PPE protects your right to know

Dear Friend of Press Freedom: “If I hadn’t had it, I’d be dead right now.” That’s how one journalist described the protective gear that kept her alive while covering a protest. So why are authorities trying to take it away? Plus: Our latest fights against the government secrecy and media mergers that are harming the public’s right to know. PPE protects the public’s right to know Reporters covering protests in the United States have been shot with crowd-control munitions, sprayed with tear gas, hit with cars, and physically attacked by both law enforcement and demonstrators. So it makes sense that many journalists wear personal protective equipment like helmets, goggles, and gas masks at demonstrations, and that organizations like Reporters Without Borders offer grants for reporters to buy…