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{
"title": "White House press secretary says tweets criticizing Trump are ‘a fireable offense’",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-press-secretary-says-tweets-criticizing-trump-are-fireable-offense/",
"first_published_at": "2017-11-07T00:03:46.492044Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T19:10:46.544194Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T19:10:46.458523Z",
"date": "2017-09-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e5tm5\">At a White House press briefing on Sept. 13, 2017, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that it should be a “fireable offense” for ESPN sports journalist Jemele Hill to criticize President Trump on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"xb17l\">On Sept. 11, Hill tweeted that Trump was “a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.</p>— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jemelehill/status/907391978194849793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 11, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"o6s0q\">During the Sept. 13 briefing, a reporter asked Sanders whether the president was aware of Hill’s tweet.</p><p data-block-key=\"xxncr\">“I’m not sure if he’s aware, but I think that’s one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make and certainly something that is a fireable offense by ESPN,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"usbyv\">Later that day, Hill tweeted a public apology.</p><p data-block-key=\"nvqdu\">“My comments on Twitter reflected my personal beliefs,” she said. “My regret is that my comments and the public way I made them painted ESPN in an unfair light. My respect for the company and my colleagues remains unconditional.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8spn8\">Shortly after, ESPN <a href=\"https://money.cnn.com/2017/09/13/media/jemele-hill-espn-white-house/index.html\">released</a> its own statement, distancing itself from Hill’s comments.</p><p data-block-key=\"21jpv\">“Jemele has a right to her personal opinions, but not to publicly share them on a platform that implies that she was in any way speaking on behalf of ESPN,” the statement said. “She has acknowledged that her tweets crossed that line and has apologized for doing so. We accept her apology.”</p><p data-block-key=\"26y8n\">A Super PAC named The Democratic Coalition has filed an ethics complaint with the Office of Government Ethics against Sanders. Coalition Chairman Jon Cooper <a href=\"https://www.thewrap.com/sarah-huckabee-sanders-hit-with-ethics-complaint/\">told TheWrap</a>, “When Sarah Huckabee Sanders called for Jemele Hill to be fired by ESPN, she crossed the line and put herself in dubious legal territory.” </p><p data-block-key=\"iinea\">On Sept. 15, Trump criticized ESPN on Twitter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">ESPN is paying a really big price for its politics (and bad programming). People are dumping it in RECORD numbers. Apologize for untruth!</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/908651641943003136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 15, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5a2kg\">On Oct. 9, ESPN announced that it had suspended Hill for two weeks in response to a tweet about a potential boycott of companies advertising with the Dallas Cowboys. Jerry Jones, the owner and general manager of the Cowboys, is reportedly close to Trump and received praise from the president after he <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/jones-mandating-players-stand-for-national-anthem-to-remove-debate-away-from-politics/\">threatened</a> NFL players who refused to stand during the national anthem.</p><p data-block-key=\"1aolq\">“Jemele Hill has been suspended for two weeks for a second violation of our social media guidelines,” the network said in a statement. “She previously acknowledged letting her colleagues and company down with an impulsive tweet. In the aftermath, all employees were reminded of how individual tweets may reflect negatively on ESPN and that such actions would have consequences. Hence this decision.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fsjgv\">On Oct. 10, President Trump once again criticized ESPN and Hill on Twitter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">With Jemele Hill at the mike, it is no wonder ESPN ratings have "tanked," in fact, tanked so badly it is the talk of the industry!</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/917701841466593280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 10, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6a21c\">White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. September 12, 2017.</p>",
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"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"Jemele Hill (ESPN)"
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{
"title": "Missouri reporter assaulted at his home after reporting on sexual misconduct allegations",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/missouri-reporter-assaulted-his-home-after-reporting-sexual-misconduct-allegations/",
"first_published_at": "2017-09-22T18:23:55.179375Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-08-22T20:13:36.996819Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-08-22T20:08:31.705143Z",
"date": "2017-09-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Joplin",
"longitude": -94.51328,
"latitude": 37.08423,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j6671\">Randy Turner, a former newspaper reporter who now runs a blog called The Turner Report, was <a href=\"https://rturner229.blogspot.com/2017/09/links-provided-for-top-turner_16.html\">punched</a> in the face at his home in Joplin, Missouri, on Sept. 11, 2017, after a man knocked on his door and asked, "Are you Mr. Turner?”</p><p data-block-key=\"3ewum\">After confirming his name, the man punched Turner in the nose, causing him to fall to the floor, and then walked away. Turner, who saw a doctor following the attack, suffered bruises on his face, a black eye and injured knee, <a href=\"https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/crime/2017/09/12/blogger-says-man-knocked-his-door-then-punched-him-face/657729001/\">according to the Springfield News-Leader</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"vyqhr\">Turner told the Freedom of the Press Foundation, “I consider myself fortunate that all that happened was me being punched. The man could have had a gun or he could have kept on punching me. I am 61 years old and had triple bypass heart surgery a few months ago and I have a pacemaker.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jcrhd\">Turner believes that his assailant was Christopher Alred, a former supervisor at a local Sonic restaurant.</p><p data-block-key=\"hpt7r\">Turner had published articles on his blog about Alred on Sept. 10 and 11, the day before and the day of the attack. The articles reported on allegations of sexual misconduct against Alred. According to Missouri court records, Alred has been charged with one count of “statutory sodomy” in the second degree. (Alred's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)</p><p data-block-key=\"8vbfe\">On Sept. 13, Joplin Police <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/JoplinPD/photos/pb.185456884943352.-2207520000.1505350289./907393606083006/\">announced</a>: “We are seeking the arrest of Christopher Alred, 31, for the assault of local blogger Randy Turner. We know he frequents the area along with the Springfield area. Our detectives developed probable cause to arrest him yesterday afternoon and he hasn't been located.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wcv1f\">Following the attack at his home, Turner told the Springfield News-Leader, “I mainly want to show people that this is not going to stop me from doing what I'm doing and what I have been doing for the last 40 years.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"name": "Missouri",
"abbreviation": "MO"
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"updates": [
"(2018-11-08 15:55:00+00:00) Man who punched Missouri reporter is sentenced for the assault"
],
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"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Randy Turner (The Turner Report)"
],
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{
"title": "Photojournalist detained at US-Canadian border ordered to delete images on camera",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-detained-us-canadian-border-ordered-delete-images-camera/",
"first_published_at": "2017-10-20T17:46:57.847045Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-10T14:38:53.145074Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-10T14:38:53.024353Z",
"date": "2017-09-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Highgate",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ajlkr\">Terry J. Allen, a senior editor for In These Times magazine, was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection while attempting to cross the U.S.-Canadian border on Sept. 4, 2017 and ordered to delete images she had taken of the border crossing.</p><p data-block-key=\"9lh1j\">Allen, who has reported for the Guardian, Boston Globe, Harper’s, and Salon, told Freedom of the Press Foundation that she took photos of buildings and vehicle congestion near the Highgate Springs–St. Armand/Philipsburg Border Crossing connecting Quebec and Vermont. She was traveling with a friend at the time and she stepped out of the car to take photos while stuck in traffic, according to an account she wrote about her experience for the online news site VTDigger.</p><p data-block-key=\"3v8gn\">When Allen arrived at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint approximately thirty minutes later, a CBP agent asked Allen if she had been photographing the area. She responded that she had and that she was a journalist who often photographed border patrol stations.</p><p data-block-key=\"5pcqh\">Allen told Freedom of the Press Foundation that the agent, whose name she did not specify, then demanded her phone to delete the images she had taken. She refused to hand over the phone and told the agent that the images were on a camera, not her phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"ep23p\">Allen <a href=\"https://vtdigger.org/2017/09/17/first-person-how-a-reporters-photos-were-deleted-at-the-vermont-border/\">wrote in VTDigger</a> that she eventually deleted the images from her camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"9n6pt\">“Look you don’t have the right to demand this, but, here, I’ll delete the SD card in my camera,” she told the agent.</p><p data-block-key=\"bhf37\">After checking the display of her camera to confirm that the images had been deleted, the CBP agent continued to demand Allen’s phone and after she again refused, he instructed the two of them to park and enter a nearby building.</p><p data-block-key=\"58558\">Allen and her companion were then questioned by a second CBP agent, Supervisor Mayo, who showed the journalist a copy of a provision in the <a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/code-conduct\">Department of Homeland Security’s Code of Conduct</a> in response to her question about which regulations prohibit photography.</p><p data-block-key=\"9crjm\">According to the provision, people need permission to photograph space occupied by a federal agency. The text of the provision, however, permits photographs of building entrances and lobbies for news purposes:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/41/102-74.420\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"l6i31\">Except where security regulations, rules, orders, or directives apply or a Federal court order or rule prohibits it, persons entering in or on Federal property may take photographs of--</p><p data-block-key=\"hcbp5\">(a) Space occupied by a tenant agency for non-commercial purposes only with the permission of the occupying agency concerned;</p><p data-block-key=\"0rii5\">(b) Space occupied by a tenant agency for commercial purposes only with written permission of an authorized official of the occupying agency concerned; and</p><p data-block-key=\"6b8k9\">(c) Building entrances, lobbies, foyers, corridors, or auditoriums for news purposes.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/41/102-74.420\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"pzqd6\">41 CFR 102-74.420</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xkd8q\">After showing Supervisor Mayo her camera to prove the photos of the border stop had been deleted, he returned both passports, and Allen and her friend were permitted to depart.</p><p data-block-key=\"wl52n\">Stephanie Malin, a spokesperson for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told Freedom of the Press Foundation in an email:</p><p data-block-key=\"wk6or\">“CBP Privacy policy prohibits us from discussing the details of a specific individual's inspection however while photography of federal facilities from outside is not prohibited for news purposes, all CBP federal inspection stations lend travelers a certain level of privacy protection under U.S. law and we must seek passenger permission to take photos of them if the photos show enough detail to identify someone or their property (vehicle, etc.). Additionally our officers are cognizant of the security risks that can accompany individuals taking photos of the ports, for example to be used to identify smuggling opportunities or to accomplish other nefarious activity. While we understand that was not the intent in this case, these are reasons why our officers may ask individuals not to take photos or ask to see the photos that have been taken.”</p></div>",
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"teaser": "Terry J. Allen, a senior editor for In These Times magazine, was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection while attempting to cross the US-Canadian border on Sept. 4, 2017.",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ndolt\">Journalist Terry Allen</p>",
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"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
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"name": "Vermont",
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{
"title": "Local newspaper editor shot by police officer in Ohio",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/local-newspaper-editor-shot-police-officer-ohio/",
"first_published_at": "2017-09-06T20:28:23.781264Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:59:09.970418Z",
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"city": "New Carlisle",
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"latitude": 39.93617,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vt0bt\">Andy Grimm, a news editor and photographer for The New Carlisle News, was shot while setting up his camera to photograph a traffic stop during a lightning storm, according to a statement from the Clark County Sheriff's Office. At around 10:15 pm on Sept. 4th, Grimm was holding his camera when Clark County Sheriff’s Deputy Jack Shaw <a href=\"https://www.newcarlislenews.net/index.php/public-records/sheriff-reports-6/3290-deputy-shoots-new-carlisle-news-photographer\">shot</a> him twice without warning.</p><p data-block-key=\"i8bxh\">According to WGCT Fox 45, one of the bullets struck him in the side and another grazed his shoulder. Grimm was taken to Miami Valley Hospital, where he underwent surgery and was <a href=\"https://www.whio.com/news/news-photographer-released-from-hospital-deputy-who-shot-him/pi4FBjcUjnfMIfILJoOj1O/\">released</a> the next day. He’s expected to recover. </p><p data-block-key=\"tpmzq\">Grimm told Fox 45 that he and Shaw knew one another before the shooting. He said that after he was shot, he said, “What the [bleep] Jake Shaw, you shot me, dude” and Shaw responded, “Oh my God, Andy,” and repeatedly said, “I thought it was a gun.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9p8ip\">According to WHIO-TV 7, Shaw was placed on administrative leave and will attend a “critical incident debriefing.” At the request of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, the Attorney General of Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation will conduct the investigation into the shooting.</p><p data-block-key=\"0xlgj\">“We’re still investigating to determine what exactly occurred,” a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said in a statement. </p><p data-block-key=\"lorox\">Grimm is confident in the investigation and <a href=\"https://dayton247now.com/news/local/officer-involved-shooting-reported-in-new-carlisle\">told WRGT Fox 45</a> that he is not upset with Shaw. </p><p data-block-key=\"0damr\">“There’s so much animosity toward police officers,” he said. “He was just doing his job. I think he made a bad decision. He shot somebody, an unarmed civilian. Realistically there's going to be consequences.”</p><p data-block-key=\"p4ez8\">“Our hearts and prayers are with Mr. Grimm as he recovers and with Deputy Jake Shaw and we ask the community to keep both of them in your hearts and prayers as well,” the Clark County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.</p></div>",
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"(2019-05-23 00:00:00+00:00) Ohio county agrees to pay $260,000 to settle lawsuit brought by photojournalist shot by sheriff’s deputy"
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{
"title": "University of Texas journalist attacked at immigrant rights protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/university-texas-journalist-attacked-immigrant-rights-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2017-09-22T19:45:47.991151Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-21T22:08:43.441080Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-21T22:08:43.333213Z",
"date": "2017-09-01",
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"city": "Austin",
"longitude": -97.74306,
"latitude": 30.26715,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yqsyl\">Chase Karacostas — a reporter for The Daily Texan, the newspaper of the University of Texas, Austin — was attacked by a protester while covering a demonstration about immigrant rights on campus on Sept. 1, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"41r5q\">In an interview with the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Karacostas said he had been covering the protest, a demonstration in response to a bill banning sanctuary cities in Texas, for about 20 minutes before he was attacked. He said that a protester knocked his phone into his head while he was conducting an interview. The phone cut his face and forced him to receive treatment at an urgent care clinic.</p><p data-block-key=\"w6k2u\">“I was holding my phone out in front of me while recording, and my assailant came up to me and knocked my phone directly into my face,” Karacostas said.</p><p data-block-key=\"t5p1b\">The Student Press Law Center <a href=\"http://www.splc.org/article/2017/09/uta-student-journalist-assaulted\">published</a> audio of the incident and immediate aftermath.</p><p data-block-key=\"2hz2k\">While his attacker re-joined the protest, Karacostas finished his interview and addressed his injury.</p><p data-block-key=\"38xdx\">“At first I thought it was just a bruise, but then I noticed blood,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"n1oww\">London Gibson, a campus reporter for The Daily Texan who also <a href=\"https://thedailytexan.com/2017/09/01/senate-bill-4-protest-sends-one-student-to-hospital-one-arrested/\">covered</a> the demonstration, told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that she was interviewing another bystander when the altercation occurred.</p><p data-block-key=\"lvdq8\">“When I turned around, Chase’s face was covered in blood,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"e6cvi\">Karacostas said that he walked with his editor, Ellie Breed, to an urgent care center several blocks away, where he received six stitches near his eyebrow.</p><p data-block-key=\"kp853\">Karacostas identified the assailant as Eric Nava-Perez, a member of Sanctuary UT, one of the groups that organized the protest. Nava-Perez was arrested by the Austin Police Department and charged with assault. According to the Student Press Law Center, Nava-Perez was held for 12 hours at Travis County Jail and has been banned from entering UT Austin’s campus without permission from the dean.</p><p data-block-key=\"ui2c1\">Nava-Perez did not respond to a request for comment, but Charles Holm, an organizer with Sanctuary UT, criticized Nava-Perez’s arrest. In an interview with the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Holm said that the university’s tactics of policing had contributed to an unsafe atmosphere at the protest and that Nava-Perez felt harassed and defensive due to the presence of police and right-wing bystanders. Jennifer Campbell, another organizer with Sanctuary UT, said that there were multiple police departments present at the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ywtg\">Holm said there was confusion at the protest as to who was a reporter, since multiple bystanders were documenting the demonstration and because the student journalists did not yet have their press badges for the semester. He said that Nava-Perez may have thought that Karacostas was a right wing heckler.</p><p data-block-key=\"3lrxt\">Holm said that, while the altercation was an unfortunate event in which a reporter was regrettably injured, he does not believe it was symbolic of an attack on press freedom.</p><p data-block-key=\"qwvsl\">“There was a general atmosphere of tension that created a chaotic situation,” Holm said.</p><p data-block-key=\"qd2v2\">Karacostas said that, although he was interviewing a bystander who disagreed with the message of the protest, there was no reason to believe he was with the alt-right. Even if he were sympathetic to the alt-right, he added, “it’s still not okay to knock phones into people’s faces and injure them.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2h9zz\">Karacostas was surprised by the randomness of the attack, and in contrast to Holm’s account, both he and Gibson described the atmosphere of the protest leading up to the altercation as relatively calm. Karacostas said that he remains committed to his work as a reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"brfdx\">“A lot of blood wasn’t going to stop me from recording,” he said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"gq3mc\">Chase Karacostas</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
"updates": [
"(2018-08-02 00:00:00+00:00) Protester gets probation after attack on student reporter in Texas"
],
"case_statuses": [],
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"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Chase Karacostas (The [University of Texas at Austin] Daily Texan)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist covering pipeline protest arrested, camera seized",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-covering-pipeline-protest-arrested-camera-seized/",
"first_published_at": "2019-11-14T16:44:01.092832Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-27T20:30:26.094734Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-27T20:30:25.994302Z",
"date": "2017-08-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Douglas County",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rr2kk\">Independent journalist Leana Hosea was arrested while filming a protest at a pipeline construction site in rural Douglas County, Minnesota, on Aug. 29, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"c6ozc\">Protesters had gathered at a construction site for Enbridge Energy’s Line 3, where one activist had chained himself to an excavator. Two other activists were standing atop that piece of machinery.</p><p data-block-key=\"2duzz\">The protesters Hosea was documenting were trying to halt the replacement of an aging segment of the pipeline constructed in the 1960s. Around 390,000 barrels of oil per day flow through Enbridge's Line 3, originating at the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, then stretching across northern Minnesota to the company’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin, <a href=\"https://www.wpr.org/6-arrested-trespassing-enbridge-pipeline-construction-site\">according</a> to Wisconsin Public Radio.</p><p data-block-key=\"unc72\">Hosea was filming from a public road as well as from the side of the road where the excavator was located. When a Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy asked her to move off the side of the road, she complied. “In under 10 seconds I had obeyed their orders,” Hosea told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"t27g1\">Footage from the protest is included in Hosea’s 2019 film about clean water, “Thirst for Justice.” The incident in question can be seen at the 2:49 to 3:12 minute mark on the film’s <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ThirstForJusticeDocumentary/videos/490055155118367/\">trailer</a>. “You're under arrest, too,” one of the deputies tells her.</p><p data-block-key=\"fs420\">Deputies arrested Hosea along with the activists, and even though she informed them she was a journalist, she was still searched and detained. “I was just not recognized as a journalist,” Hosea told the Tracker. “There were five activists and there was me, we were all being lumped together.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5imry\">Hosea was charged with one count of disorderly conduct and trespass to land. Two activists faced the same charges, and three others were charged with resisting an officer, disorderly conduct and trespass to land. Hosea posted bond and was released, but her video camera was not returned to her for another two months, rendering her unable to continue work on her film.</p><p data-block-key=\"xn0ml\">On Feb. 12, 2018, Hosea pleaded no contest to the trespass charge and received a $358 fine, according to court records <a href=\"https://www.superiortelegram.com/news/4413400-public-record\">published</a> by the Superior Telegram. The disorderly conduct charge was dismissed. First Amendment lawyer Henry Kaufman represented her on a pro bono basis.</p><p data-block-key=\"honr3\">In order to start a journalism fellowship at the University of Michigan’s School of Environment and Sustainability, Hosea, a British citizen, had to leave the country to renew her U.S. visa while the charges were still pending. Due to the charges, she was called into a special interview at the U.S. Embassy. “I was very lucky I got my visa,” she told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"f6qkx\">Hosea said that the arrest was a “complete overreaction” and the legal process left her feeling intimidated. “As a foreign journalist it made me very nervous,” Hosea said. “I am going to be much more cautious working in America. My status as a journalist didn't mean anything; it was shocking.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"j9vk3\">While filming protesters at this pipeline construction site in Minnesota for her documentary, journalist Leana Hosea was arrested and her video camera was seized for two months.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Douglas County Sheriff’s Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
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"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"environmentalism",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Leana Hosea (Independent)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Independent journalist Dave Minsky beaten and attacked with pipe by protesters in Berkeley",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-dave-minsky-beaten-and-attacked-pipe-protesters-berkeley/",
"first_published_at": "2017-10-25T20:19:54.224957Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T19:53:06.645940Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T19:53:06.525756Z",
"date": "2017-08-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Berkeley",
"longitude": -122.27275,
"latitude": 37.87159,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yj8mh\">Dave Minsky — an independent journalist and photographer who freelances for Reuters, Vice, the Miami New Times and the Santa Barbara News-Press — was beaten by masked protesters on Aug. 27, 2017, while covering an anti-fascist protest in Berkeley, California.</p><p data-block-key=\"08jmg\">Minsky told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he was in Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park to cover an aborted white nationalist protest in Berkeley, which turned into an anti-fascist demonstration.</p><p data-block-key=\"l1w0i\">He said that he was carrying two iPhones, a reporter’s notebook in the back pocket and a DSLR camera with a zoom lens around his neck. He was using the iPhone in his left hand to livestream the anti-fascist protest on Instagram, while using the iPhone in his right-hand to take pictures of police officers in riot gear and anti-fascist protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"vb72v\">According to Minsky, he was taking photographs of the scene when a masked protester approached him and tried to grab his phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"cg42w\">“This individual came up to me and tried to swat the phone out of my right hand,” he said. “You know, I moved my hand out of the way as he did that that and apparently that enraged him and so he started kind of like coming after me, and that’s when I started backing up.”</p><p data-block-key=\"u3hxx\">Minsky said that another protester tried to trip him as he moved backward towards the edge of the park, which caused him to lose his balance and fall down. Once he was on the ground, he said, a group of protesters began to beat him. </p><p data-block-key=\"n5pjg\">“Two, three people started tried to grab my phones out of my hands, grab the [camera] off my neck,” he said. “They were hitting me in the face and kicking me in the face and the torso, in the ribs and more people joined in — you know, I think at this point there were four, five, maybe six people.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/S8qG-DyNxQs?start=9&feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" gesture=\"media\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n \n <p data-block-key=\"d936u\">Masked protesters beat independent journalist Dave Minsky, in this video recorded by Nathan Hope. One of the protesters then knocks the phone out of Hope’s hands to prevent him from filming the beating.</p>\n \n \n <p>Nathan Hope</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"n4hf0\">Minsky said that he tried to flee the scene, but a group of protesters chased him down. One of the masked protesters swung a pipe at him.</p><p data-block-key=\"8yd9g\">“She came up to me, and she cracked me in the ribs with a pipe … then that’s when two other people kind of tackled me and started hitting me in the head and trying to take my phone and my DSLR, and at one point someone ripped the lens right off my camera.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/hpnyHtjGCyQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" gesture=\"media\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n \n <p data-block-key=\"tyc7v\">Masked protesters chase independent journalist Dave Minsky, before hitting him with a pipe and tackling him to the ground.</p>\n \n \n <p>Berkeleyside/Chris Polydoroff</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7dfum\">Eventually, two Oakland police officers approached Minsky and escorted him away from the protesters. His shirt was ripped in half and he was missing one of his two iPhones, his camera’s 70-200mm zoom lens and his reporter’s notebook.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ccvx\">Minsky said that he was examined by EMTs and put in ambulance, but that he refused to go to the hospital because he did not have health insurance.</p><p data-block-key=\"gfd8a\">“I refused medical attention,” he said. “I don’t have medical insurance. … After the police brought me to the sidewalk and the EMTs looked at me, I was put in the back of the ambulance. I continually told them, you know, ‘I don’t want medical attention, please leave me here, it’s fine.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"fhxe6\">After being let out of the ambulance, Minsky said, he bought a new shirt at Walgreens and then returned to the park to continue covering the protest, only to find that it had already ended.</p><p data-block-key=\"7cd2n\">Minsky later noticed a sharp pain in his chest and had difficulty breathing — a possible sign of a bruised or broken rib. </p><p data-block-key=\"e9m4n\">“I didn’t realize I was hit on the ribs until after I started driving home,” he said. “It became very apparent that it was hard to breathe and there was a sharp pain in my right rib cage and at one particular spot. I was touching it, and it felt really tender and hurt really bad. You know, it was difficult to breathe and it still kind of hurts.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ts8u2\">Minsky said that the pain in his ribs lasted about a week and that he still finds it difficult to breathe, especially when he is lying down or trying to sleep. He said that his wife, a physician’s assistant, believes that his rib is broken, but that he does not know for sure because he has not had a chest X-ray.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-video\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://t.co/DItm9Zkx0J\">https://t.co/DItm9Zkx0J</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/2vCMu40lNE\">pic.twitter.com/2vCMu40lNE</a></p>— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/nbcbayarea/status/901975197976289280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 28, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX3DKYN.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"g2ln2\">A masked demonstrator strikes photographer Dave Minsky with a pipe in Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, in Berkeley, California, on August 27, 2017.</p>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"links": [],
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"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera lens"
},
{
"quantity": 2,
"equipment": "cellphone"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "work product"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"anti-fascism",
"protest",
"white nationalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Dave Minsky (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Protesters in Berkeley steal local TV reporter's phone and dunk it in water",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/protesters-berkeley-steal-local-tv-reporters-phone-and-dunk-it-water/",
"first_published_at": "2017-10-12T00:26:27.957864Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T19:53:50.175591Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T19:53:50.074817Z",
"date": "2017-08-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Berkeley",
"longitude": -122.27275,
"latitude": 37.87159,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ia8td\">Thom Jensen, a freelance reporter for NBC affiliate KNTV, had his phone taken by protesters while covering an anti-fascist demonstration on Aug. 27, 2017, in Berkeley, California.</p><p data-block-key=\"ahjm4\">Lizzie Johnson, a reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle, tweeted a video that shows protesters chasing Jensen and yelling, “Take his camera, take his phone!”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">"Take his camera, take his phone," they are shouting at a journalist. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/berkeley?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#berkeley</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/hvsQ5eXalE\">pic.twitter.com/hvsQ5eXalE</a></p>— Lizzie Johnson (@lizziejohnsonnn) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/lizziejohnsonnn/status/901918372438220800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 27, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uk8ml\">Thomas Hawk, an independent photojournalist who also covered the rally, told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he saw Jensen arguing with a group of protesters after they took his phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"keqt1\">Jensen later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ThomNBCBayArea/status/902056981279551488\">tweeted</a> that the protesters who took his phone submerged it in a water-filled barricade. He said that he got the phone back and it continued to work.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">My phone was taken & submerged in one of the water-filled barricades. Thankfully it had a waterproof case & find my iPhone works under water <a href=\"https://t.co/rOTfQmbeyK\">https://t.co/rOTfQmbeyK</a></p>— Thom Jensen (@ThomNBCBayArea) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ThomNBCBayArea/status/902056981279551488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 28, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/4I7A7883.dng.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zg1x4\">Thom Jensen, a freelance journalist for KNTV, argues with protesters after they steal his phone, in Berkeley, California, on Aug. 27, 2017.</p>",
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"actor": "private individual",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"links": [],
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"anti-fascism",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Thom Jensen (KNTV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "KTVU reporter assaulted while covering protest in Berkeley",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ktvu-reporter-assaulted-while-covering-protest-berkeley/",
"first_published_at": "2017-09-15T23:37:35.608578Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T19:56:23.734722Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T19:56:23.639886Z",
"date": "2017-08-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Berkeley",
"longitude": -122.27275,
"latitude": 37.87159,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8rxys\">Leigh Martinez, a freelance reporter for KTVU, was covering an anti-fascist <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-bay-area-protests-updates-htmlstory.html#police-identify-13-people-arrested-in-berkeley-demonstrations\">protest</a> in Berkeley, California, on Aug. 27, 2017, when a protester knocked her phone out of her hand.</p><p data-block-key=\"fwfba\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KTVU/status/901914750954618880\">video</a> of the altercation shared by KTVU on its Facebook and Twitter accounts, one protester is shown attempting to block Martinez’s ability to film the march with a poster. A second protester approaches Martinez, saying, “Hey, can you not film this right now?” The protester then knocks Martinez’s phone out of her hand. The protester was later arrested on suspicion of battery.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/15p1i8USJs8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n \n <p data-block-key=\"9lwda\">KTVU’s Leigh Martinez had her phone hit out of her hand during a confrontation at Berkeley's protests. She was not injured.</p>\n \n \n <p>KTVU</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2uogt\">Martinez could not be reached for comment, but KTVU wrote on Facebook that Martinez says “the incident happened after an altercation with her photographer.”</p><p data-block-key=\"19uut\">In a response to KTVU photojournalist Randee Deason on Twitter, Martinez <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LeighMartinezTV/status/901916110781419521\">tweeted</a>, “Yes, I’m okay. She hit my wrist. I was able to continue working.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2017-09-15_at_7.29.32.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ixv0c\">Screengrab from KTVU video showing protesters trying to block Leigh Martinez</p>",
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"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
"anti-fascism",
"protest"
],
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"Assault"
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{
"title": "Documentary production assistant has phone knocked out of hands by protesters",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/documentary-production-assistant-has-phone-knocked-out-hands-protesters/",
"first_published_at": "2017-09-12T17:49:38.481835Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T19:58:09.108387Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T19:58:08.990999Z",
"date": "2017-08-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Berkeley",
"longitude": -122.27275,
"latitude": 37.87159,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bakot\">An unidentified protester ordered freelance production assistant Nathan Hope to stop filming and knocked a phone out of his hands during protests in Berkeley, California, on Aug. 27, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"vtarv\">Hope, who was assisting a production crew that day for a documentary about the alt right, said that it was one of a series of threats and intimidation that the crew experienced that day at the hands of people whom he described as anti-fascist or black bloc protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"wmmf4\">The black bloc protesters arrived at a largely peaceful protest in Berkeley’s Civic Center Park. The protest was part of a “Rally Against Hate” in response to a much smaller group of right-wing protesters, according to press reports.</p><p data-block-key=\"1vjdt\">Hope told Alex Ellerbeck, a reporter with the Committee to Protect Journalists, that he was filming a group of protesters assaulting an unidentified man at the time that the incident occurred. </p><p data-block-key=\"q6p9q\">Hope said that one protester, wearing a bandana to disguise their identity, ordered him to stop filming and then knocked his phone of his hands. Hope said that the phone was not damaged after being knocked to the ground, but the video was interrupted. He stopped filming shortly afterwards.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/S8qG-DyNxQs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n \n <p data-block-key=\"tb2nl\">While filming a protest in Berkeley on August 27, 2017, production assistant Nathan Hope had his camera knocked out of his hands by a masked protester.</p>\n \n \n <p>Nathan Hope</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3mtnb\">Two other journalists working on the documentary project said that they also received threats while filming on that day. </p><p data-block-key=\"2rimc\">Leighton Woodhouse, an independent documentary filmmaker, said that anti-fascist protesters approached him and told to stop filming. </p><p data-block-key=\"u8joj\">“The only reason we didn’t get administered a beat down is because when we were ordered (not asked) to point our cameras elsewhere, we only pushed our right to film them so far,” Woodhouse wrote in a blog post on his website L@W.</p><p data-block-key=\"3lnty\">“Nobody threatened us directly, but there was an implicit threat of violence because as it happened, people were being beaten up,” Woodhouse told Ellerbeck. </p><p data-block-key=\"a2148\">He said that fear of violence affected how he reported on the protest and that there were times when they stopped filming or filmed from farther away. He said that there were three or four confrontations in which he was ordered to stop filming and that protesters would block the cameras with shields and would sometimes escort reporters away from the scene.</p><p data-block-key=\"znzvc\">Armando Aparicio, Woodhouse’s partner on the documentary project, told Ellerbeck that one protester put a shield in his face and followed him everyone that he went. He said that protesters were screaming that they did not want to be in his video. Aparicio said that he put a cap on his lens and stepped back after being threatened.</p><p data-block-key=\"plyp5\">Both Woodhouse and Aparicio said that the protesters seemed to have a conflicted relationship with the media. The protest took place in a public sphere and banners and signs seemed designed to be captured by the press, but at the same time protesters seemed to be afraid of having their identities captured on camera. </p><p data-block-key=\"1w3x8\">“There is a fear of doxing [having identities publicly revealed] both by the alt right and law enforcement,” said Aparicio.</p><p data-block-key=\"32uod\">“We were in a public park,” Woodhouse wrote on his blog. “It was a big news event, where everybody knew there would be media. Activists in the Black Bloc were concealed by sunglasses and ski masks to protect their identity for exactly this reason. They carried flags and banners, to make themselves a spectacle. Yet for their personal security, many of them decided that it was their right to command photographers not to take their pictures, to physically block them from doing so, and if they persisted, to smash their equipment and assault them.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2017-09-12_at_1.11.31.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qdk5g\">A screengrab from a video shot by Nathan Hope shows a protester trying to block him from filming an assault.</p>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"anti-fascism",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Nathan Hope (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter Mike Kessler's camera is smashed in Berkeley",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-mike-kesslers-camera-smashed-berkeley/",
"first_published_at": "2017-09-05T20:43:53.897109Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T19:59:36.544024Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T19:59:36.407261Z",
"date": "2017-08-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Berkeley",
"longitude": -122.27275,
"latitude": 37.87159,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5fno1\">Mike Kessler was covering a demonstration on Aug. 27, 2017, in Berkeley, California, when a group of protesters stole his camera and phone and attempted to break them. His phone was not damaged, but his camera was completely destroyed.</p><p data-block-key=\"rg3ae\">In an <a href=\"https://newrepublic.com/article/144659/antifa-broke-camera\">essay for The New Republic</a>, Kessler described what happened:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://newrepublic.com/article/144659/antifa-broke-camera\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"gytji\">Suddenly, from behind, someone knocked my camera out of my right hand, then did the same to my phone, which was in my left. I turned around to see a black leather boot stomping my phone (it survived—thanks, Otter case!), while another antifa picked up my camera, hurled it into the air, and got in my face. “No fucking pictures!”</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://newrepublic.com/article/144659/antifa-broke-camera\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"vbgfi\">The New Republic</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rmiyp\">Kessler said in an interview with the Freedom of the Press Foundation that his camera, a Canon G12, was complete destroyed. He also said that he saw three people trying to extract the memory card from his camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"77vyu\">“After the crowd thinned out and police came, I saw three people attempting to get the SD card out of my camera,” he said. “The camera itself was totally mangled. The guts of the camera were hanging out. I saw the battery on the ground later. They had smashed the body of the camera in such a way that prevented the SD card from being removed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"yvgei\">Thomas Hawk, an independent photojournalist who witnessed the incident, <a href=\"https://petapixel.com/2017/08/29/photographers-beware-violent-antifa-protestors/\">confirmed</a> Kessler’s account of what happened.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/36047176553_7185da1635_o.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"yavtc\">A protester swings Mike Kessler's camera before smashing it on the ground, on Aug. 27, 2017, in Berkeley, California.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"actor": "private individual",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"links": [],
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"tags": [
"anti-fascism",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mike Kessler (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Protesters attack independent livestreamer in San Francisco, steal his phone",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/protesters-attack-independent-livestreamer-san-francisco-steal-his-phone/",
"first_published_at": "2017-09-08T18:39:00.533633Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T20:02:40.869008Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T20:02:40.737545Z",
"date": "2017-08-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Francisco",
"longitude": -122.41942,
"latitude": 37.77493,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"19rne\">Nathan Stolpman, an independent journalist who runs the YouTube channel Lift the Veil Too, was attacked and had his phone stolen while filming an anti-fascist protest on Aug. 26, 2017, in San Francisco, California.</p><p data-block-key=\"a47qt\">In an interview with the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Stolpman said that he was <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl7OoKfxC6U&t=2325s\">livestreaming</a> the protest to his YouTube channel when several protesters attempted to block his camera with an umbrella. Stolpman continued his livestream, telling the protesters, “I’m just a journalist, I have a YouTube channel.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sglum\">The livestream posted on the Lift the Veil Too YouTube channel shows one person present at the protest asking Stolpman why he was wearing a polo shirt, stating that “polos are on the other side.” Stolpman asked protesters why they did not want coverage of the event, and a larger group of protesters began to chant “Nazi, go home.”</p><p data-block-key=\"r2uyx\">As Stolpman continued to livestream, the group of protesters — holding a large black banner with “Fascist Scum You Are Done” written on it — followed him and wrapped him in the banner, restricting his ability to move.</p><p data-block-key=\"hzzs8\">Ruptly, a livestreaming service owned by Russian broadcaster RT, captured footage of Stolpman’s encounter with the protesters. The video published by Ruptly shows a masked protester quickly approach Stolpman, who is largely covered by the black banner, and then grab Stolpman’s phone and run off.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/uX3x2wh-6ys?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n \n <p data-block-key=\"gd3pf\">Video of protesters stealing Nathan Stolpman's phone</p>\n \n \n <p>Ruptly</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ivegx\">After the altercation, Stolpman was interviewed about what happened by several outlets. As he answered a question, one protester wearing a red nose stroked his hair, while other protesters off camera yelled and denounced the media outlets interviewing him for “giving the fascist a camera.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0mo0f\">A video filmed by Brian Neumann, a student journalist at San Francisco State University, shows Stolpman arguing with protesters and asking for his phone back.</p><p data-block-key=\"jh2bh\">Stolpman told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he believes he was targeted because he was livestreaming and because of his clothing. He said that his phone was never returned to him.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2017-09-08_at_2.10.48.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"tgc2b\">A screenshot from Ruptly's livestream shows anti-fascist protesters wrapping independent livestreamer Nathan Stolpman in a banner after stealing his phone.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"actor": "private individual",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"anti-fascism",
"protest",
"robbery"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Nathan Stolpman (Independent)"
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},
{
"title": "President Trump tells supporters that journalists ‘don't like our country’",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/president-trump-tells-supporters-journalists-dont-our-country/",
"first_published_at": "2017-08-25T18:53:29.405404Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T20:07:30.323742Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T20:07:30.234485Z",
"date": "2017-08-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Phoenix",
"longitude": -112.07404,
"latitude": 33.44838,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pfzzr\">During a combative speech delivered in Phoenix, Arizona on Aug. 22, 2017, President Trump blamed the media for fomenting division in the country and told his supporters that journalists dislike the United States.</p><p data-block-key=\"p48v1\">“You’re taxpaying Americans who love our nation, obey our laws, and care for our people,” President Trump <a href=\"http://time.com/4912055/donald-trump-phoenix-arizona-transcript/\">told</a> his supporters. “It’s time to expose the crooked media deceptions, and to challenge the media for their role in fomenting divisions. And yes, by the way — and yes, by the way, they are trying to take away our history and our heritage. You see that.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cr937\">“These are truly dishonest people,” Trump said later in the speech, referring to the journalists who report on his administration. “And not all of them. Not all of them. You have some very good reporters. You have some very fair journalists. But for the most part, honestly, these are really, really dishonest people, and they’re bad people. And I really think they don’t like our country. I really believe that. And I don’t believe they’re going to change, and that’s why I do this.”</p><p data-block-key=\"uywll\">Trump then falsely suggested that CNN and other cable networks had turned off their cameras to avoid broadcasting his speech. In fact, CNN continued to air the speech live.</p><p data-block-key=\"uis1k\">“You would think — you would think they’d want to make our country great again, and I honestly believe they don’t,” he said. “I honestly believe it. If you want to discover the source of the division in our country, look no further than the fake news and the crooked media...”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"i0zto\">President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on August 22, 2017.</p>",
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"release_date": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Arizona",
"abbreviation": "AZ"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalists in Phoenix tear-gassed while covering protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-phoenix-tear-gassed-while-covering-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2017-08-25T18:31:14.718550Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T20:09:40.256781Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T20:09:40.135283Z",
"date": "2017-08-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Phoenix",
"longitude": -112.07404,
"latitude": 33.44838,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t9vzq\">Seventeen Arizona Republic journalists were exposed to tear gas or pepper spray while covering anti-Trump protests on Aug. 22, 2017, in Phoenix, Arizona, according to Republic editor Nicole Carroll.</p><p data-block-key=\"m6xxf\">Reporter Laura Gomez and photographers Rob Schumacher and Jason Pohl <a href=\"http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/08/24/president-donald-trump-rally-arizona-republic-journalists-gas-pepper-spray/595894001/\">told Carroll</a> about their experiences reporting on the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"b6uqa\">“The air around me was thin with that layer of tear gas,” Gomez said. “The skin around my mouth and nose started to burn badly.”</p><p data-block-key=\"46tx3\">“As parents with kids rushed away, we moved in,” Schumacher said. “I kept shooting until I couldn’t see any longer. Coughing and gagging, I rushed my way up Second Street to the office to wash off and file. As we were filing, we heard the flash-bangs going off outside our building. So I went back to cover the action in front of our employee entrance.</p><p data-block-key=\"2rpq5\">“Some people in the crowd were immediately saying, ‘OK, time to go home,’” Pohl said. “Others were becoming more confrontational. By the time the crowd dispersed to the west, near the parking garage, the burning started in my throat and nose. I had goggles on, so my eyes were fine, but it was clear it would only get worse.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS1CWYY.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"jmf26\">Police officials lob tear gas to try and disperse demonstrators after a Donald Trump campaign rally on Aug. 22, 2017, in Phoenix, Arizona.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Arizona",
"abbreviation": "AZ"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Arizona Republic"
],
"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"political rally",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist arrested while interviewing students at public college in New York City",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-arrested-while-interviewing-students-public-college-new-york-city/",
"first_published_at": "2017-08-18T19:48:16.848662Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-18T20:56:01.314315Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-18T20:56:01.212380Z",
"date": "2017-08-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"suwtw\">Journalist J.B. Nicholas was interviewing students on the campus of Bronx Community College, a public college that is part of the City University of New York, when he was arrested by CUNY public safety officers and charged with trespassing.</p><p data-block-key=\"cmpl1\">Nicholas was on BCC's campus on Aug. 16, 2017, reporting <a href=\"http://gothamist.com/2017/08/16/robert_e_lee_stonewall_jackson_bron.php\">a story for Gothamist</a>, a local news site, about the presence of statues of Confederate generals in BCC's "Hall of Fame."</p><p data-block-key=\"0ff1w\">Nicholas documented part of his interaction with public safety officers on video.</p><p data-block-key=\"4pt0p\">"I was interviewing the last student for the story, and she was very cool, and then I notice the white police car pull up," Nicholas <a href=\"http://gothamist.com/2017/08/18/reporter_arrested_confederate_statues.php\">told</a> Gothamist. "I had my press pass on, I had my credentials. They come up and say, 'This interview is over. Leave.' So I turn my camera on."</p><p data-block-key=\"16utb\">Video published by Gothamist shows the officers telling him that he needs to leave the campus, because BCC is "not an open campus" and what he is doing "is not official college business."</p><p data-block-key=\"cg41o\">Nicholas told Gothamist that officers then restrained him, handcuffed him and issued him a summons for trespassing.</p><p data-block-key=\"ecl7v\">After Gothamist published Nicholas' story on the statues, a BCC administrator sent an email to Nicholas and BCC faculty about the arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"f29vl\">"The journalist was on campus today aggressively questioning students and faculty and became combative with our Public Safety Officers," Karla Renee Williams, executive legal counsel and deputy to the president, wrote in the email. "He was arrested for trespassing. We will keep you updated and have increased public safety monitoring of the campus and Hall."</p><p data-block-key=\"qoa3\">Nicholas' case is scheduled to go to court in October 2017.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2017-08-18_at_3.25.31.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ajk34\">A screenshot from a video recorded by J.B. Nicholas at Bronx Community College shows two CUNY Public Safety Officers. The officers arrested Nicholas for trespassing.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "CUNY public safety officers",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2017-09-30 13:45:00+00:00) Charges dropped for journalist arrested while interviewing students at a New York City public college"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"J.B. Nicholas (Gothamist)"
],
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},
{
"title": "TV reporter assaulted while covering protest in NC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tv-reporter-assaulted-while-covering-protest-north-carolina/",
"first_published_at": "2017-08-16T12:07:06.990234Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-18T16:17:20.457212Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-18T16:17:20.315660Z",
"date": "2017-08-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Asheville",
"longitude": -82.55402,
"latitude": 35.60095,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cvimg\">A reporter for local North Carolina TV station WLOS was assaulted while live-streaming a peaceful anti-racist demonstration in Asheville, North Carolina, on Aug. 13, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"rs8lp\">The reporter was streaming video of the demonstration live to the Facebook page of WLOS, also known as ABC 13, when a man in the crowd approached him and told him to stop filming the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"yll8h\">Much of the man's interaction with the reporter was captured on the <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/News13/videos/10155035918176799/\">Facebook Live stream</a>:</p><p data-block-key=\"2pe00\">"I'm a reporter with WLOS," the reporter says. "Right now, we're doing a Facebook Live."</p><p data-block-key=\"zfioo\">The man then attempts to grab the reporter's camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"ju0uz\">"Dude, you need to get your hands off of me," the reporter says. "Do not touch me!"</p><p data-block-key=\"dlp4a\">"Get that camera out of my fucking face!" the man says. "Do it again."</p><p data-block-key=\"17tb6\">He tries to grab the reporter's camera again and appears to push the reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"shwfd\">At this point, a second man intervenes, separating the first man from the reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"003ha\">"Hey, you should go," the second man says to the reporter. "You should go. Go."</p><p data-block-key=\"ilxdc\">"I'm a reporter for — do not touch me!" the reporter says. "Get your hands off me."</p><p data-block-key=\"mqzl4\">"Hey, you're asking for it, man!" the second man says.</p><p data-block-key=\"h1zxu\">"Get out of the fucking crowd, dude!" the first man says, approaching the reporter. "Move it! I will fuck you up!"</p><p data-block-key=\"h76bd\">"Oh, that was a threat," the second man says to the first. "Dude, you can't say that."</p><p data-block-key=\"gfwjp\">The first man then lunges for the reporter's camera again. </p><p data-block-key=\"pa0xq\">"Dude, I will break you," he says, while being held back by other protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"59pe8\">The reporter then walks away to film other parts of the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"d3mwz\">About a minute later, the first man reappears, walking toward the reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"t15tq\">"I'm a reporter with WLOS," the reporter says.</p><p data-block-key=\"x7h4o\">"I don't care who the fuck you are," the man says. "Move! Where's your fucking camera crew? Move the fuck off the block!"</p><p data-block-key=\"6allv\">"Dude, get away from me," the reporter says. "Seriously. I will go get a police officer."</p><p data-block-key=\"hlpi6\">"Go get a police officer," the man says, as the reporter repeatedly asks him to leave him alone. "Do it. Move. Move it. You got some fucking skills? Bring it. You motherfucker! Take a fucking walk."</p><p data-block-key=\"ymlf9\">"I'm literally a reporter for WLOS," the reporter says.</p><p data-block-key=\"7tz99\">"Put the camera down," the man says, reaching for the reporter's camera for the fourth time.</p><p data-block-key=\"fsy82\">At this point, another bystander intervenes and encourages the man to ignore the reporter and go stand somewhere else in the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"vdhh4\">After the man finally walks away, the reporter finds a police officer and says that the man assaulted him multiple times and he has evidence of the assault on camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"svskh\">The Asheville Police Department later published the man's photo on its Facebook page and asked the community to help identify him. The police department later announced that a 38-year-old man named Michael Patrick Faulkner had been arrested and <a href=\"http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/suspect-arrested-charged-for-assaulting-reporter-charlesville-counterprotest\">charged</a> with misdemeanor assault in connection with the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"6k5wr\">A court hearing in Faulkner's case is scheduled for Sept. 6, 2017.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2017-08-16_at_7.55.29.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"x97fb\">A screenshot from the WLOS Facebook Live video shows a man grabbing a reporter's camera.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "North Carolina",
"abbreviation": "NC"
},
"updates": [
"(2018-01-29 10:51:00+00:00) Protester sentenced for assaulting TV reporter at Asheville rally"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"anti-fascism",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Unidentified reporter 2 (WLOS)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "CBS 6 photojournalist attacked with stick while filming anti-fascist march",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs6-photojournalist-attacked-stick-while-filming-anti-fascist-march/",
"first_published_at": "2017-08-15T03:54:44.901812Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T20:11:24.768558Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T20:11:24.650237Z",
"date": "2017-08-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Richmond",
"longitude": -77.46026,
"latitude": 37.55376,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mjw2k\">A CBS 6 photojournalist had to be taken to the emergency room after he was struck in the back of the head by an anti-fascist protester, the channel reported on Aug. 13, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"d2pa8\">The photojournalist, whose name has not been released, was using his phone to film a peaceful anti-fascist protest march in Richmond, Virginia.</p><p data-block-key=\"mugu9\">He <a href=\"http://wtvr.com/2017/08/14/cbs-6-journalist-attack-richmond-protest/\">told CBS 6</a> that a group of people came up to him and told him to stop filming the march. When he continued to record, he said, people started putting flags in front of his phone to block him from recording.</p><p data-block-key=\"cgoz7\">“That’s when then I extended my arm above the flags to try to get a better shot of the protest,” he told CBS 6. “One member of the group hit the phone out of my hand and my natural reaction was to push them out of my personal space. Immediately following I was hit in the back of the head with a some type of blunt object.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ahe9i\">The photojournalist was then taken to the hospital, where he received four staples in his head. His colleagues at CBS 6 later tweeted photographs of his injured head.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CBS6\">@CBS6</a> photojournalist assaulted in the head while shooting protests in Richmond. In the hospital getting stitches. Stop the VIOLENCE! <a href=\"https://t.co/xGEWu0SWr4\">pic.twitter.com/xGEWu0SWr4</a></p>— Laura French (@lfrenchnews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/lfrenchnews/status/896950108708888576\">August 14, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our photojournalist reported back that he got 4 staples after a protester hit him in the head. <a href=\"https://t.co/bG5JRYfksJ\">pic.twitter.com/bG5JRYfksJ</a></p>— WTVR CBS 6 Richmond (@CBS6) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CBS6/status/896947790189907969\">August 14, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">One of our photographers was hit with a stick in the back of the head by a protestor for shooting video of protest with his phone. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CBS6\">@CBS6</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/vnuJ12KfLQ\">pic.twitter.com/vnuJ12KfLQ</a></p>— Melissa J. Hipolit (@MelissaCBS6) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MelissaCBS6/status/896932763533811712\">August 14, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/DHKLl_dXYAAlvVI.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
"updates": [
"(2017-08-17 22:00:00+00:00) Anti-fascist group releases statement blaming photojournalist for attack"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"anti-fascism",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Unidentified photojournalist 19 (WTVR-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Independent livestreamer kicked while reporting in Charlottesville",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-livestreamer-kicked-while-reporting-charlottesville/",
"first_published_at": "2018-01-16T10:26:28.621328Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-06-22T23:03:15.362790Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-06-22T23:03:15.259846Z",
"date": "2017-08-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Charlottesville",
"longitude": -78.47668,
"latitude": 38.02931,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"esbyt\">Jen Patrice, an independent journalist who livestreams under the handle witlessX, was repeatedly attacked by white nationalist protesters while livestreaming demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"95de2\">Patrice told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that she was filming a group of marching protesters at a "Unite the Right" rally when three of the protesters assaulted her. She said that one protester knocked her camera to the ground, a second tried to grab it after she picked it up, and a third kicked her in the back of the shin to try to trip her. She said that the kick was forceful enough to bruise her bone.</p><p data-block-key=\"5sdel\">Patrice, who is trans, said that many of the protesters also mocked her gender identity and appearance.</p><p data-block-key=\"5skp3\">Later in the protest, she said, a wearing a "Traditionalist Worker Party" shirt grabbed her shoulders and threw her to the ground.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/DnUT1ONTjyw?start=170&feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n \n <p data-block-key=\"kbt5e\">The witlessX livestream recorded a 'Unite the Right' protester grabbing Jen Patrice camera.</p>\n \n \n <p>witlessX</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
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"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"protest",
"white nationalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jen Patrice (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Journalist Taylor Lorenz punched while filming aftermath of fatal attack",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-taylor-lorenz-punched-while-filming-aftermath-fatal-attack/",
"first_published_at": "2017-08-15T03:30:54.615129Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-07T20:12:53.305218Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-07T20:12:53.020536Z",
"date": "2017-08-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Charlottesville",
"longitude": -78.47668,
"latitude": 38.02931,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8dhdz\">Taylor Lorenz, a journalist for The Hill, was punched in the side of the head while live-streaming the aftermath of a <a href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/news/346359-horror-and-hate-in-charlottesville\">fatal attack</a> on anti-fascist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.</p><p data-block-key=\"85ukn\">On Aug. 12, 2017, Lorenz was covering an anti-fascist march in downtown Charlottesville. While using her phone to live-stream the peaceful march, she caught footage of a man driving a car at high speed into a crowd of anti-fascist protesters. The car attack killed one protester and left dozens injured.</p><p data-block-key=\"6qclr\">In an interview with the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Lorenz said that as she documented the aftermath of the attack, a shirtless man came up to her and repeatedly ordered her to stop recording. According to Lorenz, she showed the man her press pass and said that she was a journalist, at which point the man walked behind her and then punched her hard in the side of her face. She fell down and dropped her phone. As she reached for her phone, she said, the man tried to kick it away from her.</p><p data-block-key=\"plvaa\">"Stop fucking recording!" he yelled.</p><p data-block-key=\"5swum\">Lorenz and other bystanders called for the police, who spoke to witnesses and then took the man into custody. </p><p data-block-key=\"38xwo\">A 21-year-old Virginia man named Jacob Smith was <a href=\"https://www.mediaite.com/online/one-of-the-men-arrested-in-charlottesville-was-a-counter-protestor-who-punched-a-female-reporter/\">arrested</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VSPPIO/status/896559256803127296\">charged</a> with <a href=\"/documents/12/Lorenz_assault_courtdocs_redacted_toItEIy.pdf\">misdemeanor assault and battery</a> in connection with the assault. He was released on a $1,000 bail and ordered not to have any contact with Lorenz. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 18, 2017.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/taylor_lorenz_cropped.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
"updates": [
"(2017-11-03 15:51:00+00:00) Man who punched reporter at Charlottesville protest gets suspended sentence"
],
"case_statuses": [],
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"tags": [
"anti-fascism",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Taylor Lorenz (The Hill)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Unicorn Riot journalist attacked while reporting in Charlottesville",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/unicorn-riot-journalist-attacked-while-reporting-charlottesville/",
"first_published_at": "2017-08-15T13:20:44.701047Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T20:12:48.970521Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T20:12:48.874046Z",
"date": "2017-08-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Charlottesville",
"longitude": -78.47668,
"latitude": 38.02931,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ltwjn\">Christopher Schiano — a reporter for Unicorn Riot, a radical, non-profit journalism organization — was attacked while attempting to interview participants in a white nationalist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, on the night of Aug. 11, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"50d22\">In an interview with the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Schiano said that he and a colleague were repeatedly pushed and shoved by white nationalist marchers as they tried to interview Jason Kessler, one of the leaders of the march, and other participants. </p><p data-block-key=\"ff3uc\">A video recorded by Schiano on his phone and <a href=\"https://unicornriot.ninja/2017/white-supremacist-mob-carrying-torches-attacks-anti-racist-protesters-charlottesville/\">published by Unicorn Riot</a> shows Schiano interviewing one of the marchers, before being interrupted by a second marcher. The second marcher complains that Schiano is asking irrelevant questions and then reaches for his phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"dxs9b\">“OK, that’s it,” the second participant says before reaching for the phone. “That’s a fucking rabbit hole.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ls1et\">The march finished near a statue of Thomas Jefferson on the University of Virginia camp, where the marchers aggressively confronted a small group of college students and anti-racist protesters. At that point, Schiano said, one of the marchers hit him in the head with a tiki torch.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">When we asked other <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/UniteTheRight?src=hash\">#UniteTheRight</a> attendees about their 'white genocide' claims, some of them responded violently <a href=\"https://t.co/erxgZ3aFG1\">pic.twitter.com/erxgZ3aFG1</a></p>— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/UR_Ninja/status/896216429065850880\">August 12, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our reporter repeatedly had phone thrown to ground and was hit in face with a tiki torch by Jason Kessler's security after we asked him Qs</p>— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/UR_Ninja/status/896209647421366272\">August 12, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2017-08-15_at_8.56.42.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"lv1lx\">A screenshot from a video captured by a Unicorn Riot journalist shows a man reaching for the reporter's camera.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"protest",
"white nationalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Christopher Schiano (Unicorn Riot)"
],
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},
{
"title": "New York Times editor testifies in defamation suit brought by former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-york-times-editor-testifies-defamation-suit-brought-former-vice-presidential-candidate-sarah-palin/",
"first_published_at": "2019-08-20T19:53:31.062767Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-24T17:18:34.287880Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-24T17:18:34.098202Z",
"date": "2017-08-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pmk2s\">A New York Southern District judge ruled on Aug. 10, 2017, that the author of a New York Times article would have to testify under oath in connection to a lawsuit filed against the newspaper.</p><p data-block-key=\"fik6r\">Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin filed a defamation suit against The New York Times alleging that the newspaper knowingly published false and misleading information about her in an editorial article published in June 2017. The <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/opinion/steve-scalise-congress-shot-alexandria-virginia.html?module=inline\">editorial</a> connected Palin’s rhetoric with the 2011 mass shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and at least 17 others. The Times quickly issued a correction and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/nytopinion/status/875377356944396290\">issued an apology on Twitter</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"rtl4t\">Twelve days after the editorial was published, Palin sued The Times in federal court. Palin said in the lawsuit that The Times’s response “did not approach the degree of the retraction and apology necessary and warranted by The Times’s false assertion that Mrs. Palin incited murder,” The Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/business/sarah-palin-sues-new-york-times.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article&region=Footer\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"gnaf7\">The Times filed a motion in July 2017 seeking to dismiss the case. Southern New York District Court Judge Jed Rakoff issued an order on Aug. 10 for the author of the editorial to testify, stating that it was necessary in order for him to determine whether to grant The Times’s motion, the newspaper <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/10/business/media/sarah-palin-new-york-times-defamation-lawsuit.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FLibel%20and%20Slander&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=63&pgtype=collection\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"emvmv\">David McCraw, deputy general counsel for The Times, <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/10/business/media/sarah-palin-new-york-times-defamation-lawsuit.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FLibel%20and%20Slander&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=63&pgtype=collection\">said</a> the witness would be James Bennet, the newspaper’s editorial page editor who had introduced the statements cited in the lawsuit during the editorial process.</p><p data-block-key=\"i18hz\">At a hearing on Aug. 16, Bennet testified that his intention was not to blame Palin for the 2011 shooting. “I did not intend and was not thinking of it as a causal link to the crime,” <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/business/media/a-times-editor-testifies-in-defamation-suit-filed-by-sarah-palin.html\">Bennet said under oath</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"5rep7\">Rakoff dismissed the case on Aug. 29, saying that Palin’s complaint failed to show that the mistakes in the editorial were made maliciously. The “actual malice” standard requires public officials show that news organizations knowingly published false information or acted with “reckless disregard for the statement’s truth or falsity,” <a href=\"http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/proving-fault-actual-malice-and-negligence\">according to the Digital Media Law Project</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"c75x8\">Rakoff said <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3983101-ruling-in-palin-times-suit.html\">in his judgment</a>, “What we have here is an editorial, written and rewritten rapidly in order to voice an opinion on an immediate event of importance, in which are included a few factual inaccuracies somewhat pertaining to Mrs. Palin that are very rapidly corrected.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xv1q1\">“Negligence this may be; but defamation of a public figure it plainly is not,” Rakoff wrote.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX3HF1R.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hapbe\">Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin filed a defamation suit against The New York Times for an editorial it published in June 2017.</p>",
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-02-15 17:47:00+00:00) Jury finds that The New York Times did not defame Sarah Palin",
"(2019-08-06 15:52:00+00:00) An appeals court reopens Sarah Palin’s 2017 lawsuit against The New York Times",
"(2025-04-22 00:00:00+00:00) Jury finds that Times did not defame Sarah Palin"
],
"case_statuses": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [
"The New York Times"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
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},
{
"title": "Attorney general considers making it easier to subpoena journalists",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/attorney-general-considers-making-it-easier-subpoena-journalists/",
"first_published_at": "2017-08-05T21:33:26.548515Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-20T19:30:55.132355Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-20T19:30:55.022510Z",
"date": "2017-08-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tg8uo\">Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Aug. 4, 2017, that the Department of Justice was “reviewing our policies affecting media subpoenas” as part of a broader crackdown on unauthorized leaks of information to the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"xybf0\">Sessions <a href=\"https://mic.com/articles/183349/sessions-threatening-leakers-says-doj-is-reviewing-policy-on-media-subpoenas\">suggested</a> news organizations had endangered people’s lives by publishing stories based on leaked information, though he did not provide any evidence for this claim.</p><p data-block-key=\"irxcw\">“We respect the important role that the press plays, and we’ll give them respect, but it is not unlimited,” he said at the <a href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sessions-jailing-journalists-media_us_5984dcbae4b041356ebfc875\">press briefing</a>. “They cannot place lives at risk with impunity. We must balance the press’s role with protecting our national security and the lives of those who serve in the intelligence community, the armed forces, and all law-abiding Americans.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3gjf2\">The current Justice Department guidelines were <a href=\"https://www.ap.org/ap-in-the-news/2015/new-guidelines-issued-for-us-news-media-leak-investigations\">implemented</a> in 2015, after extensive discussion between then-Attorney General Eric Holder and a coalition of journalism organizations and press freedom groups, led by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. They direct the Department of Justice to only subpoena journalists for information as a last resort and require the attorney general to personally approve any subpoena of a journalist or news organization.</p><p data-block-key=\"4tsoq\">The guidelines also instruct the department to provide news organizations of advance notice of subpoenas and records requests related to journalism, so that the news organizations have a chance to fight the subpoenas in court before they are carried out.</p><p data-block-key=\"vf6qu\">The “advance notice” policy is a relatively recent addition to the guidelines. It was partly a response to concern that the Justice Department had secretly obtained journalists’ communications as part of its <a href=\"http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/10/trump-is-going-after-legal-protections-for-journalists/\">leak investigations</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"qfn15\">In 2013, it was revealed that the Justice Department secretly obtained access to a Fox News reporter's private email account, and to months of phone records belonging to The Associated Press’ newsroom, in an attempt to identify journalists’ sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"rqb7w\">If the Department of Justice makes it easier to subpoena journalists, then more journalists are likely to be threatened with jail time. The U.S. does not have a federal shield law, which means that reporters subpoenaed to testify about confidential sources in front of a federal grand jury must either comply — which means violating the promises of confidentiality they have to their sources — or risk being held in contempt of court and jailed.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS1AEP8.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"wmrsg\">U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at a briefing on leaks of classified material threatening national security at the Justice Department in Washington, on August 4, 2017.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [
"Department of Justice"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
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},
{
"title": "Customs officers search reporter’s car and phone at Canadian border",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/customs-officers-search-reporters-car-and-phone-canadian-border/",
"first_published_at": "2018-10-22T15:17:49.996670Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T20:16:28.098052Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T20:16:27.974577Z",
"date": "2017-08-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Detroit",
"longitude": -83.04575,
"latitude": 42.33143,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2u4oe\">Anne Elizabeth Moore — a cultural critic and reporter who has written for Salon, Teen Vogue, Jacobin, and The New Inquiry — was driving across the Ambassador Bridge into Detroit, Michigan, on Aug. 3, 2017, when she was stopped and questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"nqizi\">Moore told the Committee to Protect Journalists that she had crossed the border earlier that day to cover a cultural event in Toronto. During this first crossing, Moore recalled, the officer had asked her an “unusual” number of questions. She said that typically the officers will ask five or six questions, but this time the officer asked twice as many. Moore said that the CBP officers asked her why she was entering Canada, and after she said that she was a journalist about to write about an event, one of the officers “said something like, ‘We’re going to keep an eye on you,’ or something ominous like that.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kssxr\">She didn’t give the comment a second thought — until that evening, when she tried to cross the border back into the United States around 11:30 p.m. Immediately after she pulled up to the U.S. border stop, she said, CBP officers told her to park her car and leave her phone on the dashboard, powered on and unlocked. The officers also asked her if she had a passcode on her phone, which she did not.</p><p data-block-key=\"xo9wx\">The officers directed Moore into an office to wait, and while she wasn’t questioned, the officer working at the desk would not tell her how long the search would take and that she’d simply need to wait. After about 15 minutes, she was allowed to return to her car, which had clearly been searched. Moore told CPJ that the officers left some of her belongings strewn on the ground and the doors and trunk partially open.</p><p data-block-key=\"qhqn5\">Moore also noticed that her phone had been moved, and she is believes it is possible, if not likely, that the CBP officers may have accessed some of her confidential information and sources, including information related to a piece she is currently working on that involves illegal border crossing.</p><p data-block-key=\"fjyhw\">Journalists have little legal protection when it comes to electronic device searches at the border. A <a href=\"https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2018-Jan/CBP-Directive-3340-049A-Border-Search-of-Electronic-Media-Compliant.pdf\">2018 CBP directive</a> requires agents to consult legal counsel if an individual objects to a search on the grounds of attorney–client privilege, but does not provide the same protection for journalists protecting confidential sources or materials. This can leave reporters, their unpublished work, and their sources vulnerable.</p></div>",
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"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": "Ambassador Bridge Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "yes",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "vehicle"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Anne Elizabeth Moore (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist stopped for secondary screening, cellphone searched",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-secondary-screening-cell-phone-searched/",
"first_published_at": "2019-11-13T17:28:13.781391Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T20:04:52.539036Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T20:04:52.443376Z",
"date": "2017-07-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Highgate Springs",
"longitude": null,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1f1o8\">Isma’il Kushkush — a former acting bureau chief of the New York Times in East Africa and International Center for Journalists fellow — was stopped at the U.S.-Canadian border in Vermont on July 30, 2017, while driving back from Montreal.</p><p data-block-key=\"tb4i3\">Kushkush, a Sudanese-American dual citizen, is one of 11 plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU of Massachusetts. According to <a href=\"https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/alasaad-v-duke-aclu-amended-complaint\">the legal complaint</a>, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers directed him to a secondary screening area.</p><p data-block-key=\"frwa9\">After waiting for an hour, an officer instructed Kushkush to unlock his phone, threatening to seize it if he did not comply. Stating that he was doing so against his will, Kushkush unlocked his phone. According to the complaint, the officer wrote down the password and took the phone out of Kushkush’s sight for at least an hour.</p><p data-block-key=\"5g09q\">According to the complaint, three hours after Kushkush was initially detained, he was escorted to a separate area where officers questioned him about his journalistic work. The complaint does not detail what questions the officers asked him during that time.</p><p data-block-key=\"v1qbl\">After a total of three and a half hours in the inspection area, Kushkush was released.</p><p data-block-key=\"ot1bl\">Kushkush has reported being detained at the border on at least five previous occasions between 2013 and 2016. He said that these stops lasted between two and three hours and frequently involved requests for access to his electronic devices. CBP officers also directed Kushkush to <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-questioned-dulles-international-airport/\">secondary screening in Jan. 2017</a>, detained him for almost two hours and searched his notebooks and cellphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"0mz42\">In 2018, Kushkush <a href=\"https://cpj.org/reports/2018/10/nothing-to-declare-us-border-search-phone-press-freedom-cbp.php#MainReport\">told the Committee to Protect Journalists</a>, “Clearly I was singled out. It was clear that there was a pattern, that I was specifically being, you know, targeted and questioned about my whereabouts.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cr4oz\">Kushkush said the screenings made him more hesitant around traveling and reporting abroad.</p><p data-block-key=\"ubbai\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker includes incidents only from 2017 forward.</p><p data-block-key=\"y32iz\">On Nov. 12, 2019, a federal court in Boston ruled in favor of Kushkush and the other plaintiffs in the ACLU and EFF’s case against DHS, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CBP. The court found that warrantless searches of electronic devices at the border violate the Fourth Amendment, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/25c8054b9c16409aaef355a1c20e3481\">reported</a>. Moving forward, border officers must now demonstrate individualized suspicion before searching a traveler’s device.</p><p data-block-key=\"tfi0z\">In a press release from EFF, ACLU attorney Esha Bhandari said, “This ruling significantly advances Fourth Amendment protections for millions of international travelers who enter the United States every year.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ygorh\">“By putting an end to the government’s ability to conduct suspicionless fishing expeditions, the court reaffirms that the border is not a lawless place and that we don’t lose our privacy rights when we travel,” Bhandari said.</p></div>",
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{
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],
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"state": {
"name": "Vermont",
"abbreviation": "VT"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-06-28 00:00:00+00:00) Supreme Court declines to hear case on warrantless electronic device searches at border"
],
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"dismissed"
],
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"Sudan",
"United States"
],
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"Border Stop",
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],
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},
{
"title": "Police subpoena journalist’s cellphone during leak investigation",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/prosecutors-subpoenaed-citizen-journalist-cell-phone-during-investigation/",
"first_published_at": "2021-11-23T16:26:44.220547Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-10T19:40:42.846068Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-10T19:40:42.652276Z",
"date": "2017-07-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Laredo",
"longitude": -99.50754,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"eqcq6\">Police in Laredo, Texas, subpoenaed the phone records of independent journalist Priscilla Villarreal on July 27, 2017, in an attempt to identify a confidential source, according to filings reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. After her phone carrier turned over the requested information, three additional subpoenas were issued seeking more of her communication records.</p><p data-block-key=\"4q33l\">Villarreal — known by her pen name “La Gordiloca” — published the name of a Border Patrol agent who died by suicide on her Facebook page in April, before the Laredo Police Department’s official release about the incident. The LPD opened an investigation to identify who leaked Villarreal the name.</p><p data-block-key=\"afndi\">According to an arrest warrant approval form, an LPD officer obtained search warrants for call log records from the cellphones of Villarreal and her suspected source. The form states that the officer faxed the subpoenas on July 27 and AT&T provided the requested records several weeks later. Additional subpoenas for call logs and text messages from Villarreal’s phone number were filed on <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/second-subpoena-issued-for-independent-journalists-phone-records/\">Sept. 14</a>, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/third-subpoena-issued-for-independent-journalists-phone-records/\">Sept. 28</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fourth-subpoena-issued-for-independent-journalists-phone-records/\">Oct. 6</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ehva\">Villarreal was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/citizen-journalist-arrested-after-publishing-information-local-police/\">arrested in December</a> and charged with two third-degree felonies for “misuse of official information.” An attorney representing Villarreal filed a writ of habeas corpus challenging the constitutionality of the charges in February 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"d0bpc\">“Today, in the State of Texas, it is illegal to simply ask a public servant for information if the information sought happens to be described in an obscure list of information categories that are subject to discretionary disclosure — rather than mandatory,” attorney Oscar Peña wrote. “The only thing keeping journalists from being prosecuted for this every day is the mercy of the police, the prosecutors and the political cost attendant. This too is alarming.”</p><p data-block-key=\"764ru\">A Texas state judge ruled in favor of Villarreal in March 2018 and dismissed the charges, finding that the statute the journalist was charged under was unconstitutionally vague.</p><p data-block-key=\"1lbsu\">In April 2019, Villarreal <a href=\"https://www.scribd.com/document/405495470/Priscilla-Villarreal-Complaint-SDTX\">filed a civil lawsuit</a> against the city of Laredo, Webb County and 10 law enforcement officials. The case was initially dismissed by a U.S. magistrate judge in May 2020, but a federal court of appeals <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/citizen-journalist-arrested-after-publishing-information-local-police/\">reversed the decision</a> in November 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"fpkh3\">In August 2022, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a substitute decision with the addition of a dissenting opinion from Chief Judge Priscilla Richman and a concurring opinion from Judge James C. Ho.</p><p data-block-key=\"6rjf9\">JT Morris, a senior attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression who is representing Villarreal’s appeal, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the appellate court decided to rehear the case “en banc,” meaning that the entire bench of active judges for the court reheard the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"evmdc\">Arguments before the judges were held in January 2023, Morris said, and the court’s ruling is now pending.</p><p data-block-key=\"ctvv1\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been rewritten to include new information from court filings clarifying the timeline of the subpoena and Priscilla Villarreal’s subsequent lawsuit.</i></p></div>",
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"case_number": "5:19-cv-00048",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": "AT&T",
"third_party_business": "telecom company",
"legal_order_venue": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-01-23 12:01:00+00:00) Divided federal appeals court won’t revive Texas journalist’s lawsuit",
"(2024-10-15 17:07:00+00:00) Supreme Court revives Texas journalist’s arrest-related lawsuit",
"(2025-04-08 00:00:00+00:00) Appeals court again dismisses Texas journalist’s arrest-related lawsuit"
],
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],
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Priscilla Villarreal (Independent)"
],
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}
]
