This article was originally published in the Student Press Report, a national news desk covering student media and journalism education in higher ed.
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 the press nationwide.
“I wanted to be an example to other journalists, especially young people like you, that that’s part of what you must do: … Stand up to people who don’t respect our Bill of Rights and our Constitution,” Lemon said Wednesday to a crowd at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he was the headliner of independent student newspaper The Loyolan’s First Amendment Week. “If you’re a journalist, you have to be willing to sacrifice safety and security in order to be able to bring people’s stories in an authentic (way).”
In January, Lemon became the focus of national attention when he was arrested, along with fellow independent journalist Georgia Fort, after reporting on an anti-ICE protest inside a church in Minnesota. Lemon was indicted by a Minnesota grand jury on charges of conspiracy and intimidation regarding religious freedom at a place of worship. Lemon pleaded not guilty to the charges Feb. 13.
Lemon has maintained since his arrest that he acted solely as a journalist — news can happen anywhere, including places of worship, he said during the panel, which I co-moderated with fellow student journalist Janai Williams.
His and Fort’s arrests, he said, not only set a dangerous precedent for journalists nationwide, but also highlight a prevalent divide between independent and legacy media — one that he believes is revealing what audiences truly want from journalism today.
“Everyone should be angry, especially people who happen to own places like CBS, ABC, NBC, even Fox, CNN … they should be outraged and they should be fighting against this administration every day, telling journalists to lean in and have a stronger point of view about what’s happening in this country,” Lemon said.
Before joining CNN in 2006, Lemon was an award-winning anchor and reporter. Lemon quickly became one of the most recognizable faces in broadcast journalism during his time at CNN, in part due to his unvarnished on-air political commentary. Lemon has long elicited strong opinions — notably, those of President Donald Trump — and has seen his reporting become news in and of itself, long before his January arrest.
After 17 years at CNN, then-chairman and CEO Chris Licht announced that the network had “parted ways” with Lemon, just over two months after Lemon’s on-air comments about Republican politician Nikki Haley had garnered significant controversy. Lemon, who characterized his 2023 departure from CNN as abrupt and a sign of “larger issues at play,” pivoted to independent reporting and commentary through his YouTube show, which now boasts over 1.2 million subscribers.
As an independent journalist, Lemon may not have the same institutional support that he did while at CNN, but he believes that since his departure, he has been able to connect more closely with the subjects of his reporting. Independent media, he said, is emerging as a prevalent form of journalism as audiences are growing increasingly tired of legacy media institutions that report from a distance.
“I think that the companies who own … journalism institutions should stand up to the government because it’s our job,” he said. “Our job as journalists is to hold power to account, to expose corruption, to make sure that people who are not elected officials, who aren’t rich, who aren’t oligarchs, to make sure that they have a voice and a platform.”
Lemon said he wants to be immersed in the worlds he reports on by reporting from the inside — like interviewing people on the ground during protests.
“(Young people) want someone who is … close to the ground, telling the truth as they see it,” said Lemon.
Don Lemon shakes hands with Oliver Silvester before a First Amendment Week event at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. (Mia Rivers/ The Loyolan)
Lemon credited his enduring presence in the journalism world in part to nurturing his sense of curiosity. He interviews people he comes across on the street and focuses on “going to places where news is happening … and news happens sometimes in a church, or a synagogue, or a place of worship.”
He said people often think that “to be considered a real journalist, you have to have this sort of fake idea of what objectivity is. And what exactly is objective? Everybody has a point of view about life.”
Given that trust in media is at a record low nationwide, Lemon urged journalists to expand their perspective on objectivity and fairness. Individual points of view, he explained, are critical to maintaining trust between journalists and audiences.
“The news is also about the person who’s bringing it to you, especially if you are in the broadcast medium; it’s about the personality and the perspective,” said Lemon. “The news is important, but the person bringing you the news is also, I think, sometimes more important than just the news because there are different stories every single day. Every single moment there’s a different story.”
Lemon said audiences want their news delivered by someone who understands “exactly what a journalist should be: someone who’s vulnerable, who’s willing to make mistakes, who’s authentic.”
When asked for his advice to student journalists who are hoping to enter the professional world, Lemon’s focus was clear — “Perfection is boring.”
“Authenticity is key,” he said. “Being authentic means that you must have a real passion for what you’re doing, and if you do, people will see that.”
