MN - Journalist Don Lemon arrested for church protest, Minneapolis, 18 Jan 2026

[J. J. in Phila]

One year of Trump’s war on the press

Peter Vandermeersch took a closer look at what one year of Trump’s second term has meant for the media. Here's his status report.

wan-ifra.org

USA: 8 ways Trump is shrinking the space for press freedom – literally

The attacks against the press carried out by President Donald Trump since the start of his second term have increasingly stretched beyond rhetoric and policy and turned into physical limitations for journalists. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is highlighting eight ways the US administration is...

rsf.org

Trump's moves against media outlets mirror authoritarian approaches to silencing dissent

Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has waged an aggressive campaign against the media unlike any in modern U.S. history, making moves similar to those of authoritarian leaders that he has often praised.

www.pbs.org

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/16/nx-s1-5704347/extremist-racist-messaging-trump

Calling someone a name and getting a search warrant are not attacks on the press.

IMO.

 

[Ruminations]

Calling someone a name and getting a search warrant are not attacks on the press.

IMO.

Good job with the deflection.

The article does not say getting a search warrant in itself is an attack on the press; the article does not say childishly calling a name in itself is an attack on the press.


MOO

 

[Ruminations]

Yes. The case law has been linked previously.

IMO.

oh, yes. There have been dozens of off-topic posts that made all kinds of conflated claims, with links to irrelevant cases or articles.

Don Lemon is not claiming a privilege. He is claiming he did not break the law.

Two judges agreed that there was not even probable cause that he might have broken the law.

MOO

 

[SouthAussie]

Calling someone a name and getting a search warrant are not attacks on the press.

IMO.

Not to go off topic (because I think this is related) - the US is now at 57th place worldwide in freedom of the press, as at 2025.

Have a bit of a think about why 56 countries would now be ahead of the US in freedom of the press.
Ghana, Liberia, Belize (and many others) have more freedom of the press than the US now.

This flimsy Don Lemon case is furthering of that effort to restrict the press. imo

Index

RSF's World Press Freedom Index aims to compare the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories.

rsf.org

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Good job with the deflection.

The article does not say getting a search warrant in itself is an attack on the press; the article does not say childishly calling a name in itself is an attack on the press.


MOO

That is not deflection. That is what the initial claim was. Please don't gaslight.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

oh, yes. There have been dozens of off-topic posts that made all kinds of conflated claims, with links to irrelevant cases or articles.

Don Lemon is not claiming a privilege. He is claiming he did not break the law.

Two judges agreed that there was not even probable cause that he might have broken the law.

MOO

He is claiming that that journalists are under attack. The comment was linked.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Not to go off topic (because I think this is related) - the US is now at 57th place worldwide in freedom of the press, as at 2025.

Have a bit of a think about why 56 countries would now be ahead of the US in freedom of the press.
Ghana, Liberia, Belize (and many others) have more freedom of the press than the US now.

This flimsy Don Lemon case is furthering of that effort to restrict the press. imo

Index

RSF's World Press Freedom Index aims to compare the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories.

rsf.org

What the consider freedom is, "His [Trump] administration has weaponised institutions, cut support for independent media, and sidelined reporters. With trust in the media plummeting, reporters face increasing hostility." Our government does not support media; I hope it never does.

The trust in media has declined, because of things like this: https://thehill.com/homenews/media/...ostly-peaceful-caption-with-video-of-burning/ Lemon was literally working for that network at the time.

There was a time, even within the last 30 years, when media was trusted, i.e. Bernard Shaw at CNN. The reason people don't trust the media is because of people like Don Lemon.

IMO.

 

[SouthAussie]

The trust in media has declined, because of things like this: https://thehill.com/homenews/media/...ostly-peaceful-caption-with-video-of-burning/

A cherry-picked 2020 article does not explain such a poor rating in 2025.

All of the US should be concerned about what they are NOT hearing from their press now. About who is and is not allowed into the Oval Office, about who is and is not allowed on Airforce One, about who is and is not allowed into the Pentagon, and about who is pursued by the administration for simply reporting on a church protest about an ICE agent pastor.

imo

 

[Summerliz03]

A cherry-picked 2020 article does not explain such a poor rating in 2025.

All of the US should be concerned about what they are NOT hearing from their press now. About who is and is not allowed into the Oval Office, about who is and is not allowed on Airforce One, about who is and is not allowed into the Pentagon, and about who is pursued by the administration for simply reporting on a church protest about an ICE agent pastor.

imo

I try to get most of my news from international sources and it’s truly shocking how much different it is from US based news and how much we are not seeing here in the states. It’s actually quite scary. You really can’t tell we are in a news vacuum until you step out of it and see how restricted the media is here. Off topic a bit but Stephen Colbert had James Talerico, a democratic candidate for the Senate on his show this week and CBS refused to air it on the actual broadcast show and forced them to only release it on YouTube, per the FCC. They even released this ridiculous lawyer statement about it to appease the FCC and Stephen came out and called the whole thing a load of bull. Scary times we are living in here for sure.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

A cherry-picked 2020 article does not explain such a poor rating in 2025.

All of the US should be concerned about what they are NOT hearing from their press now. About who is and is not allowed into the Oval Office, about who is and is not allowed on Airforce One, about who is and is not allowed into the Pentagon, and about who is pursued by the administration for simply reporting on a church protest about an ICE agent pastor.

imo

There is no cherry-picking. That is an example of why people distrust the media, especially the mainstream media.

I personally tend to look at things like actual evidence and court decisions, and not rely on the spinners many here post.

IMO.

 

[SouthAussie]

There is no cherry-picking. That is an example of why people distrust the media, especially the mainstream media.

I personally tend to look at things like actual evidence and court decisions, and not rely on the spinners many here post.

IMO.

It is not about distrusting only. It is about what the public is allowed to hear about, and what they are not allowed to hear about ... now. In 2025/2026.
How can they trust or distrust when they don't even know what is actually going on? How is it okay to have your media silenced? Refused access?

56 countries have more freedom of the press than the US. The country of "freedom".

I hope the charges against Don Lemon are thrown out. That journalism scores a small win.

imo

 

[J. J. in Phila]

It is not about distrusting only. It is about what the public is allowed to hear about, and what they are not allowed to hear about ... now. In 2025/2026.
How can they trust or distrust when they don't even know what is actually going on? How is it okay to have your media silenced? Refused access?

56 countries have more freedom of the press than the US. The country of "freedom".

I hope the charges against Don Lemon are thrown out. That journalism scores a small win.

imo

That was one element that was reported.

One of those things RSF counts is government "support for independent media." Our government does not, and should not, be supporting media. That is how this group measures "freedom."

We live in a time when the average citizen, with an internet link, can actually read the documents needed. 25-30 years ago, we could not do that. We don't need the filter of a reporter telling us what it says.

IMO.

 

[SouthAussie]

That was one element that was reported.

One of those things RSF counts is government "support for independent media." Our government does not, and should not, be supporting media. That is how this group measures "freedom."

We live in a time when the average citizen, with an internet link, can actually read the documents needed. 25-30 years ago, we could not do that. We don't need the filter of a reporter telling us what it says.

IMO.

I noticed how "well" all of those heavily redacted Epstein files are so easily read.

Now back to the Don Lemon case ..... I also hope the grand jury presentation is revealed, to at least Don Lemon and his attorneys.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

I noticed how "well" all of those heavily redacted Epstein files are so easily read.

Now back to the Don Lemon case ..... I also hope the grand jury presentation is revealed, to at least Don Lemon and his attorneys.

And?

They were victim's name and CSA images, two things that we don't release in the US.

The indictment has been produced: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2026/01/CASE-026-cr-00025-LMP-DLM.pdf

Whether or not there is a presentment is unknown.

IMO.

 

[Sundog]

Oh, my, please stop posting deflections.

I am not talking about the seated jurors being defective.

I am talking about the process the prosecution appears to have used in giving the GJ incorrect facts, incorrect laws and incorrect instructions.

The motion to release the grand jury transcripts lays out a very compelling case that the GJ was abused.

MOO

The defense in the Bryan Kohberger case also fought to get the grand jury transcripts released and also argued that the GJ was abused, the latter to no avail. The transcripts that were eventually released to the defense were highly redacted and they did not include transcripts of the grand jury's deliberations, IIRC. It seems that this is a common tactic of defense attorneys, to challenge the GJ route to indictments. JMO

Judge in Idaho murders case approves limited release of some grand jury material

The transcript of grand jury proceedings won't include juror deliberations, and some material is sealed from the public.

www.ktvb.com

 

[Sundog]

Two judges agreed that there was not even probable cause that he might have broken the law.

MOO

SBM

And the third Court of Appeals judge for the 8th circuit disagreed with the two other judges, as did the grand jury.

So it wasn't a slam dunk, by any means.