‘Journalism is not a crime’: Georgia Fort calls out ‘strategic attack on the free press’ following arrest

Emmy-winning journalist Georgia Fort opens up about her traumatic arrest after being taken into custody for her Minnesota protest coverage.

Last Friday, Americans woke up to news of not one, but two Black journalists, Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, being taken into federal custody for their on-the-ground coverage of a Minneapolis anti-ICE protest. Though both Fort and Lemon were released hours later, their arrests sent shockwaves through the nation as Americans witnessed the Trump administration’s blatant disregard for their constitutional First Amendment rights. 

However, beyond the headlines, Fort says the experience, which she partially captured on livestream, left a significant impact on her household after federal agents appeared at her home on Jan. 30. 

“It was extremely traumatic to have nearly two dozen agents come to our home,” Fort shared on MS NOW’s The Rachel Maddow Show. “My 17-year-old daughter, you could hear crying in the background [of my livestream]. She woke up after she heard the knocking on the door. My younger two daughters, who are seven and eight years old, they slept through most of it. However, I did find out at some point my eight-year-old woke up, but she was so terrified, she just laid in the bed and cried. Now, what we’re seeing from them, they’re afraid to be alone. They’re having issues going through their normal routines. And so we’re just trying to recover from this.” 

As previously reported by theGrio, Fort noted that her arrest stemmed from her “filming a protest as a member of the media.” Similar to Lemon, Fort covered the peaceful anti-ICE protest outside of Cities Church, as community members called out the church pastor’s ICE affiliation. Though the Department and Justice and Attorney General Pam Bondi are claiming the reporters violated the FACE Act, a law that makes it a crime to physically obstruct or use threats of force to intimidate or interfere with a person seeking to participate in a service at a house of worship, Fort underlined the larger issue linked to these events. 

“It is not new in America to see attacks on Black journalists. I think in the last few years we’ve seen an exodus of not just Black journalists, but journalists in general from mainstream media,” she explained, citing examples of Pentagon reporters refusing to be censored, Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off air, and more. “So there’s been a strategic attack on the free press for quite some time. But it is intensifying, and I would say that the arrest of myself and Don Lemon is a new level to threaten, taking someone’s freedom away for them simply doing their job, to try and criminalize journalism. Journalism is not a crime.”

She continued: “When I think about the attack that we’re currently seeing on the press, I really want American people to understand, attacking the press is not simply just attacking journalists, it’s attacking the public’s right to know.” 

Explaining how it is journalists’ job to uncover truths that government agencies, people in power, and big institutions may want to cover up, Fort emphasized the importance of in-person reporting, especially with the rise of AI. 

“We saw AI images being published by the White House that mis-portrayed the reaction of one of the protesters being arrested, right? The only way that we knew it was fake was because someone was there to document what really happened. And so we’re entering a time where I do believe that this is an information war,” she concluded. “And so the people who are standing up for truth, the people who are not afraid to document what’s happening, I think that we’re going to continue to be attacked.