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August 26, 2026Independent Media & the New McCarthyism
The Trump administration has unleashed a McCarthyite crackdown on political dissent across the United States, and journalists who don’t toe the official line are in the government’s crosshairs. As is often the case in authoritarian repression of the press, independent and alternative media are the first to be attacked. The Trump administration has stopped journalists at the border and seized their phones, raided reporters’ homes in search of their sources’ information, and smeared political commentators as potential ‘extremists’ using guilt-by-association.
Defending Rights & Dissent has convened a panel of experts to discuss Independent Media and the New McCarthyism, breaking down the latest attacks and standing up for press freedom for all journalists.
The panel streamed live to our YouTube channel on Thursday, August 27, at 2pm ET / 11am PT.
Panelists include:
- Chip Gibbons, Defending Rights & Dissent Policy Director and author of The Imperial Bureau, a critical history of FBI repression, forthcoming from Verso Books
- Jenin Younes, President of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, attorney
- Seth Stern, Director of Advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation and former First Amendment lawyer
The panel will be hosted by The Dissenter editor Kevin Gosztola, who has reported on the crackdown on journalists and wider attacks on whistleblowers, reporters, and the freedom of the press.
Panelists will examine these recent attacks on independent media, including the search of journalists’ devices at the border and attempts to tar independent press as foreign agents, in the context of the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on dissent and the left.
