This World Press Freedom Day, American journalists are under attack

Via Freedom Of The Press Foundation

For years, World Press Freedom Day on May 3 has helped spotlight global press freedom violations. It’s a day to demand justice for journalists murdered in Gaza and Lebanon, or to celebrate the release of wrongfully detained reporters like Ahmed Shihab-Eldin.

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.

Criminalizing the messenger

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.

Targeting routine reporting

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

Global press freedom falls to lowest level in 25 years, RSF warns

Via France 24

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.

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

Faces of Fascism, Minneapolis, January, 2026

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.

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:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdQOuy4AW0qqDa8QZRqV8yIPGoI2QFXYlC5CGH_mdlnpTmCOQ/viewform

Related: Friday, April 24 at 5:30PM Photojournalism: Witness + Vision   

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

 Via The Observer

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

"In the booth of Santa Fe-based Monroe Gallery of Photography, whose mission is to champion precisely those images from the 20th and 21st Centuries that exist at the singular intersection of art and journalism, is a powerful wall ensemble: two photographic portraits by Ron Haviv of figures who have already become emblematic of our troubled era—Mamdani and Zelensky—are paired with recent works capturing, in unfiltered black and white, the silent violence of ICE raids across the country as well as the vital pushback of protests in Minneapolis and beyond. Included are dramatic images by Ashley Gilbertson documenting ICE actions in Chicago; his series Monsters on Halloween captures agents driving through neighborhoods in Niles, Illinois, for hours, stopping and detaining landscapers and construction workers as residents emerge from their homes to film and protest. Mark Peterson documents ICE protests at 26 Federal Plaza in New York, and Ryan Vizzions crystallizes into an image that already feels historical, capturing the memorials following the killing of Renee Good by ICE in Minneapolis. The people portrayed here are shown as vulnerable within broader systems and dynamics, yet resilient in the strength of community.

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."

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

Diné Artists' Photos Will Be Shown at Prestigious Photography Show

 Via Native News Online

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

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.

Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story at the Taos Film Festival April 24 & 26

 

Via Taos Film Festival

PHOTOGRAPHIC JUSTICE: THE CORKY LEE STORY is coming to Taos! All is Well Pictures LLC announces their screening at the Taos Film Festival in Taos, NM.

The award winning documentary on legendary photographer CORKY LEE coming April 24 and 26. “Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story” premiered at DOC NYC and has screened in festivals from Hong Kong to Hawaii. It is director Jennifer Takaki’s first film; the team also includes editor Linda Hattendorf, who is a resident of Taos and a board member of the Taos County Historical Society.

"It's not important that people remember me. It's more important that they remember my photos."
- Corky Lee

A fierce advocate for inclusion of the Asian American Pacific Islander community in the national discourse, Corky Lee consistently challenged stereotypes and discrimination with his camera. He documented AAPI activism in the United States long before the Asian American Movement was acknowledged by the press.

Lee's images have played a key role in highlighting the many struggles and contributions of Asian American Pacific Islanders in modern American history, and in advocating for positive change and advancement of this often-overlooked community.

The film weaves together rare verite footage of Corky's daily life in New York; interviews with Corky and noted historians, authors, actors, and activists in his circle; archival footage; illustrations; and most importantly a rich trove of Corky's stunning photographs spanning 50 years.

Friday’s 7:30pm screening at the Harwood Museum will be followed by a Q&A with Director Jennifer Takaki and Editor Linda Hattendorf.

Passes and tickets here

 Via The Stranger

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Stranger 🗞 (@thestrangerseattle)

Seattle-based photographer Nate Gowdy went to Minneapolis twice this year, to document the Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Metro Surge and photographed the civilian efforts to protect their communities from the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement. “When I arrived in Minneapolis, I expected to find overarmed agents, tear gas clouds, traumatized civilians, and I did. I also found people walking their dogs, running errands, meeting for dinner,” he wrote. “Daily life continued, but it was unmistakably altered. Community events were canceled. It came through in every conversation with residents: weekend plans became risk assessments about the federal agents operating in residential neighborhoods without visible name tags or badge numbers. Tension lived in lowered voices and furtive glances toward any vehicle with tinted windows.” Read more at The Stranger.

Video Produced by Dave Quantic. Assistant Editor Danielle Driehaus.

All images courtesy of Nate Gowdy

"Caught in the Crackdown" Tuesday, April 14 on PBS and Online

 Via PBS/Frontline

April 11, 2026

FRONTLINE and ProPublica trace the violence, protests and arrests stemming from federal immigration sweeps across the United States. The documentary examines the tactics, legal cases and impact — from Los Angeles to Chicago to Minneapolis.

Premieres Tuesday, April 14 on PBS and online.

FRONTLINE is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.

Stream Here on PBS.org

Check Your Local Listings for Broadcast Schedules 

Gabriela Campos Photographs Albuquerque Lowriders For National Geographic

 Via National Geographic

April 9, 2026

A once-banned Mexican American tradition is making a comeback

Lowriding had been outlawed across the U.S. Now, it’s making a comeback — and nowhere more fashionably than in Albuquerque, thanks to a passionate group of locals.

The 1961 Chevrolet Impala leaps skyward with a bounce, chrome flashing in the New Mexico sun. At the wheel, Angelica Griego presses a switch on the dash and again sends the car bunny-hopping, leaping a couple of feet clear off the ground. Her window is down, two-inch hot pink nails resting casually on the doorframe, strands of cherry-red tinsel glinting in her hair. In the back seat, I grip the plush leather and do my best to look unfazed.

“Nice car!” hollers a man from across the street, followed by a long, appreciative whistle. Behind oversized sunglasses, Angelica remains cool as a cucumber, the honeyed tones of 1960s crooner Brenton Wood drifting through her speakers. We’ve been cruising through the heart of Albuquerque along Central Avenue, home to the longest urban stretch of Route 66, for barely 10 minutes and already he’s the third such vocal admirer. Others snap photos, eager to capture a fleeting glimpse of pure Americana rolling past.

I’ve come to the state’s largest city to delve into the world of lowriding, a tradition of driving low-slung cars, often intricately customised and lavished in symbolism, that’s part of Mexican American culture. It first emerged in the 1940s in the South West, among communities who faced social marginalisation and drew on the bright colours and intricate designs of traditional Mexican aesthetics. In New Mexico, where nearly half the population identifies as of Mexican descent — the highest percentage of Hispanic residents in the US — it became as much a state symbol as green chilli. --continue to full article

Monroe Gallery At The 45th Edition Of The Photography Show Presented By AIPAD

Monroe Gallery of Photography is pleased to exhibit at the 45th edition of The Photography Show presented by AIPAD, returning to the Park Avenue Armory in New York City April 22 - 26, 2026.

Monroe Gallery will be located in booth B10, and are proud to present a distinctly curated exhibit, with a central focus on Diné (Navajo) photographer Eugene Tapahe’s “Jingle Dress Project”. “The Jingle Dress Project” brings global attention to Native American issues of land, water rights, women's issues, and the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Another feature of the exhibit will be a selection of important contemporary photojournalism with a focus on American politics and the recent ICE enforcement crisis of militarization on communities.

The final highlight exhibit will be a special selection of Tony Vaccaro's iconic photographs of Art, Style, and Fashion.

Preview the exhibition here.

Tickets available here.

Show information:

April 22 - 26, 2026

Thursday, April 23

12:00pm – 8:00pm Public Hours

5:00pm – 8:00pm Collector Cultivation Evening

Friday, April 24

12:00pm – 7:00pm Public Hours

5:00pm – 7:00pm Night of Photography, presented with ICP

Saturday, April 25

12:00 pm – 7:00pm Public Hours

Sunday, April  26

11:00am – 5:00pm

Park Avenue Armory

643 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10065

Eugene Tapahe

Togetherness, Sisters, Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, Goshute and Timpanogos, 2023

Ryan Vizzions

Faces of Fascism, Minneapolis, January, 2026

Tony Vaccaro

Givenchy by the Pool, South of Paris, France, 196

 

Iconic photo ‘The Soiling of Old Glory’ still makes an impact 50 years later; will be featured in "America The Beautiful" exhibit

Via WGBH

By Diane Adame

April 3, 2026

This April 5, 1976 photo of a white teenager, Joseph Rakes, assaulting a Black man, lawyer and civil rights activist Ted Landsmark, with a flagpole won the Pulitzer Prize for spot photography. The photo was taken during a protest against court-ordered desegregation busing.

Stanley Forman (used with permission)

It has been 50 years since the Pulitzer-Prize winning photo “The Soiling of Old Glory” was taken as a busing desegregation protest erupted throughout City Hall Plaza in Boston.

The photo, which was taken on April 5, 1976, shows a young white man gripping an American flag and aiming it at a young Black man during the protest. The image drew national attention for how it vividly captured racial unrest during the busing crisis in the 1970s.

“The photograph has had significant impact over the decades because it was taken during a bicentennial year where the country was celebrating a number of democratic principles which in fact were being contradicted by what the photo depicts,” said Theodore “Ted” Landsmark, the Black man captured in the photograph.

Stanley Forman, the newspaper photographer who took the photo for the Boston Herald American, still remembers that day.

“It was a Monday… I asked the editor, Alvin Saley, what was going on. He told me there was a demonstration — we went to demonstrations every day — it was an anti-busing demonstration at City Hall,” he said. “I asked if I could go to it, and he said, ‘Sure.’”

The protest was one of many happening in Boston at the time ever since the city began busing students outside of their neighborhoods in 1974 in an effort, mandated by the courts, to desegregate schools.

Forman said he was switching his camera lens when he saw a group of white student protesters walking through the plaza.

“I saw a couple of Black men taking the turn, coming up from Court Street to come onto the plaza, and they were attacked,” he said.

“Ted got the worst of it,” he said. “ They threw things at them, they kicked them, knocked them down and in the end, Joseph Rakes, who was holding the flagpole, whacked him in the nose.”

Landsmark said he was on my way to a meeting in Boston City Hall to discuss affirmative action efforts to bring more employment to people of color in the city.

“I thought that if I simply continued to walk straight, I’d be able to get into City Hall without really encountering the front edge of the demonstrators,” he told GBH in an interview remembering the incident. “But a number of the students walked by me and then several circled back, yelling racial epithets at me.”

Michael Curry, a member of the NAACP national board of directors and head of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, said the photo continues to have an impact because it didn’t happen that long ago.

“It made it even more clear for a generation of us that Boston was a tale of two cities, one where people came for opportunity if you were Irish, Italian, Polish, and Jewish,” Curry said, “And another city that had also resisted black political, economic and educational progress in the city.”

Landsmark said he never anticipated that the photo would still be a topic of discussion all these years later.

“Many of the issues that were raised by that photo remain a salient issue, and — unfortunately — unresolved today,” he said. “My hope would be that looking back at it a half century later, we would reflect on the amount of work that remains to be done in order to achieve racial equality in the United States in this year.”

Forman said the photo often gets compared to more recent pictures racial tensions in the U.S.

“The picture gets resurrected every few years because of something happening in this country,” said Forman. “Thankfully, it hasn’t been outdone yet, but nothing lasts forever. Although this picture I think will last the test of time.”

"The Soiling of Old Glory" will be featured in "America The Beautiful", an 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 May 23 - April 9, 2026 at Monroe Gallery of Photography.

She Shot Factories, Dictators and History – Up Close

Via The Story Exchange

March 31, 2026

By Victoria Flexner

The groundbreaking photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White grabbed her camera and headed to the frontlines.

Editors Note: In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re sharing profiles of influential women in journalism.

Margaret Bourke-White is arguably one of the most influential photojournalists of the 20th century. Over a four-decade career, she photographed factories and skyscrapers, world wars, poverty in the American South and political violence across the globe. She famously photographed Mahatma Ghandi hours before he was assassinated, and captured a rare smiling image of Joseph Stalin. Along the way, she blazed trails for women in the media, becoming the first female photographer for LIFE Magazine, the first Western photographer allowed in the Soviet Union and one of the first journalists to document the Nazi concentration camps in 1945.

Born in 1904 in New York City, Bourke-White studied at several universities, including Cornell, where she began serious experiments with photography. She discovered that the camera could translate her fascination with machines, structures, and patterns into striking visual images (many of which are now owned by the Museum of Modern Art).

In the late 1920s, Bourke-White opened a studio in Cleveland, Ohio, and began specializing in industrial subjects, such as the Otis Steel mill. Undaunted by the difficulties of photographing in physically challenging conditions, where molten heat could literally melt her film, she documented steel production and American factories. She quickly attracted national attention and corporate clients.

The publisher Henry Luce hired Bourke-White in 1929 as the first staff photographer for his new business magazine Fortune. There, Bourke-White produced ambitious photographic essays on American industry, architecture and economic life. While her work demonstrated the immense power of American industry, Bourke-White also chose to expose the human cost of technical advancement – particularly in the American South.

In the mid-1930s, she worked with novelist Erskine Caldwell (whom she would later marry and divorce) to document the lives of poor sharecroppers and rural families in the Dust Bowl. The resulting photos became the book, You Have Seen Their Faces, which was published in 1937. Portraits of stoic subjects, and landscapes of desolate farms and makeshift homes, drew attention to the profound inequalities of the era. Historians note that her use of the photographic essay—sequenced images that built a narrative—became a hallmark of her style and a model for later documentary work in film and journalism.

By 1936, Luce was getting ready to launch his next venture, LIFE Magazine, which would be centered around visual storytelling. Bourke-White became the magazine’s first female photojournalist, and her image of Fort Peck Dam in Montana graced LIFE’s inaugural cover. Bourke-White worked for LIFE until the late 1950s, becoming one of the magazine’s defining visual voices. 

Early on at LIFE, Bourke-White was assigned to photograph industrialization in the Soviet Union, a project that would see her make a number of trips behind the Iron Curtain at a time when access to Russia was extremely guarded. Bourke-White somehow managed to obtain official permission to travel through the country’s factories and construction sites, producing images of steel mills, the construction of the Dnieper Dam, but also snapshots of everyday life, like peasant women eating Borscht. Her most notable visit came in 1941 at the beginning of World War II, when Moscow came under Nazi attack – Bourke-White was there covering the invasion. It was during this visit to the Soviet Union that she photographed Stalin himself. 

According to The New York Times, Bourke-White wrote of that meeting, 

“I made up my mind that I wouldn’t leave without getting a picture of Stalin smiling…I went virtually berserk trying to make that great stone face come alive…I got down on my hands and knees on the floor and tried out all kinds of crazy postures searching for a good camera angle. Stalin looked down at the way I was squirming and writhing and for the space of a lightning flash he smiled—and I got my picture. Probably, he had never seen a girl photographer before and my weird contortions amused him.”

During World War II, Bourke-White’s career entered a new, perilous phase, as she became the first American female war photojournalist. She covered the siege of Moscow, flew on bombing missions over North Africa, and later accompanied General George Patton’s Third Army into Germany. She survived torpedo attacks at sea, enemy fire, and a helicopter crash, earning the nickname “Maggie the Indestructible” from her colleagues at LIFE. Her photographs of the newly liberated Buchenwald concentration camp—gaunt survivors, piles of corpses, the stark infrastructure of genocide—were among the first images to confront the American public with the full horror of Nazi atrocities.

In the late 1940s, Bourke-White’s attention turned toward the upheavals of decolonization and racial injustice. She covered the 1947 Partition of British India into the new nations of India and Pakistan, producing graphic images of mass migration and communal violence. She also photographed Gandhi by his spinning wheel only hours before his assassination in 1948. Shortly afterward, she reported from South Africa, documenting the early years of apartheid. She later covered the Korean War for LIFE.

In the 1950s, Bourke-White’s output slowed as she began to suffer from Parkinson’s disease. Even as her health declined, her work continued to circulate widely in books, exhibitions, and magazine retrospectives, cementing her reputation. She died in 1971 at the age of 67. 

Today, historians credit Bourke-White with helping invent the modern photographic essay. Her photos are not just works of art, but important artifacts in their own right. By capturing war, conflict and modernization from the front lines, Bourke-White created some of the most valuable visual documentation of the 20th century.   Full article here

Margaret Bourke-White: Photojournalist is on exhibit through April 26, 2026

A country full of contradictions. 250 years of the USA. Mark Peterson

 A country full of contradictions. 250 years of the USA. - laif

Via LAIF

March 28, 2026

Mark Peterson

2026 brings with it two dates that are hard to ignore: 250 years of the USA. And Donald Trump turns 80 – in the middle of his second term in office.

What do these dates mean? What do they say about the state of this country? We asked photographers from our partner agency Redux.

We start with Mark Peterson, one of New York's most respected photojournalists. We asked him for his assessment of the state of American society and the future of photojournalism.

Mark, the United States is approaching its 250th anniversary – an event that is attracting worldwide attention. What does this milestone mean to you in terms of your work? Is there a photo that you think best represents the U.S., whether it's at this moment or at any other time?

A photo I took of a portrait of President Trump. It hung on a building; I photographed it through a fence. An American flag hung over Trump's face. Mark Peterson

How would you describe the current mood in the country?

I have reported extensively on the current Trump administration and also on the people on the streets who are protesting against the Trump administration and ICE in the United States. The current mood in the country is divided: half of the population thinks things are going in the right direction, while the other half believes they are going in the wrong direction.

In view of the flood of AI images, disinformation and fake news on the Internet: How do you currently see the role and importance of photojournalism and the media?

I think photojournalism and citizen journalism have had a big impact – especially in Minneapolis, where photos and cell phone videos have directly contradicted the official statements of Trump administration officials.

 Do you think that photographs can influence public sentiment and opinion, or is that too optimistic a view?

Yes, photos, videos and social media are still very influential and shape public opinion. In Minneapolis, ICE's images have changed the debate, and the government has withdrawn from Minneapolis.

Has your way of photographing changed because photos are now mostly published online and viewed on mobile phones?

No.

What is the biggest challenge photojournalists face in the future, and what would you like to see in your profession?

The biggest challenge is the lack of funding for long-term projects. And that newspapers and media houses close and cut jobs.

Full article here

Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson is a photographer based in New York City. He is the author of two books: »Acts Of Charity« (2004, published by powerHouse Books) and »Acts Of Charity« »Political Theatre« (2016, published by Steidl). In 2018, he was awarded the W. Eugene Smith Award for his work on "White Nationalism".

He is represented by Redux Pictures for editorial assignments and his work appears in magazines and newspapers such as the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, the New York Magazine, French Geo, Fortune and Time Magazine.

His work is in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the International Center of Photography, the George Eastman Museum, and the Fine Art Museum of Houston. Since 2014, Peterson has focused on the decay of U.S. democracy and the rise of nationalism, and will publish a book about this work at Powerhouse in the winter of 2027.

Monroe Gallery will exhibit a selection of Mark Peterson's photographs from Minneapolis at The Photography Show presented by AIPAD, April 22-26 in booth B10.

The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD Announces 2026 Programming ; Includes Photojournalism: Witness + Vision With Ron Haviv

 Via AIPAD

The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD  Announces 2026 Programming  The Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue, New York April 22-26, 2026 | VIP Opening Wednesday, April 22, 2026 

Friday, April 24 at 5:30PM Photojournalism: Witness + Vision 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.

The Photography Show presented by AIPAD is pleased to announce its programming for the 45th edition of the fair. Anchored by AIPAD Talks, the series will commence on Thursday, April 24, at 1PM when this year’s AIPAD Award winner, Deborah Wilis, University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, will be in conversation with Brendan Embser, Senior Editor at Aperture. AIPAD Talks will take place over the four public days of The Photography Show in the famed Veterans Room designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, from Thursday to Sunday. 

Highlights include Interventions in Photography, with artists David Alekhuogie, Gail Albert Halaban and Aundre Larrow in conversation, moderated by Elise Swopes, Founder, Sunrise Art Club + Night on the Yard, to discuss the varied techniques, tools and interventions photographers are using today throughout the creative process—whether classic darkroom edits or experimental mixed media and AI-assisted workflows—that continue to push photography into new territory; photographer and visual artist Laurie Simmons joins Drew Sawyer, Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art and co-curator of the 2026 Whitney Biennial, for a dynamic conversation tracing the evolution of her practice and the ideas driving her work today; America at 250/Divergent Realities: Photography and Documentation, featuring Stephanie Tung, The Byrne Family Curator of Photography, Peabody Essex Museum; Makeda Best, Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs, Oakland Museum of Contemporary Art; and Jami Powell, Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Indigenous Art at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, in conversation to explore how photography has shaped and complicated the ways we document, remember and challenge canonical American history and how images both preserve national memory and challenge dominant narratives; and From Concept to Feature: Creative Directors on the Power of Photography, featuring leading creative directors Matteo Mobilio of WSJ Magazine, Samantha Adler of Cosmopolitan and Noelle Lacombe of The Cut in conversation moderated by CNN Senior Style Reporter Rachel Tashjian to to explore the editorial process from initial concept to final spread, unpacking how image-making decisions reflect, challenge and ultimately influence the way we see the world.  

“This year’s AIPAD Talks program highlights photography’s power to question history, shape identity and inspire new ways of seeing,” said Lydia Melamed Johnson, Executive Director of AIPAD and The Photography Show. “From groundbreaking artists to visionary curators and scholars, these conversations reflect the depth, diversity and dynamism that define the photographic community ."

  Full schedule here

  Visit us during The Photography Show in Booth B10

Meet the caretakers archiving Renee Macklin Good's memorial, Ryan Vizzions and James Forbes

 Via MPR News

March 24, 2026

Ryan Vizzions has been photographing items left behind at the memorial for Renee Macklin Good, who was fatally shot by a federal agent in January in Minneapolis. Ben Hovland | MPR News

Nearly three months after Renee Macklin Good was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis, a dedicated group of volunteers still watches over the site daily. They’re thinking now about the future of the memorial there as they archive what mourners have left behind.

“It's really important for me … to make sure that we preserve these items for future generations,” said Ryan Vizzions, a volunteer who’s been living for months in his van with his dog, Freedom.

Vizzions is collecting and documenting signs, stuffed animals, hats and candles from the memorial in a garage a few minutes' drive away — a space provided by someone he met through social media.

It's a cozy space. There are large boxes of signs, each neatly labeled by size. Some of them had been outside for months and needed to be dried out before Vizzions could photograph them.

He has a box of small items he hasn’t gotten to yet: handmade bracelets, small trinkets. Archiving requires attention to detail.

It isn't clear what will happen to the materials once they're photographed and archived.

For the pair, the fire reiterated the need to protect and preserve the memorial. Visitors continue to show up daily with letters, flowers, candles and signs.

Caretakers have created a path at the vigil site with mulch and stone pavers. They hope to plant flowers now that it's warm outside.

Vizzions said it’s a balance between trying to honor Macklin Good while also honoring the community that lives immediately around the memorial.

For the pair, the fire reiterated the need to protect and preserve the memorial. Visitors continue to show up daily with letters, flowers, candles and signs.

Caretakers have created a path at the vigil site with mulch and stone pavers. They hope to plant flowers now that it's warm outside.

Vizzions said it’s a balance between trying to honor Macklin Good while also honoring the community that lives immediately around the memorial.

Full article here

Monroe Gallery will exhibit a selection of Ryan Vizzions' photographs from Minneapolis at The Photography Show presented by AIPAD, April 22-26 in booth B10.

Striking Down Pentagon Press Limits, Judge Vindicates Independent Journalism

 Via The New York Times

March 21, 2026

“A primary purpose of the First Amendment is to enable the press to publish what it will and the public to read what it chooses, free of any official proscription,” wrote Judge Paul L. Friedman of the Federal District Court in Washington.

“Those who drafted that such security is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech,” he continued. “That principle has preserved the nation’s security for almost 250 years. It must not be abandoned now.” --full article here

Ryan Vizzions: The Tender Work of Preserving Renee Good’s Memorial

 Via Hyperallergic

March 16, 2026

Ryan Vizzions is archiving the objects left at the site of Renee Good’s murder. (all photos by and courtesy Ryan Vizzions)

Ryan Vizzions, a photojournalist from Atlanta, had already arrived in Minnesota when federal immigration agents murdered poet and mother Renee Nicole Macklin Good.

For the last five years, the traveling photographer has been living out of his small van as he travels across the country for a photo survey exploring what it means to be American in all 50 states. He was taking photos at Lake Superior when he learned of Good’s killing, and drove immediately to the street where agents shot Good in her car. He arrived in time for a massive vigil held in Good’s memory.

Nearly two months after Good’s murder, Vizzions is still in Minnesota, but his focus has shifted from observation to intervention. He is now the de facto archivist of Good’s memorial site, where mourners have left hundreds of devotional objects, short notes, and artwork in protest and in grief.

Vizzions among Good memorial objects at his undisclosed storage site

“I want to make sure people in the future understand what happened here,” Vizzions told Hyperallergic in an interview.

So far, Vizzions has photographed about 200 items and relocated fragile objects to what he described as a “secret location” in the southern part of the city.

He’s left behind some items, including plastic signs, for the public to view. Alongside community members, Vizzions is maintaining the site, including by removing what he described as hundreds of pounds of decaying flowers.

Among the items Vizzions has documented is a note signed by an employee of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the agency driving the Trump administration’s escalating immigration enforcement tactics. 

“Ms. Good,” the message reads, “We will never forget you. Rest in peace and power. Your work on earth is done. Your legacy lives on.” 

The card, which is covered in stickers, is signed, “A DHS employee.”

“That was probably the most surprising because that’s somebody who is involved with the same institution that ultimately killed her,” Vizzions told Hyperallergic. 

Mourners attended a vigil for Good hours after federal agents killed her.

Vizzions made the leap from outside observer to active participant in Minneapolis’s response to Good’s murder after someone attempted to burn the memorial site and extreme winter conditions set in, threatening to destroy the makeshift monument.

On February 18, someone poured gasoline on the memorial and lit a flame. Vizzions said that he and a group of community members watching over the site at night were able to stop the fire from spreading.

While Vizzions has previously photographed political apexes, including Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock, he said he had never before inserted himself in the communities he covers.

“ As a photojournalist, oftentimes you’re divided from the community because you’re on the outside looking in,” Vizzions said. “And I wanted to serve.” 

Vizzions told Hyperallergic that Good’s parents are aware of his project and that he is in communication with a family friend who is serving as a mediator. Ultimately, Vizzions said, he will respect the family’s wishes for any next steps for the collection. He expects that some of the items could end up in the collections of private institutions or in the archives of the Smithsonian, but noted that whatever happens next will not be his decision to make. 

In the meantime, he is photographing and digitizing items from Good’s vigil so that anyone can experience them, regardless of where they live.

“It’s  really important for me to make sure that the folks who couldn’t be here, and the family who couldn’t come to the vigil because of everything happening, are able to access the memorial in person or online,” Vizzions said.

The photographer recalled one snow-covered note that made him cry. It read: “ We all carry whistles now. I hope you hear them. I hope you’re home. We all carry each other now. I know you’re with us. I know you’re home.”

The message is a nod to activists’ use of whistles to alert community members of potential immigration raids.

“It was just on a small note that was tucked somewhere,” Vizzons said. “But that’s just one of hundreds, if not thousands, of items that people have left. It’s that message and the other message that really make it feel like we have an obligation to protect these offerings that people brought to her.”

Full article here

See Ryan Vizzions' photographs from Minneapolis at The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD April 22-26, Monroe Gallery Booth B10.