FBI Raids Homes of Michigan Students and Workers for Palestine Activism

Attacks on Press Freedom: Lawsuits, Intimidation, and the War on Journalists | Ep. 4

Photojournalist Nick Stern still has nightmares from the night an officer fired a flashbang into his leg as he covered the LA immigration protests. He's one of dozens of journalists assaulted, arrested, or deported in Trump's second term — a year that pushed the US to 64th on the World Press Freedom Index, its lowest ranking ever. In this episode of The Battle for Free Speech, Michael Fox is joined by Real News investigative journalist and Capitol Hill correspondent Taya Graham to map the assault on the American press: the rubber bullets and broken bones, the billion-dollar lawsuits, the FBI raids on reporters' homes, the jailing of journalists like Georgia Fort and Don Lemon, and the deportation of immigrant reporters Mario Guevara and Estephanie Rodriguez. Featuring voices from the Committee to Protect Journalists and the National Press Photographers Association, they trace how violence, intimidation, media consolidation, and the gutting of access all serve a single goal: self-censorship — the silencing of the press in the name of free speech. The Battle for Free Speech is a production of The Real News Network. Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Theme music by Michael Fox [https://foxviolin.com/], Jordan Klein and Daniel Nuñez. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound. Production and Sound Design by Michael Fox and Stephen Frank. Editorial support by Kayla Rivara and Heather Gies. Research by Ben Schweiger. Guests:  * Nick Stern [https://www.nickstern.com/], photojournalist [https://www.instagram.com/nicksternphotos/] * Mickey Osterreicher [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickey-osterreicher-3a39ab2], National Press Photographers Association [https://nppa.org/]  * Katherine Jacobson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-jacobsen1], Committee to Protect Journalists [https://cpj.org/]  * Benjamin Grazda [https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-grazda-38425340], Reporters Without Borders [https://rsf.org/en] Resources:  * World Press Freedom Index [https://rsf.org/en/index] * U.S. Press Freedom Tracker  [https://pressfreedomtracker.us/] * Georgia Fort [https://www.georgiafort.com/about] * Mario Guevara [https://www.instagram.com/marioguevaranews/?hl=en] * Estefany Rodríguez [https://www.instagram.com/estefany_rodriguezperiodista/?hl=en] * Video of the Shooting of Nick Stern [https://www.instagram.com/p/DKpUAyexv_C/] * The war on our sight [https://therealnews.com/the-war-on-our-sight] * The Trump administration arrested this journalist. She says the censorship is ongoing. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/05/17/journalist-targeted-by-trump-administration-still-feels-silenced-months-after-arrest/] * Global Press Freedom Hits Record Low, U.S. Drops to 64th in the World: Reporters Without Borders [https://www.democracynow.org/2026/5/6/clayton_weimers_reporters_without_borders_press] Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support] Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com [https://bsky.app/profile/therealnews.com] Facebook: The Real News Network [https://facebook.com/therealnews] Twitter: @TheRealNews [https://twitter.com/therealnews] YouTube: @therealnews [https://www.youtube.com/therealnews] Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork [https://www.instagram.com/therealnewsnetwork/] https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support Become a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today! [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support]

‘Beyond the Wire’: A Grassroots Perspective on Baltimore

Beyond the Wire, a new, thought-provoking documentary by filmmaker and researcher Dr. S. Rasheem, offers an indespensible representation of "The Greatest City in America" and a powerful counternarrative to the popular crime series The Wire. In this exclusive interview for Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Dr. Rasheem about how her background in community organizing compelled her to tell a different story of Baltimore—one focused on boots-on-the-ground activism that defies the narrative of a hopeless, crime-ridden city in need of over-policing. Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support] Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com [https://bsky.app/profile/therealnews.com] Facebook: The Real News Network [https://facebook.com/therealnews] Twitter: @TheRealNews [https://twitter.com/therealnews] YouTube: @therealnews [https://www.youtube.com/therealnews] Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork [https://www.instagram.com/therealnewsnetwork/] https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support Become a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today! [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support]

FBI Raids Homes of Michigan Students and Workers for Palestine Activism

On June 10, early in the morning, FBI agents raided the homes of individuals involved in Palestine solidarity activism at the University of Michigan. As Yarden Katz and Stephen M. Ward report in Mondoweiss, “with help from local and state police departments, including the University of Michigan Police, the raids unfolded simultaneously in Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin…The case is now known as the Michigan Eight. The Justice Department indicted the eight defendants—five of whom are current or former students at the University of Michigan, and one of whom was a University employee—on multiple counts of severe charges, including “Conspiracy to Transmit Threats in Interstate and Foreign Commerce.” The defendants, all in their twenties, now potentially face decades in prison.”  In this installment of our ongoing series “Police State University,” we speak with Kevin Zheng, a member-organizer and secretary of the Graduate Employees' Organization at the University of Michigan, and Grace Viscito, a restaurant worker and former graduate student at the University of Michigan. Additional links/info:  * Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) website [https://www.geo3550.org/], Instagram [https://instagram.com/geo_3550], Facebook page [https://facebook.com/geo3550], and X page [https://x.com/geo3550] * Legal Fund of Michigan Students for Palestine [https://chuffed.org/project/um-palestine-legalfund] * Yarden Katz & Stephen M. Ward, Mondoweiss, “Inside the case against the ‘Michigan 8’: Palestine activism recast as antisemitic terror [https://mondoweiss.net/2026/06/inside-the-case-against-the-michigan-8-palestine-activism-recast-as-antisemitic-terror/]” * Alexa Cheaney [https://www.michigandaily.com/author/acheaney/], The Michigan Daily, “The Daily breaks down the indictment against eight pro-Palestine activists [https://www.michigandaily.com/news/government/the-daily-breaks-down-the-indictment-against-eight-pro-palestine-activists/]” * Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “Campus life is unrecognizable in the Trump era: ‘There’s so many cops everywhere’ [https://therealnews.com/campus-life-unrecognizable-in-trump-era]” * Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘The raids happened Wednesday, finals started Thursday’: FBI agents raid homes of pro-Palestine students at University of Michigan [https://therealnews.com/the-raids-happened-wednesday-finals-started-thursday-fbi-agents-raid-homes-of-pro-palestine-students-at-university-of-michigan]” Featured Music:  * Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits:  * Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support] Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com [https://bsky.app/profile/therealnews.com] Facebook: The Real News Network [https://facebook.com/therealnews] Twitter: @TheRealNews [https://twitter.com/therealnews] YouTube: @therealnews [https://www.youtube.com/therealnews] Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork [https://www.instagram.com/therealnewsnetwork/] https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support Become a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today! [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support]

Steven Thrasher: Black Cops, Latino ICE agents, and the "Overseer Class"

We sit down with Dr. Steven Thrasher to talk about his new book, The Overseer Class; how our police state today evolved from yesterday’s slave plantations; and why Dr. Thrasher has been blacklisted from academia after defending his students at Northwestern University during the Palestine encampment movement in 2024.  Guests: * Steven W. Thrasher, PhD, is the author of The Overseer Class: A Manifesto [https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-overseer-class-steven-w-thrasher?variant=43991559077922] and the award-winning book The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide [https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250796639/theviralunderclass/], which was a New York Times's Paperback Row Editors' Pick, named one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 by Kirkus Reviews, was longlisted for both the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Literature, and won the 2023 POZ Award for Best in Literature. He is also the inaugural Daniel Renberg Chair for Social Justice in Reporting at the Medill School of Journalism and a faculty member of Northwestern University's Institute of Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing. An internationally renowned scholar on race, gender, and infectious disease, Dr. Thrasher's writing has been published by the Guardian, Atlantic, New York Times, Scientific American, Literary Hub, and in many academic journals. Credits: * Studio Production / Post-Production: David Hebden Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support] Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com [https://bsky.app/profile/therealnews.com] Facebook: The Real News Network [https://facebook.com/therealnews] Twitter: @TheRealNews [https://twitter.com/therealnews] YouTube: @therealnews [https://www.youtube.com/therealnews] Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork [https://www.instagram.com/therealnewsnetwork/] https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support Become a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today! [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support]

Rep. Jamie Raskin: ICE is Acting Like a Secret Paramilitary Police Force for President Trump

TRNN reporter Stephen Janis speaks with US Rep. Jamie Raskin about the unprecedented power of ICE in light of the $70 billion in additional funding just approved by Congress, his opposition to the proposed "anti-weaponization fund," and why the Epstein scandal needs further scrutiny.  Editor's note: This interview was recorded at the 2026 Netroots Nation conference on June 6. Studio Production: Taya Graham, Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: Stephen Janis, David Hebden Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support] Follow us on: Bluesky: @therealnews.com [https://bsky.app/profile/therealnews.com] Facebook: The Real News Network [https://facebook.com/therealnews] Twitter: @TheRealNews [https://twitter.com/therealnews] YouTube: @therealnews [https://www.youtube.com/therealnews] Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork [https://www.instagram.com/therealnewsnetwork/] https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support Become a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today! [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support]