Don Lemon is ready to stand up for press freedom — and he has some advice

Don Lemon speaks in front of a crowd during First Amendment Week at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. (Mia Rivers/The Loyolan)

Former CNN anchor and independent journalist Don Lemon hopes that his arrest will be an example of the sacrifices that journalists must be prepared to make — including being willing to fight for freedom of press nationwide. 

Some of the best stories start with a FOIA request

(From left) Theo Scheer, Alex Walters and Owen McCarthy after they accepted the Student Press Law Center and the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project's Student Freedom of Information Award for their work with public records at Michigan State University. (Photo by Kimberly Margolis)

Student reporters at Michigan State explain how public records helped them uncover misconduct, investigations and hidden decisions.

Cash-starved and censored, America’s student press is in crisis

Saj Sundaram, a student journalist for the University of Oregon's Daily Emerald, covers protests in downtown Eugene in January 2026. (Courtesy of Robert Scherle)

For years, student press advocates have been frantically pointing toward the gathering clouds that gravely threaten college news organizations: money problems, censorship and disengaged campus audiences. With a federal government that’s rewriting the rules on press freedoms and higher education, those clouds have become a perfect storm that’s rocking independent student media.