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{
"title": "Local TV reporter attacked by unknown person in Miami Beach",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/local-tv-reporter-attacked-by-unknown-person-in-miami-beach/",
"first_published_at": "2018-10-11T20:37:13.536150Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T19:33:16.503678Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T19:33:16.405330Z",
"date": "2018-06-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Miami Beach",
"longitude": -80.13005,
"latitude": 25.79065,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4akjl\">On June 26, 2018, reporter Darryl Forges and photographer Linda Sargent-Nestor of Florida TV station WTVJ were <a href=\"https://www.adweek.com/tvspy/morning-reporter-and-photographer-ok-after-being-attacked/205433\">attacked</a> by a stranger during a morning live shoot in Miami Beach, Florida.</p><p data-block-key=\"g1an4\">“It’s been a wild day, but overall my photographer Linda Sargent-Nestor and I are ok,” Forges wrote in a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/darrylforges/posts/10156535622943308\">Facebook post</a> a few hours after the attack. “We were attacked by a crazy stranger in Miami Beach this morning while doing our live shot.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dxg1b\">“Special thanks to Miami Beach PD for responding quickly, and also to two complete strangers who helped,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ufi39\">Forges wrote that his glasses were broken in the attack, which left him with minor bruises, scratches and bite marks.</p></div>",
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"name": "Florida",
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"Assault"
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"Darryl Forges (WTVJ)"
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{
"title": "City councilman threatens local reporter with dog in California",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/city-councilman-threatens-local-reporter-dog-california/",
"first_published_at": "2018-08-02T19:29:29.106700Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T19:39:19.047893Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T19:39:18.958352Z",
"date": "2018-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "El Cajon",
"longitude": -116.96253,
"latitude": 32.79477,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"slsvd\">El Cajon City Councilman Ben Kalasho threatened East County Magazine reporter Paul Kruze and menaced the journalist with an aggressive dog, according to a <a href=\"http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/2018/July/KruzePoliceStatement_v3.pdf?227\">statement</a> that Kruze made to police in El Cajon, California, on June 23, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"q7xc5\">Kruze <a href=\"http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/sd-me-kalasho-concerns-20180706-story.html\">told</a> the police that he was exiting a Best Buy on June 23 when he spotted Kalasho’s election vehicle in the parking lot and stopped to take photos.</p><p data-block-key=\"vwndp\">Kruze told the police that Kalasho told him to stop taking pictures, and then approached him with an attack dog. Kruze said that Kalasho and the dog advanced on him from 40 feet away to within 10 to 12 feet, before he was able to unlock his car door and enter the safety of his vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"9g2jv\">“I proceed to my car and he keeps coming closer to me with the dog and letting the dog lurch at me,” Kruze said in an interview with Freedom of the Press Foundation, adding that he feared Kalasho might release the chain on the dog and let it attack him.</p><p data-block-key=\"q12p5\">“This is stuff you go to see horror movies about,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ahua4\">During the incident, he said, Kalasho called him a fake journalist and verbally threatened both him and East County Magazine editor Miriam Raftery. Raftery told Freedom of the Press Foundation that Kruze called her shortly after the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"h4cy5\">“When Paul called me, his voice was trembling and he was obviously terrified,” she said. “I was worried about his safety and my own, especially since Paul said Kalasho told him, with the dog snarling lunging toward him, ‘I’m going to take you down and that bitch, Miriam Raftery.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"l86ad\">On June 24, the day after the parking lot incident, Kalasho published a Facebook post about Kruze, whom he described as a “deranged psychopath” and “lunatic” who was stalking him.</p><p data-block-key=\"o6sws\">“I did research and found that this so called journalist made a Youtube channel whereby most all of his videos are about me,” Kalasho wrote in the post, which was later deleted. “He even posted a video of me training my dog, and other montage videos of me speaking ranging different dates. This infatuation he has with me is creepy to say the least.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bayh5\">Kalasho wrote that he had contacted the police and planned to seek a restraining order against the journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"zsmmr\">A number of Kalasho’s supporters commented on the Facebook post, expressing concern for the councilman’s safety. Some encouraged Kalasho to use violence against Kruze.</p><p data-block-key=\"s87p2\">“You should get your CCW [concealed carry license],” one commenter wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"64hlq\">“Once you become a public figure, you lose most of your rights,” Kalasho replied. “Trust me, had I had a CCW, I would have been on CNN today doing interviews from behind bars.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4pult\">Another supporter published a photo of a gun, accompanied by the text, “I would much rather go my grave never needing my gun, than go there wishing I had it.” Kalasho replied, “#Truth.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ye45i\">Kruze said that it was scary to see Kalasho encouraging supporters’ violent threats against him.</p><p data-block-key=\"m67va\">“He just kept on inciting these different followers of his, and then the people started posting,” Kruze said. “There were people saying you should go after this guy. Then they started posting pictures of guns, and then it ended up with another guy who was an optometrist in Ramona, California, suggesting that a .357 caliber bullet be used on me,” Kruze said. “I’ll tell you that finally, that particular post, and the whole Facebook post, it finally hit me. It hit me… All the sudden this is what people talk about for real, and that is damn scary.”</p><p data-block-key=\"70pgo\">On July 10, Kalasho went after Kruze again, this time in a <a href=\"https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2018/jul/17/stringers-reporter-accuse-kalasho-assaulting-dog/\">Facebook video</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"tby4x\">In the video, Kalasho says that he threatened Kruze with his dog because he thought Kruze might be carrying a weapon.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7kwu\">“Looking at this person that was approaching my wife and I, like, I don’t know him from Adam,” Kalasho says in the video. “I don’t know if he had a knife, or a gun or anything on him. And every cue and everything that he did lead me to believe that he was going to inflict harm to me or my family. So I used my dog. And anybody listening, watching this just play it through, what’s the alternative? The alternative is having my wife hurt? No, I’d rather my dog maul him, like literally.”</p><p data-block-key=\"l4ug1\">On July 13, the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists issued a statement, defending the rights of journalists and calling on the El Cajon Police Department to fully investigate the attack:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://spjsandiego.org/2018/07/13/sd-spj-concerned-by-el-cajon-city-councilmans-interaction-with-journalist/\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"mcjtt\">The San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is greatly concerned by the behavior of El Cajon City Councilman Ben Kalasho toward East County Magazine reporter Paul Kruze, as alleged in Kruze’s statements to the police. Threatening or intimidating journalists is unacceptable behavior from any member of the public — but especially from elected officials.</p><p data-block-key=\"go3th\">Journalists have a right to do their jobs without fear of violence. We urge the El Cajon Police Department to fully investigate the incident that took place on June 23 between Councilman Kalasho and Mr. Kruze. Our institutions and elected officials must do everything they can to ensure the safety of journalists in the exercise of our collective First Amendment right to a free press.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://spjsandiego.org/2018/07/13/sd-spj-concerned-by-el-cajon-city-councilmans-interaction-with-journalist/\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"5kvyx\">San Diego SPJ statement on incident</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=\"xn3uf\">Kalasho has a history of threatening East County Magazine. In November 2017, after the paper wrote about allegations of corruption and sexual harassment made against him, he threatened a libel suit against East County Magazine and then tried to smear the publication on social media.</p><p data-block-key=\"5bxrv\">On July 18, the San Diego SPJ chapter presented Raftery and Kruze with the <a href=\"http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/ecm-editor-and-reporter-win-gloria-penner-award-reporting-kalasho-threats\">Gloria Penner Award</a> for political reporting, in recognition of East County Magazine’s investigative reporting on Kalasho.</p></div>",
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"name": "California",
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"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
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"Paul Kruze (East County Magazine)"
],
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{
"title": "DHS press secretary asks journalist to stop reporting on him",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dhs-press-secretary-asks-journalist-stop-reporting-him/",
"first_published_at": "2018-06-20T22:36:59.602301Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-25T19:44:50.781110Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-25T19:44:50.650643Z",
"date": "2018-06-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"49lig\">On June 20, 2018, Ken Klippenstein — an investigative reporter who contributes to The Daily Beast and The Young Turks — tweeted that he had received an unsolicited call from Tyler Houlton, the press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. Klippenstein said that Houlton asked him about his sources and also asked him not to solicit tips about Houlton on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"lw1u7\">On the afternoon of June 20, Klippenstein tweeted that he had heard troubling allegations about Houlton, and requested that anyone contact him with information. (Though Klippenstein originally identified Houlton as a spokesman for Immigration & Customs Enforcement, he later clarified that Houlton is the spokesman for all of DHS, not just ICE.)</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Also I’m hearing some troubling allegations about ICE’s spokesman (unable to verify yet), if anyone has any tips please text me</p>— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1009506577735471105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 20, 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=\"1aqzc\">About an hour later, Klippenstein tweeted that Houlton had called him.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DHS' spokesman, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SpoxDHS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SpoxDHS</a>, just called me and demanded I stop soliciting tips about him via Twitter. He also asked who my sources are. <br><br>Why does it feel like this admin hates freedom of the press.</p>— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1009521525949652992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 20, 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=\"rykcy\">Klippenstein told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he received a call from a Washington, D.C. phone number that he did not recognize. The caller identified himself as Houlton and then told Klippenstein that if Klippenstein “had something” on him, then Klippenstein should call him rather than asking for tips on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"kovwi\">According to Klippenstein, he told Houlton that he was a reporter and seeking tips is what reporters do. Houlton then asked who was telling him information about Houlton, and he told Houlton that he cannot reveal his sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"93m39\">“When you get a call like that… papers need certain relationships with administrators to get information,” Klippenstein said, adding that his job and lack of dependents allows him to take more professional risks than other journalists. “A lot of reporters would understandably be afraid of upsetting their boss, and I think it would have a chilling effect on reporting. This has concrete effects. It’s not just an unpleasant interaction.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qxboc\">Klippenstein said that he could not think of any situation in which he would reveal the identity of a confidential source.</p><p data-block-key=\"t2vcq\">“Absolutely not,” he said. “I would go to jail before that. This is who I am. It would be betraying what I dedicated myself to.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wmmvg\">Houlton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
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{
"title": "Former CIA agent accused of sending classified information to WikiLeaks",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-cia-agent-accused-sending-classified-information-wikileaks/",
"first_published_at": "2018-06-20T18:06:58.281683Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:59:59.002292Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:59:58.908982Z",
"date": "2018-06-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ru1lw\">Joshua Schulte, a former NSA and CIA staffer, was <a href=\"https://www.buzzfeed.com/kevincollier/cia-employee-espionage-leak-hacking-wikileaks?utm_term=.ae6z049Na#.bvw2RK58v\">indicted</a> on multiple Espionage Act charges on June 18, 2018, for <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-identifies-suspect-in-major-leak-of-cia-hacking-tools/2018/05/15/5d5ef3f8-5865-11e8-8836-a4a123c359ab_story.html\">allegedly</a> <a href=\"https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wjbyvb/wikileaks-joshua-schulte-diaries-vault-7\">leaking</a> sensitive CIA files to WikiLeaks.</p><p data-block-key=\"g9o94\">On March 7, 2017, WikiLeaks began publishing classified documents that detailed hacking tools and techniques used by the CIA. Later that month, as part of an investigation into the leak, federal agents <a href=\"https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/9k8w47/feds-raid-apartment-of-suspected-cia-leaker-find-10000-images-of-child-porn\">raided</a> Schulte’s apartment and seized his computer.</p><p data-block-key=\"cjhl7\">On August 24, 2017, Schulte was arrested on federal child pornography charges, after federal investigators discovered evidence of child pornography on one of Schulte’s computers that had been seized in the raid. At the time, Schulte was not charged with leaking any classified information.</p><p data-block-key=\"i3kem\">On June 18, 2018, a federal grand jury returned a <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4522058-Joshua-Adam-Schulte-s1-Superseding-Indictment.html\">superseding indictment</a> against Schulte. The indictment accuses Schulte of sending classified CIA material to WikiLeaks, in violation of the Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It also restates the earlier child pornography charges and further accuses him of copyright infringement (for allegedly running a server that stored pirated movies), obstruction of justice, and lying to federal agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"qqg5s\">Schulte is the latest person to be criminally prosecuted in connection with an investigation into classified leaks.</p><p data-block-key=\"5v770\">In June 2017, NSA contractor Reality Winner was charged under the Espionage Act for allegedly sending a classified document to The Intercept.</p><p data-block-key=\"b18o1\">In March 2018, former FBI agent Terry Albury was charged under the Espionage Act for allegedly sharing with The Intercept a number of classified FBI documents that instruct agents on how to cultivate informants and surveil journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"8bv2l\">In May 2018, former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer James Wolfe was charged with lying to federal agents about his communication with journalists. Wolfe has not been charged with leaking any classified information to journalists, though he was interviewed by federal agents as part of an investigation into classified leaks.</p></div>",
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"name": "New York",
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"updates": [
"(2022-07-13 14:14:00+00:00) Former CIA engineer convicted for violations of the Espionage Act, other charges in leak investigation",
"(2022-06-14 13:41:00+00:00) Former CIA agent begins retrial on Espionage Act, other charges",
"(2023-08-29 17:12:00+00:00) Obstruction charge dropped for former CIA staffer in WikiLeaks case",
"(2024-02-01 13:50:00+00:00) Ex-CIA software engineer in WikiLeaks case gets 40 years in prison"
],
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"tags": [
"Department of Justice",
"Espionage Act"
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"Leak Case"
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{
"title": "NYT journalist asked about political views by CBP, told to ‘fall in line’",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nyt-journalist-asked-about-political-views-by-cbp-told-to-fall-in-line/",
"first_published_at": "2024-01-26T18:59:41.846636Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-26T18:59:41.846636Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-26T18:48:57.114146Z",
"date": "2018-06-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Newark",
"longitude": -74.17237,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fxdd7\">Michael Sokolove, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-journalists-asked-about-political-views-by-cbp-told-to-fall-in-line/\">Ann Gerhart</a>, a senior editor-at-large for The Washington Post, were questioned about their politics and work by a Customs and Border Protection officer when returning to the United States on June 16, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"6n05t\">Sokolove told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and his spouse, Gerhart, had landed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey after a trip to the Caribbean island of Anguilla. Sokolove said that they both had listed “journalist” as their profession on their immigration forms, as usual.</p><p data-block-key=\"8i04m\">They approached the customs desk together and handed the CBP officer their immigration forms, Gerhart said. She told the Tracker that the officer asked the usual questions of “Where were you?” and “What do you do?” But when they said they were journalists, Gerhart said, he asked who they worked for.</p><p data-block-key=\"87afc\">When they told him their media organizations, Gerhart said the agent responded that it was a “dangerous time to be a journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bpom8\">A remark, Gerhart said, she didn’t read as sympathetic.</p><p data-block-key=\"kagg\">Sokolove said that the officer might have asked a few other questions about their work, but that the next thing he remembers distinctly is the officer asking them what they thought of President Donald Trump.</p><p data-block-key=\"5p2s4\">“We both said a version of, ‘It’s not our job to have opinions about President Trump or to express them. We’re journalists, we just report the news,’” Sokolove told the Tracker. “Then I made the mistake of saying, ‘I think this family separation [policy] is really troublesome.’ I think that’s the word I used: I said I was troubled by it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1mo9d\">At that point, Sokolove said, the officer became “very aggressive.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9bsq0\">“He said, ‘Well, I think you really ought to give him a chance and this country has to come together.’ And he just started expressing his own political views that the press was too aggressive with the president, too critical of the president, and we really ought to ‘fall in line and come together.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"d3nbg\">Gerhart told the Tracker that they passed through the checkpoint without further incident, but after the interaction “I was initially flabbergasted and then after that I was shaken by it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9qet1\">“I was quite taken aback to be coming back into the United States as a US-citizen—or really anyone—and be asked for what I took to be some kind of political fealty, if you will.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7s23j\">Sokolove said the interaction left him shocked as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"5q8do\">“I just found it appalling,” Sokolove said, “that upon coming back into this country with my U.S. passport that because I was a journalist I would be asked by an immigration officer what I thought about the president and then told exactly how we ought to be writing about him.”</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Washington Post journalist asked about political views by CBP, told to ‘fall in line’",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-journalists-asked-about-political-views-by-cbp-told-to-fall-in-line/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-16T14:42:24.238788Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-26T19:03:54.117728Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bzpaw\">Ann Gerhart, a senior editor-at-large for The Washington Post, and <a href=\"/all-incidents/nyt-journalist-asked-about-political-views-by-cbp-told-to-fall-in-line/\">Michael Sokolove</a>, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, were questioned about their politics and work by a Customs and Border Protection officer when returning to the United States on June 16, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"gvj6p\">Sokolove told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and his spouse, Gerhart, had landed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey after a trip to the Caribbean island of Anguilla. Sokolove said that they both had listed “journalist” as their profession on their immigration forms, as usual.</p><p data-block-key=\"5rjsu\">They approached the customs desk together and handed the CBP officer their immigration forms, Gerhart said. She told the Tracker that the officer asked the usual questions of “Where were you?” and “What do you do?” But when they said they were journalists, Gerhart said, he asked who they worked for.</p><p data-block-key=\"vfpqs\">When they told him their media organizations, Gerhart said the agent responded that it was a “dangerous time to be a journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7la96\">A remark, Gerhart said, she didn’t read as sympathetic.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ky89\">Sokolove said that the officer might have asked a few other questions about their work, but that the next thing he remembers distinctly is the officer asking them what they thought of President Donald Trump.</p><p data-block-key=\"qvtij\">“We both said a version of, ‘It’s not our job to have opinions about President Trump or to express them. We’re journalists, we just report the news,’” Sokolove told the Tracker. “Then I made the mistake of saying, ‘I think this family separation [policy] is really troublesome.’ I think that’s the word I used: I said I was troubled by it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1mysn\">At that point, Sokolove said, the officer became “very aggressive.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vp7qr\">“He said, ‘Well, I think you really ought to give him a chance and this country has to come together.’ And he just started expressing his own political views that the press was too aggressive with the president, too critical of the president, and we really ought to ‘fall in line and come together.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"ao8s5\">Gerhart told the Tracker that they passed through the checkpoint without further incident, but after the interaction “I was initially flabbergasted and then after that I was shaken by it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cucme\">“I was quite taken aback to be coming back into the United States as a US-citizen—or really anyone—and be asked for what I took to be some kind of political fealty, if you will.”</p><p data-block-key=\"amxaz\">Sokolove said the interaction left him shocked as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"fj8l5\">“I just found it appalling,” Sokolove said, “that upon coming back into this country with my U.S. passport that because I was a journalist I would be asked by an immigration officer what I thought about the president and then told exactly how we ought to be writing about him.”</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Reporter John Harvey arrested and cited for ‘disorderly conduct’ at Pennsylvania State Capitol",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-john-harvey-arrested-and-cited-disorderly-conduct-pennsylvania-state-capitol/",
"first_published_at": "2018-12-06T20:37:37.566155Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T19:40:48.845220Z",
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"date": "2018-06-11",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dkkgz\">Democracy Watch News journalist John Harvey was arrested at the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex in Harrisburg, while filming a sit-in on June 11, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"hfdth\">The sit-in was part of the “Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival,” which carried out a series of nonviolent demonstrations across the country during the summer of 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"l5ak9\">On June 11, the Poor People’s Campaign was in its fifth consecutive week of activity at the Pennsylvania capitol building, <a href=\"https://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/06/nine_arrested_at_poor_peoples.html\">according to PennLive.com</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7951i\">Harvey was one of nine people arrested and cited for disorderly conduct during the protest which occurred just outside the entrance to the House Chamber, according to PennLive.com.</p><p data-block-key=\"z0pj6\"><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/PennsylvaniaPPC/videos/1869816743311626/\">Video</a> of the incident show Harvey filming the initial arrests while standing along a banister with other reporters a short distance from the entryway.</p><p data-block-key=\"vcotf\">According to Harvey, the protesters had already performed a number of actions at the Capitol that day without incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"b899r\">“I’m not sure exactly why at that point they [Capitol police] decided they were going to remove these protesters that were performing the sit in, as they’d had various other opportunities to do so,” Harvey told Freedom of the Press Foundation.</p><p data-block-key=\"k9m1q\">After the first demonstrators are lead away in plastic cuffs, Harvey can be seen moving slightly forward for an unobstructed view of the final arrests of two older protesters, including an elderly woman with a walker. As she is slowly lead away, Harvey told Freedom of the Press Foundation he was shoved and accosted by a stranger who scuffled him against a wall.</p><p data-block-key=\"zqtez\">“This guy he’s screaming, he’s screaming, he’s screaming,” Harvey said, “Well, by then why would I even think he’s a cop? I think he’s some lunatic who feels that my coverage of this poor people’s event is incorrect or it’s bringing attention to them that shouldn’t be brought to them.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gq61j\">Harvey said he’s been attacked a number of times by people for doing his job as a journalist and assumed this was another such incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"rtnud\">Video footage shows a man in a taupe blazer and tie repeatedly yelling “knock it off” while grabbing Harvey’s left arm and wrist and pressing him back against the wall. The man also shouts “What’s wrong with you?” at Harvey, who can be heard replying, “What’s wrong with you?”</p><p data-block-key=\"qzufz\">Harvey attempts to point his camera toward the man, but he shoves it away. After Harvey shows the man his press pass, the man can be heard saying he is aware Harvey is a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"q39m4\">“I understand that,” he says. “I’m asking you to keep it clear, for our guys. Now take it easy. Do not block our officers. Do not stand in back of them. Ok? Knock it off.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c9xhb\">Harvey told Freedom of the Press Foundation this was the first time the man indicated he was police officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"yfwh7\">Another officer then tells Harvey to stand against the wall, which he does.</p><p data-block-key=\"0eb14\">“I’m thinking ‘Ok, fine,’ tell me to stand there and I’ll stand there and film from there. All you need to do is tell me,” Harvey said.</p><p data-block-key=\"99lk8\">Harvey resumes filming the protesters when another officer is beckoned over and instructed to remove Harvey, which he does along with a Capitol police officer. That officer places Harvey in a wrist lock.</p><p data-block-key=\"z2s0y\">As Harvey is led away, he momentarily films the officer who has placed him in a wrist lock before the officer pushes the camera away. Harvey said he was lead to a room with other protesters, where he waited a significant period of time before officers were able to complete their citations.</p><p data-block-key=\"a35z5\">Harvey, who was at the Capitol to cover a Healthcare Services Employees Union sleep-in later that night, was barred from the Capitol for the rest of day.</p><p data-block-key=\"xiqvz\">“Gosh, now I have to head back to Pittsburgh, because what I went out there for I can’t do anymore,” Harvey said.</p><p data-block-key=\"fq8zx\">Harvey says the citation was eventually dropped, and he is currently pursuing a number of Freedom of Information Act requests into how new officers are trained as well as officer guidelines for interacting with the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"eks2p\">“I was placed in a handlock and lead off when those sitting-in weren’t, and I really feel that was an abuse of power,” Harvey said.</p><p data-block-key=\"rgg0o\">“In terms of press freedoms I think it’s inappropriate, because it means that anyone that goes to the Capitol to report on something can be arrested and banned from the Capitol for the day for doing nothing other than their job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kgo0m\">Harrisburg Capitol police spokesman Troy Thompson did not respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist Michael Nigro arrested while covering protest in Missouri",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-michael-nigro-arrested-while-covering-protest-missouri/",
"first_published_at": "2018-06-14T20:52:23.573688Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T19:45:13.084872Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T19:45:12.937842Z",
"date": "2018-06-11",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"22jsx\">Michael Nigro, a freelance photojournalist on assignment for Truthdig, was arrested while covering a Poor People’s Campaign demonstration in Jefferson City, Missouri, on June 11, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"cawsb\">Nigro has been covering the <a href=\"https://www.truthdig.com/articles/poor-peoples-campaign-fighting-for-labor-rights-and-living-wages-live-blog/\">Poor People’s Campaign</a> — a 40-day series of protests and civil disobedience actions in different cities across the country — since it began on May 14. On June 11, he was in Jefferson City, documenting a civil disobedience action in which a number of protesters planned to sit down in the middle of the street and be arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"z46li\">Nigro is a multimedia journalist who takes still photographs and livestreams events. He’s mounted his iPhone on top of his DSLR camera, a Canon 5D Mark III, so that he can take high-quality still photos while at the same time streaming to the public exactly what he sees in real-time. On June 11, he was wearing press credentials — both a New York City government press card and a Truthdig press pass — that clearly identified him as a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"xr0ji\">Nigro believes that his arrest was unjustified and that the Jefferson City police knew that he was a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"ir372\">“When people are performing acts of civil disobedience, I have every right as a journalist to document it, as long as I am not in the police officers’ way, which I was not,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"e2cf1\">Nigro’s June 11 <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/Truthdig/videos/10155540747691367/\">livestream</a> shows demonstrators marching toward the Missouri state capitol building and then the Missouri Chamber of Commerce. After arriving at the Chamber of Commerce building, a few dozen protesters — all wearing gold armbands, a sign that they plan to perform an act of civil disobedience and face arrest — walk onto East Capitol Avenue, link arms, and sit down. </p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"973la\">As police officers arrive to arrest the demonstrators, Nigro walks around them to photograph the arrests. One officer spots Nigro and orders him to get onto the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"0hn5u\">“You got it, you got it,” Nigro says, backing up toward the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"rw9xm\">After backing up to the sidewalk curb, Nigro approaches a second officer to ask about the arrests.</p><p data-block-key=\"2vzp3\">“Back onto the sidewalk!” the second officer barks through a bullhorn. “That’s your last warning. Everybody’s got to be up on the curb.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xmk2e\">The first officer then runs toward Nigro.</p><p data-block-key=\"opprf\">“Turn around,” the officer says. “You’re under arrest, my man.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ob4af\">“Call my editors!” Nigro says as he’s arrested. “Call my editors, please.”</p><p data-block-key=\"umi8r\">“I’m not resisting,” he says to the officer arresting him. “I’m just trying to do my job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6mnem\">The officer escorts Nigro to a nearby police van, where other officers handcuff him and take down his name and birthdate. The arresting officer hands Nigro’s equipment — camera, phone, and backpack — over to other officers and tells them, “it’s evidence.” The livestream continues for a few minutes after Nigro is arrested, as police search his backpack.</p><p data-block-key=\"a65ge\">Nigro said that he was kept in the police van for about an hour and then taken to the police precinct. Nigro said that he was concerned for his safety while riding in the van, since officers never strapped him into his seat.</p><p data-block-key=\"wqbnu\">“At one point, they started to move the van and I was not tied in,” he said. “The guy leaned back and said, ‘Are you OK?’ I said, ‘Yeah but I’m not strapped in.’ He said, ‘We’re not going anywhere, just moving backward.’ About an hour later, they took me to the precinct but never strapped me in.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b9inq\">When he got to the precinct, he said, he was processed and put in a holding cell for about half an hour, before being released on a $545 bail. </p><p data-block-key=\"sx88i\">All of Nigro’s equipment — including his iPhone, Canon 5D Mark III camera, two camera lenses (a 24–70mm standard lens and a Sony A7ii 70–200mm zoom lens), and notebook — was returned to him when he was released. He said that it was clear that the police had searched his equipment, though nothing appeared to be damaged and none of the photos on his phone or camera had been deleted.</p><p data-block-key=\"8bejo\">Nigro was charged with “failure to obey” and given a ticket to appear in a Jefferson City court at 8:13 a.m. on July 11, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"6uc44\">The Kansas City Star <a href=\"http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article212843349.html\">reported</a> that Nigro was one of 76 people arrested in connection with the June 11 protests, and that everyone arrested was issued a citation that carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail or a $1,000 fine. </p><p data-block-key=\"p8bsi\">This is not the only time that Nigro was arrested while covering a protest. In 2016, he said, he was arrested by an NYPD officer while documenting an anti-Trump march in New York City.</p></div>",
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"(2019-03-08 10:59:00+00:00) Charges dismissed for photojournalist arrested while covering demonstration in Missouri"
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{
"title": "Oberlin College subpoenas legal blogger for communications with source",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/oberlin-college-subpoenas-legal-blogger-communications-source/",
"first_published_at": "2018-11-30T02:31:16.389844Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-13T15:47:55.970215Z",
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"longitude": -76.14742,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6f8c6\">On June 7, 2018, attorneys for Oberlin College filed a subpoena in New York state, seeking communications between the blog Legal Insurrection and attorneys for Gibson’s Bakery in Oberlin, Ohio.</p><p data-block-key=\"3kpkn\">Legal Insurrection has extensively covered a defamation lawsuit that Gibson’s Bakery <a href=\"https://www.scribd.com/document/364088568/Gibson-s-Bakery-v-Oberlin-College-Complaint\">filed</a> against Oberlin College on Nov. 7, 2017. The 8 count defamation suit seeks more than $200,000 in damages over accusations of racial profiling and discrimination which the bakery claims caused irreparable damage to their business. </p><p data-block-key=\"3i3as\">“Oberlin College’s theory behind the demand for journalist communications with Gibson’s counsel was that Gibson’s counsel somehow created the damages to Gibson’s reputation that are at issue in the lawsuit by communicating with the media,” William Jacobson, the author of Legal Insurrection, wrote in <a href=\"https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/07/oberlin-college-subpoenas-journalists-communications-ours/\">a post</a> about the subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"mk7ld\">Oberlin initially attempted to subpoena Gibson’s Bakery for communication records. But after an Ohio court denied that subpoena on April 18, 2018, attorneys for Oberlin College brought <a href=\"https://legalinsurrection.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/WAJ-Media-v.-Oberlin-College-Subpoena-Duces-Tecum.pdf\">a subpoena against WAJ Media LLC</a>, which operates as Legal Insurrection and is based in Ithaca, NY.</p><p data-block-key=\"0m875\">The subpoena was <a href=\"https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/07/after-legal-challenge-oberlin-college-withdraws-subpoena-seeking-our-journalist-communications/\">withdrawn</a> on July 18, after Legal Insurrection filed a motion to quash the subpoena citing New York’s press shield law.</p></div>",
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"name": "New York",
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"Legal Insurrection"
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{
"title": "Senate Intel Committee staffer James Wolfe accused of lying to FBI about contacts with journalists",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/senate-intel-committee-staffer-james-wolfe-accused-lying-fbi-about-contacts-journalists/",
"first_published_at": "2018-06-08T19:35:15.819115Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T20:12:40.314809Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T20:12:40.216056Z",
"date": "2018-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zu5ix\">James Wolfe, the longtime director of security for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, was indicted on June 7, 2018, on three counts of making false statements to FBI agents, who had interviewed him while investigating leaks of classified information to journalists. On June 8, the <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4498589-Wolfe-James-Indictment-June-2018.html\">indictment</a> was unsealed.</p><p data-block-key=\"ly2l8\">According to the unsealed indictment, FBI agents interviewed Wolfe in December 2017 and asked him whether he had been in contact with any reporters, whether he had personal or professional relationships with any reporters, and whether he had given information (classified or unclassified) to reporters that he was not authorized to disclose. <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/former-us-senate-employee-indicted-false-statements-charges\">According to the indictment</a>, Wolfe <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/07/politics/james-wolfe-arrested/index.html\">falsely told the FBI</a> that he had not.</p><p data-block-key=\"2r5w5\">The indictment states that he specifically denied knowing Ali Watkins, a national security reporter who currently works at The New York Times and previously worked at BuzzFeed and Politico. When FBI agents later showed Wolfe a photo of him with Watkins, he admitted that he had been in a <a href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/top-senate-staffer-arrested-leak-probe-after-ny-times-reporter-n881186\">personal relationship</a> with her for three years, but said that he had not disclosed any confidential information to her.</p><p data-block-key=\"n7muy\"><a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/us/politics/times-reporter-phone-records-seized.html\">According to the Times</a>, the Department of Justice informed Watkins in February that it had <a href=\"/all-incidents/doj-secretly-seizes-phone-and-email-records-new-york-times-reporter-ali-watkins/\">seized years’ worth of her phone and email records</a> as part of its investigation into the leaks. Although the Justice Department did not obtain the content of her phone calls, texts, and emails, it did obtain all of the metadata — which reveals who she was in contact with and when she was in contact with them. The Justice Department cited some of those records in the indictment to establish that Wolfe and Watkins spoke to one another shortly before and after she published major stories.</p><p data-block-key=\"6g47x\">So far, Wolfe has not been charged with disclosing classified information to Watkins or any other reporters.</p><p data-block-key=\"cv7xp\">The FBI initially interviewed Wolfe as part of an investigation into leaks of classified information to reporters, but the grand jury only indicted him on charges of lying to FBI agents. It did not indict him on any charges of disclosing classified information. In a press release announcing the indictment, the Department of Justice only alleged that Wolfe had leaked “sensitive and confidential” information, not classified information. Watkins told the Times that Wolfe was not a source of classified information for her.</p><p data-block-key=\"egp6t\">Wolfe is the third person since Trump took office to be prosecuted in connection with a leak investigation. In June 2017, NSA contractor Reality Winner was accused of sending news organization The Intercept a classified document about the NSA’s investigation into Russian hacking attempts. In March 2018, former FBI agent Terry Albury was accused of sending The Intercept classified documents that instruct FBI agents on how to cultivate informants and surveil journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"fuobc\">Both Winner and Albury were charged under the Espionage Act — a century-old law originally targeted at foreign spies that has more been used to prosecute people who give classified information to journalists. Albury took a plea deal, while Winner has continued to fight her case, while repeatedly being denied bail.</p></div>",
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"name": "District of Columbia",
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"updates": [
"(2018-06-13 15:25:00+00:00) Wolfe pleads not guilty",
"(2018-10-15 15:32:00+00:00) Wolfe pleads guilty",
"(2018-12-20 15:41:00+00:00) Senate Intelligence Committee aide sentenced to prison for lying to FBI"
],
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"Ali Watkins"
],
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"Department of Justice"
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"Leak Case"
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},
{
"title": "Twitter subpoenaed for information of journalists, media outlets",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/twitter-subpoenaed-information-journalists-media-outlets/",
"first_published_at": "2020-03-03T20:20:56.724804Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-05-17T17:48:37.859056Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-05-17T17:48:37.641285Z",
"date": "2018-06-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"w62cb\">As part of an ongoing defamation suit, an attorney representing Aaron Rich — brother of murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich — subpoenaed Twitter for account information of numerous accounts, including several journalists and media outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"uudk2\">Aaron Rich named Texas businessman Ed Butowsky, America First Media Group and its founder Matt Couch and The Washington Times newspaper in the March 2018 lawsuit, following debunked reports that Seth Rich had been involved with the 2016 DNC email leaks prior to his death.</p><p data-block-key=\"0gbxt\">Filed on June 6, 2018, the <a href=\"https://www.scribd.com/document/381363661/Subpoena-to-Twitter-Aaron-RICH-v-Ed-Butowsky-1#from_embed\">subpoena</a> commands Twitter to produce account data, documents and communications concerning Seth Rich or his family, the DNC, the defendants, and individuals, outlets and phrases connected with the alleged defamatory reporting from identified “primary” and “secondary” accounts. The list of primary accounts, which predominantly consists of the defendants, also includes The Gateway Pundit and its reporter Cassandra Fairbanks, and WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. The secondary accounts are all those that interacted with the primary accounts via tweet, re-tweet, direct message or reply from Jan. 1, 2015, to the date of the subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"byli8\">Twitter was initially given until June 15 to produce all responsive documents. The Gateway Pundit <a href=\"https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/06/aaron-rich-attorneys-subpoena-twitter-to-turn-over-all-direct-messages-from-wikileaks-julian-assange-kimdotcom-cassandra-fairbanks-gateway-pundit-etc/\">reported</a> that Twitter sent letters notifying accounts implicated in the subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"y590r\">Reporter Fairbanks <a href=\"https://lawandcrime.com/lawsuit/seth-richs-brother-subpoenas-twitter-over-direct-messages-of-many-right-wing-accounts/\">told Law & Crime</a> the subpoena was a “gross and far reaching violation of privacy.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nde7l\">It is unclear whether Twitter turned over documents or communications in accordance with the subpoena or a court order, and Twitter declined to comment on whether it opposed the subpoena. The social media company has objected to <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/using-obscure-legal-justification-nypd-subpoenas-reporter/\">similar</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-issued-twitter-communication-journalist-others/\">subpoenas</a> in other instances.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Rich_Subpoena.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"iw6la\">A portion of the subpoena demanding Twitter account information</p>",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": "Twitter",
"third_party_business": "tech company",
"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-03-29 12:35:00+00:00) Defamation suit involving subpoena of Twitter terminated"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"America First Media",
"The Gateway Pundit",
"The Washington Times",
"WikiLeaks"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Cassandra Fairbanks (The Gateway Pundit)",
"Matt Couch (America First Media)",
"Julian Assange (WikiLeaks)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"unknown"
],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist asked for social media information during secondary screening",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-asked-social-media-information-during-secondary-screening/",
"first_published_at": "2019-11-21T16:50:21.343480Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-06T17:43:39.746728Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-06T17:43:39.671626Z",
"date": "2018-06-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Beirut",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hidsq\">Freelance journalist Scott Preston was stopped for secondary screening at U.S. Customs and Border Protection preclearance in Beirut, Lebanon, on June 6, 2018, while en route to Chicago from the United Arab Emirates.</p><p data-block-key=\"42um7\">Preston told the Committee to Protect Journalists that he had been through “special security treatment” in the past, but that this incident stood out. When passing through the screening area, CBP officers asked what he did and why he was traveling to the United States, then directed him to secondary screening.</p><p data-block-key=\"5cuyb\">Though Preston had previously passed through security, he told CPJ that he was directed through a second metal detector, patted down and taken to a separate room with multiple security cameras and an officer sitting behind a desk. Taking notes on a computer, the CBP officer asked Preston to account for as much of his four years in Lebanon as possible and about all of the countries where he had traveled and reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"9q7jj\">The officer also asked Preston for proof of his publications and how he “really” earned money: Preston said the officer seemed to not believe that it was economically feasible for him to rely on freelancing alone. The officer kept insisting that point until Preston said he had a roommate with whom he split living expenses, to which the officer responded, “Ah, that makes more sense.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gdvbm\">Preston pulled up his resume on his laptop to prove that he was a journalist and provide the officer with proof of his publications. While his laptop was open, the officer also asked Preston for information about his social media use, including what his handle and usernames were, and asked him to pull them up.</p><p data-block-key=\"dk3uv\">Preston told CPJ that the officer did not ask to see his cellphone, and at no point were any of his electronic devices removed from his sight.</p><p data-block-key=\"05pjc\">After approximately 20 minutes of questioning, Preston was allowed to leave. He told CPJ that he was in secondary screening for around 45 minutes to an hour.</p></div>",
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"border_point": "Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Lebanon ",
"abbreviation": null
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Scott Preston (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Jersey City removes over 240 community newspaper boxes from streets",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/jersey-city-removes-over-240-community-newspaper-boxes-streets/",
"first_published_at": "2018-07-20T18:49:53.018547Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T20:17:44.885110Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T20:17:44.797720Z",
"date": "2018-06-04",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Jersey City",
"longitude": -74.07764,
"latitude": 40.72816,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gcehf\">In early June 2018, the city of Jersey City removed over 240 community newspaper distribution boxes from the city’s streets. In a tweet, Jersey City mayor Steven Fulop announced that the city was removing the newspaper boxes because they were cluttering the city's sidewalks.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">For <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/JerseyCity?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#JerseyCity</a> residents: We continue to remove these from the streets as many are non functioning, they clutter the sidewalks, and many just become trash cans. We have 240 so far w/more to do. If we accidentally took one that has permits to be there please reach out to DPW <a href=\"https://t.co/ecfVn4L4rn\">pic.twitter.com/ecfVn4L4rn</a></p>— Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/StevenFulop/status/1003621136385658881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 4, 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=\"l60q8\">The city’s new policy came as a surprise to newspaper publishers.</p><p data-block-key=\"a31ou\">Anthony Ibarria, general manager of Hispanic weekly paper El Especialito, <a href=\"http://gothamist.com/2018/06/12/jersey_city_mayor_news_boxes.php\">told Gothamist</a> that no one called the paper before seizing its boxes.</p><p data-block-key=\"5sr5z\">Peter Rugh, an associate editor at The Indypendent — a community paper based in Brooklyn with a paper box in Jersey City — told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that his publication was not contacted prior to the removal of its box, <a href=\"https://indypendent.org/2018/06/dear-steven-fulop-kindly-return-our-newsbox/\">even though it prominently displays contact information</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"2tv1r\">“News boxes have been on the streets for decades unperturbed, including the first five years the mayor has been in office,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"sk3d1\">Rugh sees the removal of the boxes as a threat to press freedom.</p><p data-block-key=\"5hql4\">“[The removal] sets a dangerous precedent — not only for the press but for the public who rely on the coverage we provide to stay informed and make decisions regarding, among other things, who to vote for,” he said. “People say print is dying but remaining a print publication allows us to reach an audience who might never stumble upon us online, many of whom do not have regular access to the web. It should be very troubling to people that the mayor has created a newspaper blackout because he didn't like the way the dispensers look.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8pi35\">The mayor has said that newspapers with special permits will be able to keep their newspaper boxes on the street — but there is currently no way for newspapers to apply for permits for newspaper boxes.</p><p data-block-key=\"xol5x\">Fulop did not respond to a request from Freedom of the Press Foundation for comment, but Jersey City Press Secretary Hannah Peterson confirmed that the city has not yet implemented a formal permitting process for newspaper boxes.</p><p data-block-key=\"tscxe\">She said that the Jersey City city council plans to pass a measure in the future to establish a permit process.</p><p data-block-key=\"2y691\">Peterson defended the city’s new policy, saying that the boxes were cluttering the streets and also posed a potential “security risk” since dangerous items could be hidden in them.</p><p data-block-key=\"vs8fa\">“The same way that the city is concerned with open trash cans in terms of large amounts of people gathering, you don’t anywhere where anything could be hidden,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"fq14t\">Peterson said she did not know whether the city had received complaints from the public that the boxes cluttered the streets or posed a security risk. She did not provide an answer when asked whether the city intends to take similar measures for other facilities in public spaces like clothing donation boxes and planters.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1qha\">She did not provide an explanation as to why news organizations were not notified about the city’s new policy.</p></div>",
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"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 Jersey",
"abbreviation": "NJ"
},
"updates": [
"(2018-07-13 14:33:00+00:00) Mayor reverses policy"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
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},
{
"title": "Portland Mercury reporter Kelly Kenoyer shoved while filming Patriot Prayer rally",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/portland-mercury-reporter-kelly-kenoyer-shoved-while-filming-patriot-prayer-rally/",
"first_published_at": "2018-07-11T17:41:45.094906Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T20:20:17.313330Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T20:20:17.194920Z",
"date": "2018-06-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lmpvd\">Portland Mercury reporter Kelly Kenoyer was shoved while covering a far-right rally in Portland, Oregon, on June 3, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"uuje6\">“It was a scary experience—the first violent protest I've covered, and I had a bit of that violence directed at me,” she wrote in a piece for Portland Mercury.</p><p data-block-key=\"euah7\">Kenoyer told Freedom of the Press Foundation that she began covering the Patriot Prayer rally around 4 p.m., at which point there were around 20 people aligned with the far-right Patriot Prayer group and over 100 anti-fascist protesters present.</p><p data-block-key=\"vfmj5\">While filming a verbal confrontation between a Patriot Prayer demonstrator and a counterprotester, she said, a Patriot Prayer protester tried to grab her phone and <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/14/doxxing-assault-death-threats-the-new-dangers-facing-us-journalists-covering-extremism\">shoved</a> her backwards.</p><p data-block-key=\"hv6ih\">Kenoyer was able to film part of the altercation and later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Kelly_Kenoyer/status/1003438333467320322\">posted</a> the video on Twitter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This observer came to my defense when a guy pushed me in the face with a middle finger. <a href=\"https://t.co/TTn1O9s9Zu\">pic.twitter.com/TTn1O9s9Zu</a></p>— 🌤Kelly Kenoyer☀️ (@Kelly_Kenoyer) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Kelly_Kenoyer/status/1003438333467320322?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 4, 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=\"u387i\">“As [I filmed], the man (a masked up guy on the Patriot Prayer side), flipped me off, directing that hand towards the phone,” Kenoyer said. “Then he pushed his hand into my phone, shoving it into the side of my head/face, and pushed me over.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jsove\">After being pushed, Kenoyer identified herself as a reporter, and a bystander approached to try to defuse the situation. Kenoyer said that the man who shoved her and another Patriot Prayer demonstrator then then began yelling at the bystander.</p><p data-block-key=\"wlz7y\">“Things escalated from there and I ended up getting shoved backwards — I think they shoved the bystander into me,” she said. “I stumbled backwards and a random counterprotester caught me. He apologized for touching me and said he wanted to make sure I didn’t fall.”</p><p data-block-key=\"t29j2\">Kenoyer said she felt frazzled after the altercation and took a moment to gather herself back together before getting back to work.</p><p data-block-key=\"mwvle\">She said that she does not think that anyone was specifically targeting reporters for harassment, but protesters on both sides objected to being filmed.</p><p data-block-key=\"xex7s\">"Neither side particularly wanted to be filmed," she said. "Antifa activists also told me not to film, though they didn’t physically assault me over it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gmckb\">Kenoyer also noted that a different Patriot Prayer member filmed her and said, “You like that, bitch?!” She clarified later that day to the woman that she was a reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"0fn41\">Last year, Kenoyer was also signaled out and threatened by right wingers on social media after writing for Eugene Weekly about the impacts of doxxing by the right on anti-fascist activists.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kelly Kenoyer (Portland Mercury)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Oberlin College subpoenas local newspaper editor in defamation suit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/oberlin-college-subpoenas-local-newspaper-editor-defamation-suit/",
"first_published_at": "2018-11-30T03:15:46.565780Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-22T17:30:11.889805Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-22T17:30:11.791971Z",
"date": "2018-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Oberlin",
"longitude": -82.21738,
"latitude": 41.29394,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qul5g\">On May 30, 2018, attorneys for Oberlin College in Ohio subpoenaed local newspaper editor Jason Hawk to testify about his confidential sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"431cr\">Hawk, the editor of the Oberlin News-Tribune, had reported in November 2016 on protests outside of Gibson’s Bakery, a local bakery that Oberlin College administrators and students accused of racial discrimination. In November 2017, the bakery sued Oberlin College in state court for defamation.</p><p data-block-key=\"z3w48\">As part of the defamation suit, Oberlin’s attorneys subpoenaed Gibson’s Bakery for records of its communications with journalists, including Hawk. When that subpoena was denied, Oberlin’s attorneys <a href=\"https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/07/oberlin-college-goes-after-another-news-organizations-communications/\">subpoenaed</a> Hawk directly, ordering him to testify at a deposition on June 27, 2018. (Oberlin's attorneys also subpoenaed William Jacobson, a legal blogger who had written extensively about the defamation suit.)</p><p data-block-key=\"i7r4j\">During the June 27 deposition, Hawk refused to answer many questions, citing his reporter’s privilege not to divulge information about his sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"nzw0p\">Neither Oberlin’s attorneys nor Hawk’s attorneys were happy with the deposition. Oberlin’s attorneys asked the court to force Hawk to answer more questions about what he witnessed at the protest, while Hawk’s attorneys asked the court to quash the subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"rfem4\">On Aug. 22, the court <a href=\"https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/08/court-oberlin-college-cant-question-journalist-as-to-sources-in-gibsons-bakery-case/\">ruled</a> that Oberlin could not ask Hawk questions about his sources, but Hawk did have to answer questions about what he witnessed during the protest.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"subpoena_type": "other testimony",
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"legal_order_venue": "State",
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"state": {
"name": "Ohio",
"abbreviation": "OH"
},
"updates": [
"(2018-09-18 00:00:00+00:00) Ohio editor sat for second deposition in defamation case"
],
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jason Hawk (Oberlin News-Tribune)"
],
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"upheld"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist Zack Stoner shot and killed in Chicago",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-zack-stoner-shot-and-killed-chicago/",
"first_published_at": "2018-06-04T22:01:53.023098Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T20:30:40.054226Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T20:30:39.956211Z",
"date": "2018-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"27d5k\">On May 30, 2018, independent journalist Zack Stoner was shot and killed while driving in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Authorities have not said publicly whether they believe that the murder is connected to Stoner’s work.</p><p data-block-key=\"528z5\"><a href=\"http://wgntv.com/2018/05/30/fatal-shooting-leads-to-crash-in-south-loop/\">WGN reported</a> that Stoner was last seen alive around 1 a.m. in the early hours of May 30th, when he <a href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/journalist-zacktv-was-a-peacemaker-who-looked-out-for-everyone-friends-say/\">left a rap concert</a> at Refuge, a club in downtown Chicago. Around 1:30 a.m., he was driving his Jeep down Clark Street in the South Loop neighborhood in Chicago when unknown assailants in a second vehicle pulled alongside him and opened fire. </p><p data-block-key=\"z1l4c\">The bullets struck Stoner in the head and neck, causing him to drive onto a curb and crash into a light pole. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition, but was declared dead at 4:20 a.m., according to a log from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.</p><p data-block-key=\"tmm17\">Videos recorded by bystanders immediately after the shooting show three cars — Stoner’s Jeep, a wrecked Chevy Caprice, and a third car — and a group of people running to the third car. One of the persons in the video can be heard shouting, “Let’s go!” </p><p data-block-key=\"6c6c5\">Stoner, who grew up in a poor suburb of Chicago, ran a YouTube channel called “ZackTV1,” which had over 170,000 followers at the time of his death. On his channel, he posted exclusive interviews with underground hip hop artists and members of local gangs. Though some of his videos were controversial — a few mentioned conspiracy theories and others featured young men throwing gang signs and threatening their rivals — his friends and associates said that he always tried to remain neutral in gang disputes and was willing to interview anyone.</p><p data-block-key=\"xn4c2\">“He wasn’t in any gangs and he would and could literally go into any hood with his camera and get nothing but love,” music studio owner JP Lee <a href=\"https://www.pressreader.com/usa/chicago-sun-times/20180531/281668255655888\">told the Chicago Sun-Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ud55\">“I’m hearing stories like they may have been mad at him because he did interviews with certain rappers,” Stoner’s friend Phor Robinson told WGN. “But that’s not his fault for him doing his job. I don’t know why anyone would attack Zack and shoot him. He’s not that type. He shows love to everybody in Chicago.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pqax7\">Morgan Elise Johnson, co-founder and creative director of the Chicago-based publication The Triibe, met with Stoner and his business partner Tony Woods a month before Stoner’s death to discuss a potential partnership.</p><p data-block-key=\"z0c18\">“His voice was so powerful in the hood, and I don’t know if that power had something to do with his death,” Johnson <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2018/06/independent-music-journalist-zachary-stoner-killed.php\">told the Committee to Protect Journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ocrvj\">Stoner received threats related to his reporting, particularly his coverage of the death of Kenneka Jenkins, a teenage girl. On Sept. 10, 2017, Jenkins was found dead in a walk-in freezer at the Crowne Plaza O’Hare Hotel, where she had attended a party the night before. Although the death was ultimately ruled an accident, it sparked a massive social media frenzy and numerous conspiracy theories.</p><p data-block-key=\"8y1e8\">Stoner interviewed some of Jenkins’ friends who were with her the night that she died, but initially did not post the videos. In Oct. 2017, he received a threatening phone call from an anonymous woman, who warned him to “leave the case alone… leave it alone for your safety.” At the time, Stoner said that he would not post interviews related to the case because his house had been broken into, his camera gear stolen, and he was receiving threatening phone calls and emails. But in late November, he finally published the videos.</p><p data-block-key=\"6an95\">In April 2018, freelance journalist Charles Preston <a href=\"https://chicagodefender.com/the-hood-cnn-zacktv1/\">profiled Stoner</a> for the Chicago Defender.</p><p data-block-key=\"m08mm\">“Stoner documents what others neglect and repeatedly interviews personalities who many had hoped would never grace a camera,” Preston wrote. “His videos are not fluffy, glitzy, and sentimental documentary shorts; on the contrary, they are more like visceral punches to the gut that can leave you either inspired for change or disturbed by reality. He has given the city’s most controversial artists their first on-camera interviews and covered neighborhoods where news reporters keep their news trucks running.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v1qza\">“I wanted to show the world what the other side of Chicago looks like…our culture — the way we dress, what we eat, how we talk, how we walk,” Stoner told Preston.</p><p data-block-key=\"i6wsw\">“A lot of people respect what I do,” he added. “I'm the ‘Hood CNN.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"zsrid\">The profile also highlighted Stoner’s involvement in community service work.</p><p data-block-key=\"zk21u\">“People don’t see what he does behind the scenes,” Woods, Stoner’s mentor, told the Defender. “There have been many occasions where a guy will call Zack on his way ride on his opps (Chicago slang for enemies) and Zack would talk him down. The brother has a jail phone. He sends money to incarcerated brothers and takes care of their families. People don’t get to see that side of it. They assume because he’s interviewing [members of rival gangs] the GD’s or BD’s that he’s fanning the flames and that’s not the case.”</p><p data-block-key=\"47y2v\">Shortly after Stoner’s death was confirmed, Preston said on Twitter that Stoner had discussed the possibility of working with the Chicago Defender to create a documentary series about violence in Chicago.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Last time I talked to Zack, he was at Sip and Savor on 43rd. He was happy to be the first Chicago journalist to interview openly gay rapper <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KiddoKenn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@KiddoKenn</a>. He told me that he wanted to do more docu-series on Chicago's violence.</p>— Charles Preston (@_CharlesPreston) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/_CharlesPreston/status/1001824692867600384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">After I interviewed Zack for the Defender, I then introduced him to Frances Jackson, the boss at the time. I showed her his videos. She said "Let's do a docu-series with him." He thought he broke through. Two weeks later she was let go. He was really trying to get out the streets</p>— Charles Preston (@_CharlesPreston) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/_CharlesPreston/status/1001836498558373893?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2018-06-04_at_7.03.55.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"h2odo\">Zack Stoner speaks in a video published on his YouTube channel "ZackTV1," in April 2018.</p>",
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"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-11-03 12:49:00+00:00) Prosecutors declined to charge suspects in murder of Chicago journalist"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"killed",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Zack Stoner (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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},
{
"title": "Al Jazeera journalist stopped and questioned at JFK airport",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/al-jazeera-journalist-stopped-and-questioned-jfk-airport/",
"first_published_at": "2018-10-22T15:16:29.100149Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T20:31:16.371805Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T20:31:16.271426Z",
"date": "2018-05-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5iwaf\">Mhamed Krichen, anchor and program host for Al Jazeera and board member for the Committee to Protect Journalists, was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection when flying in to JFK Airport in New York, on May 23, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"s0bgk\">Krichen — who has previously reported for Reuters, Radio Tunis, MBC, and BBC Arabic — was flying to New York from Doha, Qatar, in order to attend a CPJ board meeting. He landed at the airport at around 8:45 a.m. He said that he presented a CBP agent with his Tunisian passport, bearing a B1 U.S. visa, and was directed to secondary screening. The officer, whom Krichen told CPJ was consistently polite and kind to him, then led him through a police area, fingerprinted him, and accompanied him to the baggage claim area. While waiting for the bags, the officer flipped through his passport —which is three, thoroughly stamped passports glued together — and asked him why he travels so much. He simply responded, “I am a journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fporb\">Once Krichen retrieved his luggage, the officer ushered him into an interview room and began asking him for personal details, including his wife’s name and birthdate, her workplace, her nationality, their full home address, and his contact information. Krichen said that the officer also asked about his work — where he has traveled and why, the names of the programs he hosts, the topics they cover, and who he has interviewed. After these “typical” background questions, Krichen said, the officer’s questions turned to terrorism, “which he seemed obsessed with.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2q6j4\">The officer asked if he’d had any relationship with an individual involved with terrorism, interviewed someone accused of terrorism, or had any relationship with someone suspected of terrorism. Krichen said that he pulled out his phone and unlocked it to double check the name of a former colleague — Sami al-Hadj — who had been arrested in Afghanistan and detained in Guantanamo Bay for six years. Krichen had interviewed al-Hadj about his time in the prison. </p><p data-block-key=\"szwav\">After asking once again if Krichen had any relationships with individuals suspected of or involved in terrorism, the officer and Krichen went through his suitcases, piece by piece. After that, Krichen said, the officer asked to see Krichen's unlocked cellphone. The officer asked Krichen if he uses his full name on Facebook and Twitter (he does) and then led him out to a waiting room while the officer walked to a nearby counter to examine the phone. Krichen said that he was able to observe the officer swiping through his phone for five to seven minutes, but he couldn’t see what the officer was browsing through.</p><p data-block-key=\"me5y0\">Afterward, the officer made a call — Krichen told CPJ it appeared that he was calling a supervisor — and spoke on the phone for approximately ten minutes, all the while flipping through the notes he had taken during his interview of Krichen. Immediately after hanging up the phone, the officer stamped Krichen’s passport, returned his phone, and told him he was free to leave. Krichen said that the entire incident took about an hour.</p><p data-block-key=\"dgepm\">Krichen told CPJ he considered asking why he had been stopped in the first place, as the officer never offered any explanation or apology for stopping him, but he decided against it. He said that he assumes he was selected at random, in part because he doesn’t want “to play the victim or the martyr.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gop8f\">“I’m just glad I was only traveling with my phone and not my laptop,” Krichen said, “because they might’ve tried to search that too.”</p><p data-block-key=\"obovt\">According to a <a href=\"https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2018-Jan/CBP-Directive-3340-049A-Border-Search-of-Electronic-Media-Compliant.pdf\">CBP directive</a> released in January 2018, travelers are “obligated” to turn over their unlocked and unencrypted devices to CBP agents, who may perform “basic” searches of electronic devices without cause. The CBP directive states that “advanced,” or forensic, searches require “reasonable suspicion of activity in violation of the laws enforced or administered by CBP,” but basic lawful searches using less . The Supreme Court has upheld the so-called “border search exception” to the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, though it has not specifically ruled on the consitutionality of searches conducted in accordance with CBP's January 2018 directive.</p></div>",
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"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
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"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": "John F. Kennedy International Airport",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. non-resident",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "yes",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [
"Tunisia"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mhamed Krichen (Al Jazeera [Qatar])"
],
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},
{
"title": "Press Enterprise reporter subpoenaed to testify in Pennsylvania murder trial",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/press-enterprise-reporter-subpoenaed-to-testify-in-pennsylvania-murder-trial/",
"first_published_at": "2023-12-12T21:23:29.424475Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-16T16:16:55.691796Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-16T16:16:55.600411Z",
"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=\"kelw2\">Kristin Baver and <a href=\"/all-incidents/press-enterprise-reporters-subpoenaed-testify-murder-trial/\">John-Erik Koslosky</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=\"67lpv\">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=\"fp32u\">State prosecutors subpoenaed Baver and Koslosky, 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>",
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"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
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"categories": [
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],
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],
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},
{
"title": "The Daily Item reporter Francis Scarcella subpoenaed to testify in Pennsylvania murder trial",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/daily-item-reporter-francis-scarcella-subpoenaed-testify-pennsylvania-murder-trial/",
"first_published_at": "2018-10-18T23:15:31.774188Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T20:34:53.812956Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T20:34:53.718356Z",
"date": "2018-05-22",
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"city": "Bloomsburg",
"longitude": -76.45495,
"latitude": 41.0037,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4j6zk\">Francis Scarcella — a reporter for The Daily Item newspaper in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania — was subpoenaed to testify in the murder trial of Anthony “Rocco” Franklin, in May 2018. A hearing on the subpoena was held on May 22, 2018, and a judge quashed the subpoena two days later.</p><p data-block-key=\"7i408\">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. While Franklin was being held in an Argentinian prison, he reached out to the press. Scarcella conducted a phone interview with him and then wrote it up for The Daily Item. Two journalists at another newspaper, the Press Enterprise, also interviewed Franklin over the phone and wrote about it.</p><p data-block-key=\"ry92y\">Prosecutors subpoenaed Scarcella and the two Press Enterprise reporters in order to <a href=\"https://www.dailyitem.com/news/local_news/public-perception-endangered-if-reporters-testify-in-rocco-case/article_b27b0fd4-b66a-5851-8a99-0517ff72672e.html\">force them to testify</a> about statements that Franklin made to them during the interview. During a court hearing on the subpoena before Centre County Senior Judge David Grine, prosecutors complained that the papers’ reporting on the Franklin case had been “reckless.” </p><p data-block-key=\"iliet\">On May 24, 2018, Judge Grine <a href=\"https://www.dailyitem.com/news/judge-reporters-will-not-have-to-testify-in-franklin-trial/article_d711bdb6-5f72-11e8-a0fd-bb442ce63da7.html\">quashed</a> the subpoena against Scarcella and the subpoenas against the Press Enterprise reporters.</p></div>",
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"name": "Pennsylvania",
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],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Francis Scarcella (The Daily Item)"
],
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],
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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>",
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"subpoena_type": "testimony about confidential source",
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"legal_order_venue": "State",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
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},
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"John-Erik Koslosky ([Bloomsburg] Press Enterprise)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
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],
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},
{
"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&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>— 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'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\">"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," he said. "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."</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'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>— 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&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'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&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>— 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'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 "pushed through the security entrance." After the AP objected to that characterization, he released another statement, which said that Knickmeyer "showed up at EPA but refused to leave the building after being asked to do so."</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>— 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\">"We are pleased that the EPA has reconsidered its decision and will now allow AP to attend the remainder of today’s meeting," an AP spokeswoman said in a statement. "The AP looks forward to informing the public of the important discussions at the water contaminants summit."</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\">"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'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'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>",
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"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>",
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"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 & 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 & 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": "",
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"name": "Arizona",
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"Caitlin Schmidt (Arizona Daily Star)"
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},
{
"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 & 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's sources are “crucial to his case.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"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>",
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"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": [],
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"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 & 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>— 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' 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'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'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 & 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' 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": "",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
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"tags": [
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"categories": [
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{
"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\">"The fight started kind of breaking up and three of the girls kind of back away and start walking toward me," Lisignoli said. "At that point I'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."</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>— 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": "",
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"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>",
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"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": []
}
]
