SPJ: Phoenix, Arizona Chapter

Photo by Samuel Schroth from Pixabay

Congress must intervene against what the Society of Professional Journalists and a coalition of press freedom groups and civil liberties organizations call a “perilous escalation” of government power targeting the free press, SPJ announced. 

In a Jan. 23 statement, SPJ said the coalition, led by Demand Progress, expressed alarm over the FBI’s raid on the home of Hannah Natanson, a reporter for The Washington Post. During that raid, agents seized Natanson’s phone, work computer, personal laptop and a smartwatch capable of tracking her movements.

The groups warn the raid “raises serious questions about whether federal authorities obtained a search warrant under false pretenses and in violation of the Privacy Protection Act of 1980,” SPJ said.

Read the entire SPJ statement and the coalition’s letter to congressional leaders here.