Press Freedom in Tennessee

Tennessee scores 97 of 100 on the Institute for Free Speech's anti-SLAPP rubric, against a median of 85 across the 51 jurisdictions.

The overall score is two parts coverage to one part protections, as IFS weights them.

What Tennessee actually gives a defendant

The five protections IFS scores. A statute can cover every kind of speech and still leave a defendant paying their own lawyer for two years.

• Case pauses while the motion is heardPartial: 18 / 20
• Plaintiff must show the case has meritFull marks: 12 / 12
• Denial can be appealed at onceFull marks: 25 / 25
• Winning defendant recovers legal costsPartial: 36 / 40
• Courts told to read the law broadlyNothing: 0 / 3

Tennessee scores nothing on 1 of the five. That is where a bill amending the statute would have the most to fix.

Incidents logged in Tennessee

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has logged 28 press-freedom incidents in Tennessee since 2014, of which 12 are since January 1, 2021.

• Assault14

  Physical attacks on journalists covering a story

• Denial of Access5

  Shut out of a public meeting, scene or record

• Equipment Damage3

  Cameras and gear broken during coverage

• Arrest/Criminal Charge2

  Journalists arrested or charged while reporting

• Chilling Statement2

  Officials threatening the press publicly

• Other Incident2

  Logged, but outside the named categories

• Subpoena/Legal Order1

  Legal demands for notes, sources or footage

This is a count, not a score. It tracks where the protests and the newsrooms are as much as where the law is hostile, so a big state will out-count a small one whatever its statute says. An incident can carry more than one category, so the categories sum to more than the total. Nothing here is added to the anti-SLAPP score.

Where this comes from

The grade and the five component scores are the Institute for Free Speech's 2025 Report Card entry for Tennessee. Incident counts are the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, used under CC BY 4.0. Both retrieved September 19, 2026. The score is IFS's own judgement and is not part of the FreedomRankings score.

Anti-SLAPP law is one part of press freedom, not all of it — shield laws, public records law and how Tennessee courts actually rule are not scored here. None of this is legal advice; talk to a lawyer about an actual dispute.