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{
"title": "RT America compelled to register as 'foreign agent' by Department of Justice",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rt-america-compelled-register-foreign-agent-department-justice/",
"first_published_at": "2017-11-30T20:35:40.717214Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-01T15:56:02.322397Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-01T15:56:02.225658Z",
"date": "2017-11-10",
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"city": "Washington",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"erxkt\">RT America, an American cable channel that is part of a global television network funded by the Russian government, was compelled by the U.S. Department of Justice to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.</p><p data-block-key=\"03sjb\">In September 2017, the Justice Department formally <a href=\"https://www.rt.com/news/409349-rt-foreign-agent-doj/\">requested</a> that T&R Productions LLC, the entity responsible for broadcasting RT America, register as a foreign agent under FARA. T&R Productions is owned by Mikhail Solodovnikov, who is also the news director of RT America.</p><p data-block-key=\"trabf\">Both he and T&R Productions <a href=\"https://www.fara.gov/docs/6485-Exhibit-AB-20171110-2.pdf\">registered</a> <a href=\"https://www.thedailybeast.com/kremlin-funded-rt-reluctantly-registers-as-a-foreign-agent\">as foreign agents</a> on Nov. 10, 2017, out of concern that a refusal to comply with the Justice Department’s request could lead to the arrest of Solodovnikov and the freezing of the company’s assets.</p><p data-block-key=\"oqclv\">RT America editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan has said that RT intends to mount a legal challenge to the Justice Department’s decision to classify T&R Productions as a foreign agent.</p><p data-block-key=\"zfaz3\">“We believe that the demand does not only go against the law, and we will prove it in court — the demand is discriminative, it contradicts both the democracy and freedom of speech principles,” she said in a statement. “It deprives us of fair competition with other international channels, which are not registered as foreign agents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kkit8\">Registration as a foreign agent under FARA will require RT America to include a disclaimer about its connections to the Russian government, as well as file regular reports with the Justice Department detailing its funding sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"rqc7d\">The Justice Department’s request that RT America register as a foreign agent follows the release of an declassified U.S. intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The report alleged that RT was part of “Russia’s state-run propaganda machine” that functioned “as a platform for Kremlin messaging.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bthy5\">More than 400 companies and organizations are currently registered as foreign agents under FARA, according to the department’s website. Among them are a handful of foreign media organizations, including Japanese TV news channel NHK, the Korean Broadcasting Service, and the Chinese newspapers China Daily, People’s Daily, and Xin Min Evening News.</p><p data-block-key=\"rptse\">After T&R Productions LLC registered as a foreign agent under FARA, the executive committee of the Congressional Radio and Television Correspondents’ Galleries — a group of journalists who are empowered by the House of Representatives to manage press access to Congressional press areas — <a href=\"https://money.cnn.com/2017/11/29/media/rt-capitol-credentials-revoked/index.html\">voted unanimously</a> to <a href=\"https://www.rt.com/usa/411361-rt-congress-credentials-withdrawal/\">revoke</a> RT America’s press credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"gihpw\">In a Nov. 29 letter to Solodovnikov, the executive committee said that RT America was ineligible to hold Congressional press credentials because the rules of the Galleries prohibit journalists employed “by any foreign government or representative thereof” from holding press credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"lt911\">The Justice Department’s request that RT America register as a foreign agent prompted the Russian government to <a href=\"https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2017/11/28/after-foreign-agent-law-Russia-creates-legal-framework-ban-foreign-newspapers-a59716\">retaliate</a> by expanding its own foreign agent law to include foreign media organizations.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ce29\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to correct the name of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.</i></p></div>",
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{
"title": "San Diego County subpoenas journalist Kelly Davis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-diego-county-subpoenas-journalist-kelly-davis-who-wrote-about-high-number-deaths-county-jails/",
"first_published_at": "2018-02-14T09:25:05.528166Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T00:41:29.290243Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T00:41:29.160471Z",
"date": "2017-11-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"olrex\">Freelance reporter Kelly Davis was subpoenaed by attorneys representing San Diego County, California, on Nov. 9, 2017. She was ordered to testify at a deposition and turn over materials related to her reporting on the high number of deaths in San Diego County jails. On Feb. 2, 2018, a federal magistrate ruled in favor of Davis, defeating the subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"jeepw\">Davis has been writing about deaths in San Diego jails for years. In 2013, while working at San Diego City Beat, she and colleague Dave Maass reported that San Diego County had the highest inmate mortality rate out of California’s largest jail systems. Since then, her reporting has been cited in a number of wrongful death lawsuits and complaints filed against San Diego County. </p><p data-block-key=\"91hkw\">The widow of Kris Nesmith, an inmate who died while in prison, <a href=\"http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/sdut-lawsuit-jail-should-have-prevented-suicide-2015apr13-htmlstory.html\">sued</a> the county of San Diego in 2015. At the time, Davis wrote an article about the lawsuit for the San Diego Union-Tribune.</p><p data-block-key=\"9u982\">In November 2017, attorneys for San Diego County <a href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/investigations/County-Lawyers-Demand-Research-Notes-From-Local-Journalist-473242543.html\">subpoenaed</a> Davis, seeking her testimony as well as her unpublished research related to her reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"2fvhx\">The subpoena orders Davis to appear at a deposition on December 11 and to produce “any and all documents, notes, and recordings, including in electronic format, that you relied on when reporting and/or publishing that the San Diego County’s incarceration mortality rate ‘leads in California’s largest jails.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"fhcnq\">“They wanted everything, written or electronic,” Davis told the Freedom of the Press Foundation. “It was a huge fishing investigation to try to get every nook and cranny of information that I had.”</p><p data-block-key=\"iu4e8\">Maass, who co-wrote the 2013 San Diego City Beat story with Davis, was not subpoenaed in the case. He never wrote specifically about the Kris Nesmith case, and he no longer lives in San Diego or writes about the county’s jails. He criticized San Diego County for attempting to subpoena Davis.</p><p data-block-key=\"ijq2w\">“This subpoena is of course frightening when it comes to press freedom, but as someone who worked on these stories, it’s concerning that this is how they address safety issues in their jails,” he said. “Rather than address them and stop killing people, the county comes after the messengers who did this research.” </p><p data-block-key=\"x9ojq\">After Davis’ attorneys objected to the subpoena, San Diego County filed a <a href=\"https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4372071/Motion-to-Compel-Davis.pdf\">motion to compel</a> Davis’ testimony. In the motion to compel, attorneys for San Diego County argued that, since Davis’ reporting would be cited during the trial, they should be allowed to question her like an expert witness.</p><p data-block-key=\"5hikd\">“They wanted to cut undercut my reporting and to challenge the methodology that my colleague and I initially used,” Davis said. </p><p data-block-key=\"qrqj7\">On Feb. 2, federal magistrate judge Andrew Schopler ruled in favor of Davis, defeating the subpoena. Davis will not have to testify or hand over her unpublished reporting materials. </p><p data-block-key=\"dkng0\">San Diego County did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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"name": "California",
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{
"title": "Reporters’ access restricted on Capitol Hill",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporters-access-restricted-capitol-hill/",
"first_published_at": "2017-11-01T19:57:19.969056Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-20T20:49:04.419913Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-20T20:49:04.334314Z",
"date": "2017-10-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"be83x\">Reporters’ access to Capitol Hill was restricted on Oct. 31, 2017 after a protester allegedly posed as a reporter at the Senate Building the week before, according to a report by the <a href=\"http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/reporter-access-curtailed-at-capitol-after-protest-during-trump-visit/article/2639126\">Washington Examiner</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"4g80d\">Reporters were prevented from accessing most of the second floor of the Senate Building, where Vice President Mike Pence was attending a Senate Republicans’ weekly policy lunch. The presence of Capitol Hill Police was amplified, and officials checked the identification of all reporters walking through the hallways.</p><p data-block-key=\"9wgfc\">These security restrictions are unusual, and reporters typically have uninhibited access to Capitol Hill to speak with lawmakers.</p><p data-block-key=\"r749i\">According to <a href=\"http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/reporter-access-curtailed-at-capitol-after-protest-during-trump-visit/article/2639126\">Washington Examiner</a>, communications director for Capitol Hill Police, Eva Malecki, said in a statement that, “The United States Capitol Police have not introduced any changes to the access that the media have within the U.S. Capitol. We are simply enforcing the current rules and protocols already in place to ensure the safety and security of elected officials, Members of Congress, staff, visitors, and members of the press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fjibb\">The week before on October 24, 2017, protester Ryan Clayton reportedly posed as a reporter to gain access to the Senate Building and threw Russian flags at President Donald Trump and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.</p><p data-block-key=\"p14yq\">Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said during a press conference on Oct. 31, that “reporters are some of the last people who should face unwarranted restrictions,” and that both his office and the Rules Committee would review the security restrictions and identify a remedy to the barred access.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "KIMA Action News journalist Trisha McCauley threatened with knife, had camera damaged",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kima-action-news-journalist-trisha-mccauley-threatened-knife-had-camera-damaged/",
"first_published_at": "2017-11-14T04:30:10.827131Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-31T20:12:05.874633Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-31T20:12:05.742523Z",
"date": "2017-10-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Yakima",
"longitude": -120.5059,
"latitude": 46.60207,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lm8w0\">Trisha McCauley, a reporter for local TV station KIMA, was chased and threatened by a knife-wielding man in Yakima, Washington, on Oct. 30, 2017. The man also broke McCauley's camera equipment.</p><p data-block-key=\"9cfib\">McCauley and another local TV reporter — <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kapp-kvew-reporter-maria-leal-threatened-knife-had-camera-damaged/\">Maria Leal</a> of KAPP and KVEW — were preparing for an interview with Jason White, a local city council candidate, when they noticed a man screaming at them from across the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"p51g4\">“He was yelling, ‘Get the fuck out of here,’ and waving his arms, so I picked my camera up and moved closer to Maria,” McCauley said. “I felt safer in a group.”</p><p data-block-key=\"j8wwj\">McCauley said that when White drove up for the interview, the man approached him, but then suddenly left as they began the interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"enmok\">“We mic'd [White] up, and he was spelling his name for a mic check when I heard a bottle break,” McCauley said.</p><p data-block-key=\"d6dgo\">“We looked over, and the man had thrown a glass bottle that shattered on the sidewalk near us,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1h9li\">According to McCauley, the man continued demanding that she and Leal leave, so the reporters decided to pack up and continue the interview with White somewhere else.</p><p data-block-key=\"60msm\">McCauley said that she saw the man lift up his shirt and pull out a knife.</p><p data-block-key=\"2fjc5\">“We just took off running down the street,” she said, adding that the man chased her, Leal, and White for about half a block. The man then returned to the spot where McCauley and Leal had set up for the interview and began breaking their equipment.</p><p data-block-key=\"t1sx6\">“I turned around and saw him chuck my camera to the ground and break it, and there was a lot of cracking," McCauley said.</p><p data-block-key=\"uo6tv\">McCauley said that Leal called the police while the man hid in a nearby house. Police eventually took the man into custody after a police stand-off that lasted for several hours.</p><p data-block-key=\"ikuqv\">McCauley said that her TV station has sent her camera away to be checked for internal damage. In the meantime, she is sharing a camera with another reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"gkono\"></p></div>",
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{
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"name": "Washington",
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"(2019-01-14 16:10:00+00:00) Man sentenced after attack on Washington state reporters"
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{
"title": "KAPP-KVEW reporter Maria Leal threatened with knife, had camera damaged",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kapp-kvew-reporter-maria-leal-threatened-knife-had-camera-damaged/",
"first_published_at": "2017-11-08T22:50:19.553500Z",
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"city": "Yakima",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pc4l4\">Maria Leal, a reporter for local TV station KAPP-KVEW, was chased and threatened by a knife-wielding man in Yakima, Washington, on Oct. 30, 2017. The man also broke Leal’s camera equipment.</p><p data-block-key=\"oikao\">At the time of <a href=\"https://kimatv.com/news/local/knife-wielding-man-chases-two-tv-reporters-councilman-in-yakima\">the attack</a>, Leal and another local TV reporter — Trisha McCauley, of KIMA Action News — were shooting B-roll footage in preparation for an interview with Jason White, a local city council candidate. While filming the footage, the two journalists noticed a man screaming at them from across the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"wjjux\">“He crossed the street and got in our face, and he told us, ‘Get the fuck out of here, stop filming here,’” Leal said.</p><p data-block-key=\"wurgf\">The man left after Leal and McCauley began interviewing White, but later returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"ibkjc\">“The man began yelling again, and he threw a beer bottle at us, which landed near us and broke,” Leal said. “He kept demanding that we leave, and he threatened to kill us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qxzi7\">She said the man drew a knife from his pocket, lifted it, and then ran towards the reporters and White.</p><p data-block-key=\"66rjp\">Leal said that the man chased them for half a block and then returned to the interview site, where he threw their video equipment to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"jxduw\">He then barricaded himself in a house, leading to a police stand-off that was resolved a few hours later when SWAT officers took him into custody, arresting him for second-degree assault.</p><p data-block-key=\"nvmlw\">Leal stayed on the scene to report live from the police stand-off.</p><p data-block-key=\"ek0oj\">Leal said that her camera was damaged when the man threw it on the ground and that she will have to film stories with her phone until the camera is fixed.</p><p data-block-key=\"duc7n\">She still does not know why the man attacked her and McCauley. She said that the man may have mistakenly believed that the two reporters were filming him, but her cameras were nowhere near where he was standing.</p><p data-block-key=\"5tfbs\">“I’ve had other people approach me in that way, but they’ve never threatened me or attacked me like that,” she said.</p></div>",
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"(2019-01-14 16:03:00+00:00) Man sentenced after attack on Washington state reporters"
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{
"title": "Jon Ziegler attacked by white nationalist protesters in Tennessee",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/jon-ziegler-attacked-white-nationalist-protesters-tennessee/",
"first_published_at": "2018-01-16T11:06:32.536551Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-21T19:41:27.573817Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-21T19:41:27.510064Z",
"date": "2017-10-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Shelbyville",
"longitude": -86.46027,
"latitude": 35.48341,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jgkrq\">Independent journalist Jon Ziegler, who livestreams under the handle RebZ.tv, was reporting on a white nationalist rally in Shelbyville, Tennessee, on Oct. 28, 2017, when one of the white nationalist protesters struck him with a shield.</p><p data-block-key=\"kxq18\">Ziegler told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that the demonstration was divided into two sections — a white nationalist section and an anti-fascist section — which were each penned in by police barricades. Ziegler said that he interviewed protesters in both sections and was walking through the white nationalist area when he was suddenly confronted by a prominent leader in the National Socialist Movement, a white nationalist group.</p><p data-block-key=\"l56fg\">The NSM leader told Ziegler that he was standing too close to the NSM's P.A. system and demanded that he leave. Ziegler said that a group of NSM members then surrounded him, threatened him and began pushing him around. He said that the NSM members were armed with shields — police had allowed them to carry shields because they were not considered offensive weapons — and one NSM member struck him with his shield.</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/MbJPmkmi3mY?start=225&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=\"aulu4\">The RebZ.tv livestream shows NSM members pushing Ziegler</p>\n \n \n <p>RebZ.tv</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2018-01-16_at_6.05.17.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hquje\">A screencap of the RebZ.tv livestream shows a white nationalist protester with a shield about to strike Jon Ziegler.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Tennessee",
"abbreviation": "TN"
},
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"tags": [
"anti-fascism",
"protest",
"white nationalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jon Ziegler (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Shareblue Media reporter Mike Stark arrested while covering Republican candidate for Virginia governor",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/shareblue-media-reporter-mike-stark-arrested-while-covering-republican-candidate-virginia-governor/",
"first_published_at": "2017-11-23T07:09:57.379942Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T18:25:40.122105Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T18:25:39.961803Z",
"date": "2017-10-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annandale",
"longitude": -77.19637,
"latitude": 38.83039,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vdgy9\">Mike Stark, a reporter for the liberal news site Shareblue Media, was arrested in Fairfax County, Virginia on Oct. 28, 2017 while covering the campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie.</p><p data-block-key=\"7cw2r\">According to a report on Shareblue, Stark was filming Gillespie’s campaign vehicle at the Annandale Parade when a police officer approached him and ordered him to move out of the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"35r1w\">Stark told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he told the officer that he was a reporter and complied with the order to move onto the sidewalk. Stark said that the officer then told him to stay away from the Gillespie campaign bus, which he refused to do since he was covering Gillespie.</p><p data-block-key=\"coi7p\">“I was standing in the street on the far side of the driveway filming the Gillespie RV in anticipation of him disembarking,” Stark said in a statement. “That’s when I heard the policeman tell me to get out of the road. I complied, and then he told me to leave the Gillespie vehicle and everyone inside it alone. At that point I told the policeman he'd probably have to arrest me to keep me away from Gillespie. He responded that he would arrest me and approached me aggressively. The ‘conversation’ escalated from there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gi28q\">A video of the arrest shows Stark complying with Rogers’ order to step backward, while continuing to argue with him, as a woman in a red jacket and an additional police officer involve themselves in the exchange. (Stark said that he believes that the woman in the red jacket was associated with the campaign.)</p><p data-block-key=\"3r30l\">After Stark says “Fuck this,” the arresting officer — whom Stark later identified as Mason District Police Captain T.J. Rogers — places his hand on Stark’s right shoulder and turns him against a nearby fence. While Stark has both of his hands behind his back, the officer lifts Stark’s right ankle off the ground, <a href=\"https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/virginia/reporter-says-he-was-violently-arrested-for-trying-to-ask-questions/65-488080490\">sending the reporter face-first into the sidewalk</a>. </p><p data-block-key=\"ys73z\">As additional officers rush to the scene, Stark says, “Stop, I will give you my arm. I can’t. You have your weight on top of me. I cannot give you my hand. My hand is beneath me.” Five officers eventually pin Stark to the ground with their knees on the back of his head and his body. They continue demanding his arm as he screams that he cannot comply and begs them to stop.</p><p data-block-key=\"65ngh\">Stark told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that officers punched him repeatedly in the legs during the physical takedown and said that his attorney told him that this is a common “softening” technique used against non-cooperative subjects.</p><p data-block-key=\"catqs\">The takedown left Stark with an abrasion to his head and a few bruises. He refused treatment at the time of the arrest. </p><p data-block-key=\"yqg5p\">“I’ve got a nice bruise on my hip and an ugly scrape on my elbow,” he said. “But as I’ve said elsewhere, I don’t consider this arrest to have been brutal. Violent? Yes. Brutal? No.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8ohj5\">Stark also said that his phone was broken during the incident, and he suspects that the officers may have deliberately thrown it against the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"264ly\">“My brand new phone, a OnePlus 5 that came with Gorilla Glass, was broken during the arrest,” he said. “I don’t think it was an accident. When I was on the ground, I heard what sounded like a cellphone striking the pavement immediately after it had been retrieved from my hand attached to the arm stuck beneath my body.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wdefe\">Stark was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and held in custody for nearly five hours, before being released on a $3,000 bond.</p><p data-block-key=\"n8zg5\">After Shareblue published video of the arrest on October 31, Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler held a press conference, during which he <a href=\"https://fcpdnews.wordpress.com/2017/10/31/chief-roessler-defends-officers-after-parade-arrest/\">defended</a> the arrest and said that it was appropriate for the officers to use a physical takedown technique on Stark because the reporter was passively resisting arrest. (Stark said that he did not resist the officers, but was only trying to put his phone away when the officers took him down.)</p><p data-block-key=\"wrnne\">Roessler told the press that the officer who arrested Stark might have feared for his safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ado4\">“You must understand that, from the officer’s perspective, he does not know who this gentleman is,” Roessler said. “The gentleman is wearing a hooded sweatshirt. He does not know if this gentleman has a concealed weapon. He does not know what intent this gentleman has, whether it’s to create harm or something else.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wri9p\">Stark said that he explicitly identified himself as a journalist to the officers who arrested him.</p><p data-block-key=\"ywnn4\">Roessler told the press that the officer who arrested Stark may not have believed Stark when he said that he was a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"8y5lu\">“He doesn’t know him personally or who he is, and anybody can say anything,” Roessler said. </p><p data-block-key=\"ndeqm\">Stark, who has written critically about Gillespie’s campaign, said that the campaign has previously had him removed from events held on private property and has “disinvited” him from the press pool. He believes that the campaign may have asked the police to remove him from the area near the Gillespie campaign bus.</p><p data-block-key=\"gpw73\">During the press conference, police chief Roessler said that he did not know whether the Gillespie campaign had any conversations with the police concerning Stark.</p><p data-block-key=\"gm3tf\">“I have no knowledge of that right now,” Roeller said. “We are investigating this. And if there are any witnesses I would ask that they contact the Fairfax County Police Department. Our Internal Affairs Bureau is actively going out seeking witnesses and networking the community to understand the full picture here, and as I mentioned earlier, our police auditor will also review our completed investigation and report our findings to the community.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ckty2\">A police spokesperson referred the Freedom of the Press Foundation to Roessler’s press conference and declined to comment further.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mu9z6\"><i>CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Stark was not wearing a hooded sweatshirt. Stark told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/mike_stark.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7ef31\">Mike Stark</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Fairfax County Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
"updates": [
"(2018-02-13 12:00:00+00:00) Judge fines Stark"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"election"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mike Stark (Shareblue Media)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist stopped second time by CBP in less than a year",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-stopped-second-time-cbp-less-year/",
"first_published_at": "2019-11-12T19:18:05.306954Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-06T17:51:02.300107Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-06T17:51:02.213633Z",
"date": "2017-10-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Boston",
"longitude": -71.05977,
"latitude": 42.35843,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cr9vx\">Freelance photojournalist David Degner was flagged for secondary screening multiple times while flying between Cairo, Egypt, and the United States.</p><p data-block-key=\"9jy4m\">Degner, a U.S. citizen who was working out of Cairo, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that he was pulled aside after disembarking in Boston, Massachusetts, on Oct. 25, 2017. He said he sent out a Facebook notification saying that he was being stopped and interviewed and then signed out of all of his social media profiles.</p><p data-block-key=\"byqud\">Degner <a href=\"https://cpj.org/reports/2018/10/nothing-to-declare-us-border-search-phone-press-freedom-cbp.php\">told CPJ</a> that he acted to prevent another search of his phone and social media profiles like had occurred during a December 2016 screening. At that stop, Customs and Border Protection had pulled Degner aside for secondary screening at preclearance in Toronto, Canada on a trip from Cairo to the United States.</p><p data-block-key=\"wlr0i\">Degner said that during the December stop, he waited for half an hour before he was shown to an interview room where an officer was already seated. The officer asked him to unlock and hand over his phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"4fltl\">At first, Degner refused, asking if the officer had the right to search his phone. Degner said that the officer handed him a pre-printed sheet saying that they have the right to examine anything that is coming into the United States. He asked what would happen if he refused and the officer told him that they would hold onto the phone until CBP could unlock it themselves, implying that it would be confiscated for weeks or months.</p><p data-block-key=\"2iimh\">“I’m used to these types of security procedures from Egypt,” Degner told CPJ. He requested that the officer remain in the room while searching the phone—which he did—which took 10-15 minutes.</p><p data-block-key=\"xhvr3\">Degner said that when he asked why his phone was being searched anyway, the officer responded, “Just be glad I’m not asking to search your laptop and everything else, too.”</p><p data-block-key=\"u3vb2\">When he was flagged a second time less than a year later in Boston, Degner sent the Facebook notification and signed out of his profiles. Officers did not ask him to unlock his phone during the second stop, however.</p><p data-block-key=\"ehgjp\">Degner told CPJ that on both occasions he asked the officers why he had been selected for secondary screening, and on both occasions they said they couldn’t tell him why.</p><p data-block-key=\"otqls\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker includes incidents only from 2017 forward.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"case_number": null,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "Boston Logan International Airport",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": true,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "unknown",
"assailant": null,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Massachusetts",
"abbreviation": "MA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"David Degner (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Montana GOP official says she 'would have shot' Guardian reporter who was assaulted by Rep. Gianforte",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/montana-gop-official-says-she-would-have-shot-guardian-reporter-who-was-assaulted-rep-gianforte/",
"first_published_at": "2017-10-26T00:15:15.538129Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T18:27:56.521843Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T18:27:56.423130Z",
"date": "2017-10-19",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Bozeman",
"longitude": -111.03856,
"latitude": 45.67965,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6albz\">Montana Republican official Karen Marshall said in a radio program on Oct. 19, 2017 that should she “would have shot” Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs if he had addressed her as he did Rep. Greg Gianforte. Marshall resigned from her position four days later. </p><p data-block-key=\"d13ln\">On May 24, Republican Greg Gianforte <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/gop-congressional-candidate-assaults-guardian-us-reporter/\">physically assaulted</a> reporter Ben Jacobs after he tried to interview the Congressional candidate. Gianforte body-slammed Jacobs to the ground, punched him, and broke his glasses.</p><p data-block-key=\"udvj0\">Gianforte was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives the next day. He pled guilty to misdemeanor assault, has publicly apologized, and as part of a civil settlement, agreed to donate $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"8u1o8\">Marshall, who serves as the vice-president of programs for Gallatin County Republican Women, <a href=\"https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/356627-montana-gop-official-i-would-have-shot-reporter-assaulted-by/\">made her remarks</a> during a Voices of Montana radio segment with attorney and Democratic Congressional candidate John Heenan.</p><p data-block-key=\"j4u3c\">In audio of the radio segment <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/HeenanForCongress/videos/1857613814267061/\">posted</a> to John Heenan for Congress Facebook page, Marshall called herself a friend of Gianforte’s. “If that kid had done to me what he did to Greg, I would have shot him,” Marshall said about Jacobs.</p><p data-block-key=\"u9qnj\">A spokesman for Rep. Gianforte, Travis Hall, denounced Marshall’s comments. Heenan’s campaign <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/21/montana-gianforte-ben-jacobs-karen-marshall-would-have-shot\">released a statement</a> on Oct. 20. “The fact members of [Gianforte’s] party are sort of doubling down and wishing worse harm on Ben Jacobs really bothers me,” Heenan said.</p><p data-block-key=\"2cto0\">On Oct. 23, Karen Marshall resigned from her position, according to the Gallatin County Republican Women’s <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/GallatinCountyRepublicanWomen/posts/930685020418249\">Facebook page</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ng37k\">The mission statement of the Gallatin County Republican Women’s website notes that it “stands by the principles of freedom, equality, and justice on which the government of this country is founded.” The Gallatin County Republican Women did not immediately respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "Montana official Karen Marshall resigned on Wednesday in response to uproar over her comment.",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/gianfortegreg_052317getty_lead.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"actor": null,
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"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Montana",
"abbreviation": "MT"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ben Jacobs (The Guardian)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist Jamie Kalven subpoenaed to testify in Laquan McDonald murder case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-jamie-kalven-subpoenaed-testify-laquan-mcdonald-murder-case/",
"first_published_at": "2017-12-06T15:31:36.008483Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:43:11.998118Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:43:11.880007Z",
"date": "2017-10-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dcuzp\">Jamie Kalven, a reporter who was the first to report the details of the shooting of teenager Laquan McDonald by Chicago police in 2014 — received a subpoena on Oct. 16, 2017 to testify and reveal details about his sources at a pre-trial hearing in the murder case of former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke.</p><p data-block-key=\"edc89\">Kalven is an independent journalist based in Chicago and the founder of Invisible Institute, a journalistic production company focused on government accountability. He won a George Polk award for his coverage of the McDonald case.</p><p data-block-key=\"zaeu4\">In February 2015, he published an article in Slate titled “Sixteen Shots,” which reported on evidence, including an autopsy report and statements from witnesses, that contradicted the Chicago police department’s public account of McDonald’s shooting. Kalven also reported on the existence of an unreleased police dash-cam video, which had captured the shooting. After public pressure and a court decision forced the city of Chicago to release the dash-cam video to the public, officer Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder.</p><p data-block-key=\"v6r3u\">As part of his defense strategy, Van Dyke’s lawyer is <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/26/us/chicago-police-shooting-journalist-laquan-mcdonald.html\">trying to force</a> Kalven to testify about his sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"gpckr\">Kalven told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he received a subpoena at his office on Oct. 16, 2017, ordering him to appear in court at 9 a.m. on the following day. Kalven said that he did not attend the Oct. 17 hearing and that his attorney informed Van Dyke’s attorney that he could not attend the hearing on such short notice.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ipto\">During the hearing, Van Dyke’s defense attorney argued that Kalven needed to be <a href=\"https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/illinois/articles/2017-10-17/judge-wants-activist-journalist-to-testify-about-documents\">called in to testify</a>, according to an audio recording of the hearing taped by a journalist in attendance. Van Dyke’s legal team hopes to show that Kalven received leaked documents from the police oversight agency investigating the shooting and that he could have influenced potential witnesses in the case by interviewing them about the murder while reporting the Slate piece.</p><p data-block-key=\"u7wq9\">Chicago judge Vincent Gaughan seemed receptive to the defense team’s argument, though he did acknowledge that Illinois’ “press shield law” prevents journalists from being compelled to name their sources in some circumstances.</p><p data-block-key=\"6s1gz\">“The reporter’s privilege concerning the source will have to be litigated,” he said. </p><p data-block-key=\"0xcpi\">On Nov. 3, Kalven’s attorney filed a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/documents/3/Kalven_MTQ_Filed.pdf\">motion to quash</a> the subpoena, citing the <a href=\"https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=073500050HArt%2E+VIII+Pt%2E+9&ActID=2017&ChapterID=56&SeqStart=57600000&SeqEnd=58600000\">Illinois Reporter’s Privilege Act</a>. </p><p data-block-key=\"nen5a\">The state law requires a person seeking to compel a reporter to testify about their confidential sources to file a detailed application with the court, which must include "the name of the reporter and of the news medium with which he or she was connected at the time the information sought was obtained; the specific information sought and its relevancy to the proceedings; and [a] specific public interest which would be adversely affected if the factual information sought were not disclosed."</p><p data-block-key=\"or13g\">The law also sets a high bar for a court to approve such an application; the court must find "that all other available sources of information have been exhausted and [that] disclosure of the information sought is essential to the protection of the public interest involved."</p><p data-block-key=\"jhlg2\">Kalven’s motion to quash the subpoena stated that Van Dyke’s legal team had not filed an application to overcome his reporter’s privilege and therefore had not met their burden on the Reporter’s Privilege Act. Van Dyke’s attorney later filed an opposition to Kalven’s motion to quash the subpoena. This opposition was filed under seal, so it is not clear what legal argument it makes.</p><p data-block-key=\"w0dae\">On Dec. 5, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker) led a group of 18 journalism and press freedom publications in filing an <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/sites/default/files/Motion%20for%20Leave%20to%20File%20An%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf\">amicus brief</a> in support of Kalven’s motion to quash the subpoena. In the amicus brief, RCFP wrote that “the public interest in protecting confidential sources is particularly compelling in this case” and argued that that the Reporter’s Privilege Act should protect Kalven from being forced to testify about his sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"sdg0y\">On Dec. 6, the court will hear arguments for and against the motion to quash the subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"phnmb\">Kalven said that even if the motion to quash is denied, he will only answer questions to the extent that his sources are not jeopardized.</p><p data-block-key=\"ws0xh\">“I can imagine no situation in which I would reveal my source,” he said. </p><p data-block-key=\"o9oi8\">Kalven is not new to requests to surrender the details of his work. In 2005, the city of Chicago subpoenaed Kalven, seeking his notes, tapes, and other records gathered during reporting on abuse of police power. When he refused to comply, the court moved to hold him in contempt, but the threat dissipated when the case was resolved. </p><p data-block-key=\"357p9\">“I don’t want to say that I’m completely unconcerned about this,” he said. “But I have no internal conflict or anguish about what I should do.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"name": "Illinois",
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"(2018-02-07 12:00:00+00:00) Intercept piece",
"(2017-12-13 13:03:00+00:00) Subpoena quashed"
],
"case_statuses": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jamie Kalven (Independent)"
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"quashed"
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},
{
"title": "Pentagon spokesman says he doesn't consider Intercept contributor a 'legitimate journalist'",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pentagon-spokesman-says-he-doesnt-intercept-contributor-legitimate-journalist/",
"first_published_at": "2018-05-03T17:22:36.250978Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-21T20:50:08.115303Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T20:50:08.015671Z",
"date": "2017-10-15",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f70op\">A spokesman for U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) told independent journalist Nick Turse that he did not consider him to be a “legitimate journalist” and refused to answer his calls or emails for months starting in late 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"n67dw\">Turse has written numerous articles, many for The Intercept, critical of the U.S. military’s activities in Africa.</p><p data-block-key=\"wxfsn\">On July 20, 2017, he wrote <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2017/07/20/cameroonian-troops-tortured-and-killed-prisoners-at-base-used-for-u-s-drone-surveillance/\">an article for The Intercept</a> revealing that Cameroonian troops tortured detainees at a military base that the United States also used for drone surveillance.</p><p data-block-key=\"ijk64\">In a <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2018/01/13/we-dont-consider-you-a-legitimate-journalist-how-i-got-blacklisted-by-the-pentagons-africa-command/\">January 2018 piece for The Intercept</a>, Turse wrote about how AFRICOM’s Public Affairs Branch repeatedly refused to engage with him after that article was published:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://theintercept.com/2018/01/13/we-dont-consider-you-a-legitimate-journalist-how-i-got-blacklisted-by-the-pentagons-africa-command/\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"seimq\">“Nick, we’re not going to respond to any of your questions” Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Falvo, the head of U.S. Africa Command’s Public Affairs Branch, told me by phone last October. “We just don’t feel that we need to.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2ry8t\">I asked if Falvo believed AFRICOM didn’t need to address questions from the press in general, or just me in particular.</p><p data-block-key=\"9986u\">“No, just you,” he replied. “We don’t consider you a legitimate journalist, really.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bazjf\">Then he hung up on me.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://theintercept.com/2018/01/13/we-dont-consider-you-a-legitimate-journalist-how-i-got-blacklisted-by-the-pentagons-africa-command/\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"lqelu\">How I Got Blacklisted by the Pentagon's Africa Command (The Intercept)</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=\"stimk\">Turse also detailed many instances in which representatives of AFRICOM consistently stonewalled him as early as 2012. On one day in 2014, he wrote, he called Benjamin Benson, then the chief of media engagement for AFRICOM, multiple times from a phone line that identified him by name and never had his calls answered. When he tried calling from another number, Benson picked up right away, only to hang up after Turse identified himself.</p><p data-block-key=\"e3xt9\">Turse wrote that just before his January 2018 piece was published, an AFRICOM spokesperson began responding to some of his questions, but refused to answer any questions about the agency’s treatment of him, including “if I was now considered legitimate, why the command finally decided to respond to me, and whether AFRICOM would regularly take my calls and answer my questions in the future.”</p></div>",
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"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"military"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Federal government: Agency"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Nick Turse (Independent)"
],
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"type_of_denial": [
"Other"
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},
{
"title": "Trump calls NBC ‘fake news’ and suggests FCC should challenge its broadcast license",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-calls-nbc-fake-news-and-suggests-fcc-should-challenge-its-broadcast-license/",
"first_published_at": "2017-10-11T23:49:27.030898Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T18:41:33.962534Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T18:41:33.862587Z",
"date": "2017-10-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"oi81r\">On Oct. 11, 2017, President Trump called NBC News “fake news” and suggested that the FCC should challenge the network’s broadcast license.</p><p data-block-key=\"oqe34\">“With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” Trump tweeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"rbyld\">Trump also criticized an NBC News report which said that Trump wanted to increase the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Fake <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NBCNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@NBCNews</a> made up a story that I wanted a "tenfold" increase in our U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction, made up to demean. NBC = CNN!</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/918110279367643137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 11, 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\">With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/918112884630093825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 11, 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=\"g4osd\">Jessica Rosenworcel, one of the FCC’s five commissioners, responded to Trump on Twitter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Not how it works.<br><br>See here: <a href=\"https://t.co/1JgiJyk5wK\">https://t.co/1JgiJyk5wK</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/1aNpYsk7BG\">https://t.co/1aNpYsk7BG</a></p>— Jessica Rosenworcel (@JRosenworcel) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JRosenworcel/status/918122410620194816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 11, 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=\"kwhn0\">Rosenworcel’s tweet included a link to a <a href=\"https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/public-and-broadcasting.pdf\">document</a> on the FCC’s website titled “The Public and Broadcasting,” which outlines the agency’s regulation of broadcasts.</p><p data-block-key=\"juh8d\">“We license only individual broadcast stations,” the document states. “We do not license TV or radio networks (such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox) or other organizations with which stations have relationships (such as PBS or NPR), except to the extent that those entities may also be station licensees.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ifq08\">While the FCC regulates which local TV stations can broadcast over the air, it does not — and cannot — regulate which networks those stations broadcast. The agency could deny licenses to local stations directly owned by NBC, but doing so would not prevent other stations from broadcasting NBC News. If the FCC did attempt to deny broadcast licenses to NBC-owned stations in retaliation for the network’s coverage of Trump, it would likely be challenged in court and lose on First Amendment grounds.</p><p data-block-key=\"kp19d\">The Radio Television Digital News Association (which is a partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker) condemned Trump’s tweet.</p><p data-block-key=\"xznf3\">“Today’s call by the President of the United States to challenge the licenses of networks is not only dangerous to the American people’s right to access responsible journalism, it represents a clear misunderstanding on his part of how much control the federal government can exercise as it relates to networks and cable channels,” RTDNA executive director Dan Shelley said.</p><p data-block-key=\"i6evi\">Trump is not the first president to try to retaliate against journalism organizations by challenging broadcast licenses. </p><p data-block-key=\"mch7x\">Newton Minow, a former FCC director, <a href=\"https://www.chicagotribune.com/2016/12/07/a-medal-after-ignoring-presidential-orders/\">writes</a> in the Chicago Tribune that John F. Kennedy once called him up to complain that NBC News was broadcasting false information about him.</p><p data-block-key=\"c4e8h\">“I was at home one evening when Kennedy called, furious because of a television news story,” Minow recalls. “Executives in the steel industry announced a price increase, which the president believed was a violation of an agreement he had negotiated to avoid a strike. He asked if I had seen NBC’s newscast in which the steel companies’ execs bitterly attacked the president. I had. The president bellowed: ‘Did you see how those guys lied about me? Outrageous! Do something about it!’”</p><p data-block-key=\"v8g7p\">Minow refused to do anything and Kennedy dropped the matter.</p><p data-block-key=\"7kfpn\">In the 1970s, Richard Nixon and his allies took more serious steps, challenging the broadcast licenses of local TV stations owned by The Washington Post. </p><p data-block-key=\"0fp34\">“In 1973, the Associated Press reported on the effort from George Champion Jr., who had been finance chairman for Nixon’s campaign in Florida, to challenge the license of a Jacksonville, Fla., TV station — WJXT-TV,” Post reporter Aaron Blake <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/10/11/trumps-threat-to-nbc-license-is-exactly-what-nixon-did/\">writes</a>. “The station was then owned by Newsweek and The Washington Post Co., which also owned The Washington Post. The Post was at that point well into its Pulitzer Prize-winning Watergate investigation of the president.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hf9p9\">Despite Nixon’s efforts, the FCC renewed the broadcast license for WJXT-TV and other stations owned by the Post.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [
"(2017-10-11 20:14:00+00:00) Trump follows-up tweet about broadcast licenses",
"(2018-02-01 12:00:00+00:00) FCC letter"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"NBC News"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
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},
{
"title": "Fourth subpoena issued for independent journalist’s phone records",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fourth-subpoena-issued-for-independent-journalists-phone-records/",
"first_published_at": "2023-06-26T18:27:20.665497Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-10T19:39:50.951327Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-10T19:39:50.769746Z",
"date": "2017-10-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Laredo",
"longitude": -99.50754,
"latitude": 27.50641,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fomjc\">Police in Laredo, Texas, subpoenaed the phone records of independent journalist Priscilla Villarreal for the fourth and final time on Oct. 6, 2017, as part of an investigation into a confidential source.</p><p data-block-key=\"9qdc8\">Villarreal — based in Laredo, Texas, and often 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=\"2n108\">According to an arrest warrant approval form, an LPD officer first subpoenaed Villarreal’s toll records, or call logs, on <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/prosecutors-subpoenaed-citizen-journalist-cell-phone-during-investigation/\">July 27</a> and then again on <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/second-subpoena-issued-for-independent-journalists-phone-records/\">Sept. 14</a>. A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/third-subpoena-issued-for-independent-journalists-phone-records/\">third subpoena</a> was issued on Sept. 28 seeking copies of Villarreal’s text messages from July 26 through Sept. 13.</p><p data-block-key=\"e038g\">On Oct. 6, the investigating officer sent a fourth and final subpoena seeking text messages from Jan. 1 through July 26. It was not immediately clear when AT&T provided the requested records, but references to phone records provided by the telecommunication company indicate that the records were turned over.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ic91\">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=\"a9ig7\">“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=\"1ut1t\">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=\"6i0nf\">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=\"914qd\">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=\"4d010\">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=\"buho8\">Arguments before the judges were held in January 2023, Morris said, and the court’s ruling is now pending.</p></div>",
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"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": [
"(2024-10-15 17:15:00+00:00) Supreme Court revives Texas journalist’s arrest-related lawsuit",
"(2025-04-08 15:23:00+00:00) Appeals court again dismisses Texas journalist’s arrest-related lawsuit",
"(2024-01-23 12:02:00+00:00) Divided federal appeals court won’t revive Texas journalist’s lawsuit"
],
"case_statuses": [
"dismissed"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Priscilla Villarreal (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist Aminah Ali arrested in St. Louis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-aminah-ali-arrested-st-louis/",
"first_published_at": "2017-10-06T06:49:26.414872Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-20T20:30:36.962565Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-20T20:30:36.867528Z",
"date": "2017-10-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "St. Louis",
"longitude": -90.19789,
"latitude": 38.62727,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"x3drp\">Aminah Ali — a St. Louis-based independent journalist who founded local news site “Real STL News” — was arrested while reporting on a demonstration on Oct. 3, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"xizjb\">That day, protesters in St. Louis shut down Highway 40, marching on the interstate and blocking traffic. The demonstration was a response to the acquittal in September of Jason Stockley, a white former St. Louis police officer who in 2011 fatally shot Anthony Lamar Smith, a Black man.</p><p data-block-key=\"jvncl\">After the group of protesters exited the highway, lines of police officers enclosed them in a “kettle” and then ordered them to sit on the ground and began to arrest them. Ali, who was covering the march for Real STL News, was also arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"bcsjb\">Real STL News later published a video that shows Ali, with her hands zip-tied behind her back, waiting in a holding area in the St. Louis jail.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/MissJupiter1957?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MissJupiter1957</a> our reporter in jail at the justice center after the protests <a href=\"https://t.co/BzXdqHEQbS\">pic.twitter.com/BzXdqHEQbS</a></p>— RealStlNews (@RealStlNews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RealStlNews/status/915656183054241793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 4, 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=\"nwv87\">“I am the founder of Real STL News and I've been apprehended,” Ali says in the video. “Once again, this is Aminah Ali, this is the founder of Real STL News, and I'm locked up. I wasn't doing anything illegal. I let them know that I was media, and I was still apprehended.”</p><p data-block-key=\"665lg\">According to Real STL News, Ali was released from jail on the morning of Oct. 4.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2017-10-06_at_2.45.02.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hi5gq\">Independent journalist Aminah Ali shows off her zip-tied hands in a screengrab from a video filmed inside a holding area in the St. Louis jail.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2017-10-04",
"detention_date": "2017-10-03",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Missouri",
"abbreviation": "MO"
},
"updates": [
"(2018-10-04 16:31:00+00:00) Charge dropped against journalist arrested at St. Louis protest"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Aminah Ali (Independent)"
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{
"title": "People's World reporter Al Neal arrested and jailed for over 24 hours",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/peoples-world-reporter-al-neal-arrested-and-jailed-over-24-hours/",
"first_published_at": "2017-10-05T21:52:17.175728Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-09-18T16:20:50.829278Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-09-18T16:20:50.684730Z",
"date": "2017-10-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "St. Louis",
"longitude": -90.19789,
"latitude": 38.62727,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"kmgx8\">Al Neal, the St. Louis bureau chief for progressive online newspaper People’s World, was arrested and jailed for 26 hours while covering protests in St. Louis, Missouri, on Oct. 3, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"ox6ov\">That day, protesters in St. Louis <a href=\"http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/protesters-close-eastbound-highway-in-st-louis/article_be681e7d-db87-5754-8799-12406397ccb0.html\">shut down</a> Highway 40, marching on the interstate and blocking traffic. The demonstration was a response to the acquittal in September of of Jason Stockley, a white former St. Louis police officer who in 2011 fatally shot Anthony Lamar Smith, a Black man.</p><p data-block-key=\"hvwix\">Neal filmed part of the protest and <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/BZzpEtmg5JK/\">posted</a> the video on his Instagram page. The video shows protesters peacefully marching and chanting.</p><p data-block-key=\"6dzau\">Neal told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he did not witness any water bottles or other objects being thrown at police officers. He also said that the crowd was quick to comply with police orders, including moving from the street to the sidewalk. </p><p data-block-key=\"ibo43\">After the group of protesters exited the highway, lines of police officers enclosed them in a “kettle” and then ordered them to sit on the ground. Around 9:30 p.m., police began arresting everyone present at the protest march, including journalists.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/police?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#police</a> are arresting everyone now. Including members of the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/press?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#press</a> visibly showing credentials. —<a href=\"https://twitter.com/PeoplesWorld?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PeoplesWorld</a></p>— A. A. Neal (@Al_Neal_STL) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Al_Neal_STL/status/915388642549538816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 4, 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=\"2rwv9\">Neal said that he was wearing a press badge and standing on the sidewalk with a group of journalists when he was handcuffed. He said that he told a police officer that he was a journalist, and the officer responded, “We don’t care, you’re getting arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"y0oyu\">Neal said that he asked the police to cuff his hands in the front instead of behind him, due to his bad shoulder. He said that a police officer refused and told him, “We don’t care, too bad, just wait.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5lgx7\">Neal said that he was transported to the St. Louis city jail, where he was detained in a holding cell for hours. Later that night, he tweeted a photo of the inside of the holding cell.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Now sitting in a holding cell w/ an elected official, legal observers& other members of the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/press?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#press</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/stockleyprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#stockleyprotest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/stl?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#stl</a> - <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PeoplesWorld?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PeoplesWorld</a></p>— A. A. Neal (@Al_Neal_STL) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Al_Neal_STL/status/915428546830618624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 4, 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\">A view from inside. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/stl?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#stl</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/StockleyProtest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#StockleyProtest</a> — <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PeoplesWorld?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PeoplesWorld</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/FwJvRHdDRo\">pic.twitter.com/FwJvRHdDRo</a></p>— A. A. Neal (@Al_Neal_STL) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Al_Neal_STL/status/915430586847780864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 4, 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=\"xaast\">After being detained for more than a full day, Neal was finally released around 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 4. He is being charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"endgt\">Al Neal waits in a holding cell at the St. Louis city jail, after being arrested on Oct. 3, 2017.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2017-10-04",
"detention_date": "2017-10-03",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Missouri",
"abbreviation": "MO"
},
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"(2018-10-04 00:00:00+00:00) Charge dropped against journalist arrested at St. Louis protest"
],
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"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Al Neal (People's World)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Freelance photographer Daniel Shular arrested in St. Louis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photographer-daniel-shular-arrested-st-louis/",
"first_published_at": "2017-10-04T20:57:27.848782Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-09-18T16:52:36.922943Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-09-18T16:52:36.638564Z",
"date": "2017-10-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "St. Louis",
"longitude": -90.19789,
"latitude": 38.62727,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"eizbl\">Daniel Shular — a St. Louis-based freelance photographer whose work has been published in NBC News, Xinhua and Riverfront Times — was arrested on Oct. 3, 2017, after covering a demonstration in St. Louis, Missouri.</p><p data-block-key=\"kwlf5\">That day, protesters in St. Louis shut down Highway 40, marching on the interstate and blocking traffic. The demonstration was a response to the acquittal in September of of Jason Stockley, a white former St. Louis police officer who in 2011 fatally shot Anthony Lamar Smith, a Black man.</p><p data-block-key=\"55yw8\">Shular covered the protest. After the group of protesters exited the highway, lines of police officers enclosed them in a "kettle" and then announced that they would all be arrested.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Everyone is being arrested including press <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/stockleyprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#stockleyprotest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/stlouis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#stlouis</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/stlouisprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#stlouisprotest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/kettle?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#kettle</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/n9F5gWyz7u\">pic.twitter.com/n9F5gWyz7u</a></p>— Daniel Shular (@xshularx) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/xshularx/status/915387776102752257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 4, 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\">I'm being arrested</p>— Daniel Shular (@xshularx) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/xshularx/status/915388193817726976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 4, 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=\"zxefl\">Shular told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that officers ignored him when he said that he was a member of the press. He said that he was carrying two professional DSLR cameras and wearing a National Press Photographers Association press badge. Officers ordered him to sit on the ground and then arrested him.</p><p data-block-key=\"loucd\">He said that the police never told him specifically why he was being arrested. During the booking and process, he said, he saw a document that listed the charge as “trespassing.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vo4wf\">Shular said that he was held for about 17 hours before being released. His cameras were returned to him after he was released.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/shular.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2017-10-04",
"detention_date": "2017-10-03",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 2,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 2,
"equipment": "camera lens"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Missouri",
"abbreviation": "MO"
},
"updates": [
"(2018-10-04 00:00:00+00:00) Charge dropped against photographer arrested at St. Louis protest"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Daniel Shular (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Independent journalist Jon Ziegler arrested in St. Louis for second time",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-jon-ziegler-arrested-st-louis-second-time/",
"first_published_at": "2017-10-04T09:25:26.001908Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-09-18T16:50:49.222907Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-09-18T16:50:48.986606Z",
"date": "2017-10-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "St. Louis",
"longitude": -90.19789,
"latitude": 38.62727,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"y7a5t\">Independent journalist Jon Ziegler was arrested in St. Louis on Oct. 3, 2017, after livestreaming a demonstration on Highway 40. Ziegler was <a href=\"/all-incidents/independent-livestreamer-jon-ziegler-pepper-sprayed-and-arrested-st-louis/\">previously arrested in St. Louis on Sept. 17</a>, while covering another protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"ra3na\">On Oct. 3, protesters in St. Louis shut down Highway 40, marching on the interstate and blocking traffic. The demonstration was a response to the acquittal in September of Jason Stockley, a white former St. Louis police officer who in 2011 fatally shot Anthony Lamar Smith, a Black man.</p><p data-block-key=\"xi4bc\">Ziegler was one of the journalists who provided live coverage of the march. Once the group of protesters exited the highway, lines of police officers enclosed them in a "kettle" and then ordered them to sit on the ground and began to arrest them. Ziegler and other journalists covering the march were also arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"vf24v\">Ziegler's livestream of the march captured his arrest and the arrest of other journalists.</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/KyLjVksSP2o?start=2550&feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n \n <p data-block-key=\"6hopl\">St. Louis police perform a mass arrest of protesters, legal observers, and journalists.</p>\n \n \n <p>Rebelutionary Z</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2017-10-04_at_4.38.24.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"sius5\">A screengrab of a video filmed by The Young Turks shows Jon Ziegler (in purple) sitting on the ground shortly before being arrested by St. Louis police on Oct. 3, 2017.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"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": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Missouri",
"abbreviation": "MO"
},
"updates": [
"(2018-10-04 00:00:00+00:00) Charge dropped against journalist arrested at St. Louis protest"
],
"case_statuses": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jon Ziegler (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "The Young Turks cameraman Ty Bayliss arrested in St. Louis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tyt-cameraman-ty-bayliss-arrested-st-louis/",
"first_published_at": "2017-10-04T09:24:11.488649Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-09-18T16:49:51.107307Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-09-18T16:49:50.846539Z",
"date": "2017-10-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "St. Louis",
"longitude": -90.19789,
"latitude": 38.62727,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zdlpi\">Ty Bayliss — a cameraman and editor for the progressive online news organization The Young Turks — was arrested along with reporter Jordan Chariton after filming a demonstration in St. Louis on Oct. 3, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"59s7r\">That day, protesters in St. Louis shut down Highway 40, marching on the interstate and blocking traffic. The demonstration was a response to the acquittal in September of Jason Stockley, a white former St. Louis police officer who in 2011 fatally shot Anthony Lamar Smith, a Black man.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ly88\">Chariton and Bayliss followed the group and interviewed protesters as they marched on the highway. After the group of protesters exited the highway, lines of police officers enclosed them in a "kettle" and then ordered them to sit on the ground and began to arrest them. Chariton, Bayliss and other journalists covering the march were also arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"meljh\">"Our reporter @JordanChariton and cameraman/editor Ty Bayliss have been arrested by St. Louis Police. Clear violation of first amendment," TYT founder and host Cenk Uygur <a href=\"https://twitter.com/cenkuygur/status/915405101912645633\">tweeted</a>. "TYT reporter & cameraman were covering St. Louis protests when police surrounded them and arrested them. We demand their immediate release."</p><p data-block-key=\"e2wgu\">TYT published a video on Youtube, filmed by Bayliss, that shows police arresting both him and Chariton. Bayliss appears to be one of the first people arrested.</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/wfTZgPMQX-0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n \n <p data-block-key=\"6gzac\">St. Louis police arrest TYT reporter Jordan Chariton and cameraman Ty Bayliss.</p>\n \n \n <p>The Young Turks</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4nbxe\">Bayliss and Chariton were arrested despite wearing press badges and telling police officers on the scene that they were members of the press. Officers told them that they were under arrest "for being on the highway."</p><p data-block-key=\"8s7ll\">Uygur, the founder of TYT, criticized the arrests of Bayliss and Chariton in a short video statement posted on Youtube.</p><p data-block-key=\"8fi2p\">"We're demanding their immediate release," Uygur says in the video. "This is outrageous. We had camera guys there because that's our job. There is a very legitimate and ongoing protest in St. Louis. They believe that the community is not being treated fairly, and we went to go cover it. That's exactly what we're supposed to do as the press. Apparently, the police didn't like that. You can hear people on the scene saying that they're arresting people with cameras first. So it's the exact opposite of what they're supposed to do. They're supposed to let the press do their jobs, and they didn't."</p><p data-block-key=\"eq9nt\">After being detained for almost 20 hours, Bayliss and Chariton were released from jail.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2017-10-04_at_4.23.58.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"0gb9e\">A screengrab from a livestream filmed by Jon Ziegler shows St. Louis police officers arresting TYT cameraman Ty Bayliss on Oct. 3, 2017.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2017-10-04",
"detention_date": "2017-10-03",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Missouri",
"abbreviation": "MO"
},
"updates": [
"(2018-10-04 00:00:00+00:00) Charge dropped against journalist arrested at St. Louis protest"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ty Bayliss (The Young Turks)"
],
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},
{
"title": "The Young Turks reporter Jordan Chariton arrested in St. Louis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tyt-reporter-jordan-chariton-arrested-st-louis/",
"first_published_at": "2017-10-04T09:23:14.717840Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-09-18T16:51:57.233455Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-09-18T16:51:56.994513Z",
"date": "2017-10-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "St. Louis",
"longitude": -90.19789,
"latitude": 38.62727,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"solyb\">Jordan Chariton, a reporter for the progressive online news organization The Young Turks, was arrested along with cameraman Ty Bayliss after filming a demonstration in St. Louis on Oct. 3, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"ywhhc\">That day, protesters in St. Louis shut down Highway 40, marching on the interstate and blocking traffic. The demonstration was a response to the acquittal in September of of Jason Stockley, a white former St. Louis police officer who in 2011 fatally shot Anthony Lamar Smith, a Black man.</p><p data-block-key=\"ynanw\">Chariton and Bayliss followed the group and interviewed protesters as they marched on the highway. After the group of protesters exited the highway, lines of police officers enclosed them in a "kettle" and then ordered them to sit on the ground and began to arrest them. Chariton, Bayliss and other journalists covering the march were also arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"3d5zg\">"Our reporter @JordanChariton and cameraman/editor Ty Bayliss have been arrested by St. Louis Police. Clear violation of first amendment," TYT founder and host Cenk Uygur <a href=\"https://twitter.com/cenkuygur/status/915405101912645633\">tweeted</a>. "TYT reporter & cameraman were covering St. Louis protests when police surrounded them and arrested them. We demand their immediate release."</p><p data-block-key=\"xtb5a\">TYT published a video on Youtube, filmed by Bayliss, that shows police arresting both him and Chariton.</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/wfTZgPMQX-0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n \n <p data-block-key=\"9a6ob\">St. Louis police arrest TYT reporter Jordan Chariton and cameraman Ty Bayliss.</p>\n \n \n <p>The Young Turks</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yjbk4\">"So they're arresting, it seems, journalists who covered a peaceful demonstration," Chariton can be heard saying in the video, after Bayliss is arrested. "I thought there was a freedom of the press and a First Amendment, but I guess not in St. Louis."</p><p data-block-key=\"ao1sy\">Bayliss and Chariton were arrested despite wearing press badges and telling police officers on the scene that they were members of the press. Officers told them that they were under arrest "for being on the highway."</p><p data-block-key=\"rv4it\">Uygur, the founder of TYT, criticized the arrests of Bayliss and Chariton in a short video statement posted on Youtube.</p><p data-block-key=\"e4jc0\">"We're demanding their immediate release," Uygur says in the video. "This is outrageous. We had camera guys there because that's our job. There is a very legitimate and ongoing protest in St. Louis. They believe that the community is not being treated fairly, and we went to go cover it. That's exactly what we're supposed to do as the press. Apparently, the police didn't like that. You can hear people on the scene saying that they're arresting people with cameras first. So it's the exact opposite of what they're supposed to do. They're supposed to let the press do their jobs, and they didn't."</p><p data-block-key=\"ddu22\">After being detained for almost 20 hours, Chariton and Bayliss were released from jail.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2017-10-04_at_5.20.06.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"x2apt\">TYT reporter Jordan Chariton reports live from St. Louis on October 3, 2017, shortly before being arrested.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2017-10-04",
"detention_date": "2017-10-03",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Missouri",
"abbreviation": "MO"
},
"updates": [
"(2018-10-04 00:00:00+00:00) Charge dropped against reporter arrested at St. Louis protest"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jordan Chariton (The Young Turks)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Indiana high school implements policy of prior review after controversial publication",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/indiana-high-school-implements-policy-prior-review-after-controversial-publication/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-21T17:25:57.087373Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-28T21:48:24.313318Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-28T21:48:24.233757Z",
"date": "2017-10-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Plainfield",
"longitude": -86.39944,
"latitude": 39.70421,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mj2kz\">Student journalists at Plainfield High School in Plainfield, Indiana, have been censored by school administrators for their reporting, according to the student co-editor of the school's paper.<br/><br/> Plainfield High School <a href=\"https://freedom.press/news/inside-fight-prevent-censorship-indiana-student-journalists/\">implemented a policy</a> of content review prior to publication after its publication, the Quaker Shaker, published an issue that focused on dating and relationships in October 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"2kfpn\">The issue, called the Shakedown, was the magazine’s first “special topic” edition, exploring the ins and outs of relationships in high school. It featured polls about the prevalence of sexting and topics like dating violence.<br/><br/> After some parents and school administrators took issue with the content, a <a href=\"https://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2018/01/25/plainfield-high-student-journalists-say-they-being-censored-lawmakers-could-help-them/1065190001/\">new school policy was implemented</a> requiring approval from the principal and an advisory committee before publishing, <a href=\"https://freedom.press/news/inside-fight-prevent-censorship-indiana-student-journalists/\">according to Plainfield High School journalism adviser</a> Michelle Burress.</p><p data-block-key=\"204qv\">Co-editor of the Quaker Shaker Anu Nattam said that after the policy was in place, the publication was forced to change the name of their special edition issues to the Shakeout because the school argued that the name Shakedown had mafia connotations.</p><p data-block-key=\"xuk7y\">“We’ve also had to change quotes, and delete quotes for trivial things that make no sense,” <a href=\"https://freedom.press/news/inside-fight-prevent-censorship-indiana-student-journalists/\">Nattam told the Freedom of the Press Foundation</a> in 2018. She also noted that they were asked to change the cover photo of one magazine issue because merely it showed a picture of a clothed posterior.</p><p data-block-key=\"wzzpv\">But it is her responsibility as a student journalist, Nattam said, to report on issues that are relevant to the student body, even if they might be controversial.</p><p data-block-key=\"0wv3g\">Nattam’s adviser Burress said that students have self-censored since the policy was put in place, and they worry about everything they write coming under intense scrutiny. “They are shying away from topics that normally they would not hesitate to cover because they do not want to get shot down,” she said last year. “More than ever this year, students are saying that they do not want to be quoted or pictured in the news magazine or yearbook.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hfd95\">Nattam agrees. “People need to realize that by limiting press freedom for students, they are limiting their education. That’s what I feel like was done to me and my staff—our education was compromised, because we can’t be put in the same environment as a professional journalist. So, we can’t prepare for a career in journalism if that's what we choose to do.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Plainfield_other.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"31bn1\">Indiana student journalists, including Anu Nattam, center, who holds Plainfield High School's magazine, testified in 2018 in favor of a state bill that would have prohibited schools from encroaching on students’ speech rights.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"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": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"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": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Indiana",
"abbreviation": "IN"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"[Plainfield High School] Quaker Shaker"
],
"tags": [
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Reporter flagged for additional screening when leaving the U.S., questioned about work",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-flagged-additional-screening-when-leaving-us-questioned-about-work/",
"first_published_at": "2019-12-10T20:47:50.455003Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-08-22T20:28:47.387563Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-08-22T20:28:47.317771Z",
"date": "2017-09-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"m0o59\">A reporter — who asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisal — was flagged for secondary screening in New York City while traveling to Istanbul, Turkey, on Sept. 30, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"pqwrf\">The reporter, who is a U.S. citizen, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that he was taken aside by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer while departing from JFK International Airport.</p><p data-block-key=\"8rak6\">After asking the routine questions about addresses and contact information, the reporter said the CBP officer asked about his work. The questioning included what topics the reporter covers and whether he uses the messaging applications WhatsApp or Viber. The reporter also told CPJ that the officer asked him to sign a paper documenting how much currency he was traveling with.</p><p data-block-key=\"jdxz6\">During the questioning, the reporter asked the CBP officer his name. The reporter said the question seemed to make the officer very uncomfortable, and the officer tried to backpedal to avoid disclosing it. The reporter insisted and the officer eventually gave his name.</p><p data-block-key=\"y95ws\">Citing his frustration with being stopped despite belonging to CBP’s Trusted Travelers Programs, which are designed to expedite security, the reporter told CPJ that after this incident he filed a Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act request. He received a response within six weeks that showed that he had been targeted for additional screening but not why.</p><p data-block-key=\"04lwy\">In addition to having Global Entry, the reporter said, he now also carries a printed copy of his FOIA when he travels.</p><p data-block-key=\"a93gq\">“It’s clear to me that these interrogations really depend on the officer, what questions they ask,” the reporter told CPJ.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
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"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "John F. Kennedy International Airport",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Anonymous reporter 2"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer, Christian Gooden, pepper-sprayed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/st-louis-post-dispatch-photographer-christian-gooden-pepper-sprayed-st-louis-metropolitan-police/",
"first_published_at": "2017-10-21T00:03:24.409353Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-16T18:42:39.034577Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-16T18:42:38.920258Z",
"date": "2017-09-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "St. Louis",
"longitude": -90.19789,
"latitude": 38.62727,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qibep\">Christian Gooden, a photographer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was pepper-sprayed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department while covering protests in St. Louis on Sept. 29, 2017, according to a <a href=\"http://www.unitedmediaguild.org/index.php/2017/10/05/\">news report</a> by the United Media Guild.</p><p data-block-key=\"em0oi\">Gooden told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he was taking photographs in between two groups of protesters when he heard that a demonstrator had been tased. He, along with several protesters, turned back to document the St. Louis police walking a demonstrator to a van in handcuffs. “The police sprayed everyone in front of the police line,” Gooden said. He anticipated the spraying, so he backed up turned away to avoid the spray. </p><p data-block-key=\"gzxjr\">Gooden said he continued to take pictures once he thought the police were done spraying, but he was hit by a second stream of pepper spray. He turned his back to avoid posing a threat, but he estimated the spraying lasted five or six seconds.</p><p data-block-key=\"3qjbm\">“There didn’t seem to be a reason to spray the line,” he said. “They were agitated and loud, but no one was coming to put hands on police.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fmldk\">He told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he felt the spray on his neck and collar, and he kept turning his head to protect his face. “It felt like he was trying to get around to my ears and eyes,” Gooden said.</p><p data-block-key=\"nhtna\">Gooden said that while he was not wearing his press badge, he was carrying two large cameras and a photo bag, and had been covering the protests as a photographer for multiple nights.</p><p data-block-key=\"ng4w0\">The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to requests to comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "Christian Gooden, a photographer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was pepper-sprayed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department on Sept. 29, 2017, while covering protests in St. Louis",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/christian_goodman.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"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": "Missouri",
"abbreviation": "MO"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"chemical irritant"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Christian Gooden (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Independent livestreamer, Heather De Mian, pepper sprayed by St. Louis police",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-livestreamer-heather-demian-pepper-sprayed-st-louis-police/",
"first_published_at": "2017-10-18T21:45:00.529093Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:46:11.165299Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:46:11.055230Z",
"date": "2017-09-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "St. Louis",
"longitude": -90.19789,
"latitude": 38.62727,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"td81y\">Heather De Mian, an independent livestreamer and photographer, was pepper sprayed by St. Louis police while filming protests in St. Louis on Sept. 29, 2017, according to her tweets and <a href=\"https://www.pscp.tv/MissJupiter1957/1vAxRNAgDOyxl?t=1402\">livestream video</a> of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"dercs\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NassimBnchabane/status/913965086955491328\">an interview</a> with St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Nassim Benchaabane after the protest, De Mian said she was livestreaming the demonstration to Periscope when she was informed by protesters that the St. Louis police tased a protester. She moved closer, trying to film the arrest of the protester, when police allegedly sprayed her with a chemical agent from the side.</p><p data-block-key=\"rpuvo\">De Mian regularly documents protests by livestreaming them on Periscope and uploading them to her Youtube channel, "Heather DeMian," and her Twitter account, @MissJupiter1957.</p><p data-block-key=\"o4aaf\">In the Periscope video, De Mian can be seen asking the officers multiple times why she was sprayed and why they failed to give a dispersal order. In the video, one officer points at De Mian and says repeatedly, “time to go."</p><p data-block-key=\"22qvv\">“I should have to be a threat before someone fucking maces me,” she says later on the livestream.</p><p data-block-key=\"fn2pd\">De Mian later tweeted that the pepper spray had a severe effect on her because she has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disorder.</p><p data-block-key=\"i8srl\">"B/c of my #EDS, my physical reaction to pepperspray is different. It takes a few minutes to feel it where I have mucus membranes in my face," she tweeted. "Didn't really feel it much on my arms & medics washed where there was visible orange liquid, but not whole arm, so missed where fine spray. So while I didn't feel an initial reaction on my arms much, where it sat on the skin for longer, it damaged the skin. #EDS"</p><p data-block-key=\"ow4zk\">The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"und\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/STLProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#STLProtests</a> 2 <a href=\"https://t.co/Md7vRrOjyj\">https://t.co/Md7vRrOjyj</a></p>— Heather ♿📷📱🔭 (@MissJupiter1957) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MissJupiter1957/status/913950548012834816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 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\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/MissJupiter1957?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MissJupiter1957</a> a livestreamer in a wheelchair, says she was pepper sprayed while filming after police teased/arrested a man <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/stlverdict?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#stlverdict</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/dhjtMdBO4G\">pic.twitter.com/dhjtMdBO4G</a></p>— Nascream Bloodaabane (@NassimBnchabane) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NassimBnchabane/status/913965086955491328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 30, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"8hw3n\">Heather De Mian, an independent livestreamer, was pepper-sprayed by St. Louis police while filming a protest.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Missouri",
"abbreviation": "MO"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-07-17 14:59:00+00:00) St. Louis officer charged with assault for 2017 pepper-spraying of livestreamer Heather De Mian, protesters",
"(2023-11-16 16:58:00+00:00) State appeals court dismisses reporter’s First Amendment claims",
"(2021-05-28 00:00:00+00:00) Officer acquitted on felony assault charges for pepper-spraying protesters"
],
"case_statuses": [
"dismissed"
],
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"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"court verdict",
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],
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"Assault"
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"Heather De Mian (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Third subpoena issued for independent journalist’s phone records",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/third-subpoena-issued-for-independent-journalists-phone-records/",
"first_published_at": "2023-06-26T18:30:41.044218Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-10T19:40:06.433012Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-10T19:40:06.239243Z",
"date": "2017-09-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Laredo",
"longitude": -99.50754,
"latitude": 27.50641,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"84353\">Police in Laredo, Texas, subpoenaed the phone records of independent journalist Priscilla Villarreal for the third time on Sept. 28, 2017, as part of an investigation into a confidential source, according to filings reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Her communication records have been subpoenaed at least four times.</p><p data-block-key=\"88bg5\">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=\"f7rli\">According to an arrest warrant approval form, an LPD officer first subpoenaed Villarreal’s call log records on <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/prosecutors-subpoenaed-citizen-journalist-cell-phone-during-investigation/\">July 27</a> and then again on <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/second-subpoena-issued-for-independent-journalists-phone-records/\">Sept. 14</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"bcjuc\">On Sept. 28, the officer sent a third subpoena seeking text messages from July 26 through Sept. 13 for the phone numbers belonging to both Villarreal and her suspected source. It was not immediately clear when AT&T provided the requested records, but references to phone records provided by the telecommunication company indicate that the records were turned over.</p><p data-block-key=\"qu3a\">An additional subpoena for Villarreal’s text messages was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fourth-subpoena-issued-for-independent-journalists-phone-records/\">filed on Oct. 6</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ie8o\">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=\"9k57m\">“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=\"9akhr\">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=\"fdd49\">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=\"er01p\">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=\"1fv2i\">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=\"dh2q2\">Arguments before the judges were held in January 2023, Morris said, and the court’s ruling is now pending.</p></div>",
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"case_number": "5:19-cv-00048",
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"name_of_business": "AT&T",
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"legal_order_venue": "State",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-01-23 12:02:00+00:00) Divided federal appeals court won’t revive Texas journalist’s lawsuit",
"(2024-10-15 17:14:00+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"
],
"case_statuses": [
"dismissed"
],
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"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
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"Priscilla Villarreal (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Filmmaker sues St. Louis police for assault, arrest while covering protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/filmmaker-sues-st-louis-police-assault-arrest-while-covering-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-01-27T17:20:59.306086Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T22:57:28.900549Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T22:57:28.788233Z",
"date": "2017-09-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "St. Louis",
"longitude": -90.19789,
"latitude": 38.62727,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5co2b\">According to a lawsuit filed on his behalf, documentary filmmaker Fareed Alston was assaulted, arrested and his equipment damaged while documenting protests in St. Louis, Missouri, on Sept. 17, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"gv5ur\"><a href=\"http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/as-arrests-are-made-protesters-question-the-tactics-used-by/article_e58481b7-f7c2-541e-91d2-31a6379f272c.html\">The St. Louis Post-Dispatch</a> reported that more than 1,000 people had gathered in downtown St. Louis to protest the acquittal of Jason Stockley, a white former St. Louis police officer who in 2011 fatally shot Anthony Lamar Smith, a black man.</p><p data-block-key=\"xauox\">That night, police officers advanced around the intersection of Washington Avenue and Tucker Boulevard, boxing in approximately 100 people for arrest or detention in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">a maneuver called kettling</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"lzxt7\">On Sept. 17, 2018, one year after the kettling arrests, ArchCity Defenders, a legal advocacy organization, and the law firm of Khazaeli Wyrsch <a href=\"https://www.archcitydefenders.org/on-the-anniversary-of-the-unlawful-police-kettling-archcity-defenders-and-the-law-firm-of-khazaeli-wyrsch-file-twelve-federal-lawsuits-against-st-louis-city-and-the-st-louis-metropolitan-police-dep-2/\">filed 12 lawsuits</a> against the St. Louis Metro Police Department on behalf of individuals whom they said were treated illegally by police officers during the protests. Alston and two freelance video journalists, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-filmmaker-pepper-sprayed-arrested-st-louis-protests/\">Mark Gullet</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-video-journalist-assaulted-arrested-st-louis-protests/\">Demetrius Thomas</a>, were among those represented.</p><p data-block-key=\"ywyv9\">According to the lawsuit filed on Alston’s behalf, Alston arrived in downtown St. Louis with his assistant between 9 – 10:30 p.m. CST on Sept. 17. Both were carrying official press passes and cameras for the purpose of documenting the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"23hfx\">Though many of the protesters had already dispersed, a small group was standing on the side of Washington Avenue. The lawsuit says that Alston also saw approximately 50 to 100 St. Louis police officers dressed in riot gear, so he and his assistant split up and began filming. According to the complaint, officers did not indicate that the filmmakers should not enter the area or that a mass arrest was imminent.</p><p data-block-key=\"h6512\">Shortly after, a line of police started advancing toward the demonstrators. According to the complaint, an apartment tenant allowed Alston’s assistant to enter the building and escape the marching line of police, but Alston was unable to do the same. Alston then noticed a second line of police approaching from the opposite direction, beginning to box in all those present while pounding their batons against their shields and the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"lnafk\">While continuing to film, Alston and a few other people approached the line of bicycle police who made up one side of the kettle so they could ask to leave. As they neared, the complaint says, the officers started “slamming” their bicycles on the ground. Alston searched for another exit, but finding none he re-approached a bicycle officer to ask to be let out.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nrrd\">“Without warning or any verbal directions, the police officer pushed Mr. Alston back with his baton and his shield and started to fire pepper spray directly at Mr. Alston’s face,” the complaint says. “At the same time, a second officer began to pepper spray Mr. Alston.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hfg22\">Alston and others around him fell to the ground, and were quickly surrounded by police. According to the complaint, a number of officers began kicking Alston while continuing to douse him in pepper spray for several minutes.</p><p data-block-key=\"ik323\">Officers then turned Alston over and cuffed him with three zip ties, causing immediate pain. Another officer roughly pulled the camera from around Alston’s neck, “slammed” it on the ground and powered it off.</p><p data-block-key=\"jeccy\">The lawsuit says that at one point an officer began to taunt Alston.</p><p data-block-key=\"g0rne\">“The officer said that this is what Mr. Alston got for wanting to videotape the police. Other officers also told Mr. Alston not to record what was happening. It was clear that Mr. Alston was targeted for documenting the protest,” the complaint says.</p><p data-block-key=\"d6747\">Alston was taken to St. Louis City Justice Center alongside others arrested at the scene, where he was incarcerated for nearly 24 hours and received minimal medical attention. His camera was returned to him upon his release, but it had been badly damaged and pieces of his lighting equipment — including a lighting fixture and its power source — were lost when he was roughly cuffed.</p><p data-block-key=\"8gopa\">According to the complaint, Alston continues to suffer physical and psychological repercussions from his arrest and assault, including persistent numbness in his hand, chronic respiratory issues and nightmares. He also no longer feels comfortable covering protests, which had been the main subject of his work.</p><p data-block-key=\"vbe2v\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2017-09-16&date_upper=2017-09-18&tags=52\">10 journalists</a> detained, arrested, assaulted or had their equipment damaged while covering the protests that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"g6j7o\">Alston, Thomas, Gullet and the other plaintiffs are seeking damages, attorneys fees, expenses and any other relief the court deems appropriate. Alston’s case is not expected to go to trial until early 2021.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"78xqn\">Around 100 demonstrators and multiple journalists were pepper-sprayed and arrested during protests following a not guilty verdict in the murder trial of a former St. Louis, Missouri, police officer on Sept. 17, 2017.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2017-09-18",
"detention_date": "2017-09-17",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "4:19-cv-02590",
"case_type": "CLASS_ACTION",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in part",
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"actor": "law enforcement",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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{
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},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera equipment"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
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}
],
"state": {
"name": "Missouri",
"abbreviation": "MO"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-08-03 13:31:00+00:00) Filmmaker gets part of $4.9 million class-action settlement"
],
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"settled"
],
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"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"court verdict",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
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],
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],
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]
