Tell the Media: Call Out Trump’s First Amendment Threats

Donald Trump has now openly threatened to jail journalists who refuse to reveal their sources after reporting on a missing U.S. airman in Iran. This is not routine criticism of the press—it is a direct threat to core First Amendment protections that safeguard investigative reporting and the public’s right to know. Demanding that reporters “give it up or go to jail” is an attempt to criminalize journalism itself.

Yet too much media coverage risks framing these statements as political rhetoric, a national security dispute, or another clash between Trump and the press. That framing obscures the seriousness of what is being proposed: using the power of the state to force journalists to reveal sources or face imprisonment. Press freedom advocates have already warned that such threats undermine the foundation of independent journalism and set a dangerous precedent.

We call on major news organizations to cover Trump’s threats clearly and forcefully as attacks on the First Amendment—examining their legal implications, their chilling effect on reporting, and the broader pattern of hostility toward the press. The public deserves reporting that names these threats for what they are. A free press cannot exist if journalists face jail for doing their jobs.