Analysis: Trump is trying to chill the investigative journalism that holds him to account Analysis by Brian Stelter, CNN, 4 minute read, Published 10:00 AM EDT, Sat May 3, 2025 510 comments
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 29: U.S. President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on April 29, 2025, in Washington, DC. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
CNN — So much of what the public knows about President Trump’s chaotic governance stems from robust reporting, including leaks from anonymous sources in the government.
But Trump and his aides are now actively trying to impede this reporting and intimidate news outlets, creating a bleak backdrop to the UN’s recognition of Saturday as World Press Freedom Day.
The chilling effects, while hard to measure, are evident after Trump’s first 100 days in office, according to press freedom groups like the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders. “Trump’s second term as president has brought a troubling deterioration in press freedom,” Reporters Without Borders said in a report this week.
If Trump’s first term was marked by hostile rhetoric towards the media, his second term has transformed that rhetoric into an unprecedented campaign of attacks, some straight out of authoritarian countries.
This year, the Trump administration has opened investigations into several broadcast networks, challenged the federal funding of NPR and PBS, blocked the Associated Press from news conferences, and seized control of the White House press pool. All of this has happened while Trump is personally suing news outlets and threatening to sue more.
“These attacks on the media are not random actions. In fact, they are part of the autocratic playbook,” said Joel Simon, head of the Journalism Protection Initiative.
In an especially worrisome development this week, the Justice Department reinstated a rule that allows federal investigators to secretly go after journalists’ records in leak investigations.
The department cited “growing concerns about federal government employees intentionally disseminating confidential, privileged, or otherwise protected information to the media.”
Protections for journalists were put in place by Merrick Garland, the Biden-era attorney general, after Trump-era prosecutors covertly pursued internal communications from several major news outlets, including CNN.
