{"id":10552,"date":"2026-02-19T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnti.org\/cnti-news\/\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T18:33:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:33:59","slug":"be-prudent-be-deliberative-be-prepared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnti.org\/event-outtakes\/be-prudent-be-deliberative-be-prepared\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Prudent, Be Deliberative, Be Prepared"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>The moral of this story for me is it&#8217;s happening here.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> <sup data-fn=\"4f90f792-8cdd-4628-8cb5-6b938b8da13d\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#4f90f792-8cdd-4628-8cb5-6b938b8da13d\" id=\"4f90f792-8cdd-4628-8cb5-6b938b8da13d-link\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-gridible-responsive-spacer\" style=\"height:32px\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. journalists being <a href=\"https:\/\/pressfreedomtracker.us\/blog\/journalists-arrested-in-the-us-2017-present\/?\">arrested<\/a> for reporting on protests? Check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. government <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/25919716-attorney-general-bondi-memorandum-updated-policy-regarding-obtaining-information-from-or-records-of-members-of-the-news-media\/\">reversing policy<\/a> that provided protections for journalists in leak investigations? Check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Legal systems being used to criminalize and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justsecurity.org\/122491\/weaponizing-espionage-act-what-it-means\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">suppress speech<\/a>? Check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. government seizing a Washington Post reporter\u2019s phones, laptops and watch as part of a national security <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/fbi-cannot-examine-devices-took-washington-post-reporter-judge-rules-rcna255286\">leak investigation<\/a>? Check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Government <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-jobs-firing-f00e9bf96d0110519be9bf4f3ec89195?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">officials being fired<\/a> for sharing information that the president does not like? Check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These are just a few ways press freedoms in the United States have come under attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CNTI recently held our second roundtable discussion on the erosion of press freedom, building off of our \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/cnti.org\/letters-from-the-field\/letters-from-the-field\/\">Letters From the Field<\/a>\u201d series that ran during the summer of 2025. This powerful discussion \u2014 held just days before two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mprnews.org\/story\/2026\/01\/30\/journalists-don-lemon-and-georgia-fort-arrested-after-filming-minnesota-church-protest\">journalists were arrested<\/a> for covering a protest inside a St. Paul church \u2014 involved a mix of local U.S. journalists and members of the news media from Europe, Latin America and Africa who came together to address threats to press freedoms. These practitioners shared their experiences \u2014 both past and present \u2014 to learn from each other, build solidarity and forge a path forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The discussion centered on how authoritarian-style leaders strategically chip away at press freedoms, the legal maneuvers being used to silence journalists, the growing challenges in how reporting happens at international borders and what journalists can \u2014 and should \u2014 do to maintain their right to report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s a look at some of the key insights that were shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-gridible-responsive-spacer\" style=\"height:32px\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-aktiv-grotesk-condensed-font-family has-delta-font-size\" id=\"h-the-authoritarian-playbook-to-diminish-press-freedoms\"><strong>The Authoritarian Playbook to Diminish Press Freedoms<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What we have seen is that here is a playbook and that it&#8217;s used everywhere and it&#8217;s being used step by step \u2026&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-gridible-responsive-spacer\" style=\"height:32px\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As CNTI has seen in our global discussions these past two and a half years, this roundtable discussion identified a clear, almost step-by-step strategy of information control that has repeated \u2014 and continues to repeat \u2014 itself across decades and throughout all regions of the world. U.S. participants, less experienced with these tactics, reacted with both surprise and shock at how closely what they are now encountering mirrors what others have seen in the rest of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Examples came from:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Guatemala, where, as Jose Zamora, Regional Director, Americas, Committee to Protect Journalists, recalled, \u201c&#8230; at the beginning, repression \u2026 was terrible, but very simple and clear. It was assassinations and assassination attempts, physical threats, and little by little, these actors understood that if they \u2026 control the government and its institutions \u2026 they can use them to attack the press in ways that are \u2026 harder to \u2026 see and that look more legitimate .\u2026\u201d This included withholding government advertising (the largest advertiser in the country) from news organizations that are not in alignment, defamation campaigns, civil lawsuits, the use of criminal law, spurious financial crimes and arbitrary detention to silence journalists.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Latin America more broadly, where governments are currently using \u201c&#8230; laws and accusations that are not directly [tied] to our job (a strategy designed to weaken the media outlet and avoid accusations of censorship. They&#8217;re going for the money; they&#8217;re going for the taxes; they&#8217;re going for the business liaisons that any owner of a news media brand owns or has. And it&#8217;s getting very complicated to defend. And, it comes, of course, with a lot of yelling and public accusations. Putting us on the bad side \u2026 of history \u2026 \u2018You&#8217;re the bad guys, you&#8217;re the treasonous, you&#8217;re the corrupt ones. You&#8217;re the traitors, going against what the government wants &#8230; and of course, against the people,\u2019\u201d according to Martha Ramos, editorial director of Organizaci\u00f3n Editorial Mexicana<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nigeria, where 30 years of autocratic rule ended in 1990. Dapo Olorunyomi, publisher of Nigeria\u2019s Premium Times, said that, \u201cIn one year alone \u2026. the autocrats in power totally banned 17 newspapers and five radio stations.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The United States, where \u201cthe people who are assigned federal roles in this area, whether it&#8217;s immigration, customs, ICE, that information is now controlled by D.C. [It] is a political theater that the border residents have long seen on the border. That theater is now controlled by Washington, and it&#8217;s very difficult for us to know what&#8217;s going on.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is a repeated playbook because it has worked again and again. Zamora added that, as discussed, \u201cIt\u2019s really about maintaining power, about maintaining corruption, and it has nothing to do with political views.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So the question that I posed to you today is, as people who report news, can you identify authoritarianism when you see it?&#8221; \u2014 James Okong\u2019o, award-winning investigative reporter, Kenya<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-gridible-responsive-spacer\" style=\"height:32px\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-aktiv-grotesk-condensed-font-family has-delta-font-size\" id=\"h-losing-press-freedoms-in-the-u-s\"><strong><strong>Losing Press Freedoms in the U.S.<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was really chilled because everything you&#8217;re saying \u2026 is happening here as well.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-gridible-responsive-spacer\" style=\"height:32px\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the U.S. journalists listened, their chilling recognition that U.S. news media is experiencing this same playbook felt palpable. As several from the U.S. shared their recent experiences, startled international journalists confirmed the similarities.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of the countries represented in the room and some others not represented in the room have a very dark history of negative scenarios coming true. But some others, for a long while, have felt privileged that this is not something that could happen here. Even if they would say rationally and technically it could, they kept denying and denying. And then it does happen within the EU and within the United States and everywhere. And it\u2019s not just the first step that happens \u2014 that a president can call a major and very credible journalistic outlet \u2018fake news.\u2019 But it goes beyond and comes at the legislative level and comes to actual criminal lawsuits or actions or legislation.\u201d \u2014 Gabor Kardos, CEO of the Hungarian independent media outlet Magyar Jeti Zrt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-gridible-responsive-spacer\" style=\"height:32px\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAmerica is becoming some sort of a police state, for lack of a better word \u2026 similar strategies are now being employed in established democracies. And then at very unexpected places. The U.S. is one of the places where you wouldn\u2019t expect to see this kind of thing,\u201d remarked Okong\u2019o.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. news executive Nancy Mayfield remarked on some of their local advertisers\u2019 and some local officials&#8217; versions of campaigns to turn the public against them, particularly during Covid. Campaigns that left much of their community, \u201cnot even trusting basic information and stories about government or things happening with healthcare in the community \u2026 We&#8217;re seeing the same kind of \u2014 not physical threats, but threats to our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One local U.S. journalist offered a recent example within their news outlet. After a reporter legally accessed a document the authorities did not want to get out, they \u201c&#8230; knocked on our reporter\u2019s door, two deputies and said, you know, we advise you not to do this. They then went after [connected] advertisers \u2026 they sent emails \u2026 put up photos of our reporter on social media and said she was having an affair with the court clerk \u2026 The district attorney came out and said he was investigating our reporter for conspiracy for illegally getting this document from the court clerk. Eventually, they arrested the court clerk, and they perp walked her \u2026 they got pictures of her in cuffs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is also important to be aware that \u201cpublic officials don&#8217;t have a monopoly on baseless defamation cases. These SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) are also filed by rich and powerful business executives with ties to government officials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While many journalists and their organizations are fighting frivolous cases being brought against them, they still have an impact. Those seeking to control the press often gain at least a partial win. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even success in the courts \u2026 comes at a heavy price for a publisher. They have to find a lawyer, often pro bono. They may not have insurance. They have to take time away from their journalism, and then they back away from important stories of great public interest because of the litigation risk involved.\u201d&nbsp;\u2014Tom Leatherbury, U.S. Director of the First Amendment Clinic, SMU Dedman School of Law, Texas<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-gridible-responsive-spacer\" style=\"height:32px\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-aktiv-grotesk-condensed-font-family has-delta-font-size\" id=\"h-public-support-is-essential-to-winning-how-to-gain-it\"><strong>Public Support is Essential to Winning: How to Gain It<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Campaigns to sow distrust in the media really matter. If the public isn\u2019t engaged, journalism and the freedom of information won\u2019t win \u2013 a point that has come up repeatedly in CNTI\u2019s discussions, including in an earlier convening we co-hosted with Organizaci\u00f3n Editorial Mexicana in Mexico City. As one participant in <a href=\"https:\/\/cnti.org\/event-outtakes\/the-global-threat-to-journalists-safety-online-and-offline-lessons-from-mexico\/\">that earlier discussion<\/a> remarked, \u201cI think that the fact that our profession is less and less liked and appreciated by society has also contributed to the lack of sympathy and to the lack of understanding about the risks \u2026\u201d (translated from Spanish).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, Dapo Olorunyami spoke about the important role the public played in successfully combating press control. \u201cThe answer I think we found \u2026 was the fact that people provided support. Because they saw that in spite of all these attacks, this was a press that was still working hard trying to get the truth out in spite of all those difficult conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But gaining that trust is challenging, especially in the U.S., where extreme political polarization has seeped into media choices. So we spent some time discussing how to gain public trust. Sometimes, publisher Trevis Mayfield offered, the audience needs additional context to understand why news organizations are looking for specific information. \u201cIf we file a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request for a reason \u2026 sometimes we will write a story that we&#8217;re filing the request. We will also write stories about questions that aren&#8217;t being answered \u2026 And that has had, I think, a good effect at helping the community understand more of why we&#8217;re asking. And it makes it harder for us to be characterized as being anti-government and or just government haters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Legal expert Tom Leatherbury agreed on the importance of explaining the \u201cwhys\u201d to your public. \u201cWe are working with many of our clients to publicize more frequently why government information is important about particular things and what noncompliance means and to publicize officials&#8217; noncompliance \u2026 it&#8217;s telling people why their public officials aren&#8217;t following the law to make government more transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another local newsroom leader shared the value they have found in in-person audience engagements. \u201cMaybe this is something that&#8217;s easier to do in local press and that is that we lean in very strongly into what we call offline experiences. So meetings across the city with all kinds of audiences and which we engage in various topics and we find those very effective in our goals in building trust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the end, producing high-quality work is the best way to earn respect. \u201cWe had just been able to create trust by doing just good journalism,\u201d shared Nic Garcia, regions editor of The Texas Tribune. He continued, \u201cAnd I do believe that good journalism does inherently breed trust. I think we need to be a little bit more explicit about it \u2026 I think we need to do a better job of telling our story of how we do build trust. But it is a tactic, and I appreciate hearing other people say that. So when in doubt, just do good journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, we build it, public awareness and support for independent journalism that results in pressure against information control tactics is critical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-gridible-responsive-spacer\" style=\"height:32px\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-aktiv-grotesk-condensed-font-family has-delta-font-size\" id=\"h-collective-support-from-colleagues-is-also-essential-to-fighting-back\"><strong>Collective Support From Colleagues is Also Essential to Fighting Back<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just as the pressure from the public is one critical ingredient, another is support from colleagues both near and far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Collaboration is actually survival. When I got threats during my Kenyan investigation, it was my network of fellow journalists and people around me who kept me safe and kept the story alive. Build cross-institution relationships now. Share information, sources and security protocols. No one should investigate in isolation. When one source walks away, the network helps you find another \u2026 you need to find a way of making the story alive because these stories need to be told.\u201d \u2014James Okong\u2019o<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-gridible-responsive-spacer\" style=\"height:32px\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Journalism Support Organizations (JSOs) are another effective tool to use. \u201cOne of the things that really helped us was all the journalism organizations that came to our defense,\u201d remarked one publisher. \u201cThey all jumped in and filed petitions with the court, defending us and supporting us. And it made a huge difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ultimately, the coming together of industry and public pressure holds great power. One speaker offered a specific recent example in Hungary.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We had one of the worst threats in Hungary when they were about to introduce the transparency law last year. That was practically a foreign agent law by nature,\u201d Kardos shared, adding, \u201cAnd it would have allowed the regime to practically prohibit our very existence, not talking only about our outlet, but any independent media entity, even personally, going after the key officers of those outlets and all that. But when all the remaining independent media went out to the square right in front of the parliament and held a livestream together, the pressure helped us win.\u201d \u2014Gabor Kardos<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-gridible-responsive-spacer\" style=\"height:32px\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CNTI will continue to hold discussions and conduct research that puts data to these types of anecdotes. We look forward to continuing to work with local partners on these discussions and to hearing from you. For now, we offer one final thought from one of our global colleagues:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Be prudent, be deliberative and be prepared.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-gridible-responsive-spacer\" style=\"height:32px\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-footnotes\"><li id=\"4f90f792-8cdd-4628-8cb5-6b938b8da13d\">The event was Chatham House Rule, so attributed quotes are for those who confirmed attribution for this publication. <a href=\"#4f90f792-8cdd-4628-8cb5-6b938b8da13d-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 1\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Fight for Press Freedoms Around the World<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":8599,"parent":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mbm_post_meta_color_slug":[],"_mbm_featured_category_id":"77","inline_featured_image":false,"_mbmamp_team_author_id":[9337,7825],"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"The event was Chatham House Rule, so attributed quotes are for those who confirmed attribution for this publication.\",\"id\":\"4f90f792-8cdd-4628-8cb5-6b938b8da13d\"}]"},"categories":[77],"tags":[108,153,67,17],"cnti-focus-area":[],"cnti-topic":[87,89],"class_list":["post-10552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-event-outtakes","tag-featured","tag-freedom-of-speech","tag-press-freedom","tag-press-release","cnti-topic-journalist-safety","cnti-topic-press-freedom"],"acf":{"cnti_article_quick_read_link_file":{"simple_value_formatted":"","value_formatted":"","value":"","field":{"ID":0,"key":"field_6609f4b7a6240","label":"Quick 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