Press Brutalized Covering LA Protests as Assaults on Journalists Surge

The Los Angeles press corps is under siege. Photojournalist Nick Stern laid bare the reality at a recent LAPD board meeting, recounting how he was threatened with arrest, kicked in the chest, and shot with crowd-control munitions while covering protests at an immigration detention center. Stern’s ordeal is far from isolated. Our tracking reveals more than 200 documented aggressions against journalists in California since 2025, with over 100 assaults recorded in June 2025 alone.

Stern’s testimony, captured by documentarian Rocky Romano—himself a victim of police shoves, pepper balls, and camera damage—paints a grim picture of law enforcement’s hostility toward the press. Last year, Stern suffered a leg injury from a crowd-control munition that required surgery, prompting a lawsuit against Los Angeles County and its sheriff’s department.

This wave of violence is part of a broader crackdown on press freedom. At least 15 journalists were detained or caught in police kettles during LA protests earlier this year. Last summer, journalists and press organizations sued the Department of Homeland Security and Kristi Noem over retaliatory attacks during protests against federal immigration raids. Although a federal appeals court recently sent back a preliminary injunction protecting journalists for revision, it acknowledged the necessity of shielding First Amendment rights from law enforcement’s retaliatory intent.

The assault on press freedom extends beyond California. The Pentagon’s new policy requiring official escorts for journalists inside its buildings is temporarily upheld by an appeals court despite being ruled unconstitutional earlier. Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel has launched a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic over reporting on his conduct, and the FBI opened (and then dropped) an investigation into a New York Times reporter after she exposed Patel’s misuse of agency funds.

These attacks on journalists are not isolated incidents but part of a disturbing pattern of law enforcement and government agencies weaponizing their power to intimidate, silence, and punish the press. Independent journalist Justin Pulliam’s recent $75,000 settlement for unlawful arrest in Texas and the sentencing of violent attackers on journalists serve as rare victories in a landscape marred by repression.

The message from law enforcement is clear: covering protests and holding power accountable comes with a high personal risk. But as Stern’s defiant question—“What do I have to do so I don’t get brutalized by LAPD?”—makes painfully clear, the answer should never be to stay silent. We will keep tracking and exposing these abuses because press freedom is democracy’s frontline defense.