New report details alarming rise in detentions, assaults on journalists in U.S.

Author: Devin Windelspecht, MSc

December 31, 2025

HRRC is deeply alarmed by the documented rise in the detention and physical assault of journalists in the United States, as outlined in the Freedom of the Press Foundation’s latest report. The routine detention of journalists signals a dangerous erosion of press freedom and a troubling shift in how authorities engage with independent media. HRRC calls on federal, state, and local authorities to immediately reaffirm and enforce protections for journalists, ensure accountability for abuses, and guarantee that members of the press can report freely and safely without fear of retaliation.

Freelance photojournalist Matthew Kaplan, at center left in green, was the first journalist known to be arrested this year, when he was detained covering an anti-deportation protest in Gary, Indiana, on Jan. 18, 2025. [Image credit: LISA KISELEVICH]

As press freedom is under increasing threat through legal and financial attacks in the United States, physical detention and assaults on journalists have also increased, according to a new report by the Freedom of the Press Foundation. 

In 2025, at least 32 instances of journalists being detained by law enforcement while reporting were documented, in what the Freedom of the Press Foundation says represents a fundamental shift in authorities’ relationship with the press. 

Nearly 90% of detentions took place during protests, the vast majority of which occurred during protests against efforts by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and deport “undocumented” immigrants. According to the report, documented instances involved journalists being detained for multiple hours at a time, sometimes while painfully handcuffed. 

Though most instances involved journalists being released without charges, the detentions themselves deprived journalists of their crucial role to document and record potential abuses by law enforcement during protests. 

“We know this chills their rights,” said Adam Rose, Chair of the Press Rights Committee for the LA Press Club and Deputy Director of Advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation, “but it also ends their shift.” 

Assaults on journalists have also spiked in tandem with arrests, with nearly as many reported assaults on journalists recorded as in the previous three years combined. Half of those detained report being assaulted by officers in the lead-up to or process of being detained, including being violently forced to the ground and beaten by batons. 

According to the Foundation, while covering immigration protests remains the riskiest beat for journalists’ safety and freedom, journalists have also been detained for routine news gathering, such as while covering city council meetings. The arrests represent a pattern of authorities “either poorly understanding the elements of routine newsgathering or purposefully using prosecutions to chill future reporting,” the report said. 

This year, press freedom in the United States has fallen to a record low, according to Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Tracker, classified as in a “difficult situation” for the first time in the tracker’s history. In addition to physical attacks on journalists, economic factors – which force news organizations to choose between editorial independence and financial sustainability – were considered the greatest challenge. 

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Glossary 

• Abuse - improperly using a position authority, such as by law enforcement, to perform actions that harm or deprive freedoms from another person. 

• Assault – the use of force or violence on an individual. 

• Batons - police weapons used for nonlethal crowd control, but that can often caused significant damage.

• Chill – to create an environment where people are afraid to speak out.  

• Detention - law enforcement holding an individual for a set amount of time, but without formally arresting them and charging them with a crime. 

• Document - recording an event.

• Editorial independence – the ability to report without external financial or political influence of what you cover or write about. 

• Financial sustainability - the ability to maintain enough funding to continue operations and pay employee salaries. 

• Fundamental – a core belief or pattern of action. 

• In tandem with – at the same time as. 

• Press Freedom – the ability of journalists to report independently without fear of harassment, arrest, assault or intimidation. 

• Prosecution - charging a person with a crime. 

• Routine – happening regularly. 

• Undocumented immigrants – immigrants who did not enter a country under legal patterns or overstayed the terms of a temporary legal immigration status, and are considered illegally living in the United States.