Covering the Crowd: Journalists Confront Danger at Protests

Photo credit: Maria Ramirez / The Daily Mississippian

Veteran video journalist John Bullard thought he was covering a religious rally on Jan. 6, 2021. Instead, the assignment placed him and his crew in the middle of the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Bullard watched as the crowd became increasingly hostile toward the press. Protesters waved Trump flags, shouted accusations of “fake news,” used profanity and spit at him and his crew.

“One of the women there said to me, ‘The Lord hates liars, and the news media are liars,’” Bullard said.

After several hours, the danger escalated. Crowds surrounded members of the media, and Bullard’s security team ordered his crew to leave. Shortly after that, a pile of camera equipment was set on fire in the spot where his crew had been positioned.

“I had to sit, with no TV on, no nothing, to just try and absorb and understand what I had seen that day,” Bullard said. “It was probably the craziest experience I’ve covered, and I’ve covered hurricanes, tornados, riots, shootouts, things like that.”

For Bullard, who began his journalism career in 1975 and spent decades working in local and national news, the Capitol attack illustrated the growing hostility journalists face while covering protests and politically charged events.

Tracking the Threat

While the United States has faced threats to press freedom throughout its history, in 2017, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker began tracking and informing the public about press freedom violations in the country.

Kirstin McCudden, chief of editorial for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said the idea for the tracker came after law enforcement killed a young Black man n Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. When people began rioting in protest, the law enforcement reaction was so strong that journalists were getting hurt at a rate that may not have been seen since the civil rights era protests, but there was no easy way to know that.

“And there were like 20 something assaults, a dozen journalists were arrested, and everybody realized there was nowhere, no one place to look to find any of number or to do any comparison,” McCudden said.

Since 2017, the tracker has gathered information on more than 2,500 press freedom violations, categorizing the incidents in 10 categories, including assault, arrest or criminal charge, denial of access, and equipment damage, among others.

The most challenging year to date was 2020, with a total of 853 press freedom violations stemming from Black Lives Matter protests, COVID-19, and political hostility. Since November 2025, the database has also tracked a total of 122 violations, with January having 56 incidents linked to immigration protests.

U.S. Press Freedom Tracker Incidents Involving Journalists at Protests in 2025

For the year 2025, there were 179 assaults, 31 arrests or criminal charges, and 29 incidents of equipment damage. Source: U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

McCudden said there is a pattern to the danger during protests.

“The vast majority of assaults involve a journalist being hit with a crowd control munition of some type, like pepper balls, stun grenade shrapnel, or other projectiles while reporting,” McCudden said. “One journalist, photographer John Abernathy, was hit twice with pepper balls in close succession, then shoved to the ground by federal officers who pepper sprayed his face before arresting him.”

However, Bullard noted that while law enforcement is often perceived as a barrier to journalists, his experience suggests otherwise. 

“Law enforcement is not our problem,” Bullard said. “Police have never been an issue. Law enforcement are there to do their job and investigate, and to keep us away at a safe distance.”

Instead, Bullard argues that the hostility against journalists stems from public perception shaped by elected officials.

“They don’t agree that we have the same First Amendment rights that they have,” Bullard said.

Covering Campus Protests 

In April 2024, Kharley Redmon was editor-in-chief for the student-run Daily Mississippian newspaper. When a group of pro-Palestinian students at the University of Mississippi began protesting, a larger group of counterprotesters surrounded them and began shouting the pro-Palestinian group down. At one point, police moved in to ensure the safety of everyone in the area.

Based on that experience, Redmon said student journalists should be aware that protests are unpredictable.

“As much as you can prepare, as much as you can try and judge, that flexibility is going to help you in the moment because you don’t know how things might turn out,” Redmon said.

Redmon said student journalists are now encountering restrictions on press freedom, too. 

“Student journalists are journalists at the end of the day, so, depending on the context, they face many of the same threats as professional reporters,” Redmon said. “We’ve seen more and more student journalists face these issues across the U.S.”

Redmon said that while journalists could face potential danger covering protests, it can be more dangerous for them not to be present at those events.

“Although there are challenges, although there is harassment,” Redmon said, “I think that it’s so important that we continue to have brave people who step up and cover those moments to provide context for the American people on what is truly happening in an unbiased and fair way.”

McCudden mentioned that while data on the challenges journalists face can be intimidating for would-be journalists, it is not meant to scare but to bring awareness to these issues.

“The more you know, the better prepared you are going to be going out there,” McCudden said. 

McCudden also shared that the average person can advocate for press freedom. They can write to their congressional representatives or local officials to share complaints or concerns about the erosion of press freedom, and they can go online to stand up for the importance of journalism.

“Social media is our megaphone,” McCudden said, “but is anybody listening to it?”