Yes, We Should Be Reporting the Location of Federal Agents in Our Communities

-first published in Substack blog “The “Last Editor” on October 8, 2025

I was recently recalling a conversation from about 15 years ago with my then-Mizzou colleague Charles Davis (now dean of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia) after we had aired a story on KOMU-TV about some overtime irregularities inside the Columbia Police Department. We received a lot of grief from the audience for covering the story and I was expressing my exasperation with the negative reaction. Charles did a great job succinctly summing up why our reporting was the right thing to do. He said, “We give the police guns and tell them they can shoot people. That means they deserve extra scrutiny.”

What brought this conversation to mind was an item that popped up on my social media feed.

It was a post showing a letter from Memphis-area Republican members of the Tennessee General Assembly taking FOX13 in Memphis to task for asking viewers to report the location of federal law enforcement activity in the city. Here’s the post:

I looked around for what sort of coverage request generated, what sort of stories the station was doing with the information it was getting and what kind of stories the tips might have generated—and found basically nothing. It appears the station has removed the web version of the story (as of this writing, I’ve reached out to the news director to check on that but have not heard back), but a local newspaper (the Citizen Tribune) grabbed what appears to be the original FOX13 story and posted it online:

Here’s what the full article contained:

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The “Memphis Safe Task Force” began operations Monday, September 29.

In the first few hours of its existence, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said federal authorities made nine arrests and seized two illegal guns. Bondi said that 219 officers were “special deputized” on the first day of the task force’s activities.

FOX13 is committed to monitoring the movements of federal authorities across Memphis and documenting the impact the “Memphis Safe Task Force” has on our community. If you see federal authorities, such as the U.S. Marshals, FBI, DEA, ATF, or National Guard, send FOX13 a tip with their location. You can also upload pictures and videos of the encounter.

Public reaction on social media showed disdain and anger over the station’s call for information on law enforcement whereabouts. Comments on a local radio station’s Facebook page went mostly negative, calling the TV station “anti-police” or “woke.” Here’s an excerpt of what was typical:

But note the one commenter who wrote, “So the news reporting factual information is outrageous?” All this reaction to what FOX13 did boils down to that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with calling for viewers to share information, photos and video about what law enforcement is doing—and then doing responsible reporting based on that information. The actions of government employees paid by tax dollars—law enforcement or otherwise—are the business of everyone. Beyond that, the controversial and political nature of efforts to send federal law enforcement into select cities while ignoring other, more crime-prone cities increases the newsworthiness of whatever actions these agents are taking and what impact they are having on the community.

You may be saying that it’s fine to report on what’s happening, but not where the agents are located and that by asking viewers to send that information, the station is working against law enforcement. But that’s simply not the case. Knowing the location of enforcement actions allows journalists to better cover what’s happening—the faster we get there the more complete our coverage can be—and the community to plan and react to what’s happening. Some members of the community may see these stories and decide to leave the enforcement areas to stay out of harm’s way. Others may decide to go to these areas to exercise their First Amendment rights to protest what’s going on, document the actions law enforcement is taking and be more engaged in the process.

The Republican lawmakers contend reporting the whereabouts of federal agents “risks compromising ongoing operations and jeopardizes the safety of the very officers who are working hard to enforce our laws and protect this community.” I would argue that the officers are working in public with no expectation of privacy surrounding their actions. They are very well equipped with military-level firepower and safety gear that provides adequate protection for working the streets of an American city. In fact, the real risk to people’s safety is to those residents in the areas under federal operations who could be innocent victims caught in the crossfire of aggressive police action. Informing those people so they can stay clear is well within the mission of any journalism organization. Beyond that, letting the public know where federal operations are taking place allows people to protect themselves by recording police action, calling out abuse of power and making a record of what’s taking place to which those in power will have to answer.

Looking at TV websites in Memphis and in Portland, another city with increased federal law enforcement action right now, I can’t find anything like what FOX13 was trying to do. And that’s too bad. There is a huge power imbalance developing in cities across the country as the administration exerts force that is not welcome by everyone in its path. As Charles pointed out to me all those years ago, we’ve given certain people guns and turned them loose on the place where we live. We as journalists need to do everything we can to make sure those in power come under as much scrutiny as possible.