Editor’s notebook: The First Amendment under threat in Tennessee

A new Tennessee “buffer law” could hamper journalists trying to cover the deployment of a federal law enforcement task force to Memphis. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Arguments about the First Amendment, which, to many, is the most sacrosanct of the articles in the U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights, are a constant in American democracy. 

Witness how Tennessee’s new buffer zone law demanding journalists stay 25 feet from law enforcement could trip up reporters in Memphis trying to document federal forces— including agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, U.S. Marshals and Drug Enforcement Administration plus an extra 300 Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers and members of the Tennessee National Guard — occupying the majority Black city by the hundreds.

In the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers passed the measure to establish a 25-foot “buffer zone” that allows law enforcement officers to order members of the media and public to remain 25 feet away from crime scenes, traffic stops and any “ongoing and immediate threat to public safety.”

The bill, sponsored by House Majority Leader William Lamberth, a Portland Republican, and Republican Sen. Mark Pody of Lebanon, creates a Class B misdemeanor for violations of the buffer zone. 

Bill expanding Tennessee law enforcement powers during protests draws pushback

“As you can imagine, journalists appear within 25 feet of law enforcement officers doing their day job every day,” said Grayson Clary, staff attorney with Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP,) which provides legal support to journalists. 

Similar laws have been challenged in Indiana and Louisiana, where lawyers with the RCFP have prevailed and obtained preliminary injunctions to enforcement of the laws. 

The Lookout is part of a coalition of Tennessee media outlets and companies, including the Nashville Banner, Gannett, Scripps Media and TEGNA that has sued the state of Tennessee in federal court over the new law. 

“These buffer laws jeopardize reporters’ ability to bring their communities some of the news that matters most — about crime, disaster response, police misconduct, and more,” said Clary, who is representing the media coalition alongside Paul McAdoo, RCFP’s Local Legal Initiative attorney for Tennessee. “When law enforcement pushes the press out of eye and earshot, it’s the public that ultimately loses out.”

On October 3, six Memphis area state lawmakers sent a letter to WHBQ Fox 13, accusing the station of endangering law enforcement officials for airing a link to a tip line. 

Fox 13 asked viewers to let the station know about locations of task force operations and agents as they engaged with detentions and arrests throughout the city, presumably so their reporters and photographers could observe and report on the activities of the Memphis Safe Communities Task Force. 

This is Journalism 101. Every news outlet worth its salt, including the Lookout, asks readers or viewers to provide story tips. 

Yet, state Sen. Paul Rose, a Covington Republican, seemed to find it unusual. “It is outrageous that a local TV station would work against these efforts by tipping off offenders and endangering the officers sworn to protect us. This irresponsible reporting must stop so law enforcement can do its job without interference,” he said in a press release sent by state House Republican Caucus staff. 

If armed federal law enforcement and Tennessee Highway Patrol officers can’t manage being photographed by TV journalists, they might not be best equipped to deal with the more serious issues of crime they are allegedly in Memphis to handle . Surely, these hundreds of agents aren’t so fragile they need the protection of a handful of state lawmakers. 

This raises the question of why our elected officials would want to call out reporters and imply they are a threat. These are the same lawmakers who often pledge strict allegiance to the Constitution and to smaller government: Rose’s website says he’s a “strong believer in less government,” yet here he is, inserting government into an industry expressly protected by the First Amendment. 

One wonders if Tennessee’s lawmakers don’t understand the Constitution as well as they claim to or if this is another case of overreach by members of the legislature’s supermajority because they can. Either way, the continued treading on free speech and the free press won’t stand: Tennessee’s media outlets, including the Lookout, will continue to bring accountability to the public and uphold the First Amendment.
Letter to FOX13 Memphis – 10-3-25