Petition: Media Must Call Out Political Indictments

When even everyday Americans serving on a grand jury refuse to go along with an attempted indictment because it appears politically motivated, that should be a five-alarm fire for democracy. Grand jurors are not partisan pundits—they are ordinary citizens asked to weigh evidence. If they see a case as political overreach, the press should not hesitate to say so plainly.

Yet too much mainstream coverage treats these episodes as routine legal maneuvering or partisan back-and-forth, stripping away the extraordinary fact that citizens themselves rejected the case. When media outlets reduce clear signs of political weaponization to “controversy” or “dispute,” they obscure what is at stake: the integrity of the justice system and the rule of law.

We call on news organizations to cover the attempted indictment of congressional Democrats with clarity and courage—naming credible signs of politicization, explaining the significance of a grand jury’s refusal, and refusing to normalize the use of prosecutorial power for partisan ends. If everyday Americans on a grand jury can recognize pure politics, the media can too. Democracy depends on it.