When Newsrooms Build Intelligence Networks: Chicago Public Media’s Dangerous ICE-tracking Operation

Juan Espinoza Martinez sits in federal custody in Chicago, charged with soliciting murder of Chief Gregory Bovino, the Commander at Large of the U.S. Border Patrol.

“$2k on information when you get him,” he allegedly posted on Snapchat. “$10k if you take him down.”

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors are charging multiple individuals with vehicular assault against immigration officers. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling warns, and as The Center Square reported: “When you plow into a vehicle that contains law enforcement agents, you’re using deadly force and they can use deadly force in response.”

Yet as The Center Square reported these developments over the weekend of October 4-5 and then again on Monday, October 6, two of Chicago’s most prominent newsrooms continue operating a crowdsourced platform tracking these same federal agents.

The Chicago Sun-Times and NPR affiliate, Chicago Public Radio’s WBEZ, operating jointly after a $61 million acquisition of the newspaper, are collecting time-stamped photos of ICE agents with location data— “information” that now carries a street bounty.

According to its 2023 public disclosure, on its last filed 990, Chicago Public Radio had received $1.699 million in government grants and had more than $74.9 million in net assets.

The Intelligence Operation

No need to speculate why these newsrooms are taking this on—their own portal spells out what they’re building: “We’re collecting photos of ICE and other federal agents for a map that illustrates the scope of the deployment in the Chicago area.”

Their requirements: Each photo “must contain time and date information.” Their system “automatically extracts metadata from the image file.” They gather “location information, which we’re translating into map coordinates.” They’ve built Spanish-language versions and partnered with Microsoft for “pro bono technical advising and tools” to create “gold-standard image processing automations.”

This isn’t journalism. It’s surveillance infrastructure, platformed by a once proud newspaper, a withering NPR affiliate, and powered by Microsoft. That’s quite a team.

Their explanation reveals the mindset: “How could we possibly cover the deployment of troops and more ICE agents if the operation was large and dispersed?” Their solution: “Let’s enable members of the community to send in sightings of feds to illustrate the geographic deployment—where they are.”

Sightings of feds. Where they are. Not investigating what happened. Not documenting misconduct. Encouraging the tracking of officers now facing death threats and making that information widely available.

And if that’s OK with you, feel free to stop reading right here because you won’t like the rest of this anymore than what you’ve just read.

How Real Journalism Works

Maps are fine. They help offer context to the news. The Chicago Tribune showed the right approach in the aftermath of the hellstorm that hit Chicago in 2020. After the violence and looting from mobs fueled by George Floyd’s death ended, the Tribune mapped what occurred between May 29 and June 4, 2020. The Tribune’s mapping “showed incidents of looting and damage, reports of arson as well as homicides and people shot if that incident was related to the unrest.”

Their investigation “identified more than 2,100 businesses that were damaged or ransacked throughout Chicago,” revealing that “many businesses were on the South and West sides, far from the attention given to damage downtown.” That was important to know, because the businesses affected were locally owned and operated, and the livelihoods of families. They color-coded incidents—looting, arson, shootings, homicides—to create a comprehensive, historical record.

That’s accountability journalism: Documenting completed events, revealing patterns, serving public understanding. The Tribune didn’t ask citizens to track police movements during active unrest. They investigated afterward. Their reporting added context, not actionable intelligence.

The Advocacy Confession

The Sun-Times and WBEZ abandon any pretense of objectivity in their closing appeal: “Ultimately, participating in democracy involves revealing oneself. Journalists take that risk everyday. By sending in photos, Chicago, we hope, will stand with us to document this moment of federal intervention in the city’s daily life.”

Stand with us. Against federal intervention.That’s an interesting new approach to journalism. They aren’t asking the public to document the acts against law enforcement, because—like 2020—it is OK to lash out in acts of assassination and other violence in 2025. Apparently, there is only one way to think about this kind of unrest, and choosing teams is perfectly fine.

When newsrooms ask citizens to join them in opposition to law enforcement, they’ve chosen sides. When they frame immigration enforcement as “intervention” requiring resistance, they’ve become activists. When they create infrastructure for tracking “feds” while officers face murder solicitations, they’ve already dehumanized ICE in the same stride taken to cross every ethical line our profession once recognized.

The Accountability Double Standard

The newsrooms protect contributor privacy, allowing users to “retain their privacy” and noting reader participation could be offered, “optionally and voluntarily.” Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ did write that they worry about “preventing abusive content from reaching our staff.” God forbid that they see the blood.

But federal agents? No privacy protection. No safety considerations. Their movements, patterns, and locations published for anyone—including those offering bounties—to analyze. Seems like fair play at a time when the dehumanization of each side of this ongoing culture war is part of the deal, but where even super-left publisher The Atlantic is authoring work under the headline “Left-Wing Terrorism is on the Rise.”

As a publisher with four decades in journalism, I’ve spent many cigar-filled nights pondering the industry in which we compete. I’ve never seen such selective application of ethical standards or more bizarre judgment.

Surveillance enables harassment.

What’s At Stake

Mayor Brandon Johnson issued an “ICE-free zone” executive order October 6, limiting federal officers’ use of city property. The White House called it a “disgusting betrayal of every law-abiding citizen” showing “true loyalty: to criminal illegal alien predators, not the terrified families of Chicago.”

Yes, that reads like statements from two separate worlds.

With media trust at 28% overall and Republicans’ trust of media at 8% (an all-time low) according to Pew Research’s latest measurement, we in the news industry cannot afford to validate criticisms of bias by literally taking sides. In the same polling, 51% of Democrats (the lowest measurement since 2016) trust the media.

At The Center Square, we follow a simple principle here: We report what government does, not where agents are. We investigate spending, effectiveness, and accountability in something close to real time. We do not provide directions to legislators’ homes or the local bars where they hang out in places like Olympia, Harrisburg, and Springfield.

We never ask readers to “stand with us” against any government agency. In fact, we don’t produce opinion pieces, never tell readers to think a certain way, and intentionally publish work that allows the readers to get to the facts quickly and then think for themselves.

The Clear Choice

The Sun-Times and WBEZ must choose: Dismantle the tracking portal, or simply concede that they’ve abandoned journalism for activism. Enough with the fiction of neutrality.

While this mapping of law enforcement may achieve the new standard of “minimally viable truth,” as NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said in her 2024 TED talk, tracking the movements of law enforcement is maximally dangerous and fuels further opportunity for agitation. And it could cost more people their lives.

Federal agents now face murder bounties and vehicular assault while two newsrooms maintain a platform providing exactly what those bounties seek—operational intelligence on officer movements.

This isn’t a gray area. It’s not a close call. When your intelligence platform operates while blood spills on Chicago streets, you’ve failed journalism’s most basic test: report the story, don’t become the story.

If Sun-Times and WBEZ wanted to make an impact, maybe map incidents after they occur. Investigate patterns. Hold all parties accountable. But don’t actively enable violence.

As I write this on the evening of October 6, 2025, 279 days into 2025, the current year-to-date homicide count in the City of Chicago is 352. That puts the city on pace for 460 for the year.

So far this year, 1,580 people in Chicago – or roughly the total underclass enrollment of a small college like Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington—have been shot this calendar year. Not Cook County. Not Northern Illinois, but in the city limits.

Through the first five days of October, there have already been 10 homicides in Chicago.

The distinction between documentation and surveillance, between accountability and targeting, between journalism and activism couldn’t be clearer. Tracking “sightings of feds” serves those who would do officers harm. And it’s disgusting.

As a former colleague of mine liked to say, journalists are not special people, but they have a special job.

What the Sun-Times and WBEZ are doing ain’t it.