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[ { "title": "Press Enterprise reporter subpoenaed to testify in Pennsylvania murder trial", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/press-enterprise-reporters-subpoenaed-testify-murder-trial/", "first_published_at": "2018-10-18T22:58:31.015165Z", "last_published_at": "2025-05-16T16:16:25.650029Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-16T16:16:25.502807Z", "date": "2018-05-22", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Bloomsburg", "longitude": -76.45495, "latitude": 41.0037, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cs3gt\">John-Erik Koslosky and <a href=\"/all-incidents/press-enterprise-reporter-subpoenaed-to-testify-in-pennsylvania-murder-trial/\">Kristin Baver</a>, reporters for the Press Enterprise newspaper in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, were subpoenaed in May 2018 to give testimony in the murder trial of Anthony “Rocco” Franklin. Centre County senior judge David Grine quashed both subpoenas on May 24, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"axayq\">Franklin is currently on trial for the 2012 murder of his former son-in-law, Frank Spencer. He fled to Argentina but was arrested by Argentinian authorities, before being extradited to the United States on April 12, 2017. Baver and Koslosky interviewed Franklin over the phone while he was imprisoned in Argentina, and the Press Enterprise published an article based on the interview. Another local newspaper, The Daily Item, also conducted a jailhouse interview with Franklin over the phone. </p><p data-block-key=\"n1ols\">State prosecutors subpoenaed Koslosky and Baver, as well as a reporter from <a href=\"/all-incidents/daily-item-reporter-francis-scarcella-subpoenaed-testify-pennsylvania-murder-trial/\">The Daily Item</a>, to testify about what Franklin told them during the interviews. The three reporters successfully fought the subpoenas, convincing Judge Grine that the prosecution <a href=\"https://www.dailyitem.com/news/judge-reporters-will-not-have-to-testify-in-franklin-trial/article_d711bdb6-5f72-11e8-a0fd-bb442ce63da7.html\">did not need their testimony</a> to make its case.</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": null, "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "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": "testimony about confidential source", "name_of_business": null, "third_party_business": null, "legal_order_venue": "State", "status_of_prior_restraint": null, "mistakenly_released_materials": false, "links": [], "equipment_seized": [], "equipment_broken": [], "state": { "name": "Pennsylvania", "abbreviation": "PA" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Subpoena/Legal Order" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "John-Erik Koslosky ([Bloomsburg] Press Enterprise)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [ "quashed" ], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "EPA security guards refuse entry to AP reporter, then shove her out the door", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/epa-security-guards-refuse-entry-ap-reporter-then-shove-her-out-door/", "first_published_at": "2018-05-22T20:58:51.866976Z", "last_published_at": "2023-12-21T17:29:38.060329Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T17:29:37.949031Z", "date": "2018-05-22", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Washington", "longitude": -77.03637, "latitude": 38.89511, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"at9ln\">On May 22, 2018, security guards at the Environmental Protection Agency prevented a number of journalists from entering a building where EPA administrator Scott Pruitt was giving a speech. The Associated Press reporter Ellen Knickmeyer said that when she asked to speak with someone from the EPA’s press office about the denial of access, one of the security guards grabbed her shoulders and physically pushed her out of the building.</p><p data-block-key=\"tjiz6\">On May 22, Pruitt delivered opening remarks at <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2018/05/22/the-energy-202-epa-holds-summit-on-dangerous-chemicals-after-delayed-report/5b02f1f630fb0425887995f1/?utm_term=.247785e49\">a two-day summit</a> to discuss a certain class of chemicals — known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS — that have contaminated drinking water in many areas of the country. It was held at William Jefferson Clinton South, a building on the EPA’s campus in Washington, D.C. The plan was for the first hour of the summit, including Pruitt’s remarks, to be open to the press and livestreamed to the public, and for the rest of the summit to be closed to the press. </p><p data-block-key=\"1y1xm\">When Knickmeyer, an AP journalist who writes about the EPA, tried to enter the EPA building around 7:35 a.m. to report on the summit, security guards <a href=\"https://apnews.com/d799f4e096cc42cf99ae01b02d1e0688\">said</a> that she was not on the invite list and refused to let her in.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AP</a>, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CNN</a> and E&amp;E all showed up to cover this <a href=\"https://twitter.com/EPA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@EPA</a> meeting on widespread, dangerous contaminants in many drinking water systems around the country. We were all turned away at the door of the EPA building. <a href=\"https://t.co/j8JthyiM3k\">https://t.co/j8JthyiM3k</a></p>&mdash; Ellen Knickmeyer (@KnickmeyerEllen) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KnickmeyerEllen/status/998905903494717440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 22, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"93euc\">Knickmeyer did not respond to a request for comment, but the AP&#x27;s David Bauder <a href=\"https://apnews.com/7c5ce52b316a4c91930a0998cd613115/EPA-blocks-some-media-from-Pruitt-water-contaminants-summit\">reported</a> on what happened to his colleague:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://apnews.com/7c5ce52b316a4c91930a0998cd613115\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"zvbdq\">Knickmeyer said she called Monday about the event and was told by EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox that it was invitation-only and there was no room for her. She said she showed up anyway, and was told by a security guard that she couldn’t enter. She said she asked to speak to a representative from the press office, was refused and told to get out. Photos of the event showed several empty seats.</p><p data-block-key=\"mtg48\">After security told her that “we can make you get out,” Knickmeyer said she took out her phone to record what was happening. Some of the security guards reached for it, and a woman grabbed her shoulders from behind and pushed her about five feet out the door.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://apnews.com/7c5ce52b316a4c91930a0998cd613115\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"kwsag\">EPA blocks some media from summit, then reverses course (AP)</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=\"cxra2\">At least two other journalists witnessed what happened to Knickmeyer.</p><p data-block-key=\"e9ne6\">Both Garret Ellison, of the Grand Rapids Press in Michigan, and Jonathan Salant, of NJ Advance Media, were invited to cover the summit, since PFAS contamination is an issue in both states. Ellison told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he has extensively covered PFAS issues in Michigan, and he worked with the EPA’s regional office in Chicago to attend and cover the summit. </p><p data-block-key=\"23p7y\">Ellison told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he saw Knickmeyer standing off to the side of the entrance and then heard security guards yell at her and saw one push her out the door. Salant said that he tried to assist Knickmeyer, even giving her the number of an EPA press contact, but that the security guards refused to let her call anyone.</p><p data-block-key=\"utxif\">&quot;The problem was the security guards did not allow her time to clear up what could have been a simple misunderstanding before physically evicting her,&quot; he said. &quot;In fact, I gave the AP reporter the name and number of the press officer who were told to call in case we were accidentally not on the list.&quot;</p><p data-block-key=\"n956a\">Ellison said that after Knickmeyer was pushed out the door, EPA press secretary Michael Abboud, accompanied by EPA press officers, escorted him and Salant into the summit.</p><p data-block-key=\"xx33b\">He said that when he asked the group of EPA officials about what had happened with Knickmeyer, one of the press officers shrugged and said, “They weren’t invited.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pr3q2\">Emily Holden, an environmental reporter at Politico who was also invited to the summit, entered shortly after Knickmeyer. She said on Twitter that she overheard one of the EPA security guards talk about how they threw Knickmeyer out of the building after she said that she would start filming.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As I was walked into the chemicals summit at EPA today, a security guard joked about how she warned <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KnickmeyerEllen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@KnickmeyerEllen</a> that she couldn&#39;t film as she was being told to leave the agency and barred from entering the event <a href=\"https://t.co/zCol0I7bCV\">https://t.co/zCol0I7bCV</a></p>&mdash; Emily Holden (@emilyhholden) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/emilyhholden/status/998940339909079040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 22, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nzc4n\">Knickmeyer was not the only reporter prevented from covering the summit.</p><p data-block-key=\"5iy51\">Corbin Hiar, who covers chemical issues for E&amp;E, told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he had emailed the EPA’s press office in advance of the summit to ask about covering it, but that he never heard back.</p><p data-block-key=\"yrnhu\">He said that he arrived at the designated press entrance to the summit around 7:50 a.m., he saw that the security guards were checking journalists’ names against a printed list. Since his name was not on the list, he was not admitted. After being denied access to the summit, he emailed an EPA press officer and said that security would not let him in. He received no response.</p><p data-block-key=\"921jw\">CNN&#x27;s Rene Marsh was also barred from entering the summit.</p><p data-block-key=\"bi12v\">“Today, CNN was turned away from covering the PFAS National Leadership Summit at the EPA after multiple attempts to attend,” the network said in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ErikWemple/status/998963698772430848\">a statement</a>. “While several news organizations were permitted, the EPA selectively excluded CNN and other media outlets. We understand the importance of an open and free press and we hope the EPA does, too.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bbjno\">Sharon Meyer, an environmental reporter for The Intercept, said on Twitter that the EPA refused to grant her access to cover the summit despite her asking months in advance.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I asked about attending this meeting months ago and was not granted access despite having written about <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PFAS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PFAS</a> for 3 yrs <a href=\"https://t.co/eRODXafSUy\">https://t.co/eRODXafSUy</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/EPA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@EPA</a>: how did you choose which reporters got to attend? <a href=\"https://t.co/wauU36KN1b\">https://t.co/wauU36KN1b</a> via <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NBCNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@nbcnews</a></p>&mdash; Sharon Lerner (@fastlerner) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/fastlerner/status/998977236412792833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 22, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"30mar\">The EPA, which did not respond to a request for comment from the Freedom of the Press Foundation, offered various justifications for its treatment of Knickmeyer and other reporters. </p><p data-block-key=\"qhcq3\">EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said in a statement that there was no room for Knickmeyer and other journalists to attend.</p><p data-block-key=\"scsiq\">“This was simply an issue of the room reaching capacity, which reporters were aware of prior to the event,” he said. We were able to accommodate 10 news outlets and provided a livestream for those we could not accommodate.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eyn2t\">Meanwhile, EPA communications official Andrea Drinkard <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/22/epa-kicks-out-reporters-from-summit-on-toxic-chemicals-602667\">told Politico</a> both that the meeting was already at capacity when Knickmeyer tried to enter and also that the meeting’s attendees did not feel comfortable with any press attending the summit.</p><p data-block-key=\"v138w\">It is not clear whether the room was actually at capacity. The Hill&#x27;s Miranda Green, who was invited to cover the summit, <a href=\"http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/388770-outlets-pushback-against-epa-limiting-reporters-at-chemical-summit\">reported</a> that a number of the chairs reserved for members of the media remained empty.</p><p data-block-key=\"sy7fy\">Addressing the treatment of Knickmeyer, Wilcox initially <a href=\"https://www.axios.com/epa-summit-reporters-forcibly-barred-cnn-ap-scott-pruitt-fa9b313b-0d0a-4ea9-9087-d8ff4dffaf29.html\">told Axios</a> that he was “unaware of the individual situation that has been reported” and later <a href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/pruitt-bars-media-epa-summit-contaminants-guards-push-reporter-out-n876396\">told NBC News</a> that Knickmeyer had threatened “negative coverage” if she was not let in.</p><p data-block-key=\"jnoqj\">In a statement released late Tuesday evening, Wilcox claimed that Knickmeyer &quot;pushed through the security entrance.&quot; After the AP objected to that characterization, he released another statement, which said that Knickmeyer &quot;showed up at EPA but refused to leave the building after being asked to do so.&quot;</p><p data-block-key=\"5k2tg\">According to the AP, an aide to Pruitt eventually called Knickmeyer to personally apologize for the way that she was treated.</p><p data-block-key=\"7jm3t\">Following public outcry, the EPA reversed its earlier limitations on press access to the summit. Around 12 p.m. on May 22, the agency announced that the second part of the summit — which ran from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and was originally closed to the press and the public — would be open to all journalists.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is a total 180 from the statement EPA gave earlier that space restraints limited attendance. <br><br>Now appears any outlet who wants to attend the second half of the hearing can. (It was previously opened to no press) <a href=\"https://t.co/Vwp8RRhCqQ\">https://t.co/Vwp8RRhCqQ</a></p>&mdash; Miranda Green (@mirandacgreen) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/mirandacgreen/status/998961692032864257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 22, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0hm54\">The AP praised the new policy.</p><p data-block-key=\"npkik\">&quot;We are pleased that the EPA has reconsidered its decision and will now allow AP to attend the remainder of today’s meeting,&quot; an AP spokeswoman said in a statement. &quot;The AP looks forward to informing the public of the important discussions at the water contaminants summit.&quot;</p><p data-block-key=\"rhd68\">But when Wilcox released a statement announcing the new press access policy, he blamed journalists for taking up seats at the summit that could otherwise have gone to other attendees.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hcgh\">&quot;When we were made aware of the incident, we displaced stakeholders to the overflow room who flew to Washington for this meeting so that every member of the press could have a seat,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"fl0ms\">The summit was particularly newsworthy in light of <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/14/emails-white-house-interfered-with-science-study-536950\">recent reports</a> that top EPA officials tried to block the release of a damaging report from the federal government’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. That report, which still has not been released to the public, reportedly concluded that four PFAS chemicals are more harmful than the EPA has publicly acknowledged.</p><p data-block-key=\"wryfl\">This is not the first time that the EPA has excluded journalists from covering Pruitt&#x27;s speeches. </p><p data-block-key=\"5zuh5\">On Dec. 1, 2017, InsideSources Iowa reporter Ethan Stoetzer was covering a Pruitt speech at the Couser Cattle Company, in Nevada, Iowa, when he was approached by a local sheriff&#x27;s deputy and ordered to leave the premises.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pgded\"><i>Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Pruitt escorted Ellison and Salant into the summit. In fact, the two journalists were escorted by EPA press secretary Michael Abboud and two EPA press officers. </i></p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS1RQ0P.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"8gqru\">EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies before a Senate hearing on an EPA budget proposal, on May 16, 2018, in Washington, D.C.</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": "law enforcement", "was_journalist_targeted": "yes", "charged_under_espionage_act": false, "subpoena_type": null, "name_of_business": null, "third_party_business": null, "legal_order_venue": null, "status_of_prior_restraint": null, "mistakenly_released_materials": false, "links": [], "equipment_seized": [], "equipment_broken": [], "state": { "name": "District of Columbia", "abbreviation": "DC" }, "updates": [ "(2019-02-27 12:00:00+00:00) Security camera footage backs up reporter", "(2018-05-23 10:40:00+00:00) Reporters denied access to second day of summit" ], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [ "environmentalism" ], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [ "Federal government: Agency" ], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Assault", "Denial of Access" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Ellen Knickmeyer (The Associated Press)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [ "Government event" ] }, { "title": "Former University of Arizona coach convicted of assault subpoenas reporter who covered his case", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-university-arizona-coach-convicted-assault-subpoenas-reporter-who-covered-his-case/", "first_published_at": "2018-06-07T20:01:29.611345Z", "last_published_at": "2024-04-12T20:42:58.453089Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T20:42:58.359390Z", "date": "2018-05-16", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Tucson", "longitude": -110.92648, "latitude": 32.22174, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nf4xq\">On May 16, 2018, attorneys for Craig Carter — a former assistant coach at the University of Arizona who was convicted of assault in March — subpoenaed Arizona Daily Star reporter Caitlin Schmidt, seeking all records of Schmidt’s communications with both the woman that he <a href=\"http://tucson.com/sports/arizonawildcats/ex-ua-assistant-track-coach-to-go-on-trial-this/article_2440ed79-07b6-5b5a-923e-e590b696138f.html\">assaulted</a> and with the woman’s attorneys.</p><p data-block-key=\"44bvz\">The woman, Baillie Gibson, is currently suing Carter and the University of Arizona in civil court, alleging that Carter conducted a nonconsensual sexual relationship with her for years and then attacked her in his office when she tried to end the relationship.</p><p data-block-key=\"04xf2\">On March 30, Carter was convicted of two counts of aggravated assault, including one with a deadly weapon. On May 14, he was <a href=\"http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/23504091/former-arizona-wildcats-assistant-coach-sentenced-five-years-prison\">sentenced</a> to a five year prison sentence for assault, to be served concurrently with an 18 month prison sentence for a second count of assault and concurrent sentences for stalking and violating a protective order. </p><p data-block-key=\"ptvil\">Caitlin Schmidt, a reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, has extensively covered Gibson’s allegations against Carter, writing more than two dozen articles about the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"dulrr\">Gibson’s civil lawsuit against Carter and the university remains active, and on May 16, attorneys for Carter and his wife <a href=\"http://tucson.com/sports/arizonawildcats/attorneys-for-convicted-ex-ua-coach-craig-carter-subpoena-star/article_65ade461-9b48-5c61-aa90-b6db898e8ba7.html\">filed a subpoena</a> with the court seeking records of any communications that Gibson and her attorneys had with Schmidt. (Carter’s attorneys also filed an identical subpoena to the Arizona Daily Star, Schmidt’s newspaper.)</p><p data-block-key=\"xxi1s\">The <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4498103-Subpoenas-to-Caitlin-Schmidt-and-Arizona-Daily.html\">subpoenas</a> <a href=\"http://tucson.com/news/local/steller-column-taxpayers-keep-paying-for-defense-of-convicted-ex/article_fc947697-5b0f-5d8d-83db-94a80af7930d.html\">demand</a> that Schmidt and the Star hand over:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4498103-Subpoenas-to-Caitlin-Schmidt-and-Arizona-Daily.html\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"5ljd6\">1. All Documents and Communications relating to any conversation, interview, or other interaction between You and Cadigan Law Firm, P.L.L.C., Michael J. Bloom, P.C., The Carrillo Law Firm, P.L.L.C., and/or the law firm of Manly, Stewart &amp; Finaldi, or between You and any attorney(s) or other employees(s) employed by or associated with any of the foregoing, specifically including but not limited to Lynne M. Cadigan, John C. Manly, Jennifer E. Stein, Morgan A. Stewart, Michael J. Bloom and/or Erin Carrillo, at any time on or after April 29, 2015, particularly including but not limited to emails, text messages, phone records, voicemails, call logs, Pictures, and Video.</p><p data-block-key=\"uiqdb\">2. All Documents and Communications relating to any conversation, interview, or other interaction between You and Baillie Jean Gibson at any time on or after April 29, 2015, particularly including but not limited to emails, text messages, phone records, voicemails, call logs, Pictures, and Video.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4498103-Subpoenas-to-Caitlin-Schmidt-and-Arizona-Daily.html\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"d8bly\">Subpoena to Caitlin Schmidt</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=\"vb28s\">Schmidt told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that this was the first time she had ever been subpoenaed as a result of her reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"rf46m\">“Last Wednesday, I was talking to my courts editor, and my news editor came in and handed me a subpoena for all communications with the victim in the case and any of her attorneys dating back to 2015,” she said. “I haven’t even been covering it for that long and it was any and all notes or emails or videos or photos any, any communication, any notes on the case. So it was pretty broad. It didn’t specify exactly what they were looking for, it was just ‘any and all.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"2g2tq\">“I don’t know if it’s an effort to bog us down with paperwork, or in the court, or to prevent me from writing stories, or if they really are seeking my information,” she added. “But under the current law that’s not information we’re going to provide them with.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4g53a\">On June 5, Daniel Barr — an attorney at Perkins Coie who represents Schmidt and the Star — filed a <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4498099-Motion-to-Quash-Subpoenas-to-Caitlin-Schmidt-and.html\">motion to quash the subpoena</a>, arguing that Arizona law protects journalists from having to hand over the kind of information sought by the subpoenas:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4498099-Motion-to-Quash-Subpoenas-to-Caitlin-Schmidt-and.html\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"j1y0o\">For more than a year, Ms. Schmidt, a reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, has been reporting on and covering the relationship between Craig Carter, a former University of Arizona assistant track coach, and a female-student athlete, Baillie Jean Gibson, including allegations that Mr. Carter assaulted Ms. Gibson. Mr. Carter was ultimately criminally convicted of assaulting Ms. Gibson and pled guilty to other felony counts arising out of his conduct in the relationship. Now, in this related civil suit, the Carters, through their attorney, seek to uncover any communications that Ms. Schmidt and any “other person or entity currently or formerly affiliated in any way with the Arizona Daily Star” [see attached subpoena to Arizona Daily Star, Ex. A, ¶ 1] may have had with Ms. Gibson and Ms. Gibson’s lawyers in the course of reporting for the Arizona Daily Star. Specifically, the Subpoenas demand that Ms. Schmidt, the Arizona Daily Star and anyone else “affiliated in any way” with the Star produce all “documents and communications” between: (1) themselves and certain named law firms and attorneys who have purportedly worked for Ms. Gibson; and (2) themselves and Ms. Gibson.</p><p data-block-key=\"656a9\">The Carters, however, are not entitled to these materials. Instead, the Subpoenas must be quashed because the affidavits accompanying them do not satisfy the Media Subpoena Law, A.R.S. § 12-2214, which “protect[s] members of the media from burdensome subpoenas and broad discovery ‘fishing expeditions’ that would,” as here, “interfere with the ongoing business of gathering and reporting news to the public.” <i>Matera v. Super. Ct. In &amp; For Cty. of Maricopa</i>, 170 Ariz. 446, 448, 825 P.2d 971, 973 (App. 1992).</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4498099-Motion-to-Quash-Subpoenas-to-Caitlin-Schmidt-and.html\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"09v19\">Motion of Star Publishing, Inc. and Caitlin Schmidt to Quash Subpoenas Duces Tecum</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=\"ql9hy\">Barr further argues that the records sought by the subpoenas are wholly irrelevant to the case. </p><p data-block-key=\"keevb\">“There is no possible relevance of any statements between Ms. Schmidt or anyone else ‘affiliated in any way’ with the Star and Ms. Gibson’s attorneys, who are not, and cannot be, percipient witnesses to any of the issues in this case,” he writes in the motion to quash. “The Subpoenas amount to nothing more than a speculative ‘fishing expedition.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"eyynv\">In an interesting wrinkle, the state of Arizona is the one paying for Carter’s fishing expedition against Schmidt and the Star. </p><p data-block-key=\"9uq6q\">Carter was still an employee of the University of Arizona at the time the civil case was filed, so he has been indemnified by the Arizona Department of Administration, which continues to cover his legal bills. On May 27, the Star reported the state of Arizona has so far paid law firm Munger Chadwick more than $1 million to defend Carter in the civil suit.</p><p data-block-key=\"ot75m\">Schmidt said that she is confident that she and the Star will defeat the subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"uigv7\">“It sounds like we have a strong case, if it’s not quashed we continue to fight it,” she said. “I have no intention of turning anything over, but if in fact it is deficient and they haven’t provided that justification then I think we’ve got a good shot. The Star is firm that we will protect all of our sources, all of the time. This isn’t something we will bend to, we don’t give up information like this.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2ey6b\">Barr echoed Schmidt’s confidence.</p><p data-block-key=\"exuj6\">“Neither the Star nor Caitlin Schmidt will be delivering documents to anyone,” he said in a statement. “We intend to get the subpoena quashed by the trial court.”</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2018-06-07_at_3.57.33.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "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": "journalist communications or work product", "name_of_business": null, "third_party_business": null, "legal_order_venue": "State", "status_of_prior_restraint": null, "mistakenly_released_materials": false, "links": [], "equipment_seized": [], "equipment_broken": [], "state": { "name": "Arizona", "abbreviation": "AZ" }, "updates": [ "(2018-07-02 17:52:00+00:00) Subpoena quashed" ], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Subpoena/Legal Order" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Caitlin Schmidt (Arizona Daily Star)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [ "quashed" ], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "Republican fundraiser subpoenas AP for documents related to anonymous sources", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/republican-fundraiser-subpoenas-ap-documents-related-anonymous-sources/", "first_published_at": "2018-05-24T00:32:03.400075Z", "last_published_at": "2024-08-29T15:36:25.719961Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-29T15:36:25.557367Z", "date": "2018-05-16", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "New York", "longitude": -74.00597, "latitude": 40.71427, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xsxzv\">On May 16, 2018, attorneys for Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy drew up a subpoena for documents from The Associated Press, which demanded that the news organization hand over leaked copies of Broidy’s emails, as well as documents that could identify the source who leaked Broidy’s emails to the AP. On May 22, the AP confirmed that it had received <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/22/republican-fundraiser-hacked-emails-ap-603404\">the subpoena</a> and planned to fight it.</p><p data-block-key=\"qgqic\">The <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4482561-Elliott-Broidy-subpoena-to-the-AP.html\">subpoena</a> is part of a civil suit that Broidy filed in federal court in California against the government of Qatar. Broidy has <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/world/middleeast/qatar-trump-hack-email.html\">accused</a> Qatar of hacking his emails and then working with a P.R. firm to leak copies of the emails to journalists at the AP and other news organizations.</p><p data-block-key=\"9qtis\">On May 21, the AP published a <a href=\"https://www.apnews.com/a3521859cf8d4c199cb9a8567abd2b71/The-princes,-the-president-and-the-fortune-seekers\">deeply-reported investigation</a> into Broidy’s work with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, two nations that have been locked in an escalating diplomatic feud with Qatar for more than a year. </p><p data-block-key=\"b24lo\">The AP investigation, which was “based on interviews with more than two dozen people and hundreds of pages of leaked emails between” Broidy and a business partner, reported that Broidy had lobbied Trump and other administration to adopt the kind of anti-Qatar foreign policy favored by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and was then rewarded by the UAE government with a lucrative consulting contract.</p><p data-block-key=\"jlctv\">In the same story, the AP reported that beginning in February 2018, a number of news organizations started to receive “anonymously leaked batches of Broidy’s emails and documents that had apparently been hacked.” And a lawyer for Broidy told the AP that its reporting “is based on fraudulent and fabricated documents obtained from entities with a known agenda to harm Mr. Broidy.”</p><p data-block-key=\"o1db0\">In the past, both Qatar and the UAE have accused one another of hacking the other, so it’s not surprising that Broidy believes that Qatar is connected to the hack and leak of his emails.</p><p data-block-key=\"s6vdj\">His goal seems to be to use the subpoena to force the AP to turn over documents that implicate Qatar in the leak of his emails, which he can then use as evidence in his civil suit against the Qatari government.</p><p data-block-key=\"3vrun\">An AP spokeswoman told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that the news outlet plans to fight the subpoena. The AP is expected to invoke <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/privilege-compendium/9th-circuit/\">reporter’s privilege</a>, which protects journalists and news organizations from being forced by the government to reveal information about its confidential sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"mv5xx\">Lee Wolosky — the attorney at Boies, Schiller &amp; Flexner who drew up the subpoena on Broidy’s behalf — did not respond to a request for comment. But according to Politico, Wolosky argued in a letter accompanying the subpoena that reporter’s privilege should not apply to the AP because the leaked emails were obtained illegally and information about the AP&#x27;s sources are “crucial to his case.”</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2018-05-23_at_8.25.09.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"extha\">A portion of a subpoena issued to The Associated Press by Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy on May 16, 2018, demanding leaked copies of Broidy’s emails.</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": "journalist communications or work product", "name_of_business": null, "third_party_business": null, "legal_order_venue": "Federal", "status_of_prior_restraint": null, "mistakenly_released_materials": false, "links": [], "equipment_seized": [], "equipment_broken": [], "state": { "name": "New York", "abbreviation": "NY" }, "updates": [ "(2018-09-27 00:00:00+00:00) Subpoena dropped for documents leaked to Associated Press" ], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [ "The Associated Press" ], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Subpoena/Legal Order" ], "targeted_journalists": [], "subpoena_statuses": [ "pending" ], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "Trump suggests taking away journalists’ press credentials in response to negative coverage", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-suggests-taking-away-journalists-press-credentials-response-negative-coverage/", "first_published_at": "2018-05-11T14:52:54.761194Z", "last_published_at": "2025-02-26T18:17:00.502184Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-26T18:17:00.326740Z", "date": "2018-05-09", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Washington", "longitude": -77.03637, "latitude": 38.89511, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"oex4k\">In a tweet on May 9, 2018, President Trump suggested that news organizations publishing negative news about him should have their press credentials revoked.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Fake News is working overtime. Just reported that, despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy &amp; all things else, 91% of the Network News about me is negative (Fake). Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt? Take away credentials?</p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/994179864436596736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 9, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"a4uh9\">During the presidential campaign, though, the Trump administration routinely denied press credentials to reporters it did not like. But the White House is not supposed to have any role in the process of credentialing media organizations, which has traditionally been the domain of the White House Correspondents&#x27; Association, an independent group of journalists who cover the White House. Since assuming office, Trump has not moved to revoke any journalist’s White House press credentials, though his former press secretary once excluded certain news organizations from an informal briefing.</p><p data-block-key=\"5zy3p\">The <a href=\"http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/09/media/president-trump-press-credentials/index.html\">president’s May 9 tweet</a> references a controversial analysis conducted by the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog, which attempts to gauge the sentiment (positive or negative) of news coverage of Trump on major networks’ evening newscasts. According to the MRC&#x27;s most recent analysis, 90% of the coverage of Trump on ABC, CBS, and NBC evening newscasts between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2018, was negative. That&#x27;s consistent with MRC analyses from 2017, which found that 91% of coverage of Trump on the evening newscasts was negative. </p><p data-block-key=\"btlbu\">Although the methodology of the MRC analysis has been criticized, the Fox News morning show “Fox &amp; Friends” <a href=\"https://twitter.com/foxandfriends/status/994166590139764736\">cited</a> its results authoritatively on the morning of May 9, shortly before the president’s tweet.</p><p data-block-key=\"dij4i\">In his tweet, the president stated that 91% of the news coverage was “negative (Fake).” But the MRC did not try to analyze whether the news coverage was “fake” (i.e. inaccurate), just whether it portrayed Trump in a positive or negative light. The president <a href=\"https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/5/9/17335306/trump-tweet-twitter-latest-fake-news-credentials\">seems to believe</a> that all negative news coverage of him is “fake,” regardless of whether or not the news coverage is accurate.</p><p data-block-key=\"bdg5o\">Designating negative coverage as “fake news” and threatening to revoke network’s credentials in order to discourage such reporting has become a marked tendency for this administration.</p><p data-block-key=\"u6xpr\">Trump frequently criticizes journalists’ reporting on his administration, denouncing it as “fake news” even when it is true. According to the Trump Twitter Archive, he has tweeted the phrase “fake news” at least 40 times this year.</p><p data-block-key=\"frfhi\">In a statement, White House Correspondents&#x27; Association president Margaret Talev <a href=\"https://twitter.com/whca/status/994253565945315328\">denounced</a> Trump’s comments.</p><p data-block-key=\"srlnm\">“Some may excuse the president’s inflammatory rhetoric about the media, but just because the president does not like news coverage does not make it fake,” she said. “A free press must be able to report on the good, the bad, the momentous and the mundane, without fear or favor. And a president preventing a free and independent press from covering the workings of our republic would be an unconscionable assault on the First Amendment.”</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2018-05-11_at_10.53.3.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "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": "District of Columbia", "abbreviation": "DC" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [ "Media" ], "tags": [ "Donald Trump" ], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Chilling Statement" ], "targeted_journalists": [], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "TV reporter Maria Lisignoli assaulted while documenting public fight", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tv-reporter-maria-lisignoli-assaulted-while-documenting-public-fight/", "first_published_at": "2018-06-18T19:10:58.431489Z", "last_published_at": "2023-11-22T17:17:19.492528Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-22T17:17:19.136849Z", "date": "2018-05-06", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Des Moines", "longitude": -93.60911, "latitude": 41.60054, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xbeqb\">WHO-HD Channel 13 reporter Maria Lisignoli was assaulted and suffered a mild concussion while she was documenting a fight in Des Moines, Iowa, on May 6, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"lqwbz\">Lisignoli <a href=\"http://whotv.com/2018/06/12/channel-13-reporter-victim-of-assault-two-suspects-arrested/\">told</a> WHO-HD 13 that she saw a group of people fighting while waiting with friends for a cab in Des Moines’ Court Avenue District. She was not reporting at the time, but said her journalistic instincts kicked in and captured the fight on her cellphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"lo7s5\">In the video Lisignoli took of the incident, one woman attempts to take her phone from her hand when she noticed Lisignoli documenting the fight.</p><p data-block-key=\"rpbdf\">&quot;The fight started kind of breaking up and three of the girls kind of back away and start walking toward me,&quot; Lisignoli said. &quot;At that point I&#x27;m like, okay, people are angry, I should back off, so I turn away and one of them winds up and hits me in the back of the head, and I fall against a car.&quot;</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"b8u2s\">Lisignoli was diagnosed with a mild concussion the day after the attack and missed work. Two people were later arrested in connection with the attack: Riley VerSteegh, who was charged with assault causing injury, and Sydney Stuart, who was charged with assault.</p><p data-block-key=\"g4z9i\">On June 13, shortly after WHO-HD 13 aired a segment about the assault, Lisignoli tweeted about the incident.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This story includes the video I took of my assault. I am okay but things could have been much worse. I will continue to document things I think are of interest but when it comes to public fights I will keep my distance and immediately call officials before recording. <a href=\"https://t.co/fjakguMu8H\">https://t.co/fjakguMu8H</a></p>&mdash; Maria Lisignoli (@MLisignoliTV) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MLisignoliTV/status/1006841988392636416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 13, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2018-06-18_at_2.51.41.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"wusom\">Maria Lisignoli, a reporter at WHO-HD Channel 13 in Des Moines, was assaulted while filming a public fight. She later discussed the assault in an on-camera interview.</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": "private individual", "was_journalist_targeted": "yes", "charged_under_espionage_act": false, "subpoena_type": null, "name_of_business": null, "third_party_business": null, "legal_order_venue": null, "status_of_prior_restraint": null, "mistakenly_released_materials": false, "links": [], "equipment_seized": [], "equipment_broken": [], "state": { "name": "Iowa", "abbreviation": "IA" }, "updates": [ "(2018-12-03 00:00:00+00:00) Woman fined for attack on Des Moines TV reporter; charges expunged for second assailant" ], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Assault" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Maria Lisignoli (WHO-DT)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "Pentagon revokes embed opportunity for Washington Post reporter following critical coverage", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pentagon-revokes-embed-opportunity-washington-post-reporter-following-critical-coverage/", "first_published_at": "2018-10-17T19:48:17.183875Z", "last_published_at": "2024-04-12T20:51:35.834758Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T20:51:35.747552Z", "date": "2018-05-01", "exact_date_unknown": true, "city": "Washington", "longitude": -77.03637, "latitude": 38.89511, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"stpab\">After Washington Post reporter Dan Lamothe wrote a critical piece about Afghan commandos in April 2018, the Pentagon revoked a previously-offered opportunity to embed with U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan.</p><p data-block-key=\"7q2od\">Lamothe wrote <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/afghanistan-is-building-up-its-commando-force-to-fight-the-taliban-but-at-what-cost/2018/04/27/dd1c0c1c-44cd-11e8-b2dc-b0a403e4720a_story.html\">an article</a> on April 28 about how the Afghan military was increasing its number of elite commando troops and decreasing the size of its conventional military troops. Politico <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/16/pentagon-press-reporters-tough-coverage-779276\">reported</a> that officials took issue to the tone and some of the quotations used, his opportunity to embed was revoked.</p><p data-block-key=\"r9pzp\">“During a reporting visit in April to cover U.S. troops in Afghanistan, I was offered a rare opportunity to embed with U.S. Special Forces fighting Islamic State militants in Afghanistan,” Lamothe told Politico. “While preparing for that assignment in May, I was told that the Special Forces embed offer was revoked. I traveled back to Afghanistan a short time later, and instead accepted offers to embed with the Army’s new security force adviser brigade and U.S. military advisers who train the Afghan air force. I stand by my reporting, and thank the units that allowed me to spend time alongside them.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s940s\">Some Pentagon reporters have said that press access is becoming increasingly limited, and that individual reporters and news organizations are targeted for retaliation for stories they write.</p><p data-block-key=\"6okg2\">Lamothe said that he does not know whether there is any connection between the Pentagon’s retaliation against reporters and the withdrawal of his embed opportunity.</p><p data-block-key=\"5buf9\">“Decisions like the revocation of my embed have happened under numerous administrations, and can be driven by a general officer or public affairs officer in theater,” he told Freedom of the Press Foundation. “I am unclear if recently reduced access at the Pentagon in any way contributed to my situation.”</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "After Dan Lamothe wrote a critical article about Afghan commandos, the Pentagon revoked his opportunity to embed with U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan.", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX5F1SX.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hb0q6\">The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., is seen from aboard Air Force One, on March 29, 2018.</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": "District of Columbia", "abbreviation": "DC" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [ "military" ], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [ "Federal government: Agency" ], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Denial of Access" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Dan Lamothe (The Washington Post)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [ "Other" ] }, { "title": "Police officer strikes journalist in Puerto Rico", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-officer-strikes-journalist-puerto-rico/", "first_published_at": "2018-05-21T20:54:35.133441Z", "last_published_at": "2024-04-12T20:54:33.244688Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T20:54:33.151985Z", "date": "2018-05-01", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "San Juan", "longitude": null, "latitude": null, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"je02x\">On May 1, 2018, a police officer struck José Encarnación in the chest, as the journalist livestreamed a protest in San Juan, Puerto Rico.</p><p data-block-key=\"htgni\">Encarnacíon is a reporter at Metro, a Puerto Rican newspaper. Video that he recorded during the assault shows him identifying himself as “prensa, prensa, prensa” (“press”) to a group of State Police officers holding batons, before groaning in pain and falling to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"taq8o\">Another video, recorded by a journalist near Encarnacíon, shows an officer quickly approaching Encarnación from behind and then striking him in the chest.</p><p data-block-key=\"wkdo9\">After Encarnacíon fell, his colleagues helped him back up and he was able to continue his coverage of the protests, according to Metro.</p><p data-block-key=\"txq8w\">The president of the Puerto Rico Journalists Association (ASPPRO) condemned the assault and announced that the organization would <a href=\"https://asppropr.wordpress.com/2018/05/03/gremios-periodisticos-radicaran-querellas-contra-la-policia/\">file a formal complaint</a> against the State Police.</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2018-05-21_at_4.49.49.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"9j1ac\">A screengrab from José Encarnación&#x27;s livestream shows police officers confronting him. Although Encarnacíon identified himself as a journalist, an officer hit him in the chest.</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": "law enforcement", "was_journalist_targeted": "yes", "charged_under_espionage_act": false, "subpoena_type": null, "name_of_business": null, "third_party_business": null, "legal_order_venue": null, "status_of_prior_restraint": null, "mistakenly_released_materials": false, "links": [], "equipment_seized": [], "equipment_broken": [], "state": { "name": "Puerto Rico", "abbreviation": "PR" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [ "protest" ], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Assault" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "José Encarnación (Metro Puerto Rico)" ], "subpoena_statuses": null, "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "AP photojournalist hit with rubber bullets in Puerto Rico", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ap-photojournalist-hit-rubber-bullets-puerto-rico/", "first_published_at": "2018-05-21T20:56:51.148557Z", "last_published_at": "2022-03-10T20:02:19.133175Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T20:02:19.067778Z", "date": "2018-05-01", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "San Juan", "longitude": null, "latitude": null, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"q83g7\">Carlos Rivera Giusti, a photojournalist with The Associated Press, was struck by rubber bullets while covering demonstrations in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on May 1, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"6mr4m\">Dánica Coto, Giusti&#x27;s colleague who also reported on the May 1 demonstrations, Giusti&#x27;s colleague, wrote on Twitter that Giusti was hit by rubber bullets fired by police:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A shoutout to our photographer, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CarlosGiusti1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CarlosGiusti1</a> who had a mask to dodge tear gas fired today by Puerto Rico police but still got hit by rubber bullets.<a href=\"https://t.co/BslhWAIQuu\">https://t.co/BslhWAIQuu</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/DThXlv67Ew\">pic.twitter.com/DThXlv67Ew</a></p>&mdash; Dánica Coto (@danicacoto) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/danicacoto/status/991443524452339712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 1, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": null, "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "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": "law enforcement", "was_journalist_targeted": "no", "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": "Puerto Rico", "abbreviation": "PR" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [ "protest", "shot / shot at" ], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Assault" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Carlos Rivera Giusti (The Associated Press)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": null }, { "title": "DNC sues WikiLeaks for wiretapping and ‘economic espionage’", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dnc-sues-wikileaks-wiretapping-and-economic-espionage/", "first_published_at": "2018-05-01T23:11:12.145442Z", "last_published_at": "2024-04-12T20:58:31.790911Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T20:58:31.699960Z", "date": "2018-04-20", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "New York", "longitude": -74.00597, "latitude": 40.71427, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"h014s\">The Democratic National Committee named WikiLeaks as a co-defendant in a multi-million dollar conspiracy lawsuit that it filed against the Russian government and the Trump campaign on April 20, 2018. The <a href=\"http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4443264-DNC-Lawsuit.html\">complaint</a> accuses WikiLeaks of committing “economic espionage” by publishing internal DNC documents and emails that were allegedly stolen from DNC servers by Russian hackers.</p><p data-block-key=\"sio1j\">No matter what one thinks of WikiLeaks, the DNC’s theory against the publishing organization could have <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2018/04/20/the-dncs-lawsuit-against-wikileaks-poses-a-serious-threat-to-press-freedom/\">grave implications for press freedom</a> in the United States.</p><p data-block-key=\"u1yxr\">The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accuses the Russian government, the Donald Trump campaign, Trump family members, and WikiLeaks of <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democratic-party-files-lawsuit-alleging-russia-the-trump-campaign-and-wikileaks-conspired-to-disrupt-the-2016-campaign/2018/04/20/befe8364-4418-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html\">conspiring</a> to hack into DNC servers, steal documents damaging to the Clinton campaign, and then publish the stolen documents. The DNC is not only seeking damages, but also admissions of guilt.</p><p data-block-key=\"v4i9a\">“The conspiracy constituted an act of previously unimaginable treachery: the campaign of the presidential nominee of a major party in league with a hostile foreign power to bolster its own chance to win the Presidency,” the lawsuit states.</p><p data-block-key=\"7j2hw\">In the lawsuit, the DNC specifically accuses WikiLeaks of “economic espionage” and “theft of trade secrets” related to its publication of internal DNC documents. The lawsuit also accuses WikiLeaks of violating federal wiretapping laws by publishing documents that it knew had been obtained through hacking:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4443264-DNC-Lawsuit.html\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"q8dga\">170. WikiLeaks and Assange released and transmitted DNC trade secrets, including confidential, proprietary documents related to campaigns, fundraising and campaign strategy, on July 22 and November 6, 2016. Each release constituted a separate count of economic espionage.</p><p data-block-key=\"qxxuc\">171. Beginning on or before July 22, 2016, and continuing daily thereafter through November 2016, WikiLeaks and Assange, received, bought, or possessed Plaintiff’s trade secrets, knowing them to have been stolen or appropriated, obtained, or converted without authorization, and intending or knowing that doing so would benefit the Russian government, Russian instrumentalities, or Russian agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"tq2ar\">...</p><p data-block-key=\"dh03z\">173. WikiLeaks and Assange also committed the acts described above with the invent to convert Plaintiff’s trade secrets, which are related to a product or service used in or intended for use in interstate or foreign commerce, the economic benefit of others besides Plaintiff. Each unauthorized release constituted a separate act of theft of trade secrets.</p><p data-block-key=\"2v0q4\">…</p><p data-block-key=\"8p4s5\">183. In violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2511(1)(c), GRU Operative #1, WikiLeaks, and Assange willfully and intentionally disclosed the contents of Plaintiff’s wire, oral, or electronic communications, knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained through the interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2511.</p><p data-block-key=\"ir0v5\">184. In violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2511(1)(d), GRU Operative #1, WikiLeaks, Assange, the Trump Associates, and the Trump Campaign willfully and intentionally used the contents of Plaintiff’s wire, oral, electronic communications, knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained through the interception of a wire, oral, or electronic communications in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2511.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4443264-DNC-Lawsuit.html\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"wwayl\">DNC lawsuit against Russia, Trump Campaign, and WikiLeaks</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=\"qu0i5\">These legal theories, if adopted by the courts, would have broad and dangerous implications for all types of reporters who cover election campaigns.</p><p data-block-key=\"4uxi1\">After WikiLeaks published documents about the DNC, countless media outlets — including mainstream news publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post — reported on the internal DNC communications and even republished some of the documents. Under the DNC’s theory of the case, the Times and Post could theoretically also be liable for wiretapping, for &quot;knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained through the interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications” with the DNC.</p><p data-block-key=\"pmbhq\">(In the 2001 case <a href=\"https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/532/514.html\">Bartnicki v. Vopper</a>, the Supreme Court ruled that news organizations have a First Amendment right to publish information in the public interest even if they knew the source of the information violated the law to obtain it.)</p><p data-block-key=\"g8mne\">Separate from the case of WikiLeaks, newspapers often report on and publish internal documents and emails from all sorts of electoral campaigns. For example, the Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/04/internal-memo-reveals-trump-campaigns-mounting-fury-with-its-critics/?utm_term=.94bd7ac60d5d\">published</a> an internal campaign document from the Trump administration in April 2016. Some of these stories may come from hacked materials, but most come from sources inside a campaign who hand documents over to news organizations without official authorization.</p><p data-block-key=\"ly0s4\">Under the theory of the DNC’s lawsuit, news organizations that publish internal campaign documents could potentially be sued — or even prosecuted by the government — for economic espionage or theft of trade secrets, raising serious press freedom concerns.</p><p data-block-key=\"sg0dz\">It&#x27;s not just campaign reporters who are at risk. If the court found WikiLeaks liable for “theft of trade secrets” just for publishing internal information about the DNC, then corporations of all stripes could arguably use the same arguments to silence journalists like John Carreyrou, the Wall Street Journal reporter who exposed serious misconduct and fraud at the blood-testing company Theranos.</p><p data-block-key=\"b9lp0\">In a comment on Twitter responding to the lawsuit, WikiLeaks said that its publication of the DNC documents was protected by the First Amendment:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Comment on DNC &quot;lawsuit&quot;: DNC already has a moribund publicity lawsuit which the press has became bored of--hence the need to refile it as a &quot;new&quot; suit before mid-terms. As an accurate publisher of newsworthy information <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wikileaks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WikiLeaks</a> is constitutionally protected from such suits.</p>&mdash; WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/987397026114662400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 20, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2018-05-01_at_6.59.22.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "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": "New York", "abbreviation": "NY" }, "updates": [ "(2019-07-30 12:01:00+00:00) Judge dismisses DNC’s lawsuit against WikiLeaks, Trump, Russia, others" ], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [ "WikiLeaks" ], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Other Incident" ], "targeted_journalists": [], "subpoena_statuses": null, "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "Police union tries to prevent BuzzFeed from releasing NYPD disciplinary records", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-union-tries-prevent-buzzfeed-releasing-nypd-disciplinary-records/", "first_published_at": "2018-04-16T20:49:40.435732Z", "last_published_at": "2024-04-12T21:00:52.401155Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T21:00:52.316433Z", "date": "2018-04-11", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "New York", "longitude": -74.00597, "latitude": 40.71427, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lypsu\">New York’s largest police union demanded the New York Police Department take legal action to stop BuzzFeed from publishing a database of police disciplinary records on April 11, 2018. </p><p data-block-key=\"opyb7\">“We demand that the Department and City immediately take all possible steps to prevent BuzzFeed’s disclosure of Confidential Files including, but not limited to, seeking an injunction in court,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) president Patrick Lynch wrote in <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4438475-PBA-Letter-to-Commissioner-April-11.html\">the April 11 letter</a>, which was addressed to NYPD commissioner James O’Neill.</p><p data-block-key=\"o5j12\">“As he has in the past, Mr. Lynch is accusing those who shine a light on bad behavior in the NYPD of stoking violence,” BuzzFeed spokesman Matt Mittenthal <a href=\"https://www.buzzfeed.com/kendalltaggart/police-union-tried-to-block-publication-of-nypd-database\">said</a> in a statement. “His words are irresponsible, out of step with other police departments, and reminiscent of a time when police acted without accountability to the public. We are perplexed by why Mr. Lynch is so concerned about the privacy of powerful, armed public servants who have been found to lie, harass, and threaten people in their custody — and by what else the PBA is seeking to conceal with this preposterous legal threat.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v2x41\">Until recently, the NYPD released information about officers’ disciplinary records to the public. But in August 2016, the department <a href=\"http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/exclusive-nypd-stops-releasing-cops-disciplinary-records-article-1.2764145\">stopped doing so</a>. At the time, an NYPD spokesman told the New York Daily News that the department’s Legal Bureau had determined that a provision in New York’s 1976 civil rights law allowed the NYPD to shield employees’ disciplinary records from public scrutiny.</p><p data-block-key=\"ka8bv\">Despite Lynch’s letter, the NYPD did not seek an injunction against BuzzFeed. On April 16, BuzzFeed <a href=\"https://www.buzzfeed.com/kendalltaggart/nypd-police-misconduct-database\">published</a> its database of secret NYPD disciplinary records, which includes officers’ names and allegations of misconduct.</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2018-04-16_at_1.37.52.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"yg1qk\">Two of the thousands of NYPD disciplinary records published by BuzzFeed on April 16, 2018</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": "New York", "abbreviation": "NY" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [ "BuzzFeed News" ], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Other Incident" ], "targeted_journalists": [], "subpoena_statuses": null, "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "WABC reporter Tim Fleischer punched by stranger in NYC", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wabc-reporter-tim-fleischer-punched-stranger-new-york-city/", "first_published_at": "2018-04-27T21:10:10.225737Z", "last_published_at": "2023-12-08T19:46:54.015732Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-08T19:46:53.745963Z", "date": "2018-04-10", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "New York", "longitude": -74.00597, "latitude": 40.71427, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9o8gc\">Tim Fleischer, a reporter for WABC&#x27;s Eyewitness News, was punched in the face by a stranger while he was conducting an interview in Queens, New York, on April 10, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"3buea\"><a href=\"https://www.nydailynews.com/2018/04/10/eyewitness-news-reporter-gets-punched-in-the-face-by-stranger-in-queens/\">According to the New York Daily News</a>, Fleischer was filming a segment in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, when a man ran up to him and socked him in the face around noon.</p><p data-block-key=\"vbrfj\">The man was arrested soon after the attack and charged with assault and harassment. Fleischer was taken to a local hospital and received medical treatment for a minor injury.</p><p data-block-key=\"40ho3\">Fleischer later tweeted about the attack.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Overwhelmed! <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TimFleischer7?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TimFleischer7</a> can’t believe the outpouring of concerns, very kind comments and well wishes from each of you Many many thanks Feeling better today Can’t wait to get back to the streets of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/nyc?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#nyc</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/abc7ny?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#abc7ny</a></p>&mdash; Tim Fleischer (@TimFleischer7) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TimFleischer7/status/984092440817733632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 11, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": null, "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "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": "private individual", "was_journalist_targeted": "no", "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": "New York", "abbreviation": "NY" }, "updates": [ "(2023-11-08 00:00:00+00:00) Man who punched TV reporter found unfit for trial" ], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Assault" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Tim Fleischer (WABC-TV)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "Former Michigan county judge sues newspaper, attempts to compel editor to reveal sources", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-michigan-county-judge-sues-newspaper-attempts-compel-editor-reveal-sources/", "first_published_at": "2019-02-11T19:32:38.663367Z", "last_published_at": "2024-02-29T18:40:01.667447Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T18:40:01.580918Z", "date": "2018-04-09", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Saugatuk", "longitude": null, "latitude": null, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"16gjh\">A former county judge in Michigan and his wife sued their local newspaper, The Local Observer, for defamation on April 9, 2018, and are attempting to compel its editor to reveal the identities of confidential sources.<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"n3ftn\">Former Allegan County Judge Stephen Sheridan and his wife, Tanya Sheridan, filed a defamation lawsuit against the paper and its editor, Michael Gallagher, alleging that the paper meant to “ridicule, humiliate, and slander” the couple through its reporting on their son, Aaron Sheridan, <a href=\"https://www.hollandsentinel.com/news/20190106/saugatuck-family-attempting-to-force-journalist-to-reveal-sources\">according to The Holland Sentinel</a>, a nearby daily paper that covered the defamation suit.</p><p data-block-key=\"13es7\">In January of last year, The Local Observer <a href=\"http://localobserver.com/articles/mother-of-reprimanded-saugatuck-township-manager-criticized-for-her-verbally-attacking-confronting-son-s-critics-in-public-and-even-in-their-own-homes\">published an article</a> that Tanya had harassed her son’s critics, citing multiple anonymous sources. Aaron had served as the manager of a civil township in Allegan County before he was <a href=\"https://www.hollandsentinel.com/news/20181107/saugatuck-township-board-members-recalled-following-tuesdays-election\">recalled in November 2018</a>, amidst complaints that he had acted inappropriately in his position.</p><p data-block-key=\"8btf8\"><a href=\"https://www.hollandsentinel.com/news/20190106/saugatuck-family-attempting-to-force-journalist-to-reveal-sources\">The Sentinel reported</a> that Stephen and Tanya deny this ever occured. It also said it received an email in which Stephen claims that the court motion is “intended to compel Gallagher to reveal who the anonymous sources are in the article,” and that Gallagher invoked reporter’s privilege to maintain the confidentiality of his sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"fnze5\">A hearing on the motion to compel Gallagher to reveal his sources has been moved from late January to spring 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"k6plo\">The Local Observer did not respond to requests for comment.</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/observer_lawsuit_mtg.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qoi6x\">Aaron Sheridan, far left, sits in an August 2017 Saugatuck Township special board meeting. Coverage of Sheridan is at the center of a suit from his parents against The Local Observer.<br/></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": "Michigan", "abbreviation": "MI" }, "updates": [ "(2019-06-21 15:07:00+00:00) Judge dismisses defamation suit against The Local Observer and its editor" ], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [ "The Local Observer" ], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Other Incident" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Michael Gallagher (The Local Observer)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "Rhode Island judge orders journalists not to contact jurors after trial", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rhode-island-judge-orders-journalists-not-contact-jurors-after-trial/", "first_published_at": "2018-05-03T16:31:58.331601Z", "last_published_at": "2023-12-21T20:15:21.187793Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T20:15:21.093716Z", "date": "2018-04-06", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Providence", "longitude": -71.41283, "latitude": 41.82399, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7zrze\">On April 6, 2018, Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Netti C. Vogel ordered  members of the press and public not to contact jurors in the case <i>State of Rhode Island v. Jorge DePina</i> after the trial was over. </p><p data-block-key=\"y203v\">“No one, no spectator, no one in the spectator section of the courtroom, is permitted to contact my jurors,” Judge Vogel said, according to a court transcript. “If the jurors choose to contact anyone, that’s up to them. This is for their protection. ... If you see them at Walmart, do not acknowledge that you know them. In other words, I don’t allow people to contact jurors. They must be left alone to go on with their lives.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qijkk\">Although no official injunction was entered on the docket, Providence Journal courts reporter Katie Mulvaney treated Judge Vogel’s statement as a court order and refrained from contacting jurors in the case. </p><p data-block-key=\"st0o5\">After the trial was over, Mulvaney — who had extensively covered the trial for the Journal — requested a list of the jurors from the court. Although the identities of jurors are supposed to be public information, Judge Vogel denied her request.</p><p data-block-key=\"fpmzg\">On April 25, the Journal <a href=\"http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180430/journal-files-challenge-of-judges-order-not-to-contact-jurors\">filed</a> an <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4451285-Providence-Journal-s-emergency-motion-for-public.html\">emergency motion</a> with the Superior Court, seeking to overturn both Judge Vogel’s order not to contact jurors and her denial of Mulvaney’s request for the list of jurors.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ch3w\">A <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4451286-Providence-Journal-s-memorandum-of-law.html\">memorandum of law</a> filed in support of the Journal’s emergency motion argues that Judge Vogel’s order is unconstitutional and violates legal precedent:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4451286-Providence-Journal-s-memorandum-of-law.html\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"0nrre\">The news media’s constitutional and common law rights of access to judicial proceedings and records, and to report to the fullest extent possible on what transpires in the courtroom, is longstanding and crucial in criminal cases. See <i>Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia</i>, 448 U.S. 555, 575 (1980). The public has an interest in all aspects of criminal proceedings − including the selection and composition of the jury that decided the fate of the defendant in this high-profile prosecution. See <i>Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court</i>, 464 U.S. 501, 507-13 (1984) (“<i>Press-Enterprise I</i>”) (<i>voir dire</i> presumptively open to public); <i>United States v. Wecht</i>, 537 F.3d 222, 229-30 (3d Cir. 2008) (public has a constitutional right of contemporaneous access to names of empaneled jurors).</p><p data-block-key=\"ot1zx\">According to established constitutional and common law principles, criminal trials are not to be decided by anonymous persons, absent extraordinary circumstances. See <i>In re South Carolina Press Ass’n</i>, 946 F.2d 1037, 1041 (4th Cir. 1991) (First Amendment compels public disclosure of jury questionnaires); <i>People v. Flores</i>, 153 A.D.3d 182, 189 (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dep’t 2017) (“Read together [N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law §§ 270.15(1)(a) and 270.15(1-a)] prohibit a trial court from withholding the names of prospective jurors.”). To the contrary, juror names and addresses are presumptively public and subject to a right of access under the First Amendment and common law.</p><p data-block-key=\"km64t\">...</p><p data-block-key=\"ra5tn\">Barring some compelling justification – articulated on the record – the press must be given the opportunity to exercise its First Amendment right to speak with the DePina jurors. Concomitantly, the DePina jurors must be permitted to exercise <i>their</i> First Amendment right to speak with the press if <i>they</i> so choose.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4451286-Providence-Journal-s-memorandum-of-law.html\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"5drqw\">Journal&#x27;s memorandum of law supporting emergency motion</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=\"y041p\">A number of First Amendment organizations — including the New England First Amendment Coalition (a partner organization of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker), the New England Newspaper and Press Association, and the Rhode Island ACLU — have <a href=\"http://nefac.org/news/rhode-island-judges-order-to-ban-post-trial-juror-contact-overbroad-poses-grave-concerns/\">indicated</a> to the court that <a href=\"http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180502/aclu-press-group-criticize-judges-blocking-of-jurors\">they may intervene</a> in the case in support of the Journal&#x27;s emergency motion.</p><p data-block-key=\"zwirv\">A hearing on the Journal’s motion is scheduled for May 14.</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Judge_Netti_Vogel.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"oyhxp\">Superior Court Judge Netti C. Vogel speaks from the bench following the conclusion of a high-profile murder trial in Providence, Rhode Island, on April 6, 2018. Vogel ordered members of the media and public not to contact the jurors in the case.</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": "Rhode Island", "abbreviation": "RI" }, "updates": [ "(2018-05-07 18:00:00+00:00) Judge issues new order" ], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [ "Judiciary: State Court" ], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Denial of Access" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Katie Mulvaney (The Providence Journal)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [ "Other" ] }, { "title": "Journalist Manuel Duran, arrested while covering immigration protest, could be deported by ICE", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-manuel-duran-arrested-while-covering-immigration-protest-could-be-deported-ice/", "first_published_at": "2018-04-05T21:30:33.328369Z", "last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:41:41.838078Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:41:41.650833Z", "date": "2018-04-03", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Memphis", "longitude": -90.04898, "latitude": 35.14953, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"isfk5\">On April 3, 2018, journalist Manuel Duran was arrested while reporting on a protest in Memphis, Tennessee. Though all charges against him were later dropped, he was <a href=\"https://wreg.com/news/memphis-journalist-could-face-deportation-after-arrest-during-protest/\">placed into the custody</a> of <a href=\"https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2018/04/05/spanish-language-reporter-memphis-protest-charges-dropped/488304002/\">Immigration &amp; Customs Enforcement</a> and <a href=\"https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2018/04/04/jailed-memphis-reporter-could-face-deportation-fight-15-activist-also-held/486467002/\">could be deported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ji56s\">Duran, who is from El Salvador, runs Memphis Noticias, a local Spanish-language news website. He previously worked as a reporter for WGSF, a Spanish-language radio station in Memphis.</p><p data-block-key=\"nenyo\">On April 3, Duran covered a demonstration by immigration activists outside the Shelby Protest Criminal Justice Complex in Memphis. As he livestreamed the demonstration on Facebook Live, police arrested him and a number of the demonstrators. Duran and the demonstrators were charged with disorderly conduct and “obstruction of a highway or passageway.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ra2g7\">Police later <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/mpd1827/posts/1677271615686524\">said</a> that they arrested the group because they blocked traffic while slowly crossing the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"76zk5\">The Commercial Appeal, a daily newspaper in Memphis, reported that prosecutors agreed to drop all charges against Duran during a court hearing on April 5.</p><p data-block-key=\"gjwe4\">“This office has dismissed misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and obstruction of a highway or passageway filed Tuesday against Manuel Duran,” Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weinrich said in a statement to the Commercial Appeal. “There was not sufficient evidence to go forward with prosecution. This ends any legal issues Mr. Duran has with this office.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d10sx\">Latino Memphis, a group that advocated for Duran’s release, said in a tweet that ICE detained Duran immediately after the court hearing.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Criminal charges for Manuel Duran have been dropped thanks to the work of Ann Schiller and our attorney Christy Swatzell. Unfortunately, ICE was waiting for him in the court room. He is currently with ICE. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/StopICE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#StopICE</a></p>&mdash; Latino Memphis (@LatinoMemphis) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LatinoMemphis/status/981975298165133320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 5, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"crfa3\">Local TV station WREG reported that Duran was taken into federal custody on April 5.</p><p data-block-key=\"926x1\">An ICE spokesman did not respond to a request for comment from the Freedom of the Press Foundation.</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "Duran is currently being held in an immigration detention facility in Louisiana.", "teaser_image": null, "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "arresting_authority": "Memphis Police Department", "arrest_status": "arrested and released", "release_date": "2019-07-11", "detention_date": "2018-04-03", "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": "Tennessee", "abbreviation": "TN" }, "updates": [ "(2018-05-31 10:36:00+00:00) Duran gets stay of deportation", "(2018-07-09 10:52:00+00:00) Duran speaks to Daily Beast", "(2018-04-16 12:00:00+00:00) SPLC petition and Duran statement", "(2019-07-11 14:00:00+00:00) Detained journalist Manuel Duran released on bond", "(2022-03-24 16:29:00+00:00) Detained journalist Manuel Duran granted asylum in U.S.", "(2018-12-02 22:43:00+00:00) Eleventh Circuit grants stay after BIA denies appeal", "(2019-12-06 17:10:00+00:00) Memphis-area governments settle with journalist, lawyers for 2018 arrest" ], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [ "ICE", "immigration", "protest" ], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Arrest/Criminal Charge" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Manuel Duran (Memphis Noticias)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "Journalist Ken Lovett arrested for talking on cellphone in New York State Senate lobby", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-ken-lovett-arrested-talking-cell-phone-new-york-state-senate-lobby/", "first_published_at": "2018-03-28T19:31:03.177111Z", "last_published_at": "2024-01-02T15:43:35.067944Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-02T15:43:34.975282Z", "date": "2018-03-28", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Albany", "longitude": -73.75623, "latitude": 42.65258, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mi8oh\">Ken Lovett, the Albany bureau chief for the New York Daily News, was arrested by State Police troopers in the lobby of the New York State Senate.</p><p data-block-key=\"kkvzd\">On March 28, 2018, Lovett was <a href=\"https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Daily-News-reporter-detained-by-State-Police-at-12788018.php\">handcuffed</a> by State Police troopers in the lobby of the Capitol building and taken to a nearby State Police substation for processing.</p><p data-block-key=\"phchz\">After <a href=\"http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/daily-news-ken-lovett-freed-lockup-gov-cuomo-article-1.3901667\">being released</a>, Lovett told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he was talking on his cellphone when he was approached by a Senate sergeant-at-arms, who ordered him to turn off his phone. Lovett said that he refused, telling the sergeant that the Senate wasn&#x27;t in session and he (and many others) routinely used their cellphones in the lobby.</p><p data-block-key=\"hqqoj\">Lovett said that the sergeant-at-arms escalated the situation, ordering him to leave the premises and then calling in State Police troopers, who also ordered him to leave the area. He said that he &quot;stood his ground&quot; and was then arrested and told that he could be charged with trespassing.</p><p data-block-key=\"lcyr2\">The Senate sergeant-at-arms refused to comment on the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"a2wpq\">Nick Reisman, a reporter for Capital Tonight, spoke to eyewitnesses who said that Lovett was talking on his phone when he was approached by the Senate sergeant-at-arms and then arrested by State Police troopers.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Daily News’s Ken Lovett has been detained by State Police. One witness says it was for talking on a cellphone in the state Senate lobby. Bizarre and egregious. Never seen something like this. <a href=\"https://t.co/C284pPLZV1\">pic.twitter.com/C284pPLZV1</a></p>&mdash; Nick Reisman (@NickReisman) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NickReisman/status/979036610644926464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2hqzs\">A Senate spokesman confirmed that Lovett had been arrested for talking on a cellphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"fg75b\">“Earlier today a reporter was asked to comply with a rule prohibiting use of a cellphone in the Senate lobby,” the spokesman said in a statement. “He refused and the state police were notified. The incident escalated quickly and unfortunately he was detained by the State Police. We have formally requested that he be released and very much regret the incident.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ogxlz\">A State Police spokesman said in a statement to <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/28/cuomo-reporter-detained-new-york-capitol-489886\">Politico</a> that the officers who arrested Lovett were responding to a trespassing complaint:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" >\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"hfmo1\">At approximately 1 p.m., State Police responded to the Senate lobby for a trespassing complaint. Upon arrival, Troopers learned that Ken Lovett had refused requests from the Senate Sergeant at Arms/Session to leave the Senate lobby. Lovett had been asked to leave by Senate security staff because he was using his cellphone in the lobby in violation of Senate rules.  After Lovett also refused Troopers’ requests to leave the area, the Sergeant at Arms/Session indicated that he wanted to file a trespassing complaint. Lovett was taken into custody and transported to SP Capital. A short time later, the Sergeant at Arms notified State Police that the complaint was being withdrawn. Lovett was released and no charges were filed.</p></div>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"b5rrz\">Lovett said that after he was arrested and taken to the State Police substation, representatives of the Senate visited him to apologize for what happened and say that they would not press charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"7du12\">Later, New York governor Andrew Cuomo visited him.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Cuomo has arrived to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/freekenlovett?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#freekenlovett</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/rUNjmbwMdw\">pic.twitter.com/rUNjmbwMdw</a></p>&mdash; Dan Clark (@DanClarkReports) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DanClarkReports/status/979046547290841088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hipil\">A video recorded by Buffalo News reporter Dan Clark shows Cuomo entering the State Police substation and joking that he was “the court-appointed attorney for Ken Lovett.” Soon after Cuomo arrived, Lovett was released from custody.</p><p data-block-key=\"7zn6w\">In an impromptu press conference, the governor said that he does not expect any criminal charges will be filed against Lovett.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media left\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/pfip0_IMhRs?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=\"9hb5n\">New York governor Andrew Cuomo hosts an impromptu press conference after Daily News reporter Ken Lovett is released from custody.</p>\n \n \n <p>Jimmy Vielkind/Politico New York</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qx3zv\">“He’s not going to flee the jurisdiction,” Cuomo said, according to video of the press conference recorded by Politico’s Jimmy Vielkind. “We don’t believe any charges are going to be filed. Freedom of the press is alive and well in the city of Albany.”</p><p data-block-key=\"83ohg\">“Apparently, there was a disagreement between Ken Lovett and the sergeant-at-arms,” he added. “The Senate doesn’t want to press any charges.&quot;</p><p data-block-key=\"v1u0x\">Lovett later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/klnynews/status/979048103658606592\">tweeted</a> that the State Police troopers who arrested him were &quot;very professional.&quot;</p><p data-block-key=\"fj0vv\">Sean Ewart, a staffer for a New York state legislator, told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he was walking by the Senate lobby when he saw State Police troopers handcuffing Lovett. Ewart said that he has seen many arrests in the Capitol building — it&#x27;s a common location for protest sit-ins — but this was the first time he had ever seen a journalist arrested there.</p><p data-block-key=\"87p4a\">Lovett, who has been in Albany for 24 years, also said that he had never heard of a journalist being arrested at the Capitol building before.</p><p data-block-key=\"pyr5o\">A few hours after he was released, Lovett wrote a <a href=\"http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/lovett-talking-phone-arrested-albany-article-1.3902185\">first-person account</a> of the arrest for the Daily News.</p><p data-block-key=\"8bcgw\">&quot;I can’t say I was surprised someone was led away in handcuffs from the state Capitol on Wednesday afternoon,&quot; he wrote. &quot;I just never thought it would be me — especially for the capital crime of talking on a cellphone.&quot;</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2018-03-28_at_3.57.35.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"008rv\">New York State Police troopers arrest Daily News journalist Ken Lovett in the lobby of the New York State Senate, on March 28, 2018.</p>", "arresting_authority": "New York State Police", "arrest_status": "arrested and released", "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": "New York", "abbreviation": "NY" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Arrest/Criminal Charge" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Ken Lovett ([New York] Daily News)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "Former FBI agent Terry Albury accused of leaking documents to The Intercept", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-fbi-agent-terry-albury-accused-leaking-documents-intercept/", "first_published_at": "2018-04-06T21:07:49.386601Z", "last_published_at": "2024-04-15T17:35:43.988600Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-15T17:35:43.888914Z", "date": "2018-03-27", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Minneapolis", "longitude": -93.26384, "latitude": 44.97997, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vvvm9\">On March 27, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a “felony information” document formally accusing former FBI agent Terry Albury of leaking classified documents to a news organization.</p><p data-block-key=\"wc1w4\">Minnesota Public Radio <a href=\"https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/03/29/document-search-warrant-application-for-minneapolis-fbi-agent-records\">identified</a> the news organization in question, which was not named in the court filing, as <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2018/03/28/minnesota-fbi-agent-whistleblower-leak/\">The Intercept</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"70n5n\">Albury is being <a href=\"https://freedom.press/news/accused-fbi-whistleblower-indicted-trumps-doj-allegedly-leaked-secret-rules-spying-reporters/\">charged</a> <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4426747-Felony-Information-in-US-v-Terry-Albury.html\">with two counts</a> under section 793(e) of the Espionage Act, a law originally enacted in 1917 to combat foreign spying attempts that in recent years has been used to prosecute government employees who share classified information with journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"6n71o\">In a <a href=\"http://www.startribune.com/justice-dept-charges-minnesota-fbi-agent-for-leaking-secret-document-to-news-outlet/478203203/\">statement to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune</a>, Albury’s attorneys said that their client does not dispute the government’s accusations.</p><p data-block-key=\"igwbk\">“Terry Albury served the U.S. with distinction both here at home and abroad in Iraq. He accepts full responsibility for the conduct set forth in the Information. We would like to add that as the only African-American FBI field agent in Minnesota, Mr. Albury’s actions were driven by a conscientious commitment to long-term national security and addressing the well-documented systemic biases within the FBI.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nxku4\">Albury is the <a href=\"https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/03/28/minneapolis-fbi-agent-charged-with-leaking-classified-information\">second person to be charged</a> under the Espionage Act since President Trump took office. Last year, the Department of Justice charged NSA contractor Reality Winner with leaking a classified document to The Intercept. Winner, who is fighting the government’s charges, has repeatedly been denied bail and remains in jail pending the outcome of the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"eatou\">Attorney General Jeff Sessions <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/us/politics/jeff-sessions-trump-leaks-attorney-general.html\">has said</a> that the Department of Justice plans to aggressively crack down on leaks of classified information to journalists.</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/albury.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "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": true, "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": "Minnesota", "abbreviation": "MN" }, "updates": [ "(2018-04-17 16:36:00+00:00) Albury pleads guilty", "(2018-10-18 14:35:00+00:00) Albury sentenced to 4 years in prison", "(2020-11-18 12:19:00+00:00) Albury released from prison after two years" ], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [ "The Intercept" ], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [ "Department of Justice", "Espionage Act" ], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Leak Case" ], "targeted_journalists": [], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "Illinois Township Sought Takedown of Watchdog Group’s YouTube Video", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/illinois-township-sought-takedown-watchdog-groups-youtube-video/", "first_published_at": "2019-02-26T20:33:53.814146Z", "last_published_at": "2025-04-04T00:44:15.042091Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T00:44:14.963068Z", "date": "2018-03-16", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Algonquin Township", "longitude": null, "latitude": null, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zh0d4\">An attorney for Algonquin Township, Illinois, sent a letter to YouTube in March 2018 demanding that a video posted by Edgar County Watchdogs, a government watchdog group, be removed from the video-sharing site.</p><p data-block-key=\"w8dfl\">The fifteen-minute <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qoaa5C1hPKk&amp;feature=youtu.be\">video</a>, posted to YouTube on Jan. 15, 2018, shows Karen Lukasik, the Algonquin Township clerk and custodian of public records, inside the Algonquin Township Supervisor’s Office, where she rummages through files and documents, taking photos of some of them with her phone. Another woman in the video, Jennifer Curtiss, a trustee with the village of Fox River Grove, asks the clerk, “Karen, do you have the authority to be going through this stuff?” prompting Lukasik to respond, “I can do whatever I want.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5deyp\">The video was filmed on a Nest camera hidden in a bookshelf in the Township Supervisor’s Office and shared via a flash drive mailed anonymously to the Edgar County Watchdogs, a blog that posts responses to Freedom of Information Act requests filed with various government bodies around the state of Illinois.</p><p data-block-key=\"ve5yt\">The attorney for Algonquin Township, James Kelly, claimed the video violated “court orders” and “certain privacy rights” in his letter to YouTube dated March 16, 2018. “The video was unlawfully removed from the Township and turned over to a third party. This video may violate the individuals [sic] privacy rights,” Kelly wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"h4d5i\">Kelly provided YouTube with two protective orders a judge signed in Gasser v. Lukasik, a separate lawsuit involving the township clerk, in June and November of 2017. The court orders appointed a receiver to recover video camera footage and copy machine hard drives from the Algonquin Township building, and barred distribution of that material beyond the attorneys and parties to the lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"w7i1h\">“This is clearly attempted censorship,” John Kraft, one of the co-founders of Edgar County Watchdogs, wrote in a <a href=\"https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2019/01/algonquin-township-attempts-censoring-watchdogs/\">blog post</a>. “We were not party to the lawsuit that dealt with sealing these documents,” Kraft told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Kraft also maintained that the order did not prevent the video footage from being disclosed under Illinois public records laws.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ku7s\">The video is still on YouTube as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"nut15\">&quot;When the media lawfully obtains information that is truthful and newsworthy, it has the right to publish that information absent extraordinary circumstances,” Sarah Matthews, a staff attorney with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. (Full disclosure: Matthews is on the steering committee for the Tracker.)</p><p data-block-key=\"sslj8\">Kraft said he found out about the letter sent to YouTube demanding the removal of the video via a tip and then by reviewing Kelly&#x27;s legal bills submitted to the township. Those bills also indicated YouTube had sent a letter in response to Kelly’s takedown request. Kraft said he submitted public records requests for YouTube’s response to Kelly but has not received it.</p><p data-block-key=\"1f1zz\">Edgar County Watchdogs is currently suing Algonquin Township for not producing documents in response to 16 different FOIA requests.</p><p data-block-key=\"i0bzs\">Multiple requests for comment—and a request to review YouTube’s reply to the takedown request—sent to Kelly and Lukasik were not answered.</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2019-02-26_at_3.12.03.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"taubx\">A video of public officials filmed via a hidden camera was sent to Edgar County Watchdogs anonymously.</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": "YouTube", "third_party_business": null, "legal_order_venue": null, "status_of_prior_restraint": null, "mistakenly_released_materials": false, "links": [], "equipment_seized": [], "equipment_broken": [], "state": { "name": "Illinois", "abbreviation": "IL" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [ "Edgar County Watchdogs" ], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Other Incident" ], "targeted_journalists": [], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "KGTV photographer attacked while filming in San Diego", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kgtv-photographer-attacked-while-filming-in-san-diego/", "first_published_at": "2021-10-22T13:54:40.637527Z", "last_published_at": "2023-10-27T21:17:16.310949Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-27T21:17:16.172315Z", "date": "2018-03-12", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "San Diego", "longitude": -117.16472, "latitude": 32.71571, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"49w9t\">On March 12, 2018, an unidentified man attacked KGTV 10News San Diego news photographer Mike Gold and reporter Bree Steffen while in the middle of a live shot.</p><p data-block-key=\"owj6p\">Video of the attack, published on KGTV’s YouTube page, shows Steffen stopping mid-sentence and rushing out of the frame, to avoid a man who lunges toward her. The man, who briefly appears on the video, then knocks the camera to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"fctv6\">At the time of the attack, the news crew was recording a live segment for KGTV’s 11 p.m. newscast about demonstrations ahead of President Donald Trump’s first visit to California since his election. KGTV later said that the attack was not related to the topic of the segment.</p><p data-block-key=\"1djhr\">“While the man’s motive is unclear, the incident was not related to the content of the story,” the network <a href=\"https://www.10news.com/news/10news-reporter-photographer-ok-after-on-air-incident\">reported</a>. “Authorities were contacted and are handling the matter.”</p><p data-block-key=\"t0o8x\">Steffen later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/breesteffen/status/973462310948753408\">tweeted</a> about the incident, reporting that her wrist was injured and the camera was broken. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented Steffen’s assault <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kgtv-reporter-and-photographer-attacked-while-filming-san-diego/\">here</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hi all! To everyone watching <a href=\"https://twitter.com/10News?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@10News</a> at 11pm, my photographer @10newsGold and I are fine! Camera is broken and my wrist hurts, but everyone is ok. Thanks for all your sweet comments and support ♥️</p>&mdash; Bree Steffen (@breesteffen) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/breesteffen/status/973462310948753408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 13, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": null, "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "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": "private individual", "border_point": null, "target_us_citizenship_status": null, "denial_of_entry": false, "stopped_previously": false, "did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null, "did_authorities_ask_about_work": null, "assailant": "private individual", "was_journalist_targeted": "yes", "charged_under_espionage_act": false, "subpoena_type": null, "name_of_business": null, "third_party_business": null, "legal_order_venue": null, "status_of_prior_restraint": null, "mistakenly_released_materials": false, "links": [], "equipment_seized": [], "equipment_broken": [ { "quantity": 1, "equipment": "camera" } ], "state": { "name": "California", "abbreviation": "CA" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Assault", "Equipment Damage" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Mike Gold (KGTV)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": null }, { "title": "Journalist Samantha Baars subpoenaed to testify in Jason Kessler trial", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-samantha-baars-subpoenaed-testify-jason-kessler-trial/", "first_published_at": "2018-03-30T21:46:00.107195Z", "last_published_at": "2024-04-15T17:47:54.160680Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-15T17:47:54.023994Z", "date": "2018-03-12", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Charlottesville", "longitude": -78.47668, "latitude": 38.02931, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"z5bcw\">C-VILLE Weekly reporter Samantha Baars was subpoenaed on March 12, 2018 to testify in the trial of Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler. The subpoena was quashed on March 20.</p><p data-block-key=\"o3yl3\">Baars told Freedom of the Press Foundation that a deputy served her the subpoena on March 16, while she was at the Charlottesville General District Court to cover a different trial. The subpoena <a href=\"http://www.c-ville.com/kessler-subpoenaed-c-ville-reporter/\">ordered her to appear in court</a> on March 20, the day of Kessler’s perjury trial.</p><p data-block-key=\"td8vw\">Kessler, who co-organized the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, was charged with one count of perjury for allegedly lying on a criminal complaint that he had filed with the magistrate at the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail. In the complaint, Kessler said he was assaulted by Jay Taylor. Video evidence later showed that Taylor did not assault Kessler.</p><p data-block-key=\"cvqay\">Baars said that James West, her attorney, filed a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/documents/8/motion_to_quash.pdf\">motion to quash</a> the subpoena just minutes before the clerk’s office closed on March 19. Judge Cheryl Higgins granted the motion following morning on March 20, just before jury selection began for Kessler’s perjury trial.</p><p data-block-key=\"emcms\">Baars isn’t sure why she was subpoenaed, but she said that Kessler’s attorney, Mike Hallahan, told her that he intended to use her testimony to impeach Jay Taylor, the man that Kessler accused of assault. Baars interviewed Taylor for <a href=\"http://www.c-ville.com/kessler/\">an article</a> about Kessler’s assault claims published on Oct. 10, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"i1bfb\">“During my motions hearing, when Albemarle Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Higgins asked him what questions he intended to ask me, he said it depended on Taylor’s testimony,” she said. </p><p data-block-key=\"31bn7\">Hallahan, Kessler’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"ofqo3\">Baars said that allowing the subpoena to proceed would have adversely impacted her newsroom. </p><p data-block-key=\"lkkb8\">“We have a two-man news team here at C-VILLE Weekly, and our other reporter (news editor Lisa Provence) had a different trial to cover that day,” she told Freedom of the Press Foundation. “I was assigned to cover Jason Kessler’s perjury trial, so If I had been sequestered in the witness room, I wouldn’t have been able to do my job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fk0jk\">Once the subpoena was quashed, Baars was <a href=\"http://www.c-ville.com/kessler-perjury-charge-tossed/\">able to cover</a> Kessler’s perjury trial, which lasted less than a day and resulted in the dismissal of the perjury charge against Kessler.</p><p data-block-key=\"6klg3\">Baars said that since receiving the subpoena, she has started to question which of her sentences or paragraphs could provoke an attorney to call her to the witness stand. </p><p data-block-key=\"91l4q\">“That’s not something I should have to worry about when doing my job,” she said. “If reporters are regularly subpoenaed to testify in court, people could begin to perceive us as an investigative arm of the government. When I’m out reporting, I don’t want to be thinking about what I could be called to testify about in court, and I don’t want that to make potential sources more reluctant to talk to reporters.”</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Baars_subpoena_top.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "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": "other testimony", "name_of_business": null, "third_party_business": null, "legal_order_venue": "State", "status_of_prior_restraint": null, "mistakenly_released_materials": false, "links": [], "equipment_seized": [], "equipment_broken": [], "state": { "name": "Virginia", "abbreviation": "VA" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [ "protest", "white nationalism" ], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Subpoena/Legal Order" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Samantha Baars (C-ville Weekly)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [ "quashed" ], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "KGTV reporter attacked while filming in San Diego", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kgtv-reporter-and-photographer-attacked-while-filming-san-diego/", "first_published_at": "2018-03-27T20:07:39.592488Z", "last_published_at": "2024-04-15T17:52:04.211168Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-15T17:52:04.115130Z", "date": "2018-03-12", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "San Diego", "longitude": -117.16472, "latitude": 32.71571, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"v5ff3\">On March 12, 2018, an unidentified man attacked KGTV 10News San Diego news reporter Bree Steffen and photographer Mike Gold while they were in the middle of a live shot.</p><p data-block-key=\"5k7h0\">Video of the attack, published on KGTV’s YouTube page, shows Steffen stopping mid-sentence and rushing out of the frame, to avoid a man who lunges toward her. The man, who briefly appears on the video, then knocks the camera to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"81fiq\">At the time of the attack, Steffen was recording a live segment for KGTV’s 11 p.m. newscast about demonstrations ahead of President Donald Trump’s first visit to California since his election. KGTV later said that the attack was not related to the topic of the segment.</p><p data-block-key=\"u470x\">“While the man’s motive is unclear, the incident was not related to the content of the story,” the network <a href=\"https://www.10news.com/news/10news-reporter-photographer-ok-after-on-air-incident\">reported</a>. “Authorities were contacted and are handling the matter.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jtpqp\">Steffen later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/breesteffen/status/973462310948753408\">tweeted</a> about the incident, reporting that her wrist was injured and the camera was broken. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented Gold’s assault and the equipment damage <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kgtv-photographer-attacked-while-filming-in-san-diego/\">here</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hi all! To everyone watching <a href=\"https://twitter.com/10News?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@10News</a> at 11pm, my photographer @10newsGold and I are fine! Camera is broken and my wrist hurts, but everyone is ok. Thanks for all your sweet comments and support ♥️</p>&mdash; Bree Steffen (@breesteffen) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/breesteffen/status/973462310948753408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 13, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vxfmq\">“Thanks for all your sweet comments and support,” Steffen wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"gin2p\">On March 14, Steffen published an update about the attack on Facebook.</p><p data-block-key=\"c9ilw\">“I’ve never been in a fight before in my life; however, I have a right to defend myself,” she wrote. “When I saw this man running full-speed at me with his arms outstretched, fight-or-flight kicked in. I’m glad police know who he is. I’m still very sore but our camera is now fixed, so my photographer Mike is happy!”</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2018-03-27_at_3.36.49.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png", "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6v4zi\">A screengrab from a video shot by KGTV photographer Mike Gold shows an unidentified man lunging toward him and KGTV reporter Bree Steffen on March 12, 2018.</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": "private individual", "was_journalist_targeted": "yes", "charged_under_espionage_act": false, "subpoena_type": null, "name_of_business": null, "third_party_business": null, "legal_order_venue": null, "status_of_prior_restraint": null, "mistakenly_released_materials": false, "links": [], "equipment_seized": [], "equipment_broken": [ { "quantity": 1, "equipment": "camera" } ], "state": { "name": "California", "abbreviation": "CA" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Assault" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Bree Steffen (KGTV)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "High school coach in Arkansas arrested after threatening journalist", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/high-school-coach-arkansas-arrested-after-threatening-journalist/", "first_published_at": "2018-03-14T22:35:45.600031Z", "last_published_at": "2024-04-15T17:55:10.713726Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-15T17:55:10.626989Z", "date": "2018-03-06", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Little Rock", "longitude": -92.28959, "latitude": 34.74648, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"g1y7u\">Mitchell McCoy, a reporter for KARK/Fox 16, was harassed and threatened by a high school coach in Little Rock, Arkansas, on March 6, 2018. McCoy had questioned the coach about his social media posts.</p><p data-block-key=\"nlor3\">After McCoy saw that McClellan High School coach Lance Fritchman had posted on social media in support of president Donald Trump and the deportation of undocumented immigrants, McCoy asked the school about its policies regarding employees’ social media use. Soon after, on Friday, March 2, the school put Fritchman on paid administrative leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"09bjj\">On Monday, March 5, Fritchman went to the KARK/FOX 16 studios at the Victory Building in Little Rock, Arkansas. He later told police that he did so because he believed McCoy caused his suspension from his coaching job.</p><p data-block-key=\"obly9\">A police report obtained by <a href=\"https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2018/03/06/reporters-twitter-question-leads-to-leave-for-little-rock-teacher-and-a-police-report\">the Arkansas Times</a> notes that Fritchman attempted to contact McCoy via phone starting at 7am, and left messages telling him to “come out and let’s handle this man to man.” The report reads, “Fritchman was vocally aggressive while speaking with officer and on the voice mails. McCoy advised he felt threatened by the voice mail and a word Fritchman used ‘efforting’ — according to the Urban Dictionary meaning ‘mouth punch.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"apzw9\">Fritchman was ordered to refrain from further calls or returning to the Victory Building, and that his communications had been documented as harassing. He was informed that any future correspondence should go through the Little Rock School District.</p><p data-block-key=\"jigw7\">According to Arkansas Matters, Fritchman returned and continued to call the station.</p><p data-block-key=\"guhwr\">On the morning of March 6, Fritchman was arrested on charges of criminal trespassing. He remains on paid administrative leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"gl1v2\">On March 7, a Twitter account by the name of Lance Fritchman tweeted (and later deleted): “A criminal trespass is a Class C misdemeanor. Barely more than a speeding ticket. If found guilty maximum fine $500. That is all I can say at this time.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zhdgo\">A second tweet reads: “Just remember there are 2 sides to every story and I don’t have the power 2 broadcast mine all around central Arkansas. Mine will come out soon.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wifra\">McClellan High School declined to comment.</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": null, "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "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": "Arkansas", "abbreviation": "AR" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Other Incident" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Mitchell McCoy (KARK-TV)" ], "subpoena_statuses": null, "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "Kentucky State Police spokesperson threatens media with denial of access", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kentucky-state-police-threatens-news-organizations-publish-official-press-release-sent-out/", "first_published_at": "2018-03-16T21:54:06.372743Z", "last_published_at": "2023-12-21T20:20:19.235857Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T20:20:19.163402Z", "date": "2018-03-02", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Harlan", "longitude": -83.32185, "latitude": 36.84314, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"c5rj5\">On March 2, 2018, a Kentucky State Police Public Affairs Officer ordered radio station WRIL 106.3 FM and the Mountain Advocate newspaper to withhold publishing or airing any information on ongoing Kentucky State Police investigations until after the Kentucky State Police Public Affairs Office has issued an official statement.</p><p data-block-key=\"rsqdo\">KSP Trooper Shane Jacobs, who serves as public affairs officer for KSP Post 10, emailed the news organizations and threatened to cut off their press access if they did not comply.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://mountainadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/kpa_email_to_ksp_3-6-2018.pdf\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"u8mte\">From this point forward when KSP is working an investigation, you are to wait until OUR (KSP) press release is sent out before putting anything out on social media, radio, and newspaper. No more posting inaccurate information from Sheriff’s or anyone else. I don’t care to confirm something and then get a release out later.</p><p data-block-key=\"agzo2\">Authority of my supervisors, if this continues, you will be taken off our media distribution list. Thanks Shane.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://mountainadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/kpa_email_to_ksp_3-6-2018.pdf\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"jcvor\">KSP email to Mountain Advocate and WRIL 106.3 FM</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=\"x057r\">Representatives of both media organizations criticized the order. Editor Charles Myrick was both surprised and defiant.</p><p data-block-key=\"ic99w\">“This demand has totally blindsided us,&quot; Mountain Advocate editor Charles Myrick told the paper. &quot;However, we will continue to do our job and keep the public informed, regardless of the agency or agencies involved.&quot;</p><p data-block-key=\"kz44p\">&quot;The Kentucky State Police have a job to do and an obligation to the communities they cover and so do we,&quot; Brian O&#x27;Brien of WRIL 106.3 FM told local broadcaster LEX 18. &quot;I believe that we both do our jobs to the best of our ability and are susceptible to open criticism from the public.   At times that is also true from those we work with. I would hope that an open line of communication can continue with Kentucky State Police as well as any other law enforcement entity.&quot;</p><p data-block-key=\"8si0k\">On March 6, Kentucky Press Association executive director David Thompson sent a letter to the Kentucky State Police criticizing the order. The letter was addressed to both KSP commissioner Richard Sanders and to KSP lieutenant Michael Webb, who is in charge of the KSP Public Affairs Office.</p><p data-block-key=\"vpozz\">“It is not acceptable that anyone, a member of the public, a public agency, and including the Kentucky State Police, to tell the media it is not to publish (or perhaps, air) any information until or after a release is sent from KSP,&quot; Thompson wrote in the letter. &quot;This is nothing less than an unconstitutional and illegal attempt to restrict access to KSP information because a media outlet has published information that has displease[d] the state police.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e35la\">“A state police officer simply has no authority to order the news media not to publish,&quot; he wrote. &quot;To do so raises serious First Amendment and other legal issues and the officer’s threat is not acceptable.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dtzb9\">On March 8, KSP captain Ryan Catron — the commander of KSP Post 10 and Jacobs&#x27; superior officer — spoke to t<a href=\"http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article204104264.html\">he Lexington Herald Leader</a> about the controversial order.</p><p data-block-key=\"pi7qc\">“We want to work with all media outlets. … We’re not trying to withhold any information from them,&quot; he told the Lexington Herald Leader. &quot;We’re asking that they wait until they get our press releases before they put anything out.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9szn9\">When asked whether news organizations that disobeyed the order would be removed from KSP media distribution lists, Catron declined to comment, stating that he refused to “speculate on what would happen in the future.”  </p><p data-block-key=\"555b1\">On March 12, Dan Shelley — the executive director of the Radio Television Digital News Association (which is a partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker) — <a href=\"https://www.wcpo.com/news/state/state-kentucky/group-calls-on-kentucky-state-police-to-rescind-unconstitutional-order\">sent</a> a letter to KSP commissioner Sanders, asking him to overturn the order.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://mountainadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ksp_original_email_3-2-2018.pdf\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"vr6rl\">I respectfully submit, Commissioner Sanders, that such an order is, on its face, in direct contravention of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. …</p><p data-block-key=\"5v8q4\">I, on behalf of the broadcast and digital journalists RTDNA represents, insist that you rescind this new policy forthwith. Any time the efforts of journalists are restricted it is not those journalists who are the victims. Rather, it is the public – in this case the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, whom you are sworn to protect and serve – that becomes the victim because it is being denied information to which it is constitutionally entitled.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://mountainadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ksp_original_email_3-2-2018.pdf\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"giji1\">RTDNA letter to KSP</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=\"7w9kz\">The next day, KSP Sergeant Josh Lawson told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that the controversy over the order had been resolved. Lawson, the public affairs officer for KSP Post 5, said that he had spoken with the Kentucky Press Association to dispel any confusion over the order.</p><p data-block-key=\"ui6er\">“I have spoken with Mr. Thompson with the Kentucky Press Association and I encourage you to speak with him as this entire misunderstanding was explained,&quot; he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"0asq7\">In a statement to the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Mountain Advocate publisher Jay Nolan said that Michael Webb (the KSP lieutenant in charge of the department&#x27;s public affairs office) had personally called Mountain Advocate editor Charles Myrick to apologize for the confusion over the order.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" >\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"x5h47\">Our editor, Charles Myrick, did get a telephone call from the KSP State headquarters. Specifically, the officer in charge of the Public Affairs Officers statewide. He called the Email a “regrettable” choice of words. He suggested that officer Jacobs should have come in person to express his concerns with us, and also explained we would not be removed from any notification list. He indicated that the KSP wanted to continue to maintain positive relations with us and all the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"cjhfb\">Based on the tone and content of his call, we consider this matter closed. The Mountain Advocate will continue to report the news as we have for over 110 years, and welcome the support of the KSP as we seek to keep our community informed.</p></div>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": null, "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "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": "Kentucky", "abbreviation": "KY" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [ "The Mountain Advocate", "WRIL-FM" ], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [ "Law enforcement: State" ], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Denial of Access" ], "targeted_journalists": [], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [ "Press credential or media list" ] }, { "title": "Virginian-Pilot reporter subpoenaed to testify in councilman's forgery trial", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/virginian-pilot-reporter-subpoenaed-testify-councilmans-forgery-trial/", "first_published_at": "2018-04-19T21:12:24.209427Z", "last_published_at": "2024-04-15T17:59:20.240613Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-15T17:59:20.149911Z", "date": "2018-03-01", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Portsmouth", "longitude": -76.29827, "latitude": 36.83543, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3g4gj\">Virginian-Pilot reporter Scott Daugherty was subpoenaed on March 1, 2018 to testify in the trial of Mark Whitaker, a councilman for the city of Portsmouth, Virginia. The trial was later <a href=\"https://www.pilotonline.com/2018/03/20/portsmouth-councilman-mark-whitakers-fraud-trial-postponed-until-july/\">postponed</a> until July, freeing Daugherty from the initial subpoena to testify. However, it is possible that the prosecutor could attempt to subpoena him again.</p><p data-block-key=\"b889h\">The subpoena ordered Daugherty to appear and testify in Circuit Court for the City of Portsmouth between March 21 and March 23. Daugherty told Freedom of the Press foundation that he thinks he could have been required to be present in court all three days, but more likely, he would have been told to return close to the specific time when he would have been needed. </p><p data-block-key=\"kkju6\">On March 20, Daugherty’s attorney Conrad Shumadine filed a <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4442778-Motion-to-Quash-Subpoena-of-Scott-Daugherty.html\">motion to quash</a> the subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"adz2p\">“The trial subpoena issued to Mr. Daugherty raises serious First Amendment issues,” the motion to quash states. “The Virginian-Pilot and Mr. Daugherty respectfully assert that a prosecutor must have some factual basis to subpoena a reporter for testimony and there has to be some reasonable expectancy that the reporter would be called as a witness.” </p><p data-block-key=\"zhnte\">Portsmouth Councilman Mark Whitaker was charged with 20 felonies, including identity fraud and forgery, in April 2017. At that time, the Virginian-Pilot <a href=\"https://www.pilotonline.com/2017/04/20/portsmouth-councilman-mark-whitaker-indicted-on-id-fraud-forgery-charges/\">reported</a> that Whitaker and his attorneys claimed that the case was biased or politically motivated. </p><p data-block-key=\"yiho1\">In October 2017, Scott Daugherty wrote <a href=\"https://www.pilotonline.com/2017/10/31/2-of-portsmouth-councilman-mark-whitakers-alleged-forgery-victims-say-he-did-nothing-wrong/\">an article</a> for the Virginian-Pilot about the fact that two of Mark Whitaker’s alleged fraud victims claimed he did nothing wrong. For the piece, he interviewed Mark Whitaker.</p><p data-block-key=\"i2wph\">“I&#x27;m not really sure what the special prosecutor wanted to ask me, except it probably had to do with that one story,” Daugherty told Freedom of the Press Foundation. “Quite frankly, this isn&#x27;t a case where I&#x27;d really expect the prosecution to want to ask me any questions on the stand. The councilman has never said anything to me indicating he is guilty. To the contrary, he has been pretty adamant from the beginning that this case is politically motivated and that he will be vindicated.”</p><p data-block-key=\"udidd\">Commonwealth Attorney Andrew Robbins declined to discuss what questions he intended to ask Daugherty or confirm that he would refrain from asking about unpublished information.</p><p data-block-key=\"vwekp\">In a March 20 <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4442777-Affidavits-of-Scott-Daugherty-and-Jeff-Reece.html\">affidavit</a>, Daugherty wrote, “If Mark Whitaker had provided me with any information suggesting or tending to the effect that he was guilty of the offenses, I would have included it in the article I wrote about the interview since any such admission would have been highly newsworthy.” </p><p data-block-key=\"a9owj\">On March 20, the prosecution and defense agreed to postpone Whitaker’s fraud trial until July so that a discovery order could be entered and a hearing on an unspecified motion scheduled. </p><p data-block-key=\"arvnr\">“At the moment, I am not under subpoena,” Daugherty said on March 30. “I believe the special prosecutor will have to subpoena me again if he wants me to testify during [the] new trial.” </p><p data-block-key=\"cobys\">When asked if he intends to subpoena Daugherty again to testify in Whitaker’s trial in July, Commonwealth Attorney Andrew Robbins said it would depend on how the evidence progresses between now and then. </p><p data-block-key=\"eok56\">“Anyone, reporter or anyone else, who takes a statement from a criminal defendant risks being called as a witness,” he told Freedom of the Press Foundation.  </p><p data-block-key=\"ywe6n\">Although Daugherty has extensively covered the case since Whitaker was first indicted in April 2017, he would not have been able to report on the trial if the subpoena had proceeded.</p><p data-block-key=\"nhohw\">&quot;It would have prevented me from covering the trial, both ethically and physically,&quot; he said. &quot;As a witness, I would have probably been barred from the courtroom until it was my time to testify. We probably would have had to have another reporter cover the trial… a reporter who knew the basics of the case, but not all of the details.” </p><p data-block-key=\"wwprv\">“Without even getting to the stress a subpoena places on the relationship between a reporter and his sources, getting [subpoenaed] can effectively prevent a reporter from doing his or her job,” he added. “If you can&#x27;t enter a courtroom, you can&#x27;t cover a trial.”</p></div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "On June 25, 2018, a judge quashed the subpoena.", "teaser_image": null, "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "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": "other testimony", "name_of_business": null, "third_party_business": null, "legal_order_venue": "State", "status_of_prior_restraint": null, "mistakenly_released_materials": false, "links": [], "equipment_seized": [], "equipment_broken": [], "state": { "name": "Virginia", "abbreviation": "VA" }, "updates": [ "(2018-06-25 18:20:00+00:00) Judge rules for journalist" ], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Subpoena/Legal Order" ], "targeted_journalists": [ "Scott Daugherty (The Virginian-Pilot)" ], "subpoena_statuses": [ "dropped" ], "type_of_denial": [] }, { "title": "State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert refuses question from Russian TV reporter", "url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/state-department-spokeswoman-heather-nauert-refuses-question-russian-tv-reporter/", "first_published_at": "2018-03-17T02:58:03.704279Z", "last_published_at": "2024-03-21T20:11:38.356845Z", "latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-21T20:11:38.255097Z", "date": "2018-03-01", "exact_date_unknown": false, "city": "Washington", "longitude": -77.03637, "latitude": 38.89511, "body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tdsdq\">On March 1, 2018, at a U.S. State Department Press Briefing, spokesperson Heather Nauert refused to take a question from a reporter after learning the reporter worked for Channel One in Russia.</p><p data-block-key=\"wvzjb\">The press briefing followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual state of the nation address, in which President Putin <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/01/europe/putin-nuclear-missile-video-florida/index.html\">shared a video</a> touting Russia’s new nuclear weapons capabilities. The video included an animation showing the launch of nuclear missiles. One of the missiles is shown flying over a piece of land resembling the outline of Florida.</p><p data-block-key=\"zema9\">Nauert was asked about the video at the press briefing.</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/I9-Ked09Fus?start=1300&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=\"y2lzj\">U.S. State Department Press Briefing - March 1, 2018</p>\n \n \n <p>U.S. State Department</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cu846\">At the press briefing, Russia 1 TV journalist Alexander Khristenko asked Nauert how Putin’s address could affect the United States’ attitude toward U.S.-Russian relations.</p><p data-block-key=\"6s0r5\">“Well, look, it’s certainly concerning to see your government, to see your country, put together that kind of video that shows the Russian Government attacking the United States,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"k5sa1\">That prompted a reporter from Channel One — a Russian TV network unrelated to Russia 1 TV — to ask why Nauert believed that the video showed the two missiles hitting the United States. Before the Channel One reporter could finish asking her question, Nauert interrupted her, dismissed her as being “from Russian TV” and <a href=\"https://www.rt.com/usa/420246-state-department-russia-media-nauert/\">refused to answer</a> her question.</p><p data-block-key=\"49yz5\">Other journalists in the room objected to Nauert’s treatment of the Channel One reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"lpyal\">“They’re not officials of the Russian government,” a CNN reporter said. “They&#x27;re just asking a question about Russia.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mornr\">Nauert then said that Russian news organizations are funded and directed by the Russian government, with the implication being that Russian journalists are agents of the Russian government who lack editorial independence.</p><p data-block-key=\"u1g48\">The State Department did not immediately return a request for comment. </p><p data-block-key=\"76o2n\">Read the full transcript of the exchange below:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2018/03/278982.htm\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"gpmvs\">QUESTION: Alexander Khristenko, Russian TV. Are you still considering negotiations with Russia on global security issues and nuclear arms issues after today’s announcement?</p><p data-block-key=\"53va2\">MS NAUERT: Would – are – so your question is would we cut off conversations and negotiations?</p><p data-block-key=\"iple1\">QUESTION: I mean do you change something in your attitude toward this?</p><p data-block-key=\"gls89\">MS NAUERT: Well, look, it’s certainly concerning to see your government, to see your country, put together that kind of video that shows the Russian Government attacking the United States. That’s certainly a concern of ours. I don’t think that that’s very constructive, nor is it responsible. I’ll leave it at that. Okay?</p><p data-block-key=\"5bgxo\">QUESTION: It was not attacking the United States. It was not attacking the United States. It was two missiles sent to different directions. So why do you say that they are --</p><p data-block-key=\"l0gnv\">MS NAUERT: Are you – oh, you’re --</p><p data-block-key=\"rny94\">QUESTION: Sorry. I’m from Russia. Channel One in Russia.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rayl\">MS NAUERT: You’re from Russian TV, too.</p><p data-block-key=\"jbgfz\">QUESTION: Yes, yes.</p><p data-block-key=\"e22re\">MS NAUERT: Okay. So hey, enough said then. I’ll move on.</p><p data-block-key=\"asm1c\">QUESTION: Wait, I’m sorry. What does that mean?</p><p data-block-key=\"gizmh\">MS NAUERT: What does what mean?</p><p data-block-key=\"96sdm\">QUESTION: I mean, it’s – they’re not – they’re not officials of the Russian Government. They’re just asking a question about Russia.</p><p data-block-key=\"wxt8f\">MS NAUERT: Oh. Oh, really? Okay. Well, we know that RT and other Russian news – so-called news organizations --</p><p data-block-key=\"nrx3o\">QUESTION: They’re a --</p><p data-block-key=\"gh1my\">MS NAUERT: -- are funded and directed by the Russian Government. So if I don’t have a whole lot of tolerance --</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2018/03/278982.htm\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"1mfjc\">Official transcript of press briefing</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>", "introduction": "", "teaser": "", "teaser_image": null, "primary_video": null, "image_caption": "", "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": "District of Columbia", "abbreviation": "DC" }, "updates": [], "case_statuses": [], "workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [], "target_nationality": [], "targeted_institutions": [ "Channel One [Russia]" ], "tags": [], "politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [ "Federal government: Agency" ], "authors": [], "categories": [ "Denial of Access" ], "targeted_journalists": [], "subpoena_statuses": [], "type_of_denial": [ "Other" ] } ]