Press freedom under siege in Trump’s first 100 days
In a nation long regarded as a global standard-bearer for free speech, the first hundred days of Donald Trump’s second presidency have marked an ominous turning point for the American press.
A new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), “Alarm Bells: Trump’s First 100 Days Ramp Up Fear for the Press, Democracy”, lays bare a landscape increasingly hostile to independent journalism, in which reporters are being sidelined, public broadcasters undermined, and regulatory agencies turned into tools of intimidation.
For newsrooms across the country, the report paints a very grim picture. Media outlets and practitioners now face both overt pressure and subtler constraints—pressures that risk tipping into full-fledged self-censorship. Major networks including CBS, NBC, NPR and PBS have been subjected to federal scrutiny. Journalists covering issues central to the Trump White House agenda—immigration and national security—face intense scrutiny and the possibility of retribution for their reporting.
“It is concerning to see how quickly this administration has taken actions that limit journalists' First Amendment rights,” Katherine Jacobsen, CPJ’s US, Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator, told the Express Tribune. “We chose the title Alarm Bells because we believe it’s vital—not just for journalists, but for the American public and the international community—to take stock of what’s happening in the US and consider the potential consequences,” she added.
That warning carries international weight. The United States has long been seen as the gold stan
“The US—for better or worse—has long presented itself as a promoter of press freedom. So when the US falls short, it becomes much harder to advocate for press freedom abroad,” she said. “The Trump administration’s actions serve as a kind of permission structure for other leaders… It sets a tone globally, like it or not. And that’s deeply troubling.”
At home, the Trump administration has increasingly curated its media environment, bringing in right-leaning influencers and fringe bloggers to White House briefings—figures who often frame questions to elicit sympathetic responses and reinforce the president’s political narrative. The result is a corrosive distortion of the press pool’s traditional role.
“What Trump and his allies have done very effectively is tap into one particular media ecosystem in the US—not necessarily a journalistic one, but still a media space,” Jacobsen said. “And that’s really concerning. Because journalism is fundamentally about holding power accountable. If the people in that space aren’t asking hard or meaningful questions, it disrupts the flow of information,” she added.
The CP