Threats to freedom of the press in the United States have sharpened in 2026 as President Donald Trump has threatened to prosecute reporters for treason and pursued multi-billion-dollar lawsuits against major news outlets, according to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s June 2026 report. The escalation marks a deepening crisis for press freedom, with attacks on journalists more than doubling in 2025 compared to the previous year.
In March 2026, Trump said news organizations should face treason charges for disseminating what he called false information, according to reporting by Democracy Now! In April 2026, Trump threatened to jail journalists if they refused to disclose their sources, specifically targeting reporters who covered the rescue of a U.S. airman in Iran, according to the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Trump has also deployed the courts as a weapon against critical coverage. In February 2026, Trump filed a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against the BBC for editing a speech Trump gave before the January 6 Capitol riots that appeared in a 2024 Panorama documentary, according to the Reuters Institute report. In September 2025, Trump sued The New York Times and four of its journalists for $15 billion, claiming defamation, according to multiple sources including ABC News and NBC News. Trump has also sued other major outlets including ABC News and CBS News, with some cases settling out of court, according to The New York Times.
The Trump administration has implemented additional restrictions on press access. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied an NBC News reporter Pentagon access, and several journalists were removed from on-site workstations, according to the Reuters Institute. Federal judges ruled twice in favor of The New York Times that these policies violated the First Amendment. Independent journalist Georgia Fort and former CNN host Don Lemon were arrested in Minneapolis while covering an January 18 demonstration against Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdowns, according to the Reuters Institute report.
Institutional Pressure and Declining Public Trust
Public media face an uncertain future under Trump’s administration. In May 2025, Trump issued an executive order calling on federal agencies to discontinue funding for NPR and PBS over what he called “left-wing propaganda,” according to the Reuters Institute. Congress approved a loss of $500 million in annual federal funding for public broadcasting. Though a federal judge ruled in March 2026 that the executive order violated the First Amendment, the decision had little impact on the funding loss, according to the Reuters Institute.
Trust in news has hit a record low for the United States. Overall trust in news fell to 25 percent in 2026, down 5 percentage points from the previous year and the lowest level since the Reuters Institute began tracking trust in 2015, according to the June 2026 Digital News Report. Trust in Fox News and CBS News both fell significantly, each dropping 10 percentage points. Meanwhile, the U.S. press freedom ranking declined to 64th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, marking a continued slide in American press freedom standing.
Attacks on journalists surged dramatically in 2025. According to Reporters Without Borders, there were more than 170 attacks on journalists in 2025, nearly double the previous year, driven by an increase in government and political threats. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported in April 2025 that Trump’s first 100 days in office ramped up fear for the press and democracy, documenting policies that directly affect press freedom.
Corporate consolidation of media ownership has also shifted the landscape. Paramount Global sold to Skydance Media, led by the son of billionaire and Trump ally Larry Ellison, and moved quickly to fulfill editorial pledges made during the merger approval process, installing a former conservative think tank head as ombudsman at CBS News and naming anti-woke commentator Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief after purchasing her conservative opinion site The Free Press for $150 million, according to the Reuters Institute. In February 2026, Paramount Skydance struck a deal to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns cable news giant CNN, the report states.
Sources
- Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism — June 16, 2026 Digital News Report on the United States, detailing Trump’s threats to prosecute reporters for treason, lawsuits against media, access restrictions, arrests of journalists, public media funding cuts, media consolidation, and press freedom trends.
- Freedom of the Press Foundation — April 6, 2026 statement on Trump’s threat to jail journalists refusing to disclose sources.
- Democracy Now! — March 18, 2026 reporting on Trump’s calls for treason charges against news organizations.
- The New York Times — Coverage of Trump’s $15 billion defamation lawsuit and access restrictions for journalists.
- ABC News — September 16, 2025 reporting on Trump’s $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times.
- NBC News — Reporting on Trump’s defamation lawsuits and Pentagon access denials.
- Reporters Without Borders — 2026 World Press Freedom Index ranking the U.S. at 64th and documenting 170+ attacks on journalists in 2025.
- Committee to Protect Journalists — April 30, 2025 report on Trump’s first 100 days and policies affecting press freedom.
