Protecting immigrant journalists has to be an industry-wide priority

"Whether they are working at legacy ethnic press, or reporting for the hundreds of digital news outlets serving hyperlocal immigrant audiences, or operating in exile, immigrant journalists working in U.S. community media today must navigate a tightening grip on their First Amendment rights, immigration status, and personal safety - often from within the U.S. as well as overseas, and increasingly from within their own communities."

"Over the course of the last year, the Asian Media Initiative at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism's Center for Community Media worked with a group of immigrant and exiled journalists working in in-language and community-centered media serving Afghan American, Arab American, Bangladeshi American, Chinese-speaking, Indian American, and Indonesian American community journalists across the U.S. Many struggled not only to keep themselves safe, but also their predominantly immigrant reporting staff, as well as the undocumented and otherwise vulnerable immigrant audiences they served."

Immigrant and exiled journalists working in in-language and community-based U.S. news media face heightened danger, including physical attacks, arrest, and deportation. Press credentials increasingly fail to protect reporters, forcing them to balance safety with coverage of unsafe situations. These journalists often work on student visas, flee homelands with war or authoritarian repression, or live in communities targeted by immigration enforcement. Employers and advertisers can be influenced by extremist movements, corporations, or foreign governments, complicating financial stability and editorial independence. Reporters also contend with protecting undocumented and vulnerable audiences while navigating threats to their First Amendment rights and immigration status.

Read at Nieman Lab