Dana Taylor

Here to help us dive into all things First Amendment is Ronnell Anderson-Jones, professor of law at the University of Utah.

It's good to have you here, Ronnell.

Let's start with this latest story involving two reporters covering a recent church protest in Minnesota.

Both have now been released.

Can you give us some of the context here?

Beyond the rights of these individual reporters, it's hard not to assume that even if a judge dismisses the charges, the signal to the press from this administration is possibly intended to intimidate.

For reporters working with larger established organizations like USA Today, there are teams of lawyers to fight the charges.

But for freelancers who don't have access to those resources, these arrests may very well make them think twice next time.

What are you hearing on this front?

The ACLU or the American Civil Liberties Union has long championed freedom of the press causes.

What are they saying?

Ronell, I want to shift now to the recent FBI search on that Washington Post reporter's home.

What happened there?

And how have The Washington Post and the administration responded?

I also mentioned the White House ban on AP reporters to certain events last year because of their refusal to use Trump's preferred Gulf of America terminology.

Of course, as a wire service, many hundreds of outlets around the world rely on their coverage to share with their audiences.

So that came with a big economic cost to them.

Did the AP ever get their access back?

And if so, what did they have to do to lift the ban?

The Pentagon also implemented a new media policy last year forbidding any reporting with the DOD with any sources that were not officially sanctioned.