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[
{
"title": "Kentucky journalist harassed, kissed on cheek during live broadcast",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kentucky-journalist-harassed-kissed-cheek-during-live-broadcast/",
"first_published_at": "2019-10-07T16:51:11.443908Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-08T19:28:09.072473Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-08T19:28:08.758929Z",
"date": "2019-09-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Louisville",
"longitude": -85.75941,
"latitude": 38.25424,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"h2ixh\">WAVE 3 News broadcast reporter Sara Rivest was harassed and kissed by a stranger while reporting outside a music festival in Louisville, Kentucky, on Sept. 20, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"3w0qw\">The news crew set up outside of the Bourbon & Beyond music festival to avoid the worst of the crowds, Rivest <a href=\"https://www.wave3.com/2019/09/23/wave-news-reporter-kissed-live-tv-heres-why-its-not-cool/\">told</a> WAVE 3. She shared a clip of her live broadcast on Twitter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hey mister, here’s your 3 seconds of fame. How about you not touch me? Thanks!! <a href=\"https://t.co/5O44fu4i7y\">pic.twitter.com/5O44fu4i7y</a></p>— Sara Rivest (@SRivestWAVE3) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SRivestWAVE3/status/1175185533250801666?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 20, 2019</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e5ey3\">Shortly after Rivest begins her broadcast, a man walks behind her and pretends to spank her before walking off camera smiling. A few seconds later, a second man quickly runs in front of Rivest, who continues reporting through the distraction. The first man, later identified as Eric Goodman, quickly returns and leans in to kiss Rivest’s cheek before running back off camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"fpesz\">“OK, that was not appropriate,” Rivest says to the camera. “But, let’s just go to the story.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rspj8\">Rivest appeared to laugh off the incident, but she addressed the harassment a few days later on her channel, <a href=\"https://www.wave3.com/2019/09/23/wave-news-reporter-kissed-live-tv-heres-why-its-not-cool/\">and told viewers</a> that she was shaken up and his actions were unacceptable.</p><p data-block-key=\"c4chj\">“I was shocked, but my nervous laughter does not equate to approval of his actions,” Rivest said. “It was an exertion of power over me, a woman trying to do her job who couldn’t stop him. This embarrassed me, and it made me feel uncomfortable and powerless.”</p><p data-block-key=\"iwmwz\">Rivest highlighted that harassment of this type is an all-too-common occurrence for journalists in the field, especially women. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-assaulted-heavyweight-boxer-during-camera-interview/\">at least one other case</a> this year where a female broadcast reporter was kissed against her will while reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"q06kr\">Rivest told the Tracker that she didn’t expect the amount of public support that she received.</p><p data-block-key=\"iquzj\">“I knew I had something important to say about this but I didn’t know how many people would listen, and it’s important when something like this happens to say something,” Rivest said.</p><p data-block-key=\"9bk8k\">After Goodman was identified as the man involved in the incident, he was charged by the Jefferson County Attorney with harassment with physical contact, a Class B misdemeanor.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Eric Goodman has been identified as the guy who pretended to spank me and kiss me during the live shot Friday. He’s charged with harassment with physical contact. He has written me an apology letter, I’ll read that on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wave3news?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@wave3news</a> later today. <a href=\"https://t.co/chgG9tikVp\">pic.twitter.com/chgG9tikVp</a></p>— Sara Rivest (@SRivestWAVE3) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SRivestWAVE3/status/1177241192582516736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 26, 2019</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0lgcy\">In a letter of apology <a href=\"https://www.wave3.com/2019/09/26/man-who-kissed-wave-news-reporter-sara-rivest-live-tv-identified-charged/\">read on air</a> by Rivest, Goodman said, “After watching the video, reading through the posts and listening to your explanation, I have found a new respect for how difficult it must be to be a reporter, specifically in this type of environment. I was wrong to interrupt your job, invade your personal space and leave you feeling powerless.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wujur\">Rivest said that she accepts his apology, but that she knows he needs to face the consequences of his actions and agrees with the Commonwealth’s decision to charge him.</p><p data-block-key=\"rx9x9\">Goodman has a Nov. 6 court date, and faces up to <a href=\"https://casetext.com/statute/kentucky-revised-statutes/title-50-kentucky-penal-code/chapter-532-classification-and-designation-of-offenses-authorized-disposition/section-532090-sentence-of-imprisonment-for-misdemeanor\">90 days in jail</a> and <a href=\"https://casetext.com/statute/kentucky-revised-statutes/title-50-kentucky-penal-code/chapter-534-fines/section-534040-fines-for-misdemeanors-and-violations\">a maximum $250 fine</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Rivest.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ysdxu\">Journalist Sara Rivest speaks candidly on air about being assaulted during a previous live broadcast.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Kentucky",
"abbreviation": "KY"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-12-20 00:00:00+00:00) Man who kissed Kentucky reporter on air sentenced to diversion"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"sexual assault"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sara Rivest (WAVE)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "BuzzFeed says its immigration reporter was excluded from DHS border tour",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/buzzfeed-says-its-immigration-reporter-was-excluded-dhs-border-tour/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-23T17:03:49.344194Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-06T20:32:57.793034Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-06T20:32:57.716619Z",
"date": "2019-09-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1m1hg\">BuzzFeed News immigration reporter Hamed Aleaziz was disinvited from a Department of Homeland Security tour of the border on Sept. 16, 2019, according to a letter obtained by CNN's Reliable Sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"qp2rz\">CNN <a href=\"https://mailchi.mp/cnn/rs-sept-17-2019\">reported</a> that Aleaziz had originally been invited on the media tour with acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan and had provided his personal information for security clearance purposes.</p><p data-block-key=\"u4o2o\">In the letter, BuzzFeed news director Tom Namako wrote to protest the agency’s treatment of Aleaziz. Namako said that while DHS spokesperson Andrew Meehan was visiting BuzzFeed’s offices in February, Meehan said he viewed Aleaziz as a “fair reporter” and repeatedly invited him to take a tour of the border with U.S. immigration authorities.</p><p data-block-key=\"hppfh\">Namako wrote that Aleaziz had sought to take Meehan up on this offer when he was notified that he would be excluded from the tour.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1zuy\">“We are perplexed and disappointed by your apparent decision to specifically target Hamed, who has always sought your agency’s perspective in his coverage,” Namako wrote. “His exclusion serves only to prevent our audience and the American public from understanding the real situation at the border.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kukh1\">Neither Aleaziz nor a spokesperson from DHS responded to request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTSGAZI.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1v5zh\">A BuzzFeed news director protested a reporter's exclusion from a media tour of the border with DHS.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": 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": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"BuzzFeed News"
],
"tags": [
"immigration"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Federal government: Agency"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
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"Government event"
]
},
{
"title": "Journalists barred from asylum hearings held in tent courts at border",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-barred-asylum-hearings-held-tent-courts-border/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-23T19:49:25.720770Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-06T20:31:55.153989Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-06T20:31:55.062030Z",
"date": "2019-09-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Laredo",
"longitude": -99.50754,
"latitude": 27.50641,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nwe6q\">Members of the media were barred from observing asylum hearings held in two tent complexes in the Texas border cities of Laredo and Brownsville. The first hearing in Laredo was held on Sept. 11, 2019, and hearings began at the Brownsville tent court the next day.</p><p data-block-key=\"86o7e\">Asylum seekers processed under the Trump administration’s new Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, crossed the border to attend the hearings held in the tent facilities beginning on Sept. 11. But journalists and members of the public were not allowed inside the tents while the hearings were in session.</p><p data-block-key=\"b612n\">BuzzFeed reporter Adolfo Flores tweeted that he had not been permitted into the tents to observe the hearings on their first day:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I wasn’t allowed to observe the first MPP/“Remain in Mexico” hearings at the tents in Laredo, TX because they’re “not open to the public,” a DHS officer said. Was told the only people allowed inside the tents DHS built are law enforcement, attorneys with clients, and contractors. <a href=\"https://t.co/c1aT3P4dPW\">pic.twitter.com/c1aT3P4dPW</a></p>— Adolfo Flores (@aflores) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/aflores/status/1171778317441294337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 11, 2019</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5l894\">Typically, asylum hearings are open to the public and the media except when limited exceptions are invoked, including when “the respondent in an asylum case, which by regulation provides for additional privacy protections, requests that the hearing be closed,” or when such closure is in the “public interest,” according to <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/941991/download\">established Executive Office for Immigration Review policies</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"d3omb\">These exceptions can be invoked on a case-by-case basis, but the access in the tent courts is being restricted to all hearings.</p><p data-block-key=\"83ial\">In a statement emailed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson—who declined to be identified by name—wrote that because the tent courts are located within U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s “secure port of entry property,” media access to them is limited. “Access to these temporary immigration hearing facilities will operate in accordance with practices for other secure CBP areas,” the statement said. “Requests for access by the media or by the public to the [immigration hearing facilities] will be assessed on a case-by-case basis when operationally feasible and in accordance with procedures for access to any CBP secure facility.”</p><p data-block-key=\"624dk\">Journalists can observe the hearings from San Antonio, Harlingen, and Port Isabel, Texas, where the immigration judges presiding over the hearings are located, the DHS spokesperson continued. The asylum seekers appear in the courtroom via teleconference.</p><p data-block-key=\"0zbxd\">This arrangement, however, means the journalists will be located at least 150 miles away from the migrants, rendering them unavailable for in-person interviews.</p><p data-block-key=\"rtpjz\">“Just as it’s hard for judges to catch emotion and body language from a video hearing, it’s going to be hard for reporters to accurately describe the scene in a hearing room if we only have access to it via video conference,” Flores said in a statement emailed to the Tracker. “If there are technical issues inside one of the tent hearings we won’t know what it was like for the asylum-seekers there. We’ll only be able to see what the hearing was like from the judge’s courtroom.”</p><p data-block-key=\"p89y5\">Journalists need access to these hearings, Flores continued, to cover how the “Remain in Mexico” policy is affecting migrants. “Public hearings are supposed to be public,” Flores wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"fv1za\">Kennji Kizuka, a researcher at Human Rights First, decried the ban on journalists and outside observers in the tent courts in a <a href=\"https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/press-release/banning-legal-observers-asylum-hearings-next-step-under-cruel-remain-mexico\">statement</a>. “By banning independent monitors and potential pro bono lawyers from tent courts, the Trump Administration is hiding information about the human rights abuses asylum seekers are suffering after being forced to return to Mexico,” the statement said. “It is just another attempt to cover up the flaws in this sham asylum process, a process created to block refugees from finding safety in the United States.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pi84i\">Some 42,000 migrants are now waiting in Mexico for their asylum hearings under the so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy that has been challenged in the courts. On Sept. 11, the U.S. Supreme Court <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/us/politics/supreme-court-trump-asylum.html\">stayed</a> an injunction in the case, allowing the Trump administration to proceed in enforcing the new policy while court challenges proceed. According to <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/along-texas-border-trump-administration-sets-up-tent-courts-for-virtual-asylum-hearings/2019/09/18/f29d1326-d9bc-11e9-adff-79254db7f766_story.html\">reporting</a> from The Washington Post, the Trump administration has budgeted $155 million to cover operation of five temporary MPP courts.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"t0zle\">Migrants who returned voluntarily to Mexico from the U.S. under the Migrant Protection Protocol show documents to a U.S. border protection agent to attend their court hearing for asylum seekers in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-12-29 00:00:00+00:00) Tent courts for asylum seekers at U.S.-Mexico border opened to journalists"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
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"tags": [
"immigration"
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"Federal government: Agency"
],
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"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
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},
{
"title": "North Carolina state senator damages reporter’s phone in physical altercation",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/north-carolina-state-senator-damages-reporters-phone-in-physical-altercation/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-19T20:00:33.780626Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-27T21:28:45.469477Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-27T21:28:45.364437Z",
"date": "2019-09-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Raleigh",
"longitude": -78.63861,
"latitude": 35.7721,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vz2y6\">Investigative reporter for NC Policy Watch, Joe Killian, said North Carolina State Sen. Paul Lowe assaulted him and threw his phone down a hallway of the legislative building on Sept. 11, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"m9b05\">Killian was covering the aftermath of an unscheduled vote to overrule the governor’s veto of the state budget at approximately 10:20 a.m. when he heard screaming from behind a closed door and a shout for police assistance, Policy Watch <a href=\"https://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2019/09/11/n-c-sen-paul-lowe-apologizes-after-accosting-policy-watch-reporter/\">reported</a>. Killian began filming as Lowe came out of the room alongside two other congressmen.</p><p data-block-key=\"o6b01\">In Killian’s <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiGjY8-Q7_A\">video</a> of the incident posted to NC Policy Watch’s channel on YouTube, Lowe notices Killian filming and moves toward him asking, “What are you doing with your camera?”</p><p data-block-key=\"hkzvz\">“I’m a journalist,” Killian replies as Lowe grabs at the hand holding the phone. Killian told Policy Watch that after a brief struggle the senator threw Killian’s phone down the hallway and walked away. Killian said that he was not injured in the altercation.</p><p data-block-key=\"j9j3q\">In the outlet’s write-up about the incident, NC Policy Watch Director Rob Schofield offered this <a href=\"https://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2019/09/11/n-c-sen-paul-lowe-apologizes-after-accosting-policy-watch-reporter/\">statement</a>: “Senator Lowe’s unprovoked actions this morning targeted a working journalist just doing his job. They were outrageous, unacceptable, and sadly indicative of a trend we’ve seen from an alarming number of public officials.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ih95a\">“I apologize for anything that I’ve done,” Lowe said in the write-up. “It was an unfortunate circumstance. I apologize for that circumstance.”</p><p data-block-key=\"52ifm\">The Greensboro News & Record <a href=\"https://www.greensboro.com/news/state/state-senator-from-forsyth-county-apologizes-after-run-in-with/article_a9d57455-350f-532f-a1c7-2faf46ebc9cb.html\">reported</a> that both Lowe and Killian had spoken with the N.C. General Assembly Police Department about the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ifvg\">Schofield told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Killian’s phone was ultimately destroyed. “He has purchased a new one and Senator Lowe has promised to reimburse our organization,” Schofield said.</p><p data-block-key=\"z8sdx\">Schofield told the Tracker that they do not anticipate any further legal proceedings at this point.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"f1xmv\">An image from NC Policy Watch reporter Joe Killian’s phone as North Carolina State Sen. Paul Lowe moves toward him</p>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "North Carolina",
"abbreviation": "NC"
},
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"categories": [
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"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Joe Killian (NC Policy Watch)"
],
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"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Journalists subpoenaed in criminal case involving intimidation, blackmail of the news organizations",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-subpoenaed-criminal-case-involving-intimidation-blackmail-news-organizations/",
"first_published_at": "2019-10-21T16:35:36.411714Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-11T16:43:53.275361Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-11T16:43:53.177574Z",
"date": "2019-09-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Independence",
"longitude": -95.70831,
"latitude": 37.22424,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vh8oq\">Journalists at two local newspapers in Kansas have been subpoenaed for testimony as part of a criminal case against a former community college football coach featured in a Netflix documentary who allegedly impersonated a high-powered Los Angeles attorney as part of a scheme to intimidate the journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"lnm83\">The Independence Daily Reporter, its publisher, and the editor for the Montgomery County Chronicle received a subpoena dated Sept. 10, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"71m7b\">Both the Daily Reporter and the Chronicle are based in Independence, a small town of under 9,000 people in southeastern Kansas. The town gained national fame when “Last Chance U,” a Netflix documentary series about junior college football teams, arrived in 2017 to chronicle the transformation of Independence Community College’s football program under new coach Jason Brown.</p><p data-block-key=\"1p5qo\">The Daily Reporter is a daily newspaper that publishes both online and in print, while the Chronicle is a weekly publication that doesn’t have a website. The Chronicle is edited by Andy Taylor, whose family has been in the newspaper business since the 1870s. Andy’s parents, Rudy and Kathy Taylor, are the paper’s owners and publishers.</p><p data-block-key=\"rdu6a\">Taylor told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the trouble began in October 2018, after he published an editorial critical of coach Brown and the ICC football team, which had <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10155860302038716&id=179343538715\">gotten into a physical fight with an opposing team</a> the month before.</p><p data-block-key=\"xad5k\">A few weeks after the editorial was published, Taylor received an email from someone claiming to be “Richard Barnwell,” an attorney at The Cochran Firm, a well-known law firm in Los Angeles. The email threatened Taylor with a lawsuit if he continued to write about Brown. (Although Taylor said he could not share copies of the actual emails in advance of the trial, he was able to describe them in general terms.)</p><p data-block-key=\"ivpxk\">“It looked legit,” Taylor said of the email. “It had the guy’s [photograph] on there. It had a link to the firm’s website. It was just very typical of what you’d see in any cease and desist letter. It was typical in the language, where it would start out saying, ‘I represent Jason Brown at Independence Community College, he is my client, any continuing effort to defame or write anything that is negative toward my client will result in immediate litigation against you, please cease and desist.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"8b96q\">The email spooked Taylor, who knew that his family’s small-town newspaper could not afford to defend an expensive defamation suit.</p><p data-block-key=\"sei68\">“My parents, who are in their mid-70s, own the newspaper,” Taylor said. “They’re the publishers. So I presented them the cease and desist letter, and they were very quick and swift in their decision. In fact, my father said, ‘Andy, you need to cool your jets!’ Meaning, stop being critical of Jason Brown.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bofnq\">Fearful of a lawsuit, the Chronicle stopped running editorials and commentary critical of Brown and the ICC football program.</p><p data-block-key=\"77bzo\">Then in February 2019, a student at ICC who had been cut from the football team reached out to Taylor with an explosive tip about Brown. The student, who was originally from Germany, told Taylor that Brown had berated him in front of his teammates and mocked his heritage. After the student complained about Brown’s behavior to ICC administrators, the coach sent him a text message: “I’m your new Hitler.” The student shared a copy of the text message with Taylor.</p><p data-block-key=\"5uaps\">Soon after Taylor contacted ICC’s president for comment, he received another threatening email from “Richard Barnwell.”</p><p data-block-key=\"yq0z4\">Taylor said this email referenced the cease and desist language of the first email and again threatened a defamation and libel lawsuit if he investigated further.</p><p data-block-key=\"y2dn2\">This time, Taylor replied to the email. The response he got from “Barnwell” was unprofessional, full of misspelled words — including the word “chronicle” — and personal insults, which made him skeptical that the man on the other end of the email was really a professional attorney. Taylor also noticed that the emails supposedly from “Barnwell” were sent from a Yahoo email address, rather than an email address associated with The Cochran Firm.</p><p data-block-key=\"sbc13\">Suspicious that someone was impersonating Barnwell, Taylor called the attorney’s office and explained the situation to his secretary. Barnwell soon left Taylor a voicemail confirming that the attorney had nothing to do with the emails and had never heard of Brown.</p><p data-block-key=\"gpayx\">Taylor then contacted the county sheriff’s office and told them the whole story. In May, the sheriff’s office informed Taylor that it had obtained evidence tying the fake “Barnwell” account to Brown’s electronic devices. Taylor also learned that the same email account had targeted another local newspaper — the Daily Reporter — which had run an editorial cartoon mocking Brown.</p><p data-block-key=\"t8tf5\">On June 28, Brown was charged with four felony counts of blackmail, four felony counts of identity theft, and two misdemeanor counts of criminal false communication, <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10156464185298716&id=179343538715\">according to the Chronicle</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"hooyk\">A month later, Netflix released the fourth season of “Last Chance U.” The season details the text message incident and Brown’s subsequent firing but makes no mention of the pending criminal charges against him.</p><p data-block-key=\"wp2qh\">Taylor plans to testify at Brown’s trial, which was originally scheduled to begin in October but has since been postponed to January 2020. Both Taylor and Josh Umholtz, the publisher of the Daily Reporter, and the Daily Reporter itself appear on a list of subpoenaed witnesses. No one from the Daily Reporter has returned request for comment as to whether the organization will comply with the subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"906f9\">Most subpoena cases documented on the Tracker involve journalists who are being compelled to testify, often about their reporting and their confidential sources, against their will. This case is different.</p><p data-block-key=\"mev19\">Taylor described his situation as “the flip side of the conventional argument against journalists testifying,” since it involves journalists being the victim of a criminal attempt to intimidate the press. He said he would testify voluntarily even if he had not been subpoenaed in the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"dyrrp\">“I just want to tell somebody, with my hand on my Bible and under oath, that I did my job, I did it well, and somebody didn’t like that and tried to put my pen away, and that doesn’t work in America,” he said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"do49k\">The Montgomery County Chronicle is one of two Kansas publications subpoenaed to testify in a criminal case against a community college football coach charged with blackmail, identity theft after allegedly sending false cease and desist emails.</p>",
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"(2021-04-15 00:00:00+00:00) Kansas journalists not compelled to testify after criminal case against football coach is dropped"
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{
"title": "BuzzFeed reporter receives second subpoena in ongoing Unsworth-Musk defamation lawsuit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/buzzfeed-reporter-receives-second-subpoena-ongoing-unsworth-musk-defamation-lawsuit/",
"first_published_at": "2019-10-01T19:01:24.995200Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-15T16:03:12.843731Z",
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"date": "2019-09-06",
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"city": "San Francisco",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dvhsy\">Ryan Mac, a senior technology reporter for BuzzFeed News, was issued his second subpoena in the ongoing case between caver Vernon Unsworth and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Sept. 6, 2019. In total, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?state=California&targeted_institutions=BuzzFeed+News&categories=Subpoena%2FLegal+Order\">five subpoenas were issued for reporting material and testimony</a> from Mac and the digital news outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"qvssu\">Unsworth is suing Musk for defamation, alleging that the tech executive repeatedly labeled him a pedophile without evidence on Twitter and in communications with Mac, the latter of which were published by the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"i2udh\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker reviewed the <a href=\"/documents/14/e80f05e7-9605-4e47-b345-a678bbc1965f.pdf\">motion to quash</a> both subpoenas for Mac’s deposition. The filing said that Musk was the first to issue a subpoena, demanding that Mac appear at a Sept. 11 deposition. About a week later, Unsworth filed a deposition subpoena cross-noticing the subpoena from Musk, listing the same date and time.</p><p data-block-key=\"k8bu9\">Musk’s counsel had previously issued two subpoenas for information from the news organization.</p><p data-block-key=\"truf9\">Unsworth had promised not to file additional subpoenas for discovery after BuzzFeed complied with a previous subpoena for documents establishing how many people viewed BuzzFeed articles about Musk’s dispute with Unsworth.</p><p data-block-key=\"hgy62\">The filing said that Unsworth’s counsel was asked to voluntarily withdraw the subpoena. They declined.</p><p data-block-key=\"lej1w\">Mac’s attorneys filed the motion to quash both deposition subpoenas on Sept. 13, arguing that any information that could be gained legally is already available to the parties and everything else is protected under California’s reporter’s privilege.</p><p data-block-key=\"1twno\">“The Deposition Subpoenas represent an attempt to harass and scapegoat BuzzFeed reporter Ryan Mac for publishing a news article about comments made by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk,” the filing said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bh6r0\">A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 18.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ze6at\">A portion of the second subpoena demanding testimony from BuzzFeed reporter Ryan Mac as part of an ongoing defamation lawsuit between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and caver Vernon Unsworth.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
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"updates": [
"(2019-10-28 00:00:00+00:00) Judge upholds one subpoena deposition in ongoing Musk-Unsworth case",
"(2019-12-06 00:00:00+00:00) BuzzFeed reporter not called to testify in Musk-Unsworth case"
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"Ryan Mac (BuzzFeed News)"
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"upheld"
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},
{
"title": "Vermont Judiciary sets new rules on recording in courtrooms, registering as media",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/vermont-judiciary-sets-new-rules-recording-courtrooms-registering-media/",
"first_published_at": "2019-12-04T15:24:30.557961Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-21T16:48:29.094289Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T16:48:28.998227Z",
"date": "2019-09-03",
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"city": "Montpelier",
"longitude": -72.57539,
"latitude": 44.26006,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yr52u\">The state court system of Vermont formalized rules on May 1, 2019, requiring members of the press to register in order to record or photograph in state courtrooms. According to <a href=\"https://vtdigger.org/2019/08/15/new-court-rules-set-recording-restrictions-for-media-and-public/\">VTDigger</a>, the new rules, which also established who qualifies as a member of the press, took effect on Sept. 3.</p><p data-block-key=\"r8v6x\">The Vermont Judiciary’s rules <a href=\"https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/sites/default/files/documents/Summary%20of%20Use%20of%20Recording%20and%20Transmitting%20Devices%20in%20Courthouse%20or%20Courtroom.pdf\">state</a> that members of the media, once registered or with a one-time waiver, can record audio, video or livestream within courtrooms, while trial participants can only record audio. The public is not allowed to record whatsoever.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ffgp\">Emily Wetherell, deputy clerk of the Vermont Supreme Court, told VTDigger that the new rules were made to modernize existing policies in the face of technological advances, particularly in regard to smartphones.</p><p data-block-key=\"bsrux\">“The registration for media members, too, is a response to the power that cellphones give citizens in the courtroom,” Wetherell said. “That old rule was really just about media, because most people didn’t have the capability or the technology to record. But now most people can … and so in order to identify who media is, the committee decided that a registration process would be the most useful way of doing it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pntoa\">Mike Donoghue, executive director of the Vermont Press Association and vice president of the New England First Amendment Coalition, told VTDigger that while he understands the need to modernize the rules, he has concerns about how the judiciary will determine who is legitimately a member of the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"c5y03\">According to <a href=\"https://www.manchesterjournal.com/stories/draft-court-rules-would-ban-non-media-video-photos,530892\">The Manchester Journal</a>, when the proposed rules went to the Vermont Supreme Court in January 2018, media was defined as "any individual or organization engaging in news gathering or reporting to the public, including free-lance reporter, newspaper, radio or television station or network, news service, magazine, trade paper, in-house publication, professional journal, or other news reporting or news-gathering agency, and any individual employed by such an organization."</p><p data-block-key=\"p8ixx\">Retired state Supreme Court Justice John Dooley, who chaired the procedural rules committee, told the Journal that they worked to adopt a “pretty broad” definition to avoid improperly denying applications for media registration. The registration system also established an appeals process by which a denied applicant can seek an “expeditious review” by the Supreme Court.</p><p data-block-key=\"v1nci\">Shawn Cunningham, a reporter for The Chester Telegraph, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was reporting on a hearing at the Windsor Criminal Division court when he was pulled aside by one of the court officers. The officer told Cunningham that he couldn’t take pictures without being registered.</p><p data-block-key=\"yv1fq\">“Now, I had seen this up on the wall the previous time I had been to court, but it seemed as if they were talking about recording, video and audio recording. And they said no, it’s all,” Cunningham said.</p><p data-block-key=\"kys43\">Cunningham said he was directed to the court clerk to register, but because approval would take several days he was able to receive a one-day registration waiver. In a matter of days Cunningham received his media registration, which appears to authorize him to take photos and recordings in Vermont courts in perpetuity.</p><p data-block-key=\"sio0a\">“We have several things right now that affect our area that are going through the courts, and that’s both Vermont-run state courts and federal courts,” Cunningham told the Tracker. “So, I’m basically checking all the rules to make sure that whatever I’m going into at this point, that I’m good to go in there and do what I need to do.”</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1qvxu\">Above the entrance to the Vermont Supreme Court in Montpelier is the state's coat of arms. The Vermont Judiciary recently changed its rules for reporting in the courts.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Vermont",
"abbreviation": "VT"
},
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],
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},
{
"title": "BBC journalist questioned by border official, passport reviewed",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/bbc-journalist-questioned-border-official-passport-taken-away/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-16T15:25:52.077513Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T18:47:01.921747Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T18:47:01.839555Z",
"date": "2019-08-29",
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"city": "Brownsville",
"longitude": -97.49748,
"latitude": 25.90175,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ph265\">Stephanie Hegarty, a population correspondent for BBC News, was invasively questioned about her reporting and had her passport briefly taken away while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on Aug. 29, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"gp927\">Hegarty told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was walking across the Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge into Texas with a cameraman and reporter from BBC Mundo around 7:45 p.m. Her colleagues passed through immigration control without incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"prmxc\">When asked what she was doing in Mexico, Hegarty told the Customs and Border Protection officer that she was a reporter covering the situation at the border. That’s when it got very tense, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"w0guq\">“He said, ‘It would help you a lot if you told me exactly where you were, where you were filming and who you spoke to,’” Hegarty told the Tracker. “It was at that point that I thought, ‘Do I really have to tell you that?’”</p><p data-block-key=\"a1v1r\">Hegarty, who is from Ireland, told the CBP officer that she didn’t think that was necessary. The officer scanned her passport, commented, “Oh, interesting,” and asked her to wait in a room while he walked away with her passport. She told the Tracker that she was traveling on a journalist visa and was concerned by the officer’s actions.</p><p data-block-key=\"q9uhr\">“I kinda thought, ‘Is he putting me on some sort of list? What is he doing with my passport in that other room?” Hegarty said.</p><p data-block-key=\"o88mg\">A CBP officer returned with her passport approximately 10 minutes later—Hegarty said she wasn’t certain whether it was the same officer—and his entire attitude had shifted. He was friendly while returning her passport, Hegarty said, and told her she could go.</p><p data-block-key=\"ruw1q\">Unlike previous searches, however, Hegarty called the incident extremely disappointing and disturbing.</p><p data-block-key=\"krdlk\">“I used to work in Nigeria so I’m used to being intimidated by officials,” Hegarty said. “But when it happened in the U.S. I was shocked.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kqjmo\"><i>Editor's Note:</i> <i>A previous version of this article misidentified Hegarty's nationality.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ubo6v\">People wait on the Mexican side of the Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge in 2018.</p>",
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"border_point": "Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. non-resident",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
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"target_nationality": [
"United Kingdom"
],
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"categories": [
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"targeted_journalists": [
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},
{
"title": "Amid backlash, Department of Defense backs away from new press regulations at Guantánamo Bay",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/amid-backlash-department-of-defense-backs-away-from-new-press-regulations-at-guant%C3%A1namo-bay/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-09T20:31:37.164673Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:51:01.274290Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:51:01.201748Z",
"date": "2019-08-28",
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"city": "Guantánamo Bay",
"longitude": null,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zcn0o\">New press rules issued at U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on Aug. 28, 2019, would have curtailed journalists' ability to report freely at the detention camp where 40 detainees are still held.</p><p data-block-key=\"qbvk0\">The new policies, which military officials asked journalists to sign within 48 hours in order to report on military commission hearings in September, would require journalists to be constantly escorted while working at the naval station, and would give public affairs officers the right to review and approve interview recordings "prior to upload into any laptop." The rule also gives Naval Station personnel the ability to seize “all materials and equipment” in a journalist’s possession, including cellphones.</p><p data-block-key=\"qop1e\">“[Journalists] may not participate in any activity related to their work, including any news or information gathering activity, if they are not accompanied by a designated public affairs escort and have that escort’s explicit consent,” the policy reads,<a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2019/08/30/guantanamo-bay-press-restrictions/\"> according</a> to The Intercept. The policy also requires journalists to “submit all still imagery, video imagery, and audio recordings taken at [Naval Station Guantánamo Bay] to the appropriate security reviewer,” according to a letter written by a lawyer for The New York Times.</p><p data-block-key=\"wj7xp\">The Department of Defense's <a href=\"https://www.mc.mil/\">Office of Military Commissions</a> created a <a href=\"https://www.mc.mil/Portals/0/MILCOMMediaGroundRules.pdf\">separate policy</a> in 2010 that applied to journalists inside military commission facilities at the naval station. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay public affairs officer J. Overton told The Intercept that the new rules covered the naval station generally, but not reporters at the Office of Military Commissions. (Emails sent by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to the Navy for comment were not returned.)</p><p data-block-key=\"sttym\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/carolrosenberg/status/1167882751191605248?s=20\">tweet</a>, Guantánamo-based New York Times reporter Carol Rosenberg called the new rules “unprecedented.” “In all the years I’ve covered Guantanamo I have never been presented with these Navy base documents to sign. This week was the first time,” Rosenberg <a href=\"https://twitter.com/carolrosenberg/status/1167879954651992064?s=20\">wrote</a> in a separate tweet.</p><p data-block-key=\"uzvif\">Deputy General Counsel for The New York Times, David McCraw, sent a letter to Paul Ney, the general counsel of the Department of Defense, on behalf of a media coalition including the Times, The Associated Press, NPR and First Look Media, decrying the new rules. McCraw provided a copy of the letter to the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"5vwso\">“[T]he Naval Station is attempting to exercise a level of control over journalists and their newsgathering activities that has no apparent security justification and interferes with the First Amendment rights of the news media,” McCraw wrote. The existing OMC policy, McCraw wrote, has been effective, “striking a serviceable balance between the need for operational security, the protection of national security and the First Amendment rights of reporters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2acer\">On Sept. 6 the Department of Defense formally rescinded the new press regulations, after offering unofficial reassurance on Sept. 2 that the rules would not go into effect.</p><p data-block-key=\"nr6s7\">“It’s a good thing that they’re stepping back and looking at the issue on a more global basis,” said David Schulz, an attorney at Ballard Spahr who has been closely involved in the fight for press access at Guantanamo over the years. “The existing ground rules were the result of extensive discussions with all the relevant stakeholders in 2010.”</p><p data-block-key=\"olsxh\">McCraw wrote in an email to the Tracker that he was glad the Department of Defense took seriously the concerns he voiced in his letter. “Guantanamo remains a vital story, and reporters need the freedom to report fully on the proceedings there,” he wrote. “We look forward to working with the Department of Defense to make sure that the rules in place take into account the needs of our news organizations.”</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Tech journalist subpoenaed in ongoing bitcoin lawsuit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tech-journalist-subpoenaed-ongoing-bitcoin-lawsuit/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-27T16:53:19.714292Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-15T20:27:55.654825Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-15T20:27:55.482231Z",
"date": "2019-08-27",
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"city": "Miami",
"longitude": -80.19366,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"diy91\">Brendan Sullivan, a journalist at Modern Consensus, received a subpoena for all documents and communications between him and Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist and businessman who has claimed to be the creator of bitcoin.</p><p data-block-key=\"g9xnf\">Wright is currently the defendant in a lawsuit brought against him by the estate of David Kleiman, Wright’s late partner. David’s brother, Ira Kleiman, is the executor of the estate and claims Wright attempted to steal his brother’s bitcoin holdings, now worth approximately $10 billion.</p><p data-block-key=\"ujtdw\">Wright agreed to an interview with Sullivan, giving him a scoop on the case before the courts made an announcement of the judge's order. The next day, on Aug. 27, 2019, someone was waiting outside of Sullivan’s home to serve him the subpoena, according to his <a href=\"https://modernconsensus.com/cryptocurrencies/bitcoin/i-got-subpoenaed-in-the-craig-wright-ira-kleiman-6-billion-satoshi-nakamoto-case-and-im-not-giving-them-jack/\">article</a> outlining the events.</p><p data-block-key=\"i4tye\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker reviewed the subpoena, which Sullivan posted with his article. It orders him to hand over any documents and communications between him and Wright since 2006 (before bitcoin was invented), listing out more than 110 items that count as “documents,” including their encrypted WhatsApp and Signal messages, every social media conversation, interview notes and transcripts, drafts of his article and any relevant documents protected by computer encryption.</p><p data-block-key=\"27i4c\">“I’m a journalist and the court has no right to any of my files, notes, thoughts or personal belongings. They are not getting anything from me,” Sullivan wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"t2ewq\">Sullivan told the Tracker that he refused to attend the deposition hearing scheduled for Sept. 10. His lawyer filed a motion to quash on Sept. 9, arguing that the breadth of documents requested suggests that the subpoena is a fishing expedition with no clear idea how, if at all, the documents are relevant to the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"qfz9x\">The filing also included an affidavit from Sullivan authenticating his article and stating that it truly and accurately reflects his interview with Wright. In addition to asking that the subpoena be quashed, they are asking for Kleiman to cover Sullivan’s legal fees.</p><p data-block-key=\"9edkk\">“I can fight this for years if I need to,” Sullivan told the Tracker. “What I really want is just to have my press freedom back.”</p><p data-block-key=\"znpu7\">On Sept. 20, a judge granted Kleiman’s attorney a 21-day extension to respond to the motion to quash the subpoena against Sullivan. In a joint filling from Wright and Kleiman they state, “The parties have been engaged in extensive settlement negotiations and have reached a non-binding agreement in principle to settle this matter.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6i0rv\">If a settlement is reached, Sullivan told the Tracker, it is likely that the subpoena against him would be dropped.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"h2ofc\">A portion of a subpoena received by journalist Brendan Sullivan on Aug. 27, 2019, for documents and testimony related to his interviews with Craig Wright, a computer scientist who claimed to be the creator of bitcoin.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-11-13 00:00:00+00:00) Parties in crypto suit drop subpoena of journalist"
],
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"categories": [
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"Brendan Sullivan (Modern Consensus)"
],
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"pending"
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},
{
"title": "Subpoenas seeking Illinois-based government watchdog’s communications and documents dropped",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoenas-seeking-illinois-based-government-watchdogs-communications-and-documents-dropped/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-18T17:07:40.585091Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-05T18:33:01.827019Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-05T18:33:01.716328Z",
"date": "2019-08-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Effingham County",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"x95o1\">Illinois-based government watchdog blog Edgar County Watchdogs and its co-founder and reporter, Kirk Allen, received subpoenas for communications and documents relating to articles involving an ambulance service operating in Effingham County, Illinois.</p><p data-block-key=\"pwnk9\">As part of a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by Lakeside EMS, LLC, against the county, the two Aug. 27, 2019, subpoenas ordered Edgar County Watchdogs and Allen to produce communications or documents exchanged with Lakeside CEO Jerrod Estes, as well as with any “employee or agent” of Lakeside or the county. They also order the turnover of copies of articles written or generated relating to Effingham County, county Board Chairman Jim Niemann or Lakeside.</p><p data-block-key=\"80i3j\">“We wrote several articles about the process which the county used to award the contract to the current emergency service provider: it was done without putting it up for bid and board members have believed conflicts of interest because they have family members working there,” co-founder John Kraft told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “So, basically they’re asking for all of our sources and the information we gave back-and-forth.”</p><p data-block-key=\"48s41\">Allen, who wrote many of the articles, told the Tracker that the only documents he has that fall under the subpoena are ones he received from Effingham County through public records requests.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ejy0\">“They know exactly what I got from the county because I FOIA’ed it. So, why did they waste my time with a subpoena for records they already gave me?” Allen said. “It’s their way of trying to create a legal burden on us as well, because there’s no reason for that subpoena.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e69ba\">Allen also noted that Edgar County Watchdogs has been pursuing a Freedom of Information Act violation claim against the county for nearly two years, pressing for the release of documents related to the ambulance service investigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"6atxr\">The subpoenas ordered the documents produced by Sept. 16, but Kraft told the Tracker that the group’s attorney, government transparency and media lawyer Matt Topic, filed for an extension of 30 days on compliance.</p><p data-block-key=\"4liu7\">The federal case was dismissed without prejudice on Sept. 11 by U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Illinois Nancy Rosenstengel, and as a result the subpoenas were dropped.</p><p data-block-key=\"os7ho\">Bryan Kibler, the state attorney representing Effingham County, told the Tracker that the case was dismissed pending the results of the state case involving the ambulance service and the county. Kibler said that he would not rule out refiling the subpoenas against the Edgar County Watchdogs and Allen if necessary in the future.</p><p data-block-key=\"5psik\">The Tracker has documented multiple other subpoenas against Edgar County Watchdogs in 2019, including a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-issued-illinois-based-government-watchdogs-communications/\">subpoena for their communications and documents</a> relating to the College of DuPage and a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-issued-contents-illinois-government-watchdogs-dropbox-account/\">subpoena for the group’s Dropbox contents</a>. A motion to quash the former is still pending and the latter was quashed on Feb. 11.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"b6zu1\">A portion of a subpoena received by Edgar County Watchdogs for reporting materials</p>",
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Edgar County Watchdogs"
],
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"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kirk Allen (Edgar County Watchdogs)"
],
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"dropped"
],
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},
{
"title": "Media barred from public lead water crisis meeting in New Jersey",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/media-barred-public-lead-water-crisis-meeting-new-jersey/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-12T20:16:42.699416Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-21T16:50:24.622202Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T16:50:24.506250Z",
"date": "2019-08-27",
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"city": "Newark",
"longitude": -74.17237,
"latitude": 40.73566,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"h3m8x\">The news media was barred from attending a public meeting on Newark, New Jersey’s ongoing lead contamination crisis on Aug. 27, 2019, by Mayor Ras Baraka’s communications team.</p><p data-block-key=\"oa1vf\">The meeting was called to “enlist members of the public as volunteers to canvas city homeowners for their participation in the planned replacement of lead-tainted service lines leading to individual properties,” NJTV News <a href=\"https://www.njtvonline.org/news/video/in-closing-newark-meeting-baraka-administration-crosses-swords-with-media-again/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"l9yrv\">Though the mayor’s office had issued a press release in advance of the meeting, when media representatives arrived at Newark City Hall, they were told the press was not invited and were asked to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"7nnyx\">Mark Bonamo, editor of TAPinto Newark, told NJTV News, “When we showed up at the door, we were generally all shocked and surprised that we were not let in to what we believed was going to be a public meeting in the public’s house: City Hall.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vfq8z\">In a <a href=\"https://www.njtvonline.org/news/video/in-closing-newark-meeting-baraka-administration-crosses-swords-with-media-again/\">statement</a>, Newark’s Director of Communications Frank Baraff said that the press was excluded in an effort to “encourag[e] an open dialogue with volunteers” and “so that residents will not shy away from helping us in these efforts.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xdk5k\">Media attorney and Rutgers law professor Bruce Rosen told NJTV News that the decision to exclude the press was unconstitutional: “Constitutionally, it’s a public forum. He invited the public and the media is part of the public. In fact, the media is a representative of the public.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lx8du\">On Aug. 28, Baraka’s administration announced that in the future it would not block the press from meetings about the lead water crisis, TAPinto <a href=\"https://www.tapinto.net/towns/newark/articles/baraka-administration-to-allow-press-access-to-lead-water-meetings\">reported</a>. The statement read, in part, “At future meetings, there will be media availability.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4ws1r\">As Rosen noted to TAPinto, uncertainty about the meaning of “media availability” remains.</p><p data-block-key=\"fm4ze\">The mayor’s office was not immediately available for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"czahd\">Newark's mayor Ras Baraka addresses the media in this 2014 file photo.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "New Jersey",
"abbreviation": "NJ"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
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"Local government: Mayor"
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{
"title": "Man robs and briefly kidnaps NBC affiliate reporter at gunpoint",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-robs-and-briefly-kidnaps-nbc-affiliate-reporter-gunpoint/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-04T16:46:32.624419Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-14T16:02:19.994536Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-14T16:02:19.763972Z",
"date": "2019-08-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Kennewick",
"longitude": -119.13723,
"latitude": 46.21125,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pwwyp\">A reporter for NBC Right Now in Kennewick, Washington, was robbed and briefly kidnapped at gunpoint while covering a local teachers strike on Aug. 27, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"rnjji\">An undisclosed reporter had set up her video camera in the parking lot of the Kennewick School District ahead of a planned teachers strike, YakTriNews <a href=\"https://www.yaktrinews.com/news/kennewick-police-searching-for-robbery-suspect/1113799854\">reported</a>. At around 5:45 a.m., as she was sitting in her news vehicle waiting for the rally to begin, a man got into the backseat of her car, pointed a gun at her and told her to drive.</p><p data-block-key=\"gpqj0\">She complied, but after driving a few feet the man “got spooked,” NBC Right Now <a href=\"https://www.nbcrightnow.com/top_video/standoff-arrests-at-meadow-park-apartments/video_1c425658-c934-11e9-bfe1-33776c1ac0fc.html\">reported</a>. Kennewick Police Lt. Aaron Clem <a href=\"https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article234434252.html\">told</a> the Tri-City Herald that the man told her to stop the car, then got out of it and ran across the street and toward some apartments.</p><p data-block-key=\"h40ge\">YakTriNews <a href=\"https://www.yaktrinews.com/news/kennewick-police-searching-for-robbery-suspect/1113799854\">reported</a> that the man took the journalist’s microphone with him when he fled. NBC Right Now <a href=\"https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/police-arrest-suspect-in-monday-burglary-and-attempted-rape-tuesday/article_64de496a-c8ff-11e9-a74a-57115efb4f2a.html\">reported</a> that she was uninjured.</p><p data-block-key=\"mnuiv\">A 19-year-old identified as Karlo Medina was arrested in connection with the incident later that day, and has been charged with first-degree robbery and second degree kidnapping, in addition to burglary and attempted rape in an unrelated incident the day before.</p></div>",
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{
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"equipment": "recording equipment"
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{
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"equipment": "vehicle"
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],
"state": {
"name": "Washington",
"abbreviation": "WA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-07-07 00:00:00+00:00) Man sentenced for kidnapping, robbing Washington state reporter"
],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"robbery"
],
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"categories": [
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"targeted_journalists": [
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},
{
"title": "BuzzFeed reporter receives subpoena in ongoing Unsworth-Musk defamation lawsuit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/buzzfeed-reporter-receives-subpoena-ongoing-unsworth-musk-defamation-lawsuit/",
"first_published_at": "2019-10-01T18:55:36.546358Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-28T18:07:53.534849Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-28T18:07:53.423430Z",
"date": "2019-08-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Francisco",
"longitude": -122.41942,
"latitude": 37.77493,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i2f5p\">Ryan Mac, a senior technology reporter for BuzzFeed News, was issued his first subpoena in the unfolding case between caver Vernon Unsworth and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Aug. 26, 2019. Mac subsequently received a second deposition subpoena, bringing the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?state=California&targeted_institutions=BuzzFeed+News&categories=Subpoena%2FLegal+Order\">total number of subpoenas issued against the outlet and its reporter to five</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"eck3b\">Unsworth is suing Musk for defamation, alleging that the tech executive repeatedly labeled him a pedophile without evidence on Twitter and in communications with Mac, the latter of which were published by the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"dwiwx\">Lawyers for Musk previously subpoenaed the outlet twice during the discovery phase, and lawyers for Unsworth did so once. BuzzFeed provided some of the requested documents while objecting to others on First Amendment and reporter’s privilege grounds. The judge sustained the outlet’s objections.</p><p data-block-key=\"48avg\">Musk was the first to file a subpoena demanding reporter Mac appear at a Sept. 11 deposition in San Francisco. About a week later, Unsworth’s counsel issued its own subpoena against Mac, effectively joining Musk’s. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker reviewed the <a href=\"/documents/14/e80f05e7-9605-4e47-b345-a678bbc1965f.pdf\">motion to quash</a> both subpoenas for Mac’s deposition.</p><p data-block-key=\"uqd6j\">According to the filing, the cover letter on the subpoena stated, “Mr. Musk does not intend to seek testimony from you that would be protected by the United States or California Constitutions or any other reporter’s privilege.” The letter did not, however, state what information Musk did hope to obtain by questioning Mac.</p><p data-block-key=\"6r3ta\">Mac’s counsel argued that Musk’s attempt to depose the reporter was part of a campaign of harassment and intimidation.</p><p data-block-key=\"k4w7n\">“It is clear from Musk’s prior conduct that he would put Mac through the ordeal of a hostile deposition for no reason other than to retaliate against Mac for his critical reporting,” the filing said. “The deposition subpoenas must be quashed to avoid this oppressive outcome.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qe4d8\">The filing argued that Musk is trying to deflect blame for his comments about Unsworth onto Mac, claiming that because Musk wrote the phrase “off the record” in the unsolicited email he sent to Mac, he couldn’t reasonably foresee that the statements he made would be published and therefore cannot be held liable.</p><p data-block-key=\"pcpmq\">Mac’s attorneys argued that, as Mac never agreed to keep the emails off the record, their contents were fair game for publication.</p><p data-block-key=\"6je0z\">According to the filing, Musk’s attorneys were asked to voluntarily withdraw the subpoena, but they declined to do so.</p><p data-block-key=\"g43dv\">On Sept. 9, Michael Lifrak, an attorney representing Musk, emailed BuzzFeed Attorney Kate Bolger offering to withdraw the deposition subpoena if the outlet would agree to a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition, in which one or more individuals from an entity are questioned about set topics. The topics proposed by Lifrak included BuzzFeed’s guidelines on publishing off-the-record and on-background information, pre-publication review process and editorial process and procedures for predicting article popularity.</p><p data-block-key=\"c4deh\">Bolger responded over email, “This request calls for privileged matters related to BuzzFeed’s newsgathering materials and is, indeed, far broader than the request to Mr. Mac. It is not worth exploring.”</p><p data-block-key=\"33dv3\">Mac’s attorneys filed a motion to quash both deposition subpoenas on Sept. 13, arguing that any information that could be gained legally is already available to the parties and everything else is protected under California’s reporter’s privilege.</p><p data-block-key=\"01ioe\">A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 18.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"w9rry\">A portion of the first of two deposition subpoenas sent to BuzzFeed reporter Ryan Mac as part of a defamation suit between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and caver Vernon Unsworth.</p>",
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "other testimony",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
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"updates": [
"(2019-10-28 00:00:00+00:00) Judge quashes Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s deposition subpoena"
],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
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"Ryan Mac (BuzzFeed News)"
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"quashed"
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},
{
"title": "New York Times reports that conservative operatives are compiling dossiers on journalists",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-york-times-reports-conservative-operatives-are-compiling-dossiers-journalists/",
"first_published_at": "2019-08-28T13:14:38.705067Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-05T13:29:41.395065Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-05T13:29:41.295621Z",
"date": "2019-08-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"p3sj9\">According to a <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/25/us/politics/trump-allies-news-media.html\">New York Times article</a> published on Aug. 25, 2019, a “loose network of conservative operatives” supporting President Donald Trump have compiled dossiers containing potentially embarrassing information on journalists from outlets deemed “hostile” to the president.</p><p data-block-key=\"gu76d\">The Times said it spoke with four people familiar with the operation. According to these sources, operatives dig through the social media histories of personnel employed at top news outlets—regardless of their rank or actual influence—in order to publicize information that could discredit the outlet as a whole.</p><p data-block-key=\"y12r6\">“The operation has compiled social media posts from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and stored images of the posts that can be publicized even if the user deletes them, said the people familiar with the effort,” The Times wrote. “One claimed that the operation had unearthed potentially ‘fireable’ information on ‘several hundred’ people.”</p><p data-block-key=\"akxeg\">The Times credited this operation with releases about journalists at CNN, The Washington Post and The Times, writing that the information was publicized “in response to reporting or commentary that the White House’s allies consider unfair to Mr. Trump and his team or harmful to his reelection prospects.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v65nm\">Sources pointed to Arthur Schwartz as a central player in the operation. Schwartz, a conservative consultant who is a friend and informal adviser to Donald Trump Jr., has previously tweeted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1049363965858308096\">alluding to knowledge of</a> or <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1164592515464531971\">asserting involvement with</a> such dossiers on journalists.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I’m done bashing CNN for now. They should spend some time reflecting on the hypocrisy of their attacks on Trump admin folks — attacks that are usually based on old tweets & Facebook posts. I’m told that there are files on 35+ CNN reporters that will be deployed if they don’t.</p>— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1049363965858308096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 8, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ah07k\">The Times acknowledged in its article that it is not possible to independently assess the claims about the quantity or potential significance of the dossiers, and that “some involved in the operation have histories of bluster and exaggeration.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s7i5q\">However, as The Times wrote, the release of information about the operation and its goals may itself be an effort to intimidate journalists or their employers.</p><p data-block-key=\"bkj32\">“Some reporters have been warned that they or their news organizations could be targets,” The Times wrote, “creating the impression that the campaign intended in part to deter them from aggressive coverage as well as to inflict punishment after an article has been published.”</p><p data-block-key=\"t95e7\">The White House press office told The Times that neither Trump nor anyone in the White House was involved in or aware of the operation, and that neither the White House nor the Republican National Committee was providing it funding.</p><p data-block-key=\"mlw4y\">Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said in a statement that using these techniques as a warning against and retribution for pursuing coverage critical of the president escalates the president’s campaign against a free press.</p><p data-block-key=\"a9p4w\">“They are seeking to harass and embarrass anyone affiliated with the leading news organizations that are asking tough questions and bringing uncomfortable truths to light,” Mr. Sulzberger said in The Times. “The goal of this campaign is clearly to intimidate journalists from doing their job… The Times will not be intimidated or silenced.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTR3DGNR.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"pat7f\">A New York Times article says that conservative operatives are compiling dossiers on the social media history of some journalists in an effort to discredit them or their media organizations.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
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},
{
"title": "CBC National correspondent denied entry into United States",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbc-national-correspondent-denied-entry-into-united-states/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-09T21:18:09.033278Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-08-22T19:51:00.453537Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-08-22T19:51:00.389806Z",
"date": "2019-08-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fbmb3\">Carolyn Dunn, a national correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, was denied entry into the United States on Aug. 25, 2019, according to her social media account.</p><p data-block-key=\"5xc0o\">The reporter was traveling to Washington, D.C., to fill in for a colleague when she was refused entry by a border agent, who cited her as “imported labor.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ty69j\">“Guys, I’ve been refused entry into US. Sections 212 (a) (7) (A) (i) (I). Me going to DC is ‘entry into the labor’ market and I’d be ‘imported labor.’ I’ve never been pulled aside at a US border let alone refused entry,” Dunn <a href=\"https://twitter.com/carolyndunncbc/status/1165717226500120576?s=21https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/imported-labor-canadian-journalist-for-cbc-refused-entry-to-us\">tweeted</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Guys, I’ve been refused entry into US. Sections 212 (a) (7) (A) (i) (I). Me going to DC is “entry into the labor” market and I’d be “imported labor”. I’ve never been pulled aside at a US border let alone refused entry.</p>— carolyn dunn (@carolyndunncbc) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/carolyndunncbc/status/1165717226500120576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 25, 2019</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"95oht\">Dunn also shared a screenshot on her feed of the Department of State’s website that read “Citizens for Canada and Bermuda do not generally require visas to enter the United States as members of the press or media working in the United States.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hbpu3\">Dunn was later allowed entry into the United States: She <a href=\"https://twitter.com/carolyndunncbc/status/1166079556480053250\">tweeted</a> the following day, “Second time’s the charm. Will board for a US bound flight soon.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7y4qq\">Dunn did not respond to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"xhbem\">Customs and Border Protection also did not respond to the Tracker’s request for comment as of press time, but a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement to the <a href=\"https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/imported-labor-canadian-journalist-for-cbc-refused-entry-to-us\">Washington Examiner</a> in Aug. 2019, “All travelers to the U.S. must possess valid travel documents. For foreign nationals this includes a current passport and the appropriate visa for their intended purpose of travel. For example, if a Canadian reporter is seeking to enter the U.S. to engage in that profession, that reporter must apply for and be granted an I visa.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lk8av\">The News Photographers Association of Canada expressed concern over the incident <a href=\"https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/news-photographers-association-of-canada-reacts-to-refusal-of-entry-for-canadian-journalist-868891123.html\">in a statement</a>. “It’s a disturbing trend,” NPAC vice president Ryan McLeod said. “The members of the Canadian press have always had a mostly cordial relationship across borders. It doesn’t matter if it’s television/print/web, freelance or staff; citizens of Canada should not and do not require visas to enter the United States. While Ms. Carolyn Dunn was eventually allowed to board a flight into the United States, it speaks volumes about the current climate.”</p></div>",
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"actor": null,
"border_point": "Washington, D.C.",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. non-resident",
"denial_of_entry": true,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "unknown",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"Canada"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
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"Carolyn Dunn (Canadian Broadcasting Company)"
],
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},
{
"title": "CBP agent asks British journalist entering U.S. if he’s part of the ‘fake news media’",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbp-agent-asks-british-journalist-entering-us-if-hes-part-of-the-fake-news-media/",
"first_published_at": "2019-08-23T21:08:10.525950Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-08-22T19:51:33.962075Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-08-22T19:51:33.889268Z",
"date": "2019-08-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ztkfm\">British journalist James Dyer said a Customs and Border Protection agent asked him if he was “part of the ‘fake news media’” as he passed through U.S. immigration in Los Angeles on Aug. 22, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"wnu46\">Dyer, the digital editor-in-chief at Empire Magazine and host of Pilot TV Podcast, <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/08/23/james-dyer-empire-cbp-agent-lax-fake-news/\">told The Washington Post</a> that he arrived at LAX from London in the afternoon en route to Anaheim, California, to cover Disney’s D23 Expo.</p><p data-block-key=\"uzybk\">In a long thread posted on Twitter shortly after the incident, Dyer said that the CBP agent at passport control saw that he was traveling on a journalist visa and began a tirade, questioning Dyer’s work history and legitimacy.</p><p data-block-key=\"ffmx9\">“Just went through LAX immigration,” Dyer <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jamescdyer/status/1164647008931667971?s=21\">wrote</a>. “Presented my journalist visa and was stopped by the CBP agent and accused of being part of the ‘fake news media.’”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Wow. Just... wow. Just went through LAX immigration. Presented my journalist visa and was stopped by the CBP agent and accused of being part of the ‘fake news media’.</p>— James Dyer (@jamescdyer) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jamescdyer/status/1164647008931667971?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 22, 2019</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xwnei\">Dyer <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jamescdyer/status/1164647011615989761\">continued</a>, “He wanted to know if I’d ever worked for CNN or MSNBC or other outlets that are ‘spreading lies to the American people.’ He aggressively told me that journalists are liars and are attacking their democracy.” Dyer noted that the entire exchange passed within a couple minutes.</p><p data-block-key=\"00xme\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jamescdyer/status/1164662896141512704\">subsequent</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jamescdyer/status/1164687908529270784\">replies</a>, Dyer clarified that the agent did not attempt to detain him or send him to secondary screening, and that he did not feel that he had been “mistreated or detained in any way.” Dyer wrote that he did not get the agent’s name and had not filed a complaint.</p><p data-block-key=\"kj57z\">CBP Los Angeles <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CBPLosAngeles/status/1164739073900085248\">tweeted at Dyer</a> acknowledging that they were aware of the incident. “We strongly advise you to file a formal complaint,” the official account wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"ssyrl\">In a statement to The Post, a CBP spokesperson said, “All CBP officers take an Oath of Office, a solemn pledge that conveys great responsibility and one that should be carried out at all times with the utmost professionalism.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ffjs3\">“Inappropriate comments or behavior are not tolerated, and do not reflect our values of vigilance, integrity and professionalism,” the statement said.</p><p data-block-key=\"fgydq\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/buzzfeed-news-reporter-aggressively-questioned-about-reporting-passport-checkpoint/\">documented</a> a similar case in February 2019, involving Australian BuzzFeed reporter David Mack. Mack tweeted that at passport control at JFK airport, a CBP agent “grilled” him for 10 minutes about the outlet’s reporting on Rober Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s connections with Russia.</p><p data-block-key=\"yn1ug\">BuzzFeed <a href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/customs-border-patrol-apology-buzzfeed-reporter-trump\">reported</a> that a few days after the incident, CBP Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs, Andrew Meehan, apologize to Mack directly in a telephone call.</p><p data-block-key=\"9k8d6\">As of publication, Dyer had not responded to requests for comment from the Tracker.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"p6zh6\">While entering the U.S. through Los Angeles, California, from London, British journalist James Dyer said he was questioned whether he was part of ‘fake news.’</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"actor": null,
"border_point": "Los Angeles International Airport",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. non-resident",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"United Kingdom"
],
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"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"James Dyer (Empire Magazine)"
],
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},
{
"title": "BuzzFeed receives third subpoena in ongoing Unsworth-Musk defamation lawsuit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/buzzfeed-receives-third-subpoena-ongoing-unsworth-musk-defamation-lawsuit/",
"first_published_at": "2019-10-01T18:43:57.296764Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-05-22T13:50:04.923754Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-05-22T13:50:04.759793Z",
"date": "2019-08-21",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Francisco",
"longitude": -122.41942,
"latitude": 37.77493,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"w87bt\">BuzzFeed News was issued a third subpoena in the ongoing case between caver Vernon Unsworth and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Aug. 21, 2019. In total, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?state=California&targeted_institutions=BuzzFeed+News&categories=Subpoena%2FLegal+Order\">five subpoenas were issued for reporting material and testimony</a> from the digital news outlet and one of its reporters.</p><p data-block-key=\"kzeo4\">Unsworth is suing Musk for defamation, alleging that the tech executive repeatedly labeled him a pedophile without evidence on Twitter and in communications with BuzzFeed senior tech journalist Ryan Mac, the latter of which were published by the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"bjvt3\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker reviewed the subpoena, which was the second filed by counsel for Musk and the third it received overall. The subpoena ordered BuzzFeed to produce, in part, a copy of the version of the outlet’s Standards and Ethics Guide posted on buzzfeednews.com between August and September 2018. BuzzFeed, while maintaining its objections to the request, complied.</p><p data-block-key=\"rf3l6\">The subpoena also demanded all documents relating to the decisions around publishing the contents of Musk’s emails to senior technology reporter Ryan Mac and to amending the outlet’s ethics guide after the article was published. It also requested copies of all policies governing the publication of ‘off the record’ or ‘on background’ conversations.</p><p data-block-key=\"253cm\">BuzzFeed filed objections to the subpoena on Sept. 6 on the grounds that the requested documents were irrelevant, protected by various privileges (including the reporter’s privilege) and would be unduly burdensome to search for and review.</p><p data-block-key=\"xkcgm\">The outlet did, however, comply with Musk’s demand for copies of documents and communications produced in response to Unsworth’s subpoena.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"kuy9m\">A portion of the third subpoena received by BuzzFeed in August as part of the defamation case between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the caver Vernon Unsworth.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
"updates": [
"(2019-10-28 00:00:00+00:00) Court quashes Elon Musk’s second subpoena for BuzzFeed documents"
],
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"BuzzFeed News"
],
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"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
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"pending"
],
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},
{
"title": "Subpoena for Iowa journalist’s reporting materials in lottery rigging case dropped",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-for-iowa-journalists-reporting-materials-in-lottery-rigging-case-dropped/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-20T16:23:11.471374Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:51:16.778035Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:51:16.690963Z",
"date": "2019-08-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Iowa City",
"longitude": -91.53017,
"latitude": 41.66113,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7bnc8\">Iowa journalist Perry Beeman received a subpoena for unpublished work product in connection to his book, “The $80 Billion Gamble,” on Aug. 16, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"czt6k\">The books tells the story of lottery security contractor Eddie Tipton, who rigged number-drawing programs on computers to win jackpots for himself, friends and family in several states, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://www.apnews.com/8340a865ad4b4c13bbaa70380fe64ba1\">reported</a>. Larry Dawson, a jackpot winner, has sued the Iowa Lottery and Multi-State Lottery Association, arguing that Tipton’s scheme reduced his prize by millions.</p><p data-block-key=\"vetta\">As part of the lawsuit, attorneys representing Dawson ordered Beeman to turn over by Sept. 16 all of his correspondence with former Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich—with whom Beeman co-authored the book—since January 2018, including notes related to four interviews they conducted last year.</p><p data-block-key=\"cvwm5\">Beeman did not respond to the subpoena before it was withdrawn on Aug. 27, but he told the AP he likely would have fought it.</p><p data-block-key=\"jgi3n\">“I’m happy that he’s withdrawn the subpoena,” Beeman told the AP. “I think the information was privileged. The Iowa Supreme Court has been pretty clear that the type of information sought was off limits.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w5y53\">Blake Hanson, one of the attorneys representing Dawson, confirmed to the AP that the subpoena had been withdrawn, but offered no explanation for the decision. The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in December.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"01qxq\">An Iowa Powerball drawing manager performs a test run of equipment in this 1998 file photo.</p>",
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"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
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"state": {
"name": "Iowa",
"abbreviation": "IA"
},
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"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
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"Perry Beeman (Independent)"
],
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"dropped"
],
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},
{
"title": "Oregon county official accuses local newspaper of criminal conduct",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/oregon-county-official-accuses-local-newspaper-criminal-conduct/",
"first_published_at": "2020-02-11T16:29:52.372473Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T18:47:55.544469Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T18:47:55.473348Z",
"date": "2019-08-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Malheur County",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r4r6n\">An Oregon county official accused a local newspaper of criminal harassment and requested a formal investigation into what the newspaper defended as normal reporting practices.</p><p data-block-key=\"pb12b\">The Malheur Enterprise reported that it had spent months investigating State Rep. Greg Smith and his work as the contract director of the Malheur County Economic Development Department.</p><p data-block-key=\"0e6ug\">Enterprise Editor and Publisher Les Zaitz told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Smith and his agency have been uncooperative with the newspaper’s attempts to report on its activities and projects for well over a year.</p><p data-block-key=\"1hd68\">Following the publication of <a href=\"https://www.malheurenterprise.com/posts/5981/malheur-county-lured-company-to-ontario-with-tax-break-promise-then-doesnt-deliver\">an article</a> on the department, a county attorney made a formal request to the local sheriff’s office to investigate the Enterprise reporters. In <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6270668-Important-Notice-Response-to-the-Malheur.html\">a statement</a> published on Aug. 14, 2019, Smith wrote that he and his staff had been “subjected to endless phone calls, hostile emails at all hours of the day and unwelcome visits,” and accused the Enterprise of pursuing a “vendetta” against him and his office.</p><p data-block-key=\"lcfen\">Sheriff Brian Wolfe confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that a county official had asked him to investigate Smith’s allegations</p><p data-block-key=\"jt1zx\">Wolfe told an Enterprise reporter that the newspaper should examine the state crime of “telephonic harassment,” <a href=\"https://www.malheurenterprise.com/posts/5999/malheur-county-officials-ask-sheriff-to-assess-whether-enterprise-reporters-broke-laws\">according to the outlet</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"rwc46\"><a href=\"https://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/166.090\">According to state law</a>, “a telephone caller commits the crime of telephonic harassment if the caller intentionally harasses or annoys another person” by repeatedly calling or leaving messages at a number they have been forbidden to use. Telephonic harassment is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a maximum $2,500 fine.</p><p data-block-key=\"xi088\">In a statement <a href=\"https://www.malheurenterprise.com/posts/6498/from-the-publisher-enterprise-accused-of-criminal-conduct-again\">published</a> by the Enterprise, Zaitz defended the staff’s reporting activities as professional and customary. Zaitz also said the newspaper’s staff was alarmed by the prospect of a criminal investigation or search warrant on the Enterprise’s offices.</p><p data-block-key=\"i3qon\">“We are a small, independently owned news source trying to hold public officials accountable,” Zaitz said. “Rather than provide information and truth, local officials appear more interested in criminalizing a profession protected by the First Amendment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qsufo\">The Enterprise reported that Smith’s staff had been instructed to turn over email correspondence with the newspaper to the sheriff’s office.</p><p data-block-key=\"j0p1g\">Sheriff Wolfe confirmed to the Tracker that his office did not open a formal investigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"qm76f\">“We looked into the allegations and we did not open an investigation because there were no elements of a crime,” Wolfe said.</p><p data-block-key=\"d9ytb\">Smith did not respond to request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"vynuf\"><i>Editor's Note: This article and update have been edited to reflect comment from Malheur Editor and Publisher Les Zaitz.</i></p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-12-14 11:28:00+00:00) Oregon county official again accuses local newspaper of criminal conduct"
],
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Malheur Enterprise"
],
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"Chilling Statement"
],
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},
{
"title": "Montgomery County Commission sued for ban on livestreaming chamber proceedings",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/montgomery-county-commission-sued-for-ban-on-livestreaming-chamber-proceedings/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-05T17:15:47.286707Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-21T16:51:06.774673Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T16:51:06.695010Z",
"date": "2019-08-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Clarksville",
"longitude": -87.35945,
"latitude": 36.52977,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"a3uif\">On Aug. 12, 2019, the Montgomery County Commission in Clarksville, Tennessee, passed a <a href=\"https://tcog.info/files/2019/08/Montgomery-County-resolution-for-meeting-decorum-aug-12-2019.pdf\">resolution</a> banning live video streaming inside its chambers, stating: “No live broadcast from within the Commission Chambers of its proceedings in whole or in part is allowed. A simultaneous broadcast of the proceedings is available on the internet at ‘YouTube’ and the same is preserved there for an extended period.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qg9o3\">The resolution allowed livestreaming by news professionals, with the <a href=\"https://www.wkms.org/post/tennessee-commission-bans-public-livestreaming-meetings\">caveat that the media</a> gave prior notice and had approval from the Montgomery County government.</p><p data-block-key=\"ihkbl\">Two days after the resolution passed, commissioner Jason Knight, along with two co-plaintiffs, one “whose sole employment is livestreaming local government meetings, including county commission meetings in Montgomery County,” filed a <a href=\"https://www.dropbox.com/s/o9bmday7m8df8nr/001%20complaint.pdf?dl=0\">complaint</a> alleging the resolution was a violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. The complaint read, in part, that, “the government apparently believes . . . that operating an ‘official’ YouTube obviates the need for citizen live streamers. This is the modern equivalent of insisting that a State-run newspaper obviates the need for local press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8opvx\">“The lawsuit was initiated because seemingly the First Amendment rights and the Tennessee Open Meetings Act were violated,” Knight told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"czp5o\">On Sept. 10, Montgomery County filed a motion to dismiss, which the <a href=\"https://casetext.com/case/knight-v-montgomery-cnty-1?q=\">United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee denied</a> on Jun. 30, 2020, holding that Knight’s First Amendment claim was valid.</p><p data-block-key=\"c59dy\">On Jan. 4, 2021, the court held a discovery dispute conference with the parties involved. No further updates have been made publicly available.<br/></p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Tennessee",
"abbreviation": "TN"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Local government: Legislature"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
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"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": [
"Change in policy or practice"
]
},
{
"title": "Fast Company subpoenaed for identifying information on confidential source",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fast-company-subpoenaed-identifying-information-confidential-source/",
"first_published_at": "2019-12-18T18:26:55.842338Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T18:48:13.690325Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T18:48:13.603536Z",
"date": "2019-08-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9acu0\">Business magazine Fast Company was subpoenaed on Aug. 9, 2019, for communications and documents relating to a 2017 article concerning the arrest of a tech investor in London.</p><p data-block-key=\"7pjjc\">Venture capital investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist Shervin Pishevar was arrested in May 2017 in the United Kingdom on suspicion of sexual assault. According to a memorandum of law filed by Pishevar’s attorneys and obtained by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Pishevar was released on bail the following day. City of London Police confirmed that July that they would take no further action against him due to insufficient evidence.</p><p data-block-key=\"udhm1\">In June 2017, Pishevar, known for his investments in companies like Uber and AirBnB, obtained an injunction in England to prevent UK publication The Sun from publishing his name in any future articles about the incident, according to the memo.</p><p data-block-key=\"vanb2\">A confidential source reached out to Fast Company senior news editor Marcus Baram in New York, alleging that they possessed a copy of Pishevar’s arrest report. Baram met with the individual in Washington, D.C., in September 2017 and received a copy of the alleged police report.</p><p data-block-key=\"haag0\">Fast Company published an article containing a statement from Pishevar confirming his arrest, as well as details provided from the source and report in November. The police report was later proven to be fabricated.</p><p data-block-key=\"ym9fl\">In early August, lawyers representing Pishevar filed an application for discovery by a foreign party to serve Fast Company — through Mansueto, the legal entity controlling the magazine — with a subpoena to produce information. The memo stated the information was for use in “contemplated criminal and civil proceedings in England,” or possible future court cases.</p><p data-block-key=\"kbb5i\">The application was granted by a federal judge for the Southern District of New York on Aug. 9.</p><p data-block-key=\"ng5lt\">The subpoena, obtained by the Tracker, asked for all documents and communications relating to the forged police report, particularly any information that could be used to determine the identity of the forger and anyone who helped distribute the report. Fast Company largely complied with the subpoena, with lawyers for both parties exchanging emails in September and October.</p><p data-block-key=\"09kqw\">Fast Company did not, however, provide information that would have identified Baram’s confidential source, stating that Baram claimed reporter’s privilege under New York’s shield law. Lucas Bento, an attorney for Pishevar, acknowledged in an email to Fast Company’s general counsel Alison Anthoine that such identifying information was the central aim of the subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"qrkou\">“While we recognize the source’s name is not being redacted in any of the documents, can you please provide us further information about the individual who distributed the forged police report to Mr. Baram,” Bento wrote, “including his or her name or alias, contact information, Signal contact information (including screen name and number), or other identifying information (such as gender, race, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, glasses, or dress).”</p><p data-block-key=\"txj6h\">Bento also threatened to pursue a court-ordered deposition of Baram if Fast Company did not provide the identifying information voluntarily. In subsequent emails, Anthoine provided information about the individual whom the source said provided them the report, but not about the source.</p><p data-block-key=\"tr5dh\">Bento followed through on the threat to pursue testimony and documents from Baram, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tech-investor-attempts-compel-us-journalist-identify-confidential-source/\">filing an application for additional discovery</a> on Oct. 31, 2019. Attorneys for Baram filed a memo in opposition to the application on Dec. 4.</p><p data-block-key=\"hy9vs\"><i>Editor's Note: This article was updated to reflect that Shervin Pishevar confirmed his arrest to Fast Company.</i></p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qnft3\">A portion of the subpoena for documents from Fast Company on behalf of tech investor Shervin Pishevar</p>",
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Fast Company"
],
"tags": [],
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"categories": [
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],
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"subpoena_statuses": [
"carried out"
],
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},
{
"title": "Wisconsin think tank sues governor for leaving its news service off media advisory list",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wisconsin-think-tank-sues-governor-leaving-its-news-service-media-advisory-list/",
"first_published_at": "2020-01-31T20:03:32.499693Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-21T16:51:48.786549Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T16:51:48.688942Z",
"date": "2019-08-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Madison",
"longitude": -89.40123,
"latitude": 43.07305,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pydxt\">The MacIver Institute for Public Policy, a Wisconsin-based think tank, sued Governor Tony Evers on Aug. 6, 2019, alleging that his office discriminated against MacIver’s News Service when excluding it from the administration’s media advisory list.</p><p data-block-key=\"50w1x\">According to the complaint, the MacIver News Service and its reporters are credentialed by the Wisconsin State Legislature to work as part of the Capitol press corps, and regularly interview state legislators and public officials.</p><p data-block-key=\"2nx2n\">The News Service was on the previous administration’s media list, the institute’s lawyer Daniel Suhr told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. When Evers took office, News Director Bill Osmulski and his former colleague Matt Kittle asked to be added to the new list. According to the complaint, they received no response and were never added to the list of approximately 1,000 local, state and national reporters and outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"l45yv\">The complaint also details the barring of MacIver reporters from a press briefing on Feb. 28, 2019, to which 26 members of the Capitol press corps had been invited. Kittle and Osmulski attempted to RSVP and arrived at the designated time, but were not permitted to attend as they were not on the invitee list.</p><p data-block-key=\"h5f0i\">Suhr told the Tracker that on April 4 he sent a letter to Evers’ office stating that the administration had violated the News Service’s First Amendment Rights and asking for the reasoning behind excluding the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"4xleh\">A few weeks later, the governor’s legal counsel responded that Evers’ communication’s office “invites some journalists to limited access events, such as exclusive interviews, on a case-by-case basis using neutral criteria, namely newspaper circulation, radio listenership, and TV viewership.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w9veg\">The News Service subsequently filed a public records request, Suhr said, seeking any documentation outlining the “neutral criteria” used by Evers’ staff. According to the complaint, Evers’ staff denied the request based on attorney-client privilege.</p><p data-block-key=\"1hinw\">The MacIver Institute then filed their lawsuit against Governor Evers in August, alleging he violated its staffers’ constitutional rights to free speech, freedom of the press and equal access. The Institute also motioned for a preliminary injunction from the court that would force Evers’ office to add the News Service to the media advisory list before a ruling is reached in the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"6wguq\">In its write-up of the suit, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/98c5eb27e33248e78e3f8b62e4eb072a\">reported</a> that governors from both parties have held similar briefings in the past, and that such briefings have typically been open only to certain invited reporters, not the entire press corps.</p><p data-block-key=\"nx6t7\">The AP also published a statement by Evers’ spokeswoman, Melissa Baldauff, that Evers believes strongly in a “fair and unbiased press corps” and remains committed to openness and transparency.</p><p data-block-key=\"ogy1c\">In a brief in opposition to the injunction, Evers’ counsel argued that the existing media list is comprised of journalists and news organizations that “meet criteria which focus on whether the requestor is a bona fide press organization,” and that the MacIver News Service does not.</p><p data-block-key=\"n0oyd\">A memo dated June 26 from the governor’s Office of Legal Counsel was filed alongside the brief, outlining the criteria used to determine whether a journalist or outlet is “bona fide.” The factors listed are based on the standards used by the <a href=\"http://presscredentials.legis.wisconsin.gov/\">Wisconsin Capitol Correspondents Board</a> and the <a href=\"https://www.dailypress.senate.gov/?page_id=70\">US Congress</a>, and include in part:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"6fmjj\">Is the petitioner employed by or affiliated with an organization whose principal business is news dissemination?</li><li data-block-key=\"ge0zl\">Is the petitioner a bona fide correspondent of repute in their profession, and do they and their employing organizations exhibit the following characteristics?</li><li data-block-key=\"5qs8l\">Both avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest;</li><li data-block-key=\"ywiij\">Both resist pressures from advertisers, donors, or any other special interests to influence coverage;</li><li data-block-key=\"lncit\">Is the petitioner or its employing organization engaged in any lobbying, paid advocacy, advertising, publicity or promotion work for any individual, political party, corporation or organization?</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"v0lk1\">The brief asserts that the Governor’s office concluded that the MacIver News Service does not meet these criteria.</p><p data-block-key=\"82d5w\">“The MacIver Institute is not principally a news organization. On its website, it characterizes itself as ‘a Wisconsin-based think tank that promotes free markets, individual freedom, personal responsibility and limited government,’” the brief reads. “The organization’s ‘news’ branch makes no effort to distinguish itself from the overall organization mission.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s1f95\">In response to these claims, Suhr told the Tracker that the MacIver Institute is a 501(c)3 and therefore legally barred from engaging in political activity, and the Institute is not registered as a political lobbyist. Suhr asserted that news with a perspective has become commonplace in the new media environment, and doesn’t inherently delegitimize the reporting such outlets produce.</p><p data-block-key=\"0hkqm\">“When government sets up criteria for media, it’s easy to default to this old-school, traditional criteria, to impose requirements like ‘broadcast to a certain number of households,’ or to require that you be a print news outlet,” Shur said, referencing <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nevada-judges-orders-online-journalist-reveal-sources-says-not-protected-shield-law/\">the case of Sam Toll</a> in Nevada. “To some extent what the governor’s office has done here is they defaulted to criteria that were designed for an old media age, and I think they did that to justify their decision after the fact to exclude my client.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dy8nj\">According to the complaint, if the governor’s office had adopted the criteria set by the state legislature, MacIver’s journalists would have qualified as they are already credentialed for the Capitol press corps.</p><p data-block-key=\"5v4ow\">“The new neutral criteria are no salvation: they were not developed openly, are not applied equally, do not permit an opportunity for journalists to show their bona fides, exclude legitimate news outlets besides MacIver, and violate the Constitution,” the complaint states.</p><p data-block-key=\"r4ufn\">The Governor’s office did not respond to the Tracker’s calls or emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"55zfz\">First Amendment experts <a href=\"https://apnews.com/98c5eb27e33248e78e3f8b62e4eb072a\">told the AP</a> that MacIver appears to have a strong case, drawing a parallel between MacIver’s exclusion and President Donald Trump’s attempt to bar CNN reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-suspends-cnn-reporter-jim-acostas-press-credentials-and-falsely-accuses-him-manhandling-intern/\">Jim Acosta</a>. Neither the attempt to ban Acosta in 2018 nor the White House’s attempt to suspend correspondent<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-suspends-correspondents-press-pass-reporter-alleges-retaliation/\">Brian Karem</a> in 2019 were upheld.</p><p data-block-key=\"2catp\">Robert Dreschel, a media law expert and journalism professor at UW-Madison, said it appears Evers’ office had no standards or guidance in place when MacIver was denied access. “That’s very troublesome,” Dreschel said.</p><p data-block-key=\"dpqik\">Shur told the Tracker that he and his clients are still awaiting a ruling on their motion for a preliminary injunction, and that a tentative trial date has been set for early 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"yossa\">“This case isn’t just important to MacIver, it’s not just important to journalists: it’s important to all of us in America because we all have a stake in a healthy First Amendment and we all have an interest in ensuring an active, vigilant press corps that insists on the transparency and accountability we need from our government to make sure that our democracy functions.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"vaz0m\">Tony Evers speaks at a rally on the eve of his 2018 election as governor of Wisconsin. A think tank has sued the governor's office for leaving its news service off Evers' media advisory list.</p>",
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"state": {
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"(2021-12-10 12:11:00+00:00) Wisconsin think tank appeal denied by Supreme Court, keeping news service off Gov. media list",
"(2020-03-31 11:26:00+00:00) Federal judge rules Wisconsin gov can bar think tank’s news service"
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},
{
"title": "White House suspends correspondent’s press pass, reporter alleges retaliation",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-suspends-correspondents-press-pass-reporter-alleges-retaliation/",
"first_published_at": "2019-08-08T16:20:40.033820Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T15:50:54.104336Z",
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"city": "Washington",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r3fbn\">Brian Karem, a White House correspondent for Playboy and political analyst for CNN, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BrianKarem/status/1157430193788784645\">tweeted</a> that beginning on Aug. 5, 2019, his press pass would be suspended for 30 days.</p><p data-block-key=\"axtgb\">Karem received an email from White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham at around 5 p.m. the Friday before the suspension went into effect notifying him of the “preliminary decision,” citing his actions at President Donald Trump’s social media summit the previous month, The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/08/03/reporter-says-white-house-suspended-his-credentials-an-attempt-stifle-free-press/\">reported</a>. At a press event in the Rose Garden that day, Karem had a heated exchange with former White House aide and radio host Sebastian Gorka.</p><p data-block-key=\"0f9gq\">Gorka has had at least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-white-house-aide-seb-gorka-shoves-mediaite-reporter-cpac/\">one other altercation with the media</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"jn3iy\">Karem wrote in an <a href=\"https://www.playboy.com/read/don-t-rock-the-boat-or-you-will-lose-access-1\">article</a> for Playboy that the move to pull his press pass was actually in retaliation for him “rock[ing] the boat” and “ask[ing] hard questions” over the last several weeks.</p><p data-block-key=\"avu86\">“They’re claiming [the reason is] something that happened 21 days ago. I’m there every day. If this was an issue, it should’ve been brought to my attention long before now,” Karem told the Post.</p><p data-block-key=\"vne2l\">Playboy and Karem have retained First Amendment attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr., who successfully represented CNN and Jim Acosta when <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-suspends-cnn-reporter-jim-acostas-press-credentials-and-falsely-accuses-him-manhandling-intern/\">Acosta’s credentials were suspended</a> in November 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"niwat\">In a <a href=\"https://www.gibsondunn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Karem-White-House-Letter.pdf\">response and appeal to Grisham</a> dated Aug. 5, Boutrous noted that in the letter to Karem, Grisham acknowledged that the White House had not issued any “explicit rules… to govern behavior by members of the press at White House press events.” Citing multiple instances where other attendees at the press event in July engaged in similar behavior to Karem’s but were not censured, Boutrous argued that the suspension was “arbitrary and unfair.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wj7p0\">Boutrous additionally highlighted that Karem had reached out to the press office multiple times to discuss the incident, but the first meeting was canceled and subsequent emails ended without a meeting scheduled.</p><p data-block-key=\"6913w\">“Hard passes are not meant to be weaponized as a means of penalizing reporters for coverage with which the administration disagrees based on amorphous and subjective standards,” Boutrous wrote. “Such actions unconstitutionally chill the free press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"l7lw4\">The White House Correspondents’ Association published a statement in support of Karem on Aug. 4.</p><p data-block-key=\"6fpic\">“We sincerely hope this White House does not again make the mistake of revoking a reporter’s hard pass,” WHCA President Jonathan Karl said in the statement. “The WHCA has stood up to violations of due process rights before and we stand ready to safeguard those rights for all reporters who work to hold our government accountable.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"jn7ck\">Former White House staffer Sebastian Gorka walks away after yelling at Playboy writer and White House correspondent Brian Karem (center, in tie and blue suit) and members of the press corps during a summit in the Rose Garden.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
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"updates": [
"(2019-08-20 00:00:00+00:00) Reporter sues after his White House press pass was revoked",
"(2020-06-05 13:17:00+00:00) Federal appeals court upholds ruling reinstating reporter’s White House press pass",
"(2019-09-03 11:32:00+00:00) Judge rules White House must restore hard pass for journalist Brian Karem",
"(2022-05-10 13:11:00+00:00) Playboy correspondent reaches settlement in lawsuit against the White House"
],
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"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
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],
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Private security guard assaults journalist, confiscates camera during summit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/private-security-guard-assaults-journalist-confiscates-camera-during-summit/",
"first_published_at": "2019-08-13T15:53:10.647664Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-27T21:31:24.285492Z",
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"date": "2019-08-03",
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"city": "New Brunswick",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"wc68e\">Charlie Kratovil, founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, filed a police report alleging assault by a private security guard after being forcibly removed from covering an event on Aug. 3, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"098u5\">The NBT news team was invited to cover an education summit hosted by the non-profit Project Ready. Kratovil was covering the event on behalf of a reporter who could not, he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Charlie4Change/status/1158360810248384512\">tweeted</a>, and planned to record the gala ceremonies and post the video to the outlet’s YouTube channel without any editing. Kratovil said he was there for the keynote speech, given by White House correspondent and CNN analyst April Ryan.</p><p data-block-key=\"b04jq\">Kratovil told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that when he checked in and set up his camera at about 6:45 p.m., the public relations officials did not inform him that there would be any limitations or restrictions on filming the proceedings. Kratovil said that he was able to film the first hour and a half of the event without issue.</p><p data-block-key=\"qbgv0\">When Rep. Donald Payne took the stage to introduce Ryan at approximately 8:30 p.m., Kratovil <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Charlie4Change/status/1158360838580969472\">tweeted</a>, he was approached by a man who said he was “with the speaker,” and asked Kratovil to identify himself. He did so and said he had received approval to cover the event. The man left, Kratovil wrote, but returned and threatened to “take down” his camera if Kratovil did not do so himself.</p><p data-block-key=\"das8a\">Kratovil refused.</p><p data-block-key=\"u5z60\">Over the next several minutes, Kratovil debated with the man, later identified as Ryan’s private security guard Joel Morris, and several public relations officials who began to gather around his table, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Charlie4Change/status/1158360843911929856\">according to his account</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7nkmd\">“I maintained a firm position re: video recording, saying I wouldn’t take action until I could get more info on the man who threatened to mess w/ my camera,” Kratovil <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Charlie4Change/status/1158360845300244480\">tweeted</a>. “I told them ‘If he doesn’t give me his name & tell me on the record why I can’t [video], I’m not turning off the camera.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"h6x7e\">In <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obZ9zZ8IBEg\">Kratovil’s video</a>, security guard Morris can be seen approaching Ryan onstage, who pauses her speaking, appears to look at Kratovil’s camera and nods. Ryan remains silent as Morris then walks towards Kratovil’s camera, grabs it and walks off.</p><p data-block-key=\"b8nn7\">In the <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obZ9zZ8IBEg\">video</a>, which keeps recording, Ryan resumes speaking as Morris grabs the camera and is heard trying to explain the interruption. “When I speak, I don’t have news covering my speech,” Ryan said, adding that she wanted to have an “unfettered conversation with you all.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tovyn\">However, New Brunswick-based reporter Chuck O’Donnell from TAPInto, a network of local news websites, was allowed to remain in the room.</p><p data-block-key=\"7yybv\">Kratovil told the Tracker that he quickly gathered up his belongings and followed after Morris.</p><p data-block-key=\"6f7b0\">According to a police report about the incident filed by Kratovil, Morris walked to the front lobby and turned over Kratovil’s camera to the security staff at the hotel’s front desk. The camera was shortly returned to Kratovil.</p><p data-block-key=\"5dz9i\">Kratovil shared with the Tracker <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/Charlie4Change/videos/vb.252573682529/514171555999335/?type=2&theater\">a surveillance recording</a> from the lobby that shows Kratovil holding his camera and moving away from Morris. In the video, Kratovil can be heard saying, “This guy is chasing me.” Morris quickly moves around behind him, and appears to grab and twist Kratovil’s left arm behind his back while pushing him out of the frame.</p><p data-block-key=\"se56i\">The police report noted the injury.</p><p data-block-key=\"c2aqq\">“According to Kratovil,” Officer Ryan Daughton wrote in the police report, “the privately hired Security Guard utilized some kind of compliance hold and subsequently caused pain to Kratovil’s left wrist. I offered Kratovil medical attention and he refused the same.”</p><p data-block-key=\"h8l99\">Kratovil told the Tracker that he ended up seeking care at an urgent care a few days after the incident, where they advised him to treat his shoulder injury as a sprain. He said he plans to press charges.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"4tz26\">While giving the keynote speech at an event in New Jersey, White House correspondent April Ryan is informed of video recording by a member of her private security (back to the camera). The camera was then confiscated.</p>",
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{
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],
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},
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"(2019-08-20 13:05:00+00:00) Ryan speaks out; Hearing delayed to no-show"
],
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],
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]
