Press Freedom Issues Come to Fore As Trump 2.0 Launches

As Trump administration attorney general, Pam Bondi (at right) will have an outsized impact on press freedoms. But First Amendment groups point to a mixed record during her time as Florida attorney general. Photo: @PamBondi via X.

WatchDog Opinion: Press Freedom Issues Come to Fore As Trump 2.0 Launches

By Joseph A. Davis

 

EDGI is getting edgy again for Trump 2.0

An environmental watchdog group is once again tracking (and saving) the web content being censored from the website of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And the censorship has already started.

The reputation-defender firms like to tell us that nothing ever disappears from the web. True enough — but it can get harder to find. That’s why we’re grateful for the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative. During Trump 1.0, EDGI cataloged and saved troves of disappearing climate information from the EPA website.

Now they are reporting that all diversity, equity and inclusion content has been removed from EPA’s site. With Trump’s pick for EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, just confirmed by the full Senate Jan. 29, that’s just the beginning. It even makes you think that the EPA is being run from the White House.

Still, the removal of DEI content isn’t the real point; it’s the removal of DEI policies. The WatchDog takes it as a harbinger of the termination of environmental justice policies at the EPA.

Those who want to resurrect the missing EPA content have many options. We wrote about some of them in EJTransitionWatch shortly after the election. And there is always the Wayback Machine.

 

Got whistleblowers? Remember these good sources

As Trump 2.0 tightens its grip on environmental agencies, whistleblowers will be increasingly useful to journalists. Many reporters already know about Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

 

PEER was a source for many

of the stories about corruption and

regulatory capture at the EPA.

 

PEER was a source for many of the stories about corruption and regulatory capture at the EPA — not only during Trump 1.0 but also during the Biden administration. It was especially helpful in exposing pro-industry bias in EPA pesticide and chemical programs.

One reason PEER is good for muckraking is that it has lawyers — and they are pretty good at protecting sources (legally and otherwise). Environmental journalists will want to keep an eye on its site. Especially the background documentation, which it publishes a lot of.

But wait, there’s more! Journalists should know about Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. These guys have been around in one form or another for many years. They do protect whistleblowers, but they also draw attention to important stories about forest policy, nationally and in specific forests. And they will update you on parachuting beavers.

There are many other whistleblower groups to check out. For example, the Government Accountability Project. It is the home of Climate Science & Policy Watch. Others include the National Whistleblower Center and The Signals Network.

And remember: Protect your sources.

 

Reporters Committee reviews Bondi’s First Amendment record

The U.S. attorney general has a huge impact on press freedom.

For instance, the Department of Justice, under the attorney general’s direction, oversees federal implementation of the Freedom of Information Act through its Office of Information Policy. Historically, its policies have had a strong influence on which FOIA requests are ultimately fulfilled.

The DOJ under Biden and former Attorney General Merrick Garland also issued an official policy protecting reporters from being forced to reveal confidential sources. Trump’s attorney general could revoke that policy (and while Congress came close to enacting the PRESS Act, a federal reporter’s shield law, in 2024, it failed to do so).

Trump’s nominee for the post is former Florida attorney general, Pam Bondi, who was confirmed Feb. 4 by the Senate. At her Senate Judiciary confirmation hearing Jan. 15, Democrats pressed Bondi on whether she could be independent from Trump. One indicator: She refused to say whether former President Joe Biden had won the 2020 election.

 

Bondi, as Florida attorney general

from 2011 to 2019, had a mixed

record on press freedom.

 

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has compiled Bondi’s record on press freedom and newsgathering. Bondi, as Florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019, had a mixed record on press freedom, the RCFP reports.

Historically, Florida has had strong press freedom laws. For example, Bondi defended the public’s right to know the identities of people who have been arrested, particularly those accused of sex offenses. But in 2015, she agreed to a $700,000 settlement in a case alleging that she and the state’s governor hid communications records that should have been public.

Also of note: Bondi was on the legal team that defended Trump during his first impeachment. She later worked at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank for Trump supporters. At AFPI, she supported a Trump lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter and Google after his social media accounts were suspended following the Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt.

[Editor’s Note: For more on the new administration, check out our new Trump 2.0 EJWatch special section, which picks up where the EJTransitionWatch leaves off. And keep up with all our weekday Trump-related headlines with EJToday.]

Joseph A. Davis is a freelance writer/editor in Washington, D.C. who has been writing about the environment since 1976. He writes SEJournal Online's TipSheet, Reporter's Toolbox and Issue Backgrounder, and curates SEJ's weekday news headlines service EJToday and @EJTodayNews. Davis also directs SEJ's Freedom of Information Project and writes the WatchDog opinion column.

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* From the weekly news magazine SEJournal Online, Vol. 10, No. 6. Content from each new issue of SEJournal Online is available to the public via the SEJournal Online main page. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here. And see past issues of the SEJournal archived here.