The United States of America is a country born from dissent, a country built on the backs of those willing to defiantly stand up against their oppressors. Since its founding, the nation has relied on the bravery of watchdogs, whistleblowers, and truth-seekers to spread information to the public.
People’s ability to speak not only their minds, but to share the truth in a public matter is a right that Americans have long recognized as vital to the success of a free society. As Founding Father James Madison said, “To the press alone, chequered (sic) as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity, over error and oppression.”
Today, student journalists in America are witnessing press freedom violations such as the restriction of The Associated Press’s, or the AP’s, access to the White House press pool, the Federal Communication Commission’s potential defunding of major public news broadcasts that will detrimentally affect thousands of Americans and the gutting of diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, information from federal websites.
“It places journalism schools – and their students – at an alarming intersection,” said The Nation reporter Mohamad Rimawi. The Trump administration’s attacks on the freedom of the press have left student journalists navigating a newly ever-changing, disastrously undefined, and dangerous media landscape.
A 2025 Pew Research Center survey by Naomi Forman-Katz and Kirsten Eddy found “a majority of Americans say the U.S. news media is not completely free to report the news.” The 2025 report by Katherine Jacobsen from the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, similarly highlights that President Donald Trump “has been quick to sue perceived critics or outlets that publish stories with which he disagrees.” The report also states the administration appears to be steering the country toward a “constitutional crisis” as it is “reluctant to adhere to certain court orders countering its acts.”
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.” According to the White House’s website, the order “enshrines the right of the American people to speak freely in the public square without Government interference.” It claims that the Biden administration “trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms,” and operates under the guise of preserving speech freedoms.
In reality, a Reporters Without Borders article stated the “policy appears designed to amplify disinformation,” and ultimately makes harmful information harder to combat. Reporters Without Borders, known as RSF, highlights how this “directly benefits an administration that has proven willing to spread disinformation that furthered (Trump’s) political interests on matters,” the organization said.
Along with sweeping policy changes, the Trump administration has also “begun to exert its power to punish or reward based on coverage” and is “setting a new standard for how the public can treat journalists” according to the report by CPJ.
On the first day of his presidency, Trump also signed an executive order titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness.” According to the White House website, the order states that the area “formerly named as the Gulf of Mexico” will be “renamed as the ‘Gulf of America.’” Amanda Barrett responded in an announcement that the AP “will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.”
Despite its promise to acknowledge Trump’s name change, CPJ reports that the AP’s decision to continue using the name it states Mexico has carried “for more than 400 years” has led to its reporters being “excluded from presidential media events,” – otherwise known as “pool” events — and despite a court decision ruling this unconstitutional, “AP journalists are still having difficulty accessing most pool events to which they previously would have had access.”
This intentional act of executive overreach represents the erosion of press freedoms and First Amendment rights that are leaving student journalists uncertain about how to move forward. The fundamental core of American journalism has always been to make the truth accessible, and a presidential decision such as this could establish the disastrous precedent of the president dictating who is or isn’t allowed in the press pool.
The CPJ report states, “most news outlets… cannot afford their own national and international correspondents” and subsequently rely on subscriptions “to agencies like the AP.” By barring the AP’s access to White House information, CPJ calls attention to the fact that it will “effectively cut off its subscribers’ access as well.”
American Founding Father Thomas Jefferson once said, “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.” On college campuses across America, “you can discern pervasive ‘fear’ as faculty, administrators and students try to navigate unprecedented attacks from Washington on academic freedom, freedom of expression and even press freedom,” says Charles Sennott in a LinkedIn op-ed. Sennott is the founder of GroundTruth, a media group dedicated to field reporting and thought leadership.
As reported on by NPR’s Obed Manuel and Michel Martin, in March a doctoral student in Somerville, Massachusetts, who, a month prior, “co-authored an opinion piece for Tufts’ student newspaper” criticizing the university’s relationship with Israel amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, was walking to dinner when she was abducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE — an arrest that NPR’s Leila Fadel and Destinee Adams say is “part of the Trump administration’s pledge to deport students in the U.S. on visas” who discuss issues deemed important to the administration in a particular light.
Similarly, in May, The Intercept’s Schuyler Mitchell reported that New York University’s School of Law “barred 31 pro-Palestine law school students from campus facilities” and “demanded that they sign away their right to protest” or else they would be unable to return to campus and subsequently fail their final exams.
The weight of this fear does not fall on international students alone, as The Nation’s Rimawi notes the “attack lines of ‘radical’ and ‘woke’ [ideology] are commonly wielded by Trump and his allies to undermine journalists” of any kind who attempt to speak against him.
The CPJ report says that “major news outlets are unsure how to react” and “owners and journalists alike are facing the choice of whether to placate the President or risk losing access.” Placation and appeasement of radical behavior is a slippery slope, and if news organizations are willing to forfeit their ethical responsibility to stand up against oppression and censorship, then it’s only a matter of time before the erosion of other journalistic values follows suit.
With consequences ranging from censorship and defunding to imprisonment and deportation, it’s no surprise that some student journalists are concerned about the state of their profession. Navigating a field that has been upended by what the CPJ report defines as “rhetorical attacks” and “a number of actions” that “will likely take decades to repair,” students are often left relying on their own sense of what is or isn’t “allowed.” This uncertainty places them in a bind, forcing them to ask: What is worth more – the truth or their safety?
For many student journalists, the dichotomy between the current administration’s approach to media and the ideals of traditional American press freedoms has created a deep sense of uncertainty. GroundTruth’s Sennott writes that this “hostile environment leaves student journalists trying to work through agonizing debates” surrounding how to discuss hot-button topics such as immigration, reproductive rights, and international relations.
Harvard University, established in 1636 and the oldest university in the United States, is one institution currently under fire by the Trump administration. In April, it sent a letter to Harvard that USA Today reporter Sara Pequeño claimed demanded “the university discontinue DEI initiatives, hire faculty and admit students who represented more diverse viewpoints and reform how the university is governed,” as well as stating the university “must deal with alleged antisemitism on campus.” Harvard President Alan Garber responded in a letter titled “The Promise of American Higher Education.” This letter stated blatantly that the university “will not surrender its independence” or “relinquish its constitutional rights.”
President Garber writes that Harvard recognizes that “freedom of thought and inquiry, along with the government’s longstanding commitment to respect and protect it, has enabled universities to contribute in vital ways to a free society.” He continues by saying, “All of us share a stake in safeguarding that freedom.”
CPJ states, “A robust and independent press can cover these issues and hold the powerful to account. A weakened press will struggle to tell the story of America to its people.” Despite the many uncertainties that journalists are facing in the United States, America is nothing if not a place born from dissent. No matter what freedoms are stripped, what policies are changed, or what history is attempted to be erased, it is an American ideal that individuals have an unalienable right to speak their mind – and Americans, such as the AP reporters and student journalists alike, will continue doing just that.