Journalists

Medhurst Case: Test Of A Turning Tide On Gaza

May 13, 2025 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! Gaza, Genocide, Israel, Journalists, Palestine, Richard Medhurst, War crimes

British journalist Richard Medhurst, who was arrested last year and questioned under Britain’s draconian Terrorism Act, is facing a possible “terrorism” prosecution for journalism that is highly critical of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. The move comes amid indications that cracks are appearing in the wall of steadfast Western establishment backing for Israel no matter what outrages the Jewish state commits. Whether Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service actually recommends a prosecution of Medhurst will be a test as to how far Western leaders are willing to go to violate their own so-called democratic principles to uphold a clearly corrupt relationship with Tel Aviv.

Jordan Arrests BDS Movement Coordinator Hamza Khader

May 12, 2025 People's Dispatch. Educate! Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), Israel, Jordan, Journalists, Palestine, Repression, State Repression

Last week, Jordanian authorities arrested Hamza Khader, the coordinator of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in Jordan, and took him to an undisclosed location for investigation. According to BDS, Khader was arrested on Tuesday, May 6, over social media posts. BDS Jordan issued a statement on Wednesday, May 7, denouncing the arrest of Khader, saying that “it constitutes a clear violation of the fundamental rights of Jordanians to freedom of opinion, freedom of speech and peaceful assembly, which are guaranteed by the Jordanian constitution and the international conventions.” The movement criticized the Jordanian authorities’ use of broadly-worded provisions of the Cybercrime Laws to crackdown on individuals, who express their solidarity with the Palestinian cause, which “represents the conscience of the vast majority of Jordanian nationals.”

Trump DOJ Adopts Policy Permitting Journalist Arrests

April 28, 2025 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. Educate! Congress, Department of Justice, Journalism, Journalists, Media, Press Freedom

United States Attorney General Pam Bondi ended a Justice Department (DOJ) policy that explicitly discouraged federal prosecutors from forcing journalists to reveal their sources and other sensitive information, including information obtained from potential leaks. With new guidelines, members of the news media who refuse to cooperate with prosecutors could be arrested for contempt. If accused of contempt, they could be fined or jailed. The move by Bondi comes as Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has “referred” three alleged “intelligence leakers” to the DOJ for criminal prosecution.

Rodolfo Walsh Would Demand We Write In His Place

March 28, 2025 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Educate! Argentina, History, Journalists, Media, Military dictatorship

On an evening in September 2024, Argentina’s President Javier Milei stood before a large crowd in Parque Lezama in Buenos Aires. He wore his signature dark leather jacket and barked out his speech, the crowd devouring every word. ‘Here you have the trolls’, he said, ‘corrupt journalists, shady characters. These are the trolls’. Then, he pointed at the people in the crowd and said that they were invisible because the journalists had ‘the monopoly on microphones’. It was harsh language, a replica of Donald Trump’s statement that journalists are the ‘enemy of the people’ (which is itself an echo of US President Richard Nixon’s statement to his advisor Henry Kissinger in 1972: ‘The press is the enemy. The press is the enemy. The establishment is the enemy. The professors are the enemy. Professors are the enemy. Write that on the blackboard 100 times and never forget it’). These statements do not come without cost. Since Milei came to office in December 2023, attacks on journalists have increased.

The ‘Disappearing’ War Chat

March 27, 2025 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! Donald Trump, Europe, Israel, JD Vance, Journalists, Trump Administration, Tulsi Gabbard, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism, Yemen

In his article about being invited by U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to a Signal chat with the U.S. secretaries of state, defense and treasury, the U.S. vice president and the directors of national intelligence and the C.I.A., Atlantic magazine editor Jeffrey Goldberg writes that Waltz set at least some of the text messages in the chat to disappear. Goldberg wrote: Waltz set some of the messages in the Signal group to disappear after one week, and some after four. That raises questions about whether the officials may have violated federal records law: Text messages about official acts are considered records that should be preserved.

Max Blumenthal: Why Did The Feds Question Me?

February 27, 2025 Max Blumenthal, Consortium News. Educate! Journalists, Max Blumenthal, National Security State, Surveillance

As I approached the customs line at Dulles International Airport early on the morning of Feb. 24, a man called out to me, “Mr. Blumenthal?” He identified himself as an officer with Customs and Border Protection, and led me into a cavernous secondary screening room, where he treated me to a strange and disconcerting questioning session. I had just returned from a leisurely trip to Nicaragua with my family during which I participated in no political activities. But the agent’s line of questioning suggested federal authorities had little interest in my visit to Nicaragua, a country that happens to be controlled by a socialist-oriented government on Washington’s hit list.

Swiss Official Who Jailed Journalist Ali Abunimah Is Pro-Israel Fanatic

February 13, 2025 Wyatt Reed, The Grayzone. Educate! Ali Abunimah, Censorship, Israel, Journalists, Palestine, Press Freedom, Switzerland, Zionism

The Swiss official who ordered the arrest of renowned Palestinian-American journalist Ali Abunimah justified doing so on the false and defamatory basis that Abunimah is “an Islamist Jew-hater.” Mario Fehr, the head of Zurich’s Department of Security, made the bogus accusation in a recent comment to the Swiss publication NZZ, which also falsely characterized Abunimah as an “Islamist” and an “extremist.” Swiss authorities detained Abunimah on Jan. 25, after they initially allowed him entry into Switzerland following an hour-long interrogation.

Austrian Police Detain Richard Medhurst; Accuse Him Of Being Hamas

February 8, 2025 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! Austria, Hamas, Journalists, Press Freedom, Richard Medhurst, United Kingdom (UK)

British independent journalist Richard Medhurst said Thursday he was detained this week by Austrian police and intelligence agents and accused of being a member of Hamas. Medhurst, who lives in Austria and is a fierce critic of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, said police raided his home on Monday, took his devices and interrogated him. “They essentially lured me into a trap,” he said on a video posted on X. The journalist said immigration authorities called him to a meeting where they threatened to revoke his residency because of his reporting on Palestine and Lebanon.

United Nations Censures United Kingdom’s Abuse Of Terrorism Act

February 7, 2025 Craig Murray, Consortium News. Educate! Freedom of Expression, Journalists, Legal System, Terrorism Act, United Kingdom (UK), United Nations (UN)

Four U.N. special rapporteurs have written jointly to the U.K. government demanding explanation of its inappropriate persecution of journalists and political activists under the Terrorism Act. They state that those persecuted: appear to have no credible connection to ‘terrorist’ or ‘hostile’ activity. The cases taken up by the United Nations are those of Johanna Ross (Ganyukova), John Laughland, Kit Klarenberg, Craig Murray (yes, me), Richard Barnard and Richard Medhurst. Under this U.N. special procedure, the letter is sent to the government in question which has 60 days to respond. This letter was sent by the U.N. to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government on Dec. 4. No reply having been received, it has now been published.

Switzerland Deports Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah

January 29, 2025 The Electronic Intifada. Educate! Ali Abunimah, Censorship, Journalists, Media, Palestine, Press Freedom, Switzerland

The Electronic Intifada’s executive director Ali Abunimah was deported by Switzerland on Monday after spending two nights in jail. Abunimah described his experience in a statement he made upon arrival to Istanbul airport late Monday. He said that he was “cut off from communication with the outside world” and “not even permitted to contact my family.” He said that police accused him of “offending against Swiss law” but was not presented with any charges. Abunimah added that he was questioned “by Swiss defense ministry intelligence agents without the presence of my lawyer, and they again refused to allow me to contact her or my family.”

Biden’s Legacy: The World Is More Unsafe For Journalists

January 20, 2025 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. Educate! Joe Biden, Journalism, Journalists, Press Freedom, State Violence

President Joe Biden’s administration proclaimed numerous times that “journalism is not a crime” and that the United States government supports “free and independent media around the world.” Biden said the “free press is crumbling” in his farewell address. But the reality is that Biden and his administration helped make the state of the free press more fragile. Over 200 journalists in Gaza were killed by Israeli military forces armed by the Biden administration. Other client states, like India and Saudi Arabia, trampled on the human rights of reporters without fearing much criticism.

Journalists Thrown Out Of Antony Blinken’s Final Briefing

January 17, 2025 Eloise Goldsmith, Common Dreams. Resist! Antony Blinken, Genocide, Journalists, Press Freedom

Two journalists were removed from Secretary of State Antony Blinken's final news conference on Thursday after interrupting Blinken's remarks to heckle him about the United States' policy toward Gaza, a day after a cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel was announced. One of the reporters, independent journalist Sam Husseini, was physically carried out of the briefing room by security. Less than two minutes into Blinken's remarks, as he was thanking the reporters in the attendance for "asking tough questions," Max Blumenthal, the editor in chief of The Grayzone—an independent news—addressed Blinken, saying loudly in reference to the cease-fire deal:"300 reporters in Gaza were on the receiving end of your bombs.

Why More And More Journalists Are Launching Worker-Owned Outlets

January 9, 2025 Angela Fu, Poynter. Create! Cooperatives, Independent media, Journalists, Media, Worker Ownership, Worker Rights and Jobs

When staff at the Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal decided to unionize in March, they were almost immediately hit with layoffs. The paper’s parent company, a nonprofit called the Long Beach Journalism Initiative, laid off nine of the 14 staff involved with the union drive just four days after their unionization attempt. Undeterred, those nine workers — along with three others who had gone on strike in protest — decided to start their own publication: a worker-owned cooperative called the Long Beach Watchdog. “We wanted to build this as a place that respected workers, respected the labor that they do, and allowed everyone a seat at the table and a voice in how the business is run,” said Dennis Dean

Asheville Blade Journalists Sue Over Illegal Arrests

January 7, 2025 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. Resist! Journalists, Legal System, North Carolina, Press Freedom

A news co-op in North Carolina and two journalists convicted of trespassing offenses filed a federal lawsuit alleging that their constitutional rights were violated by Asheville Police Department officers. In December 2021, residents in the Asheville community gathered at Aston Park for five evenings to urge the City of Asheville to leave people without any shelter alone in the park after it closed at 10 p.m. They took a stand on Christmas, refusing to disperse. Police responded by sweeping the encampment and arresting six people. Two of the people arrested were reporters for the Asheville Blade—Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit.

20 Years After His Death, Gary Webb’s Truth Is Still Dangerous

December 31, 2024 Belén Fernández, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Educate! Assassination, Gary Webb, History, Journalists, Media, Nicaragua

Twenty years ago this month, on December 10, 2004, former San Jose Mercury News investigative reporter Gary Webb died by apparent suicide, following a stretch of depression. The subject of the 2014 film Kill the Messenger, Webb had left the newspaper in 1997 after his career was systematically destroyed because he had done what journalists are supposed to do: speak truth to power. In August 1996, Webb penned a three-part series for the Mercury News (8/18–20/96) that documented how profits from the sale of crack cocaine in Los Angeles in the 1980s had been funneled to the Contras, the right-wing, CIA-backed mercenary army responsible for helping to perpetrate, to borrow Noam Chomsky’s words, “large-scale terrorist war” against Nicaragua.

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