The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, maintained by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, documented an extraordinary year of violence against journalists in 2025: 170 assaults, with 160 of them -- 94 percent -- committed by law enforcement. The total was nearly as many assaults as the previous three years combined. The Tracker also recorded 32 instances of journalists arrested or charged for doing their jobs, with 90 percent ultimately released without charges or with charges dropped.
Many of the assaults occurred during coverage of immigration enforcement operations, marking a new pattern in which press suppression became a functional component of deportation policy. Two-thirds of the arrest incidents occurred in California, reflecting the concentration of immigration enforcement in that state. A single location -- Broadview, Illinois, site of an ICE processing facility -- accounted for 34 documented assaults over just six weeks, suggesting systematic, deliberate intimidation rather than isolated incidents.
Key incidents included: photojournalist Matthew Kaplan arrested covering an anti-deportation protest in Gary, Indiana (January 18); at least 10 journalists kettled and detained in Los Angeles, including CNN correspondent Jason Carroll (June 9); independent journalist Nate Gowdy thrown to the ground and detained with excessively tight restraints (August 8); journalist Steve Held tackled and arrested by federal agents in Broadview (September 27); and PBS Frontline photojournalist Dave Decker struck multiple times with a baton, tackled, later arrested in Miami and detained 36 hours with hands cuffed behind his back for over 8 hours (October-November).
The financial cost of journalism also escalated: Decker alone faced approximately $1,850 in bond and impound fees, plus an estimated $16,000 in equipment damage. Half of arrested journalists reported being assaulted during their detention or arrest. The scale and pattern of violence against the press represented the most severe domestic threat to press freedom since the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker began keeping records, with the overwhelming concentration of assaults by law enforcement -- rather than private individuals -- indicating state-directed suppression of press coverage.