As journalists from major newsrooms find themselves locked out of reporting on the White House, despite a judge ruling the ban violates their rights under the First Amendment, incarcerated journalists are grappling with the potential implementation of a new cellphone jamming policy that could limit their ability to report on harms on the inside.

Alongside piecemeal media access to prisons across states, writers and journalists on the inside are the best positioned to share candid, on-the-ground dispatches of their experiences of the criminal legal system.

Read on for more, and find an abbreviated version of our media links on Instagram each week. (Here’s our most recent example.)

—James Salanga

Incarcerated journalists risk their lives to reveal the horrible truth about Georgia's prison system to the world. Yes, there exist bright spots where floors are not flooded with wastewater and fresh paint covers walls in the photograph background of smiling bureaucrats. But there have also been 1,895 prisoner deaths between January 2020 and September 2026.

We record names of staff members assigned to the area during death, videos of medical attention, and any removal of bodies in manners not always respectful of a fellow human being. 

But our ability to do so is being threatened. 

Off-camera, politicians have moved mountains of prison-related legislative paperwork to remove the ability of journalists on the inside to report the ongoing lack of control. Cellphone removal and blockage has become the priority mission of the Georgia Department of Corrections. Failing that, the department’s latest endeavor is to support Federal Communications Commission policy that would kill the radio signals upon which these phones rely.

Read the full story.

🗻 FOLLOW-UP: The bottom line of the Paramount merger is that now CBS News and CNN are controlled by one entity – the Ellison family – which has already ruined vibes at 60 Minutes and could easily do so at CNN, recently removed from the press pool by the Trump administration for unflattering coverage (see our take on this below). There’s also talks of bringing Elon Musk on as an investor.

✊ Solidarity … for now. Major news broadcasters Fox News, ABC, CBS, and NBC are removing themselves from the White House event coverage in solidarity with CNN and Politico, who were barred from the press pool for unflattering coverage of the administration. Even the New York Times said it will stop publication and distribution of images it gets in the press pool. A judge has issued a temporary restraining order on the press ban, but the reporters from barred outlets say they’re still facing restrictions.

🗞️ The state of Florida is suing the New York Times and alleging anti-Israel bias, arguing that the paper’s coverage of Palestine and Israel would harm shareholder value for the state’s agencies and public sector retirees. (Previous reporting has found the Times censored words like “genocide” in its related coverage.)

‼️ A new documentary NAZA (featuring interviews with anonymized IDF soldiers) received the longest-recorded standing ovation at the Venice International Film Festival. Columbia Journalism Review reported out how it’s also become a flashpoint in Israel, with the director’s homes being threatened with demolition by protestors outside (a traditional punishment for treason).

💬 FOLLOW-UP: Two weeks ago we covered how McClatchy cuts significantly reduced or eliminated Spanish-language coverage across the country. Still, other independent news organizations like Documented and L.A. Taco have been finding ways to ensure Spanish-speakers can get news — namely through WhatsApp. Independent news organizations like Documented and L.A. Taco are using WhatsApp and text messages to deeply report immigrant and immigration stories. 

Have a story you think we should include in this section of next week’s newsletter? Let us know here or by responding to this email.

This issue is by Marlee Baldridge and James Salanga. Thanks for reading. We’ll have more for you next week.

— 30 —