The threats and intimidation against the media is continuing with 404 Media becoming the latest victim of this campaign.
Notice: We understand that the collapse of America can be distressing to some American readers, but help is available. If you are suffering from a mental health crisis, you can call 988 to talk to someone.
If there is one thing that right wing politicians and high ranking officials in the US wants to make clear, it’s that if you dare question or criticize them in any way, they will come down hard on you. For them, your job is to act as a mouth piece for their politics and praise them in every way. During the election, convicted felon, Donald Trump said that he would jail journalists and revoke broadcast licenses of outlets that dared to criticize him in any way. Trump’s inner circle has been reflecting that effort to seek revenge as well.
Indeed, Trump’s FCC pick, Brendan Carr, has made it clear that he wants to end free speech on the internet. It didn’t take long for him to be nominated. Carr, at the time, didn’t necessarily make it explicit that he wanted to go after the media in particular, however, there is little indication that he wouldn’t carry out Trump’s marching orders.
Shortly after, Trump called on Republican’s to kill a journalism shield bill – legislation that is aimed at helping news organizations legally protect their sources in their effort to report the news.
Yesterday, I reported on Trump’s FBI pick, Kash Patel, issuing a legal threat against MSNBC. This only raised fears of a massive free speech crackdown by Trump once sworn into office.
Well, today, those fears aren’t exactly going away. Independent news organization, 404 Media, has also been threatened by right wing politicians. This by Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton. From Techdirt:
You ain’t seen nothing yet regarding how some MAGA politicians are going to harass and attack journalists. This week, it was revealed that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (who already has a history of trying to punish speech he dislikes) had issued a subpoena to 404 Media, an independent, journalist-owned-and-run news site that we link to frequently, in a blatant attempt to intimidate and harass them for their reporting.
Paxton is seeking 404 Media reporting materials and documents related to an internal Google privacy incident database that 404 Media reported on in June. He has demanded these documents as part of a broader lawsuit against Google that claims the company has violated a Texas biometric privacy law that has nothing to do with 404 Media.
As 404 Media notes, Paxton could have easily sought this information directly from Google itself rather than targeting journalists. The fact that he chose to subpoena 404 Media instead strongly suggests his true motive is intimidation, not legitimate fact-finding.
At the time, we did not publish the full database because it contains the personal information of potentially thousands of Google customers and employees, and cannot be reasonably redacted. The subpoena threatens to hold us in contempt of court if we do not comply with its subpoena.
Friday, our lawyers objected to the subpoena on the grounds that it is “oppressive” and because our confidential reporting is protected under the California Shield Law (404 Media is incorporated as Dark Mode LLC in the state of California). “The information and materials sought by the Subpoena are absolutely protected from compelled disclosure by the California Shield Law,” our attorneys wrote. “Dark Mode further objects to the Subpoena on the grounds that it calls for the disclosure of unpublished information that is independently protected from compelled disclosure under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 2(a) of the California Constitution.”
Simply put: If Ken Paxton wants Google’s privacy incident database, he should get it directly from Google, not from us.
This subpoena appears to be nothing more than an attempt to intimidate and harass journalists for reporting on matters of public interest. Really, this is just another example of harassing journalists with legally threatening nonsense.
As 404 notes, they’re using California’s Shield Law to protect their sources and unpublished materials.
The open question here is how far right wingers will go to attack, harass, and intimidate the press in general. Well, Trump hasn’t been inaugurated and we’ve already seen a subpoena and a separate legal threat. This along with promises of an even stronger crackdown further down the road as well. For any journalist out there, this is not a trend that you want to see. It’s entirely understandable that people are growing increasingly worried about all of this.
Notice: We understand that the collapse of America can be distressing to some American readers, but help is available. If you are suffering from a mental health crisis, you can call 988 to talk to someone.
