June 14, Flag Day, 2026
Flag Day is a holiday celebrated on June 14 in the United States. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.
Sunday, June 14, 2026
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Gabriela Campos: A camera, trust and time: Honoring the legacy of borderlands photojournalist Nick Oza
Over the next year, Gabriela Campos will document the role of women within the lowrider and artistic culture of the Southwest after becoming the first recipient of the Nick Oza Visual Fellowship
Gabriela Campos has the wide smile and curious gaze of photographers who know how to see people, not just look at them. In the way she approaches and listens, there is something of photojournalist Nick Oza — that ability to move with people and turn fleeting moments into images charged with time, emotion and humanity.
That same sensitivity is what has now made her the first recipient of the “Nick Oza Visual Fellowship,” created by Altavoz Lab in honor of the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning Arizona photographer.
“It feels incredible,” says Valeria Fernández, founder and director of Altavoz Lab, an organization dedicated to guiding, training and supporting local journalists. “I think that with Gabriela’s selection, the project is going to take on a new life and begin to become the legacy of each of the photojournalists who participate.”
For Valeria, it is no longer only Nick’s fellowship. It becomes Gabriela Campos’ community fellowship, “and of whoever follows in her footsteps, and we want it to last for many years into the future.”
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
New Exhibit At Griffin Museum Includes Ashley Gilbertson and Mark Peterson
Via The Griffin Museum of Photography
Vision(ary) is the Griffin Museum of Photography’s annual summer public art exhibition dedicated to the art of visual storytelling. This public art installation features individual exhibitions with distinct photographic styles, including banners hung on light standards and art installations around the Griffin Museum.
From the Civil Rights Movement to contemporary struggles for racial equity, gender justice, environmental protection, labor rights, immigration reform, and democratic accountability, protest has shaped the American narrative.
Photography has been central to this history—documenting resistance, amplifying voices, and creating images that define collective memory.
In the light of America’s 250th anniversary, this year’s edition, Raising Our Voices, presents photographic projects that focus on advocacy, social justice, and activism within the United States—past or present.
Vision(ary) is supported by the Winchester Cultural District, Winchester Cultural Council, John & Mary Murphy Foundation, En Ka Society, Winchester Rotary, Winchester Savings Bank, Griffin Museum Directors Circle, and other cultural and private partners. The exhibition concept and Photo Cube structures are designed by our long time producing partner, Photoville.
Ashley Gilbertson
On September 14, 2008, financial markets around the world plummeted, heralding the beginning of the current economic crisis, the most severe since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Bear Sterns and Lehmann Bros. went bankrupt overnight, and trillions of dollars were invested by the federal government in bail-outs and loans. The nucleus for the crash was Wall Street, where high risk complex bonds turned into toxic assets and unregulated trading imploded.
Three blocks from the Stock Exchange and almost exactly three years later, the Occupy Wall Street protest movement began.
For two months hundreds of people occupied a small wind swept plaza known as Zuccotti Park, where tents, a kitchen, a library, and a twenty-four hour drum circle were quickly set up. Occupiers represented hundreds of different causes, though their overarching frustrations lay with economic inequality and corporate greed. Their slogan “We are the 99%” referred to the enormous income gap between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population.
These pictures depict Wall Street during the crash in 2008 and the Occupy movement of 2011. --Ashley Gilbertson
“The Memory Hole is a look at America from November 5, 2024 when President Trump was elected to a second term, till the present, how it has changed America. I am photographing this time for others to see knowing that in the future these images will be dismissed as fake news . As in The Memory Hole in George Orwell’s book 1984, the truth will be burned: ‘There was a memory hole in the opposite wall. O’Brien lifted the grating. Unseen, the frail slip of paper was whirling away on the current of warm air; it was vanishing in a flash of flame. O’Brien turned away from the wall. ‘Ashes,’ he said. ‘Not even identifiable ashes. Dust. It does not exist. It never existed.'” --Mark Peterson
Ashley Gilbertson and Mark Peterson have photographs included in the current exhibition "America The Beautiful", on view at Monroe Gallery through August 9, 2026.
Monday, June 8, 2026
Gallery Talk - RYAN VIZZIONS: From Standing Rock To Minneapolis
Ryan Vizzions: Faces of Fascism, Minneapolis, January, 2026
On July 4, 2026, our nation will commemorate and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence amid the erosion of civil rights, human rights, and democratic norms. Monroe Gallery presents a special Artist Talk in conjunction with the current exhibition "America The Beautiful".
In September of 2016, Ryan Vizzions traveled from Atlanta, Georgia to stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock NoDAPL movement. Bringing his camera with him, but not intending to be a media source, Vizzions soon found himself using social media to reach over half a billion people with his documentation of events unfolding over the months and helped bring awareness around the world to the movement.
In late 2020 Vizzions embarked on a long term, multi-year project traveling and photographing across the United States to create a photography book documenting all 50 states. Vizzions documented "Operation Metro Surge" in January, 2026 by ICE in Minneapolis involving roughly 3,000 federal agents, leading to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti. His phootograph of a masked ICE agent appeared as a full-page spread in the February 1 edition of The New York Times Opinion section.
Vizzions has contributed considerable time to photographing and archiving the street memorial of Renee Good.
Thursday, July 2, 2026
Starting promptly at 5:30 pm. Seating is limited and live on Zoom
RSVP essential to info@monroegallery.com or 505 992 0800
Zoom registration here
Thursday, June 4, 2026
Schapiro’s stunning images of jazz greats in New York – from Dizzy Gillespie to Elvin Jones – make up a new book featuring a foreword by late saxophone icon Sonny Rollins
June 3, 2026
Dizzy Gillespie, Apollo theatre, New York, 1962. Photograph by Steve Schapiro
The Guardian: ‘It’ll never be like that again’: Sonny Rollins and Steve Schapiro on jazz’s golden age – in pictures
Vanity Fair: The Late Sax Master Sonny Rollins on Steve Schapiro’s Forgotten Photos of Jazz Giants
WBGO: Steve Schapiro’s Jazz: History hiding in plain sight for 60 years
Sonny Rollins, Apollo Theater, New York, 1962. Photograph by Steve Schapiro
Please contact the Gallery for fine art print details.
Sunday, May 31, 2026
SEIZED transforms a headline-grabbing event into a deeply human story that is urgent, unsettling, and impossible to ignore
May 31, 2026
A gripping, stranger-than-fiction investigative thriller, SEIZED plunges audiences inside the troubling police raid on the Marion County Record. What begins as a shocking small-town incident quickly spirals into a national story, exposing how corruption, politics, and decades-long tensions turned a quiet Kansas community into a battleground over the First and Fourth Amendments. The film unfolds in real time through police body-cam and surveillance footage, revealing the chaos of the raid, the bombshells that followed, and the devastating personal toll on the newsroom, including the tragic death of its 98-year-old co-owner.
Director Sharon Liese allows the story to unfold with nuance, surprise, eccentric characters, and moments of humor. By letting each voice speak for itself, she crafts a rare documentary in which sympathies shift moment to moment, revealing how truth, ego, and fear collide in real time. Blending the juicy intrigue of a classic muckraking narrative with a clear-eyed exploration of power, politics, and the fragility of a free press, SEIZED transforms a headline-grabbing event into a deeply human story that is urgent, unsettling, and impossible to ignore.
Saturday, June 13
1:30 PM - 3:15 PM
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
641 D St NW, Washington, DC 20004
Friday, May 29, 2026
Broken fingers and busted cameras: Photojournalists say ICE targeted them during wild clash outside Delaney Hall
May 29. 2026
Photojournalists in federal agents’ sights
As the night grew later, several photojournalists alleged they were purposely targeted and attacked by some of the agents.
Reuters photojournalist Ryan Murphy told amNewYork that he was beaten with a baton over the last several nights, and on Thursday, they aimed for his camera. He believes the blow they struck broke a finger.
“I had just photographed a guy on the ground getting bear-sprayed in the face, turned around to another protester getting shoved or something, and I was just hit by a baton in the finger next to my flash, and yeah, my hand just went numb. My flash flew on the ground,” Murphy recalled. “There is a big gash on my middle finger. It was bleeding pretty badly, I think it’s broken.”
Murphy ultimately left the scene and transported himself to a local hospital for treatment.
Another photographer alleged she was purposefully shoved to the ground. Madison Swart, a frequent contributor to The New York Times, said she was documenting the clash when an agent struck her with a baton, knocking her to the ground.
“I was moving back as they were asking us to and I got shoved with a baton, and I fell because it was very forceful. And then another agent did help me up, but it wasn’t the same one that pushed me,” Swart said. “I was just a little in shock, just because I’ve never fallen while shooting before, and so I, I’m kind of like still trying to process in my head how I could have reacted maybe a little bit better, but at the same time, when someone who is like twice my body size pushes me, I don’t know if there’s much more I can really do.”
Another photographer could be seen huddling in the fetal position as agents trampled over her, while another prominent photographer, who asked not to be named, had the top of his camera smashed."
Full article with photographs here.
Friday, May 22, 2026
Stars and Strife: Monroe Gallery of Photography Exhibition Puts Sharp Focus on Images of Division and Democracy in Peril
By Ania Hull
May 22, 2026
David Butow's photograph of "A protester at Ferguson police headquarters two nights after the Grand Jury decision, November 24, 2014" on the cover of Pasatiempo
“I think I was mistaken in thinking that democracy was a birthright,” Michelle Monroe says.
The co-owner of Monroe Gallery of Photography is sitting behind a large desk at the front of the art space, with her husband, Sidney Monroe. The two gallerists and curators are both warm and sharp and have no qualms about speaking their minds on the theme reflected in their latest show: America is in serious trouble.
The walls of the gallery that are visible from the front desk are filled with dozens of prints by photojournalists who’ve witnessed first-hand that "trouble" the Monroes speak of: they illustrate discrimination, racism, social and political violence, erasure of history, poverty, and the crumbling of one of the world’s oldest modern democracies. The prints are all part of America the Beautiful, a new group exhibition that opened earlier this month and runs through August 9.
The Monroes contend that some people refuse to see an unwashed version of their country — and also concede that it is difficult to look at photos that unveil the difficult, distressing, and ugly moments of American history. But the goal of this exhibition, the Monroes say, is to bring the issues to light in the hope that viewers will not turn away.
The exhibition commemorates the 250th anniversary of the birth of the nation and of the American experiment, doing it in a way that shows a beautiful America with gorgeous vistas but also reveals a side that viewers might be less comfortable seeing, the scenes of the United States of America hidden behind Old Glory.
“We were seeing exhibitions and plans being put into place for commemorating the 250th anniversary,” Sydney says, “and we’ve seen a lot of sanitization of our reality.
“One of the great benefits of representing photojournalists is that they document history,” he adds. “Their photographs are evidence.”
The photographs are from a range of eras, beginning in the 1930s up to this year, and reflect varying topics, such as protests, veterans, immigrants' rights, and symbols of poverty and other financial hardships.
And perhaps these images aren't the ones we want to see to inspire us to celebrate this national milestone but rather represent, the Monroes say, an opportunity to face our demons.
It begins with the flag
The Monroes keep a glass container on their front desk filled with individually wrapped whistles of the same kind anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis used to alert their immigrant neighbors of an imminent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid.
Ryan Vizzions: Faces of Fascism, Minneapolis, January, 2026
The Monroes share these whistles with gallery visitors. Last year, they gave out “Good Trouble” pins. This summer, Michelle says, they will distribute pins bearing an upside-down American flag, a symbol of distress.
A photo by independent photojournalist Tracy Barbutes in America the Beautiful shows an upside-down American flag hanging from El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. It was hung in protest of the thousands of federal job cuts that President Trump’s administration imposed early in 2025.
Many other prints in America the Beautiful feature various depictions of the American flag, many showing it as a symbol of identity, joy, and hope but also of oppression and violence.
“I suppose the American flag is like the crown,” Michelle says. “We formed against a monarchy, but we still needed a universal symbol, and the interpretation of the flag depends on who's holding it.”
Sanjay Suchak: Scene from a birthday party…Washington, Dc, June 14, 2025
In another print in the exhibition — the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Soiling of Old Glory” that Boston Herald American photographer Stanley J. Forman took in 1976 during an anti-bussing protest in Boston — the American flag is used as weapon: A white teenager, Joseph Rakes, holds it by its pole and thrusts it finial toward Black activist and lawyer Ted Landsmark, who’s being helped to his feet by another person.
In the 2006 photograph “Ty with Flags” by documentary photographer and filmmaker Nina Berman, young Marine Sgt. Tyler Ziegel stands on the porch of his house in the shadow of a large American flag. Ziegel was seriously wounded during his second tour in Iraq by a suicide car bomber. He died in 2012 of heroin and alcohol poisoning. This photo was taken the morning of his wedding, which ended in divorce that same year.
Berman says the photo of Ziegel and others in her series of veteran photos show the realities of war and the toll of the American flag on the bodies of soldiers who’d been sent to fight for it, often not even understanding what the conflict was about.
Ron Haviv: Anti ICE protestors clash with ICE agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building during a protest January 17, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota
The atrocities continue through current events. Noted human rights photojournalist Ron Haviv's image in the show depicts a scene in Minneapolis on January 17 as anti-ICE protestors clash with ICE agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building. The American flag in Haviv’s photo obscures more than half of the scene but gives prominent focus to an ICE agent in full police-like uniform, with a bullet-proof vest and a mask reminiscent of gas masks from WWII. Behind him are other ICE agents in helmets and one in a makeshift mask made from a neck warmer.
Flags appear throughout America the Beautiful, often as a reminder that the American dream of freedom, equality, justice, opportunity is not a given.
“There’s a constant tension,” Sidney says, “between those who want to expand freedom and people’s opportunities, and people who want to restrict and determine who can be given an opportunity and who cannot.”
“You are not entitled to democracy,” Michelle adds, returning to her earlier remark that democracy is not a birthright. “It’s a responsibility. In the preamble of the Constitution, it says we must form a more perfect union. Well, now I understand that this is the responsibility of every single day. Just as a parent loves and nurtures a child, we must do the same with democracy.”
Photojournalist Ryan Vizzions’ photograph of a man standing atop a sign at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta during the May 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in response to the police killing of George Floyd symbolizes those who stand up against injustice and refuse to remain silent.
In the photo, the young man's sign reads “Black Lives Matter” in large letters. As he wields the flag, he tilts his face toward the sky, his mouth open, and he screams.
details
America the Beautiful
Opening reception is 4-6 p.m. Saturday, May 23; exhibition runs through August 9
Monroe Gallery of Photography
112 Don Gaspar
505-992-0800; monroegallery.com
Sunday, May 17, 2026
America The Beautiful - Reception Saturday, May 23 4-6 PM
Exhibition of compelling and provocative photographs illustrating America, American life, and the American people as the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday amid the erosion of civil rights, human rights, and democratic norms.
On July 4, 2026, our nation will commemorate and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “America The Beautiful” confronts the idea that “American” is a uniform, monolithic identity at a critical time when our Democracy is under attack. Threats to free expression are rising, federal civil rights laws have been weakened and the foundations of the country’s racially inclusive democracy are being challenged
Through more than 40 enthralling images, “America The Beautiful” explores the rituals, celebrations, social change, history, and memories of the American nation. Photographs in the exhibit depict major events and everyday life; themes of patriotism, memory, conflict, and identity; and documents Americans struggling for their freedom; their right to live without fear, their right to speak and the right to protest inequities.
Friday, May 15, 2026
‘You look at it and you just feel better’: this year’s Photoville festival highlights
May 15, 2026
Ashley Gilbertson and Ava Pellor - Puppies Behind Bars. Photograph: Ashley Gilbertson and Ava Pellor
"The extremely moving collection Puppies Behind Bars is the fruit of the nearly two years that photographers Ashley Gilbertson and Ava Pellor spent in the men’s maximum security Green Haven, documenting the titular program wherein those incarcerated raise puppies to become service dogs. Organization founder Gloria Gilbert Stoga shared that she instinctively knew that she wanted a war photographer to document what happened behind bars, because of the extreme nature of prisons.
“I wanted a war photographer, because going into prison isn’t something you can articulate to people who aren’t in prison,” Stoga said. “My assumption is that you also can’t articulate war. I needed people who could stay emotionally removed from the subject.”
Gilbertson, who is renowned for his photos of the Iraq war, fit that description, and was joined by Pellor, who has captured extreme experiences such as wildfires and illegal border crossings in the Balkans. Their photos take viewers into terrain that is both brutal and hidden, revealing how the act of raising a dog can transform this horrifying reality.
The dogs humanize an environment that’s devoid of all humanity,” said Gilbertson. “It gives men who have committed grave crimes against society a chance to do something, it gives men a chance to show weakness and vulnerability to be emotionally open and playful, it gives them a sense of responsibility. For the first time in their lives these men are sticking with something when it becomes tough.”
Pellor recalled in particular a photo she made of one of the men in the program when he received his puppy to raise, the act of receiving the dog bringing tears. “I think it was their first time taking them out for a walk in the yard, and he just put his head up to the puppy’s head and started crying,” said Pellor. “After that, he wouldn’t let him go that entire day.” ---full article
Sunday, May 10, 2026
Photographer Gabriela Campos is having quite the year
By Bill Church
May 10, 2026
Gabriela Campos is proof that curiosity can turn into a career. A shy kid into a visual star. No doubt.
The Santa Fe New Mexican photographer’s career has gained a national following, yet no one who knows her is surprised.
Gabriela recently was named the inaugural recipient of the national Nick Oza Visual Fellowship as selected by Altavoz Lab, founded by award-winning journalist Valeria Fernández on the belief that “strong local journalism strengthens democracy.” The fellowship is named after Oza, the Pulitzer-winning photojournalist known for mentoring others and forging important connections in Arizona’s immigrant communities before his death in 2021.
Gabriela will continue to work for The New Mexican during her fellowship while also tackling a 12-month project of documenting the “unsung women of New Mexico’s lowrider culture.”
Gabriela’s project work landed her on the May 2025 cover of High Country News magazine. And National Geographic recently selected her work for inclusion.
For those traveling to Washington, D.C., this summer, spend time at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History along the National Mall. You’ll find Gabriela’s images prominently displayed in the Marcia and Frank Carlucci Hall of Culture and the Arts located on 3 West.
If you go online to the Corazón y vida: Lowriding Culture site, you’ll immediately find one of Gabriela’s photos. The exhibit describes lowriding culture as “artistic expression, technological innovations, and storytelling that reflects Mexican American and Chicano culture and identity.” (Educators and anyone curious will find plenty of media-rich resources in the Smithsonian’s Learning Lab tied to the exhibit.)
I recently took a trip to Washington, D.C., where seeing Gabriela’s art was a must-see, must-smile moment. I also sent Gabriela a short list of questions, which she responded to between assignments and everything else going on in her life.
Her answers were so illuminating that I shifted from a typical column about Gabriela and the exhibit to this Q&A format (with some light editing).
Not surprising, Gabriela’s story is best told by Gabriela:
How did you learn your work had been accepted by the Smithsonian?
The process started years ago. I had just gotten home from a shift at the newspaper when my phone buzzed — it was an email from Steve Velasquez, a curator at the Smithsonian. He was interested in talking about my lowrider work in New Mexico. That was June 2021. After a few emails and calls, I submitted a portfolio. From there, everything fell into place.
Why has lowrider culture interested you? Has it influenced how you tell stories through your images?
Growing up in New Mexico, lowrider culture is always there, just at the edges of everyday life. You see cars cruising the Plaza, and it becomes part of your visual memory. I remember in kindergarten, my friend Domino brought in the song “Low Rider” by War for show and tell — that moment stuck with me.
As I got older, especially in high school, I became more drawn to cruise culture. Growing up in Santa Fe, you have to be creative to entertain yourself as a teenager. My friends and I would spend hours driving around town and hanging out in parking lots — not in particularly cool cars, but there was something freeing about it. That sense of movement, community and expression continues to shape how I tell stories through my images.
What was it like for you to see the exhibit in Washington, D.C.?
The exhibit was postponed for a couple of years due to COVID and the complexity of putting a show like that together. For a while, I wasn’t sure it would happen at all. So when the date was finally set, it felt unreal — and being there in person was even more surreal.
Seeing my photos on the wall brought me back to the exact moments they were taken: my first hopping competition in Española, Holy Thursday outside the Santuario de Chimayó, chasing a gold Impala down East San Francisco Street to catch it perfectly framed against the cathedral — while my mom followed behind me to make sure I didn’t get hit by a car.
Looking at the images, I saw friends and familiar faces. I didn’t feel far from home.
One of my favorite moments happened during the rollout after the festivities of opening day at the museum came to a close. A car club from Virginia lined up outside the museum. A rollout is when cars leave together — horns blaring, hopping, riding on three wheels — it’s a moment to show off. I was on the sidewalk taking photos, like I do at home, but this felt different. To my left were Estevan Oriol and Lou Dematteis — legends in lowrider photography. To my right was my 7-year-old nephew, Henry, crouched down, filming the cars weaving down the street. My mom, sister, and best friend were nearby, taking it all in.
The car club had blocked off the street, and the cars performed in front of these grand, pillared buildings. It felt like a collision of worlds — New Mexico lowrider culture meeting Washington, D.C. — and it was beautiful.
As the cars disappeared down the road, Oriol and Dematteis turned to me and asked if I’d take a photo with them. I couldn’t believe it — that they would want a picture with me, a newspaper photographer from New Mexico.
How did you become a photographer? What sparked this passion?
Up until about fifth or sixth grade, the world was a blur. Then I got glasses, and suddenly everything changed. Trees that once looked like green smudges had definition — I could see individual leaves, texture, detail. That shift gave me a deep appreciation for the visual world, and I think it’s part of why I became a photographer.
During my senior year of high school, I took my first photography class, and right away I knew it was something I wanted to pursue. It just felt right. Having a camera felt like being handed a key — a way to open doors and connect with people.
As a shy kid, I was just as curious — and my camera became a way to step into conversations, explore the world around me, and tell stories I otherwise wouldn’t have been part of. After that first class, I never stopped taking pictures.
For years after, I tried to convince myself photography wasn’t a practical path. How would I make it? How could I survive as a photographer? But every road kept leading me back to photojournalism. Eventually, I stopped resisting and accepted that this is what I’m meant to do. I’m grateful it worked out and that I kept going when it wasn’t always easy.
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
AIPAD and the beautiful problem of photography’s market power
May 6, 2026
"The extraordinary show-out for AIPAD this year seems to prove something the art world has been whispering for years and is, perhaps, finally ready to say aloud: photography has arrived not as a secondary medium, not as decorative evidence, not as the tasteful cousin of painting, but as one of the most intellectually potent, historically loaded, and emotionally exacting forms in the contemporary market.
At The Photography Show presented by AIPAD, held at the Park Avenue Armory from April 22–26, 2026, the medium was given the scale, seriousness, and theatricality it has long deserved. The fair brought together international exhibitors, historically significant work, contemporary experimentation, and the newly introduced Focal Point sector, which emphasized solo presentations and lens-based practices that expand the definition of what photography has been and what it may still become. AIPAD, organized in 1979, remains a defining expert voice for fine art photography dealers, and its flagship fair is described as the longest-running exhibition dedicated to the photographic medium in the world."--full article
View the Monroe Gallery exhibit at The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD here.
Observer "In an Age of Image Overload, AIPAD’s The Photography Show Reminds Us What a Photograph Can Do"
Saturday, May 2, 2026
This World Press Freedom Day, American journalists are under attack
Via Freedom Of The Press Foundation
Holding foreign regimes accountable for press freedom is essential. But this year, the U.S. needs to take a hard look in the mirror, too.
Since last year’s World Press Freedom Day, our U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented hundreds of press freedom violations in the United States, the equivalent of more than one per day. Taken together, these incidents are evidence of an unprecedented, coordinated assault on press freedom being led by the highest levels of our government.
From the streets of Minneapolis to the halls of the Pentagon, the Trump administration is dismantling the First Amendment right to gather and report the news.
The majority of press freedom incidents cataloged by the Tracker since last May 3 are of journalists being assaulted and arrested while covering protests.
Most reporters arrested at demonstrations have their charges dropped later. But not journalists Don Lemon, Georgia Fort, and Junn Bollman. They now face bogus charges under federal prosecution for engaging in obviously constitutionally protected reporting while covering a protest at a St. Paul, Minnesota, church in January.
They’re not the only journalists being prosecuted for covering anti-immigration enforcement protests in Minnesota. Photographer John Abernathy — who was pictured tossing his camera to another photographer to protect it, while being surrounded and arrested by federal agents at a different protest in a Minneapolis suburb last January — is also facing federal criminal charges.
Outside the context of protests, multiple federal agencies are also trying to redefine routine journalism as wrong or illegal.
Perhaps most notoriously, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tried to ban reporters from the Pentagon unless they signed what amounts to a loyalty pledge promising not to ask sources for information. Even after a court said the ban (and a subsequent rewrite) was unconstitutional, the government continues to fight for the right to exclude reporters who aren’t interested in acting as Pentagon stenographers.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and former Attorney General Pam Bondi have tried to chill reporting by accusing journalists of “doxxing” or fomenting violence against federal immigration agents by naming them or photographing them in public. They’ve threatened to prosecute CNN for reporting on an ICE-watching app and coerced app stores into removing that software, a clear violation of the Constitution.
At the FBI, Director Kash Patel launched a retaliatory “stalking” investigation into New York Times reporter Elizabeth Williamson because Williamson did her job: reaching out to Patel’s girlfriend Alexis Wilkins to ask for a comment on reporting that Patel was using government resources on Wilkins’ behalf. Even the Department of Justice thought that was too much, concluding there was no legal basis for the investigation of Williamson.
But perhaps no government official has done more to target journalism on Trump’s behalf than Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr. By threatening to punish broadcasters for reporting and editing news, and encouraging media mergers meant to benefit the Trump administration, Carr has shown he’s willing to trade the First Amendment (and whatever dignity he has left considering he wears a gilded bust of Trump as a lapel pin) for political points.
Waging war on whistleblowers
The Trump administration is also moving aggressively to shut down journalists’ relationships with their sources.
In January, the FBI raided the home of Washington Post journalist Hannah Natanson, the “federal government whisperer” who’d written about the hundreds of her confidential sources from within the government. When the agency asked a court for the search warrant allowing the raid, the government purposefully omitted any mention of the Privacy Protection Act of 1980, a federal law that prohibits such raids in almost all circumstances.
More recently, the DOJ used the Espionage Act to charge Courtney Williams, a former Army employee who spoke to reporter Seth Harp about sexual harassment and discrimination in the military. Like most Espionage Act cases involving reporters and sources, this case doesn’t seem to be about national security. It’s about hiding government misconduct by retaliating against journalists and sources who expose it.
A pattern of persecution
This is only the tip of the iceberg. We haven’t even gotten into the SLAPP lawsuits, the attacks on immigrant journalists, the threats to jail journalists who refuse to burn sources, the yanking of funding from public media, and so much more.
In other words, the U.S. is rapidly joining the ranks of the world’s worst press freedom offenders.
But it’s not too late to fight back.
Newsrooms can sue over press freedom violations and win. Lawmakers can reform the Espionage Act and Privacy Protection Act, and pass a federal shield law protecting journalists and their sources. Journalists can and should write and speak out about press freedom violations. The public can take action to demand that the Trump administration stop treating the First Amendment like a suggestion.
The United States can’t lead the world in defending press freedom on World Press Freedom Day when it’s actively dismantling it at home. It’s time to stop asking the Trump administration to respect the First Amendment. We need to use the courts, Congress, and the power of the people to force it.
See the exhibition Imagine A World Without Photojournalism
Thursday, April 30, 2026
Global press freedom falls to lowest level in 25 years, RSF warns
April 30, 2026
Freedom of the press has fallen to its lowest level in a quarter of a century, NGO Reporters without Borders (RSF) warned Thursday as it released its annual global ranking. The group reported a worldwide decline in media freedom, citing factors ranging from US President Donald Trump’s “systematic” attacks on the press to actions in Saudi Arabia, where a journalist was executed in 2025.
The NGO's annual ranking, which was established in 2002, uses a five-point scale to asses the level of press freedom in a country, ranging from "very serious" to "good".
This year's index reveals a global trend towards restricting press freedoms.
"For the first time in the index’s 25-year history, more than half the world’s countries now fall into the 'difficult' or 'very serious' categories for press freedom," RSF said.
The proportion of the population living in a country where the press freedom situation is "good" has plummeted, falling from 20% to "less than 1%", it said.
Only seven countries in northern Europe are ranked "good", with Norway receiving the highest rating. France ranks 25th, with a ‘"satisfactory" score.
“In 25 years, the average score for all the countries studied has never been so low,” the NGO said.
The United States, received a "problematic" rating and has dropped seven places to 64th, between Botswana and Panama.
The organisation said US President Donald Trump's attacks on the press had become “systematic” resulting in such incidents as the detention and subsequent deportation of the Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara, who was reporting on the arrests of migrants in the United States.
Trump has also overseen a drastic reduction in funding for US international broadcasting.
RSF also highlighted the dramatic falls of El Salvador (143rd), which has dropped 105 places since 2014 following the launch of a war against the Maras criminal gangs, and Georgia(135th), which has fallen 75 places since 2020 due to an “escalation of repression”.
The sharpest decline in 2026 is attributed to Niger (120th, down 37 places) due to the “the deterioration of press freedom in the Sahel over several years”, amid “attacks by armed groups and (the) ruling juntas”, RSF said.
Saudi Arabia (176th, down 14 places), where the columnist Turki al-Jasser was executed by the state in June – “a unique occurrence in the world” – sits alongside Russia, Iran and China at the very bottom of the ranking, which is rounded out by Eritrea (180th).
By contrast, Syria (141st) has leapt 36 places following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
In solidarity with Fall Of Freedom, Monroe Gallery is honored to present a preview of the important exhibition "America The Beautiful"
In solidarity with Fall Of Freedom, Monroe Gallery is honored to present a preview of the important exhibition "America The Beautiful", May 1 & 2.
On July 4, 2026, our nation will commemorate and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “America The Beautiful” confronts the idea that “American” is a uniform, monolithic identity at a critical time when our Democracy is under attack. Threats to free expression are rising, federal civil rights laws have been weakened, and the foundations of the country’s racially inclusive democracy are being challenged.
Opening reception Saturday, May 23, 4-6 pm.
Ryan Vizzions
Fall Of Freedom is a focused, urgent call to artists and arts institutions across all sectors to make art, music, plays, exhibitions, comedy, and beautiful protests foregrounding artistic labor and aligned with immigrants' rights organizing, to amplify all struggles against repression and state violence.
Due process gutted. Universities threatened and defunded. Students kidnapped. Migrants deported. Troops deployed. Racism rampant. Cruelty celebrated. Political leaders arrested. Citizenship stripped. Health care shredded. Women's rights rescinded. Wealth concentrated. Free speech eliminated. Genocide normalized. Science undermined. Arts assaulted. Journalism targeted. Departments shuttered. Grants rescinded. Trans banned. Lawyers capitulating. Coup makers pardoned. Budgets slashed. Abortion outlawed. Courts stacked. Boards replaced. Police unleashed. Nazis emboldened. Bombs dropped.
This is why we must resist. More here.
Friday, April 24, 2026
Behind the Lens With Ron Haviv
Via Human Rights Educators USA
Behind the Lens
Go beyond the headlines with our speakers as they share the challenges, risks, and defining moments of documenting ICE and pivotal current events shaping our world today.
Stephanie Heimann – Photo Director at The New Republic, a veteran visual editor specializing in politics, global issues, and the environment.
Ron Haviv – Emmy-nominated filmmaker and award-winning photojournalist, co-founder of VII, whose work on conflict and human rights has shaped global conversations and appeared worldwide.
April 25th, 10am- 11am EDT
Register:
Photographers Giles Clarke, Ron Haviv and Shelby Lee Adams join moderator Rick Smolan for a conversation on the evolving role of photojournalism and documentary practice today. Reflecting on the power and responsibility of the image, the panel considers how personal vision, ethics and context shape the stories photographers tell—and how those stories resonate in an age of constant visual exchange.
In an Age of Image Overload, AIPAD’s The Photography Show Reminds Us What a Photograph Can Do
April 23, 2026
Across historic masters, frontline documentarians and experimental voices, the fair builds a compelling case for a medium that keeps expanding without losing what makes it irreplaceable.
Ashley Gilbertson, Monsters on Halloween, 2025. © Ashley Gilbertson
Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography
These are “images that are embedded in our collective consciousness and which form a shared visual heritage for human society,” founder Sid Monroe told Observer, when asked about the significance of photojournalism in an era of manipulated media. Also in the booth is a group of images from Diné (Navajo) photographer Eugene Tapahe’s “Jingle Dress Project,” which aims to bring global attention to Native American issues, including land acknowledgment, women’s rights and, most urgently, the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). A powerful image of fierce Native American sisters standing in the snow against a bright blue sky, dressed in traditional, colorful clothing—resolute and determined as they face the unknown horizons of their culture—is an absolute standout of this edition.
Eugene Tapahe, Togetherness, Sisters, Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, Goshute and Timpanogos, 2023 Courtesy Monroe Gallery of Photography
Completing the presentation are vintage photographs, including iconic shots by Tony Vaccaro, ranging from Enzo Ferrari and Ferrari cars to portraits of contemporary masters such as Alexander Calder in his studio. Notably, all works in Monroe’s booth—whether historically significant or iconic—remain relatively accessible, with most priced between $3,500 and $7,500."
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Jingle Dress Project Photographer Eugene Tapahe At The Photography Show
We are honored to have Eugene Tapahe present in our booth B10 on Thursday, April 23 during The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD.
Tapahe is an artist inspired by his Diné (Navajo) traditions and modern experiences. His art reflects the beauty and resilience of Native American culture.
A selection of never-before exhibited images from The Jingle Dress Project are featured in our booth.
Monroe Gallery of Photography
Booth B10
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue
New York, NY
10065
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Diné Artists' Photos Will Be Shown at Prestigious Photography Show
April 21, 2016
Eugene Tapahe
Togetherness, Sisters, Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, Goshute and Timpanogos, 2023
Diné multi-media artist Eugene Tapahe’s striking homage to the jingle dress will be on display at the Association of International Photography Art Dealers’ (AIPAD) acclaimed exhibition, The Photography Show. The show runs from Wednesday, April 22, to April 26. Tapahe will be on site on Thursday, April 23, to meet patrons.
Photographs from Tapahe’s Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project will be displayed among hundreds of featured collections and works from galleries and photographers around the globe.
The Jingle Dress Project was inspired by a dream Tapahe had during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project aims to bring the healing power of the jingle dress to places Native ancestors once walked.
Tapahe holds an MFA in Studio Art from Brigham Young University and has received numerous awards, including the Best of Show award for his photography at the Cherokee Indian Market (2018) and the Museum of Northern Arizona (2019).
For more information about the exhibition, click here.
Visit Monroe Gallery of Photography in Booth B10
Monday, April 20, 2026
World Affairs Lecture Series: Unbroken: Solidarity Through the Lens with Professor Nina Berman On April 23
Via Fashion Institute of Technology
In this virtual World Affairs Lecture, Columbia University Professor Nina Berman will be in conversation with Dr. Souzeina Mushtaq, assistant professor of Communication and Media Studies at University of Wisconsin–River Falls, on the topic of “Unbroken: Solidarity Through the Lens.”
Lifelong New Yorker and photojournalist Nina Berman draws on decades of documenting the city’s defining upheavals. From the depths of the AIDS crisis to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the surge of COVID-19 and waves of protest, to illuminate the moments of collective care that rise amid crises. With a curated selection of photographs, she reflects on how New Yorkers forge bonds of compassion and mutual support even as neighborhoods transform. Berman weaves personal recollection with powerful imagery to reveal that resilience and community are as fundamental to New York’s identity as its skyline. Her work has been exhibited at more than 100 international venues from the Whitney Museum Biennial to the concrete security walls at the Za’atari refugee camp. Public collections include the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museum of the City of New York, the Harvard Art Museums and the Bibliothèque nationale de France among others. Berman is the recipient of a 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship.
The Department of Social Sciences’ World Affairs Lecture Series fulfills FIT’s mission to foster an understanding of diverse cultures and politics within the international as well as domestic perspectives. It also embraces, supports, and expands upon the president’s campuswide initiative on civility. Find an archive of previous lectures online.
Join using this webinar link:
https://fitnyc.webex.com/fitnyc/j.php?MTID=mc120037050d78d810efa3827321be861
Webinar number: 2864 358 2945
Webinar password: fitnyc (348692 when dialing from a phone or video system)
Or join by phone:
+1-646-992-2010 United States Toll (New York City)
This virtual event is free and open to the public; join using the Webex link and use the password fitnyc.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
