Sign the petition to urge your members of Congress to defend our freedom of the press!

Can you guess how many times Trump has threatened or vilified the media? According to PEN America, a literary and human rights organization, the White House has undermined the press in at least 90 instances since the election!

This is an outright attack on our constitutional rights.

Freedom of the press keeps the public informed and our government accountable. How else can we stay updated on the GOP’s shameful health care repeal, Trump’s tax plan for Wall Street, or which banks are backing immigrant detention centers?

Trump and the GOP’s disdain for the role of the press and the public’s right to information is wreaking havoc on our democracy, and we can’t let it continue unchecked.

Stand with CPD Action to demand that our elected officials uphold and defend our constitutional right to a free press.

In just the last month, a number of incidents threatening journalists’ rights occurred:

• a Congressional candidate from Montana assaulted a reporter from The Guardian who was trying to ask him a question on the eve of their special election;
• a newspaper in Lexington, Kentucky had its windows shot out;
• a journalist was arrested in West Virginia while posing health care questions to the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price;
• an award-winning journalist with CQ Roll Call was stalked and manhandled by security guards at Federal Communications Commission headquarters when posing questions to an FCC Commissioner;
• and a CNN reporter was threatened by a U.S. State Department press official demanding to know who her sources were.

Journalists shouldn’t be threatened for simply doing their jobs. The watchdog role of the press, an informed public, and the vigilance of public discourse in exposing lies and wrongdoing have separated the United States from kleptocracies, oligarchies, and crony regimes all over the world. Those precepts may now be in jeopardy.

Sign the petition to urge your members of Congress to defend our freedom of the press!

Truth and transparency around our government’s agenda couldn’t be more important right now, and that can’t exist without a free press. Help protect the very foundations of our democracy by signing our petition today.

- Brian Kettenring, Co-Executive Director CPD Action

Take Action: Defend our right to a free press

President Donald Trump’s disdain for the media and its information could shape attitudes across the country—how electorates evaluate claims during campaign cycles, how students are taught in school to ferret out facts, and how political and corporate officials deal with the media and the public.

Just this past month, a number of incidents threatening journalists’ rights occurred:

• a Congressional candidate from Montana assaulted a Guardian reporter who was trying to ask him a question on the eve of their special election;
• a newspaper in Lexington, Kentucky had its windows shot out;
• a journalist was arrested in West Virginia while posing healthcare questions to the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price;
• an award-winning journalist with CQ Roll Call was stalked and manhandled by security guards at Federal Communications Commission headquarters when posing questions to a FCC Commissioner;
• and a CNN reporter was threatened by a U.S. State Department press official demanding to know who her sources were.

The watchdog role of the media, an informed citizenry, and the vigilance of public discourse in exposing lies and wrongdoing have separated the United States from kleptocracies, oligarchies, and cronyist regimes all over the world. Those precepts may now be in jeopardy.

Sign the petition to elected officials in Washington and across the country to uphold and defend our constitutional right to a free press.

To: All Members of Congress and Elected Officials Across the Country

Freedom of the press is a central pillar of our democracy. The president’s disregard for the role of the press and the public’s right to information threatens to reshape society writ large. We demand that you uphold and defend our constitutional right to a free press.