Fort, 38, has worked as a journalist for nearly two decades and has been independent for roughly the last eight years, producing her own award-winning television show on a local Twin Cities station. She shares her reporting with her online audience of nearly 160,000 followers on Facebook and more than 130,000 on Instagram, and she’s highly involved in the journalism community, working to train the next generation of reporters.

She has seen her work affected by the charges. She’s entangled with a host of local sources as co-defendants in a case she would ordinarily be covering as a journalist, especially as one who focuses on constitutional rights and amplifying underrepresented voices.

“It’s a slap in the face to be prosecuted in the same courts in which I’ve been credentialed as a member of the press,” she said.

…

These types of charges against journalists are “unprecedented”, said Gabe Rottman, vice-president of policy at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. In the rare instance where a journalist is charged, it’s typically for trespassing, and those charges are often dismissed, he said.

“It’s another escalation on the part of the second Trump administration,” he said. “It’s exceedingly rare, so much so that it hasn’t happened before. These particular statutes haven’t been used to charge a journalist.”