Journalists rely on confidential sources to uncover information that governments, corporations, and powerful individuals often want to keep hidden. When authorities subpoena journalists in attempts to compel them to reveal their reporting sources, they undermine one of the core functions of a free press in a democracy.
The U.S. Department of Justice under the second Trump administration has increasingly used subpoenas against journalists in connection with their reporting.
Publicly reported cases include subpoenas targeting at least 10 journalists, including reporters from
The New York Times
,
The Wall Street Journal
and
The Washington Post
, marking one of the most aggressive uses of legal powers against the press in the United States in decades. According to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, just
one
Justice Department subpoena was issued in the four years of Trump’s first term, and
three
were issued during former President Biden’s four-year term.
Here are five things you need to know about why subpoenas against journalists matter:
An extraordinary escalation
– Subpoenas ordering journalists to testify about their reporting are highly unusual. There have been only a handful of comparable cases over the past two decades—which typically came after exhausting other methods of investigation, not as a first step. Since January 2026, publicly reported cases of journalists receiving subpoenas included at least 10 journalists from
The New York Times
, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, and in several instances, federal agents delivered subpoenas to reporters’ homes. CPJ has condemned these actions
as an extraordinary escalation
of efforts to intimidate independent news organizations.
Confidential sources are essential
– Holding power to account with information of public interest is the bedrock of investigative journalism, and people are often
only willing to speak to journalists if their identities remain confidential
. When the gover
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