This is the latest installment of our press freedom round-up, recapping the latest attacks on journalists, their right to publish, and our right to know. Here’s the news for the week of February 1, 2025.
Journalist Richard Medhurst detained and threatened by Austrian police
In a video statement, British journalist Richard Medhurst has described how Austrian police and intelligence services had detained him, raided his house, took all his devices, and threatened him with revoking his residency permit and a 10-year prison sentence, implying that he is a Hamas operative.
Medhurst was arrested last year in August, at Heathrow Airport, when the police detained him for almost 24 hours, and seized all his devices. He is the first reporter to be arrested and under investigation in relation to the Section 12 of the UK Terrorism Act 2000.
Groups demand U.S. attorney for D.C. respect First Amendment
A coalition of civil society groups signed a letter demanding interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to clarify public statements suggesting he would use his public office to threaten critics of Elon Musk and the new Department of Government Efficiency, and to reaffirm his duty to uphold the First Amendment during any DOGE-related investigations.
The letter comes after Wired reported the names of DOGE employees, and a U.S. attorney for D.C. threatened them with prosecution. The letter stresses that the intimidation of journalists and people exercising their First Amendment rights, especially on behalf of public officials, have no place in a democracy.
Free Expression Groups Tell Senate Committee to Push Patel on Press Freedom
Press freedom and free expression groups have urged the Senate to ask President Trump’s nominee for FBI Director, Kashyap Pramod Patel, to clarify his positions on press freedom and focus the hearing on Mr. Patel’s past comments about how he is “going to come after” journalists.