In the Israel-Palestine war, 206, and counting, journalists have died. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, this is the highest number of journalist casualties in any war since they started being recorded in 1992. Currently, journalist deaths are at a high while journalism is at a low. According to Pew Research Center, weekday print has gone down 13% since the previous year, 2021, and Sunday print has gone down 16%. Newspapers are barely read or even barely produced. On top of that, each day, it seems that the First Amendment right, freedom of the press, is slowly getting dissolved.
Since President Donald Trump took office on January 20th, news organizations have been dismantled. Trump signed an executive order to defund federal bureaucracy that he deemed unnecessary. One organization being hit hard is the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). USAGM is an independent government agency that may be terminated. USAGM oversees many news outlets, including Voice of America (VOA). VOA is an international broadcasting network that mainly tries to get information out to non-Americans outside the borders of the US, especially in countries like China and Russia, which feed their citizens disinformation. 13,000 staffers were placed on administrative leave, and VOA was dismantled . This was the first time since World War II that VOA was not live. Trump accused VOA of liberal bias, making it a target for defunding. USAGM also had to terminate the federal grants that fund other broadcasting sites they own. VOA was the first government-funded news organization to go lights out, and it may not be the last. Both PBS and NPR are facing federal cuts and working to keep their sites running.
It’s not new that Trump has been acting against journalists or news organizations. Trump has been involved in 36 media or defamation lawsuits, which spiked in 2021, and has been at a constant 4 cases per year, with the exception of five cases in 2024. While these 36 lawsuits are just a tiny percentage of his 4,000+ lawsuits, they still cause damage, especially when a smaller organization can not pay to go to court against him.
“Whenever someone capitulates to him, it makes him stronger,” Cal Poly Humboldt journalism advisor Dedrie Pike said. “It makes the next person more intimidated.”
When it comes to Freedom of the Press, there are some restrictions. Attending the white house for a conference pool is not a universal right; it’s a privilege. But, concerns have been raised about some new decisions made regarding the news outlets allowed. The Associated Press (AP) was recently kicked out of being allowed in the White House press pool, due to their refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. This was taken to court on whether this was a violation of the First Amendment, which the court ruled it was. After regaining access to events, the Trump administration ordered to appeal the readmission of AP news, after they had kicked out a reporter and journalist from an event a few days prior.
News gets out through journalists, and without reporters, the government could provide only the information it wants the public to know. Journalists have recently become more hated than ever because of the spread of misinformation or “fake news.” The spread of misinformation has been on the rise for multiple reasons, but mainly due to social media.
“Studies have shown that X pushes conservative Propaganda,” Pike said.
Since Elon Musk bought out Twitter, he’s used the site to push his political ideology. Musk has posted misinformation about the post-election, including false statements about illegal immigrants and AI-generated photos of Kamala Harris.
Social media also impacts the types of news a person sees. All apps or search engines use algorithms to push out the information they think you want to see.
“It’s not about making you a better citizen and a democracy. It’s not about you being informed or making an informed decision,” Pike said. “It’s purely driven by a profit motive and an entertainment agenda.”
On December 15, 1791, the First Amendment was ratified. Now, 234 years later, the First Amendment is being challenged. The line is being pushed. Each time, a little farther. Journalists are losing jobs, and the ones with jobs are losing their voice.