and risk giving the government greater control over which voices are heard.
The administration has also evicted longtime news organizations from the Pentagon pressroom, giving their desks to news outlets that favorably covered the administration’s agenda.
President Trump and his congressional allies have long opposed what they viewed as government efforts to coerce speech. In 2023, for example, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan and 44 other members of Congress stated in a brief submitted in a U.S. Supreme Court case—where conservatives accused the Biden administration of coercing social media platforms to adopt pro-COVID vaccine policies—that “official pressure to suppress speech violates the First Amendment.”
When leaders try to silence reporters through intimidation, legal threats, and denial of access, they are not protecting the country; they are protecting themselves from scrutiny. This is how authoritarian regimes operate—by crushing dissent, punishing those who expose inconvenient facts, and replacing truth with propaganda.
The First Amendment is an integral part of the U.S. Constitution that President Trump swore to “preserve, protect and defend.” He also signed an executive order on day one to “ensure that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.” The president must abide by his oath of office and executive order and ensure that First Amendment principles are forcefully upheld.
In a nation founded on freedom of speech—regardless of party or ideology—the government can never compel agreement with its viewpoint as a condition of access to information. The administration must lift the ban on the AP and cease punishing news organizations based on their reporting.
Organizations endorsing this statement include: • Society of Professional Journalists
• AAN Publishers (formerly Association of Alternative Newsmedia)
• American Society of Magazine Editors
• Asian American Journalists Association
• Associated Collegiate Press
• Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
• Buffalo Newspaper Guild – CWA Local 31026
• Criminal Justice Journalists
• Defending Rights & Dissent
• Denver Newspaper Guild – CWA Local 37074
• Education Writers Association
• Foreign Press Association USA
• Freedom of the Press Foundation
• Inter American Press Association (IAPA)
• IAPE, Local 1096, TNG-CWA
• Indigenous Journalists Association
• iSolon.org
• Journalism & Women Symposium (JAWS)
• Military Reporters & Editors
• National Association of Black Journalists