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{
"title": "Court orders journalist to write blog, censor replies as part of sentencing",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/court-orders-journalist-to-write-blog-censor-replies-as-part-of-sentencing/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-03T14:42:27.562940Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-06-03T14:42:27.562940Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-06-03T14:42:27.512793Z",
"date": "2019-01-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Franklin",
"longitude": -83.38154,
"latitude": 35.18232,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>On Jan. 11, 2019, journalist Davin Eldridge was found guilty of criminal contempt; sentenced to a year-long probation; and required to write an essay about respect for the court, submit it for court approval, publish it online and censor negative comments.</p><p>Eldridge, publisher of the news site and Facebook page <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/trappreport/\">Trappalachia</a>, recorded and livestreamed a criminal proceeding in the Macon County Courthouse in Franklin, North Carolina, in November 2018 despite posted signs stating that recording was not permitted in the courtroom and a warning from a bailiff, the News & Observer <a href=\"https://www.newsobserver.com/article249893653.html\">reported</a>.</p><p>The presiding judge, William Coward, reiterated his rule against recording and, after viewing Eldridge’s Facebook posts, ordered the journalist to return to the courtroom later that day. Eldridge did not comply with that order.</p><p>Eldridge did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p>Eldridge was later <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nc-news-publisher-charged-with-criminal-contempt-of-court/\">charged with criminal contempt</a> by Coward, who ordered the journalist to appear for a hearing on Jan. 11, 2019. That day, Eldridge objected to Coward overseeing his case and asked for his recusal, which Coward denied.</p><p>Coward found Eldridge guilty of criminal contempt and sentenced him to 30 days in jail. The sentence was suspended, and the trial court placed Eldridge on probation for one year with certain conditions, which included writing a 2,000-to-3,000-word essay on the subject “Respect for the Court System is Essential to the Fair Administration of Justice” and not attending “any court session in Judicial District 30A unless and until his essay has been approved and posted.”</p><p>Eldridge immediately appealed the ruling, but in December 2019, the North Carolina Court of Appeals <a href=\"https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=2&pdf=38602\">upheld</a> the trial court’s decision. A dissenting opinion was entered by Judge Christopher Brook, who agreed that Coward had the right to restrict recording in the courtroom and find Eldridge guilty of contempt but found that the conditions of his probation had “deeply troubling constitutional problems.”</p><p>“Although we generally do not review constitutional questions that have not first been raised in the trial court … suffice it to say that the sentencing judge has not only compelled Defendant [Eldridge] to speak within the meaning of the First Amendment, he has compelled Defendant to then continue speaking by censoring the viewpoints of other expressed in response to speech compelled by the court,” Judge Brook wrote in his dissent. “This compelled speech silencing third-party viewpoints expressed in response to compelled speech raises serious First Amendment concerns.”</p><p>On March 12, 2021, the North Carolina Supreme Court <a href=\"https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=1&pdf=40135\">affirmed</a> the Appeals Court’s decision without any explanation.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "North Carolina",
"abbreviation": "NC"
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"categories": [
"Prior Restraint"
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"Davin Eldridge (Trappalachia)"
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{
"title": "Iowa blogger denied press access to Statehouse",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/iowa-blogger-denied-press-access-statehouse/",
"first_published_at": "2020-02-04T15:54:07.920420Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-07T14:25:43.669822Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-07T14:25:43.581555Z",
"date": "2019-01-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Des Moines",
"longitude": -93.60911,
"latitude": 41.60054,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"aakn6\">A political blogger in Iowa has been denied press access to the Iowa Legislature two years in a row, despite the lack of a clear policy that would disqualify her.</p><p data-block-key=\"zzj9s\">Laura Belin, who runs the independent news site Bleeding Heartland, covers Iowa politics and has been critical of the Republican-led House and Senate. Belin told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she first sought information about press credentials in the Iowa House of Representatives in early 2019. Since then, officials have denied her requests for credentials or access to press work areas multiple times, each time citing different reasons that did not align with written policies in place. Both the House and the Senate have also changed press qualification criteria since her first application.</p><p data-block-key=\"gnukd\">When Belin first sought credentials in the House, the clerk at the time, Carmine Boal, told her by email on Jan. 3, 2019, that credentials “are not issued to members of the public.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sburd\">Boal referenced Iowa House rules, which did not elaborate on qualifications for the press. She also told Belin the House consulted<a href=\"https://periodical.house.gov/accreditation/rules-and-regulations\"> U.S. congressional press gallery rules</a>, which would not appear to disqualify Belin. Boal never responded to multiple requests for further explanation from Belin.</p><p data-block-key=\"7od6r\">Boal stood by the denial of Belin’s credentials in a statement <a href=\"https://apnews.com/df3c7ecdcf90431daf729a1fb7ac7fe4\">to The Associated Press</a> but did not elaborate on why she did not meet the chamber’s rules that restricted access to the press box to “representatives of the press, radio, and television.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s232y\">After the Iowa Freedom of Information Council wrote to Boal expressing concerns about Belin’s rejection, Boal responded on Feb. 5 that House rules “do not offer a definition” of members of the media, and again pointed to congressional rules. In a copy of the response letter provided to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, she wrote that online outlets are not excluded and said that credentials are not denied based on content. However, she also said that the House has not “credentialed any ‘non-traditional media’ since 2015,” a policy that did not appear in writing.</p><p data-block-key=\"l1wya\">Belin also applied for access to desks reserved for members of the press in the Iowa Senate in January 2019. She was initially told that she could access vacant spaces on day passes. However, Belin said she was never issued a day pass, even when the desks were not in use.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ln99\">Both the House and the Senate updated their press policies after Belin’s initial inquiries, according to the <a href=\"https://apnews.com/64d897b25c9c8918d5be95f5e63797a8\">AP</a>. The House updated its<a href=\"https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/CCDOC/1050120.pdf\"> policy</a> in February 2019 to include requirements that credentialed press be “bona fide correspondents of repute” and a “paid correspondent.” Bleeding Heartland is editorially independent and a registered business. Belin, as its owner, is entitled to any proceeds.</p><p data-block-key=\"mugpm\">Belin applied for press credentials for the 2020 legislative session. She was denied credentials from the House on Jan. 10, 2020. House Clerk Meghan Nelson told her in an email that the House does not credential “outlets that are nontraditional/independent in nature.” This requirement is not included in the Iowa House press policy.</p><p data-block-key=\"9o0yb\">The Senate abolished media credentials and adopted a new <a href=\"https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/SSDOC/1126281.pdf\">reserved work space policy</a>, in place for the 2020 legislative session, which guides access to desks in the Senate chamber reserved for media and Senate staff.</p><p data-block-key=\"kej12\">On Jan. 10, Belin received an email from Secretary of the Senate Charlie Smithson notifying her that “it has been determined that you do not meet the criteria to be a ‘member of the media’” under the Senate’s work space policy. Correspondence provided by Belin shows that Smithson did not respond to her multiple requests for further explanation of what criteria she did not meet under the policy.</p><p data-block-key=\"9kfyy\">Belin told the Tracker that press freedom protections are not just for journalists pulling a full-time salary. She suspects she was denied access because her approach differs from the “traditional objectivity stance.”</p><p data-block-key=\"m7z5v\">“I don’t think it’s constitutional for them to exclude me because they don’t like the opinions on my website,” Belin said.</p><p data-block-key=\"998lm\">Iowa House and Senate officials did not respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/LauraBelinheadshot.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"rs9d8\">Political blogger Laura Belin has been repeatedly denied press access to the Iowa Statehouse. "I don’t think it’s constitutional for them to exclude me because they don’t like the opinions on my website,” Belin said.</p>",
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"case_number": "4:24-cv-00021",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"state": {
"name": "Iowa",
"abbreviation": "IA"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-01-19 00:00:00+00:00) Reporter sues Iowa House clerk after being denied press credentials",
"(2024-01-24 00:00:00+00:00) Iowa reporter wins press credentials after filing suit",
"(2024-04-02 11:26:00+00:00) Reporter reaches $49k settlement in lawsuit over press pass denial"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
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"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"State government: Legislature"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Laura Belin (Bleeding Heartland)"
],
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"Change in policy or practice",
"Press credential or media list"
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},
{
"title": "Judge quashes subpoena of New York Post reporter",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-quashes-subpoena-new-york-post-reporter/",
"first_published_at": "2019-11-22T20:05:22.458030Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-24T16:20:38.207669Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-24T16:20:38.082005Z",
"date": "2019-01-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qn9mq\">Veteran New York Post reporter Susan Edelman was subpoenaed on Jan. 7, 2019, in an ongoing lawsuit between a former New York firefighter and the department. A federal magistrate judge quashed the subpoena on Aug. 9, and a federal district court judge affirmed that decision on Nov. 12.</p><p data-block-key=\"5scg1\">Michael Johnson, the plaintiff, alleges in his civil lawsuit filed in November 2016 that he was discriminated against at FDNY due to his status as an African American “priority hire” who joined the department in 2014. He was hired following a court order to remedy historically discriminatory hiring practices at FDNY. Johnson alleges that he was the subject of strategic leaks to the media intended to portray him as a coward who refused to fight fires.</p><p data-block-key=\"1oq1r\">Edelman was the co-author of a May 2015 New York Post story titled “Firefighters fear colleague who routinely flees fires.” The piece began, “He's a firefighter in name only. Michael D. Johnson won’t fight fires. Instead, he stays on the sidelines as his Engine Company 257 colleagues rush into burning buildings, FDNY insiders told the Post.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1l6sn\">The 2019 subpoena was issued demanding Edelman appear at a Jan. 29 deposition at the New York office of one of Johnson’s attorneys. After negotiations with Johnson’s attorneys and several extensions granted by the court, Edelman’s attorneys filed a motion to quash the subpoena on June 4.</p><p data-block-key=\"ou15y\">Edelman penned an affidavit in support of the motion, in which she argues the importance of keeping the identities of her sources confidential. “My reporting for the Post includes investigating corruption, waste, and misconduct within government agencies in New York City,” she writes. “The municipal government sources who provide me information on these and other issues could be subject to serious professional discipline—or even lose their job—for speaking with me. It is therefore absolutely critical that my sources trust that I will maintain their confidentiality.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xds36\">Lawyers for Johnson argued in court filings that Edelman had waived her reporter’s privilege because she, in a 2015 phone call with one of Johnson’s attorneys, mentioned she was getting a call on another line from Jake Lemonda, a FDNY battalion chief. Edelman’s attorney, Robert Balin, disagreed, writing in a filing, “Ms. Edelman said nothing about the substance of any conversations she had with Mr. Lemonda, whether he provided her with any information, or if he did, whether any information he provided was used in—or even connected to—the Article.”</p><p data-block-key=\"y8wxc\">Vera M. Scanlon, a federal magistrate judge, granted the order quashing the subpoena on Aug. 9. The plaintiff’s counsel filed an objection to Scanlon’s order, writing that the judge “erred when she found that all of Edelman’s discussions with her sources were confidential” and that the “standard for non-confidentiality ought to apply.”</p><p data-block-key=\"75oog\">On Nov. 12, U.S. District Court Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto affirmed Scanlon’s order granting Edelman’s motion to quash the subpoena. “Judge Scanlon properly exercised her discretion when she held that Edelman's sources and other newsgathering information with respect to the Article were confidential and that plaintiff did not overcome his burden to compel disclosure of Edelman's information,” she found.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"c93iq\">A portion of the 2019 subpoena seeking information on confidential sources from New York Post reporter Susan Edelman.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
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],
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{
"title": "Independent filmmaker stopped for second time while crossing U.S.-Mexico border, car and phone searched",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-filmmaker-stopped-second-time-while-crossing-us-mexico-border-car-and-phone-searched/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-06T13:39:46.531989Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-29T17:03:21.128449Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-29T17:03:21.028544Z",
"date": "2019-01-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"65n42\">An independent documentary filmmaker was stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border twice by U.S. officials while following the migrant caravan for a film project. The second stop included a search of his equipment.</p><p data-block-key=\"9iij9\">The filmmaker, a foreign citizen who is based in the U.S., told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that in December 2018 he was crossing the San Ysidro border near San Diego, California, when <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-filmmaker-stopped-while-crossing-us-mexico-border/\">he was stopped and held</a> for several hours after being recognized for his work by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent.</p><p data-block-key=\"e0ja6\">Not quite a week later, he said, he was stopped at the same border point while re-entering Mexico to continue his work.</p><p data-block-key=\"ncdra\">About 1 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019, a CBP agent took the passports of the filmmaker and a friend with whom he was traveling.</p><p data-block-key=\"ztbhg\">Usually, the filmmaker said, a secondary screening has a specific protocol: The agent puts the passport in an orange slip and tucks the slip under a wiper on the front windshield. This time, he said, the protocol was very different.</p><p data-block-key=\"661om\">The agent kept the two passports, asked the filmmaker for his wallet and told him and his friend to leave the car. The filmmaker was then taken inside the CBP office, where he waited for 30-40 minutes.</p><p data-block-key=\"6gp0k\">Plainclothes officers began asking questions, he said, most notably about if he’d been in any face-off with officers or if he had any involvement in a specific New Year’s Eve incident. On Dec. 31, 2018, CBP agents <a href=\"https://www.newsweek.com/border-patrol-migrants-tear-gas-mexico-1276529\">fired tear gas across the border</a> near Tijuana, Mexico.</p><p data-block-key=\"yhxw6\">The filmmaker also said the agents asked if he “knew of any group or people who were agitators.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ebuvc\">The filmmaker said he answered the questions and then the agents asked him to unlock his phone. He did so, he said, because he didn’t want to escalate the situation and get into a confrontation with the agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"qofpc\">“By this time it’s almost 2 a.m.,” the filmmaker said, “And the whole situation is intimidating.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7hljc\">After about 15 minutes with his phone, the agents returned and asked him to unlock it again. They also asked for his email and phone number.</p><p data-block-key=\"l2swq\">“I don’t think anything was missing from my phone,” the filmmaker said, “But they had full access to everything — my contacts, my photos, my social media.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e1yuy\">All told, he said, he was held for about 2 hours. His friend’s car was searched and she was brought in and questioned as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"9y1bn\">The filmmaker said he has no plans to go back because he is done filming. He did ask that his name not be used for fear of reprisal.</p><p data-block-key=\"18tyv\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has detailed <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=migrant+caravan&categories=Border+Stop\">nearly a dozen border stops</a> of journalists following the migrant caravan. In March, San Diego’s NBC 7 investigative news team received leaked documents <a href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/investigations/Source-Leaked-Documents-Show-the-US-Government-Tracking-Journalists-and-Advocates-Through-a-Secret-Database-506783231.html\">showing the U.S. government had been tracking</a> and keeping dossiers on American journalists, lawyers and activists involved with the caravan. The news station also received an internal email showing <a href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/investigations/Blumenthal-Grave-Concerns-Over-Border-Surveillance-Documents-506892591.html\">the order to increase surveillance</a> came from the head of the city’s Department of Homeland Security.</p></div>",
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"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
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"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": true,
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "vehicle"
}
],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist pulled into secondary screening at border",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pulled-secondary-screening-border/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-22T15:53:32.071992Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-07T17:55:18.706621Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-07T17:55:18.623515Z",
"date": "2019-01-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xnvmc\">Mark Abramson, a freelance photojournalist, was pulled into secondary screening by U.S. border officials while returning from Mexico on Jan. 5, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"8n3fl\">Abramson, a U.S. citizen, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that border agents looked through his belongings, including his notebook, at the El Chaparral port of entry at San Diego, California.</p><p data-block-key=\"6bw2s\">A U.S. Customs and Border Protection official then brought Abramson into a separate room, where he was asked to leave his bag and phone behind. The Intercept <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2019/02/08/us-mexico-border-journalists-harassment/\">reported</a> that in there, he was questioned for about 30 minutes about assignments and payments he received as a freelancer. The official also asked a series of questions related to the migrant caravan, including whether Abramson knew “who is stirring up stuff in the camp” or of groups helping the migrants.</p><p data-block-key=\"7c7bd\">Abramson <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2019/02/several-journalists-say-us-border-agents-questione.php\">told CPJ</a> he was disturbed by the line of questions. “I’m not an informant, my job is to inform the public,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7tw2b\">CBP did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX6IQ2H.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"drigc\">A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer watches a group of migrants from Central America seeking asylum as they search for a place to cross over the U.S. border wall in Tijuana, Mexico, in December 2018.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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"(2019-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Photojournalists sue DHS, agencies after questioned about caravan coverage"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
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"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mark Abramson (Freelance)"
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{
"title": "Journalist stopped at the US-Mexico border, questioned about immigration reporting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-us-mexico-border-questioned-about-immigration-reporting/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-20T20:44:26.668036Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-29T17:03:07.283969Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-29T17:03:07.196578Z",
"date": "2019-01-05",
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"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1e02i\">Manuel Rapalo, a freelance journalist, was stopped and pulled aside for additional screening measures while entering the United States via Washington, D.C. on Jan. 5, 2019. During the screening, Rapalo was questioned about his reporting along the U.S.-Mexico border and had his notebook searched.</p><p data-block-key=\"mch2n\">Rapalo, an American citizen, <a href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/hundreds-honduran-migrants-journey-190116155026749.html\">covered the migrant caravan</a> from Tijuana, Mexico, for Al-Jazeera. Every time he has re-entered the U.S. since then, he says, he has been pulled aside for a secondary screening, in what Rapalo calls his “new routine.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7okm5\">Rapalo believes that a flag or marker has been placed on his travel documents because border officials have consistently stopped him only after scanning his passport. The Jan. 5 secondary screening was his first time to be pulled aside—he was also stopped for <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-border-second-time-camera-searched/\">additional screening on Jan. 26</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-border-third-time-questioned-about-his-work-and-foia-request/\">Feb. 16</a>, where the photos on his camera were searched and he was questioned about public records requests he intends to file.</p><p data-block-key=\"q7qz9\">“The first question was, ‘Why did you have trouble at the border?’” Rapalo said, referring to his reporting on the US-Mexico border. “I don’t know how he could have even known that. And then they asked me about my work along the border.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hkf38\">According to Rapalo, the secondary screening began with about 30 minutes of questioning, then he was held for 1-2 hours while his luggage was searched.</p><p data-block-key=\"fy9s4\">“They go through my reporter notebooks, receipts, and ask me about the nature of my work, and how long I’ve been doing the job and whether I do fake news,” he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “I tell them to Google me. It seems like they are trying to get information out of me related to the border, like gathering intelligence on why the media is interested in the border.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1960q\">Rapalo said that while reporting from Tijuana on New Year’s Eve 2018, officials with Customs and Border Protection accused him and other journalists of exploiting migrants for stories and even “bringing them here from the shelters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"50fgx\">“CBP tells people at the border hoping to cross that the journalists are taking advantage of them, and that they are there to make money off of them,” Rapalo said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bt48g\">He said he responded to these accusations by stating that, “I can’t speak for everyone else, but I’m just here to watch and witness.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pfial\">CBP did not immediately respond to request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"n7lmb\">Journalists for Al-Jazeera report on Jan. 1 in Mexico while covering activities along the U.S.-Mexico border.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "Washington, D.C.",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
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"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "work product"
}
],
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
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"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Manuel Rapalo (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist questioned at San Ysidro border, separated from camera",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-san-ysidro-border-separated-camera/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-21T19:36:46.461277Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-07T17:55:56.177301Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-07T17:55:56.080351Z",
"date": "2019-01-04",
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"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1ez6u\">On Jan. 4, 2019, freelance photojournalist Ariana Drehsler was stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border and subjected to secondary screening measures for the third time over the course of several weeks.</p><p data-block-key=\"p1tcs\">Drehsler had been covering the <a href=\"https://www.apnews.com/553a27f836ca4fa0a800ad676c09759a\">migrant caravan</a> and seekers of asylum status in the United States. When she crossed over from Mexico on Dec. 30, 2018, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-san-ysidro-border/\">she was stopped and told that her passport had been “flagged,”</a> and she was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-us-mexico-border-second-time/\">again stopped for additional screening on Jan. 2</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"063n6\">“I was sent to secondary screening again,” she said of the Jan. 4 incident. While she was waiting to be questioned at the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego, she said border agents chatted with her about her photography gear.</p><p data-block-key=\"n4aeq\">“One asked if I would show him my photos, but I declined, and he said something like, ‘Yeah, I kind of figured.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"f4kus\">Unlike her two previous border stops, during which she was questioned by officials wearing civilian clothing, this time she was questioned by uniformed U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"86lw8\">She was patted down, and then her belongings were searched in front of her, she said. “I didn’t have my laptop because I felt paranoid doing so at that point,” referring to the two previous border stops.</p><p data-block-key=\"sjkkq\">“They took me into a hall and they told me to leave my bag and phone there, and they took me to another room.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s64it\">Drehsler said she felt uncomfortable being separated from her belongings.</p><p data-block-key=\"uowhw\">During questioning, she said she was asked about background as a journalist and her previous work-related travels to the Middle East as well as details about the migrant caravan.</p><p data-block-key=\"1z7jo\">“The agents that questioned me said, ‘You’re on the ground and we’re not,’ which is why they were asking me those questions. They wanted to know what I was seeing and hearing about the new caravan and organizers.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ls96g\">Drehsler said that before December 2018 she did not have any problem entering the United States when reporting from Mexico.</p><p data-block-key=\"5d6ct\">CBP did not immediately respond to request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Drehsler_borderstop_3.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"68ylf\">A man holds an American flag at the Contra Viento y Marea shelter, a private warehouse converted into a shelter for migrants who traveled from Central America to near the US-Mexico border, in Tijuana, Mexico, on Jan. 4, 2019.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:19-cv-06570",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "yes",
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"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Photojournalist sues DHS, agencies after questioned about caravan coverage"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ariana Drehsler (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist questioned at U.S.-Mexico border for second time",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-us-mexico-border-second-time/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-21T18:50:06.678337Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-07T17:56:19.028425Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-07T17:56:18.936676Z",
"date": "2019-01-02",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lkk54\">Freelance photojournalist Ariana Drehsler was stopped for a secondary screening and questioned while entering the United States from Mexico on Jan. 2, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"f98mf\">Drehsler arrived around 11 p.m. on Jan. 2 at San Diego’s San Ysidro port of entry from Mexico, where she had been documenting the <a href=\"https://www.apnews.com/553a27f836ca4fa0a800ad676c09759a\">caravan of Central American immigrants</a> seeking asylum in the U.S. for wire service United Press International.</p><p data-block-key=\"lvv6\">Similar to a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-san-ysidro-border/\">border stop at the same port of entry just days before,</a> she was stopped and questioned by three officials wearing civilian clothes.</p><p data-block-key=\"3scbf\">“They were the same two people from the first time, as well as another,” Drehsler said. “They said, ‘Oh, we brought a new person,’ and they were like, ‘We mentioned you to this other guy.’” She said the officials made a point to say she would not have to wait as long as last time.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ne77\">“Before they started asking me questions, I said I was not in Tijuana on New Year’s Day, because I had a feeling this would happen,” she said, referring to an <a href=\"https://www.apnews.com/553a27f836ca4fa0a800ad676c09759a\">incident the day before</a>, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents had fired at migrants attempting to climb a wall to enter into the U.S.</p><p data-block-key=\"asun7\">Drehsler said that one of the officials replied, “You took the words right out of my mouth.”</p><p data-block-key=\"65sme\">In an attempt to shift the conversation away from the journalists covering the migrant caravan, Drehsler said she brought up the presence of activists, such as those present in Tijuana from Seattle.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3g70\">“[Border officials] mentioned the new caravan, and asked if the people in the new one understand how hard it is for people to seek asylum at the border. I said I had no idea. They asked about the organizers and activists and said their presence has dropped off. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t know.” </p><p data-block-key=\"65dfe\">Just before leaving the secondary screening and entering the U.S., Drehsler said the border agents asked her whether she rented or owned her home.</p><p data-block-key=\"e8cl9\">Drehsler told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was confused about the relevance of the question. “[The agent] said she just wanted to know for yourself,” she said. “I said I rented.”</p><p data-block-key=\"161si\">Like her previous border stop on Dec. 30, 2018, none of her belongings, notes, or devices were searched. A few days after this incident, Drehsler would be <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-san-ysidro-border-separated-camera/\">stopped a third time.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"9cp8p\">“I didn’t have anything to hide, but I still felt weird answering their questions,” she said. “I felt like an informant.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f6oqd\">CBP did not immediately respond to request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Drehsler_borderstop_2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"bkxz2\">In early December 2018, El Barretal shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, housed more than 3,000 migrants from Central America.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:19-cv-06570",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Photojournalist sues DHS, agencies after questioned about caravan coverage"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ariana Drehsler (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "U.S.-based news outlets funded by Russia ordered to register as foreign agents",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/us-based-news-outlets-funded-russia-ordered-register-foreign-agents/",
"first_published_at": "2019-06-03T17:36:44.972314Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-01T17:38:27.812225Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-01T17:38:27.709267Z",
"date": "2019-01-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"804fa\">RM Broadcasting and RIA Global LLC — U.S.-based news organizations funded by the Russian government — were ordered to register as foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.</p><p data-block-key=\"kwibp\">RIA Global, which produces content for the Russian state-owned news outlet Sputnik, was ordered to register under FARA in January 2018. RM Broadcasting was also ordered to register around the same time, but the outlet’s owner Arnold Ferolito <a href=\"https://sputniknews.com/us/201810291069324511-radio-sputnik-partner-lawsuit-justice-department-fara/\">filed a lawsuit</a> over the order.</p><p data-block-key=\"s8pej\">On May 7, 2019, a federal judge <a href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/justice-department-wins-lawsuit-demanding-radio-station-register-as-russian-agent-1208400\">rejected RM Broadcasting’s lawsuit</a>, finding with the Justice Department.</p><p data-block-key=\"2d2x0\">"This Court acknowledges, as have others, that the language of FARA is broad," wrote the judge in that case. "Nevertheless, the Court must apply the statutory language as written; it is not for the Court to rewrite the statute."</p><p data-block-key=\"0nhr4\">Under the FARA legislation, the entities in question must include disclaimers about their connections with the Russian government in their reporting, and provide details about their operations and funding to the Justice Department.</p><p data-block-key=\"bpg6r\">Several other news organizations are registered under FARA — including <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rt-america-compelled-register-foreign-agent-department-justice/\">RT America</a>, Japanese TV news channel NHK, the Korean Broadcasting Service, and the Chinese newspapers China Daily, People’s Daily, and Xinmin Evening News. After the Justice Department ordered RT America to register in September 2017, the Russian government retaliated by expanding its own foreign agent law to include foreign media organizations and labeled nine U.S. news outlets as foreign agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"1u8vu\">Beverly Hunt, Director of Communications for Sputnik News, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that registration under FARA limits the possibilities of what their journalism can do.</p><p data-block-key=\"o7lah\">“First of all, under this pretext we were denied Senate media credentials, which automatically makes it impossible to get credentialed with the White House,” Hunt said in an email. “Also, our radio programming is accompanied by a disclaimer at the top of each hour stating that this show was produced at the request of Rossiya Segodnya and that additional information is with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Obviously, this scares off potential listeners as well as guests and experts we reach out to. In addition to this, it allows corporate media to refer to us as ‘foreign agents’ without clarifying what that means, which again creates a notion that we are spies of sort and not journalists.”</p><p data-block-key=\"uxx1p\">In a <a href=\"https://www.cjr.org/analysis/fara-press.php\">2018 article for Columbia Journalism Review</a>, staff at the Committee to Protect Journalists wrote that “in invoking FARA, Congress is relying on a notoriously opaque unit within the Department of Justice to draw an impossible line between propaganda and journalism. Source protection, media access, and the US promotion of press freedom abroad may all be compromised.”</p></div>",
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"RIA Novosti [Russia]",
"RM Broadcasting"
],
"tags": [
"Department of Justice"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist stopped and questioned at US-Mexico border",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-stopped-and-questioned-us-mexican-border/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-15T18:01:00.013345Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-29T17:02:25.002121Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-29T17:02:24.916718Z",
"date": "2019-01-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tmj8q\">Spanish freelance photojournalist Emilio Fraile was questioned in secondary screening by U.S. authorities while traveling from Tijuana, Mexico, to San Diego, California in January 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"4scq2\">Fraile told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that he had been working in Mexico for several months, three weeks of which was spent reporting from Tijuana on <a href=\"https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2019/02/11/what-happened-last-years-migrant-caravan-tijuana/2831764002/\">the migrant caravan</a>. While attempting to enter the United States, Fraile was stopped and questioned about his work for approximately a half hour.</p><p data-block-key=\"vgy4c\">The questions, Fraile told CPJ, included whether or not Americans were “collaborating” with the migrant caravan. “They were always trying to get information from us,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nrem\">When border officials asked to see his photographs, Fraile said that he had already deleted them.</p><p data-block-key=\"x3z03\">Fraile told CPJ about an additional interaction with U.S. border authorities during his time working in Mexico, in which an agent asked him how many migrants were hidden in a certain area.</p><p data-block-key=\"zm8w0\">In another case, a group of border agents and several others, wearing what Fraile said appeared to be military outfits, approached a group of photojournalists around New Years. Shining a light at them, the agents repeatedly asked, “Where is Emilio?”</p><p data-block-key=\"456qp\">Fraile told CPJ he was not sure how they knew his name, and that he felt it was an attempt to intimidate him.</p><p data-block-key=\"ybqdx\"><a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2019/02/08/us-mexico-border-journalists-harassment/\">The Intercept reported</a> that Fraile and other Spanish photojournalists had their passports photographed on Jan. 3 by Mexican authorities, who informed the journalists that they <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2019/02/mexico-denies-entry-to-at-least-2-journalists-cove.php\">share information</a> with the U.S. police.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX6M6UP.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
"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",
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"Spain"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Emilio Fraile (Freelance)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Rash of cyberattacks in 2019, multiple news organizations hit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rash-of-cyberattacks-in-2019-multiple-news-organizations-hit/",
"first_published_at": "2022-10-06T22:13:27.736640Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-12T15:30:37.533815Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-12T15:30:37.457304Z",
"date": "2019-01-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Multiple",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xq173\">At least six radio and broadcast companies were targeted by cyberattacks that disrupted their daily operations in 2019. Some reported losses of more than $1 million in revenue; others said their archives and files were destroyed. There is no indication the attacks were related.</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"7jhrs\"><b>Urban One</b>, a media conglomerate in Silver Spring, Maryland, reported during a first-quarter earnings call in 2019 that it lost $1 million in revenue after a February 2019 ransomware attack impacted its IT systems and databases. According to <a href=\"https://www.insideradio.com/free/cyber-attack-cost-urban-one-million-in-lost-revenue-and/article_88b4f7b6-76da-11e9-b81e-3f9a60d6664e.html\">Radio Insider</a>, the attack destroyed the company's internal computing system and prevented local stations from running commercials<b>.</b></li><li data-block-key=\"99kf7\"><b>Townsquare Media</b>, a radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York, was targeted by a cryptolocker encryption malware attack in April 2019. According to <a href=\"https://radioinsight.com/headlines/175822/townsquare-media-stations-taken-down-by-ransomware-attack/\">Radio Insight</a>, the incident forced stations in Boise, Cedar Rapids, Portsmouth and Shreveport to “scramble for programming” on April 1. Shreveport’s 101.7 / 710 KEEL <a href=\"https://710keel.com/no-april-fools-joke-6-radio-stations-crash-monday-morning/\">reported</a> that its imaging and commercial triggers were inoperable. Morning news anchors and talk shows were able to continue broadcasting, but commercials and bumper music could not be played.</li><li data-block-key=\"f44p\">On April 19, <b>the Weather Channel’s Atlanta headquarters</b> were targeted by a cyberattack, forcing the station's live morning broadcast off-air for 90 minutes. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/weatherchannel/status/1118849699388248064/photo/1\">tweeted statement</a>, the channel confirmed it was the victim of a “malicious software attack on the network” and that federal law enforcement was investigating.</li><li data-block-key=\"a0t4t\">Tampa-based radio station <b>WMNF 88.5-FM</b> said it stepped up cybersecurity after a June 2019 ransomware attack destroyed media files and forced the station off-air. According to the<a href=\"https://www.tampabay.com/breaking-news/radio-station-wmnf-victim-of-ransomware-cyberattack-20190717/\"> Tampa Bay Times</a>, the radio station did not pay the ransom. Instead, it reported the attack to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, who worked to restore as many files as possible. Hackers failed to access any sensitive financial information, the Times reported, but the station permanently lost several archived and AudioVault items.</li><li data-block-key=\"249gp\">A 6-station cluster of AM and FM radio stations owned by <b>Max Media</b> in Illinois was targeted by a ransomware attack that rendered nearly all of the stations’ files useless in July 2019. According to the <a href=\"https://www.rbr.com/max-il-ill/\">Radio Business and Television Report</a>, Max Media station leadership refused to pay the ransom. Instead, they opted to “replace almost everything from the ground up.”</li><li data-block-key=\"ah2q9\"><b>Entercom</b> was targeted by <a href=\"https://radioinsight.com/headlines/185117/entercom-reveals-another-cyberattack-that-exposed-radio-com-user-data/\">three</a> separate cyberattacks in 2019, costing the radio network millions in financial losses, according to Radio Insight. A September 2019 incident impacted the radio network’s Radio.com stations, forcing them offline for two hours. Just three months later, in December 2019, another cyberattack forced the news organization to disable all back office systems, including email. In a 2020 notice to the California Attorney General’s office, Entercom said it became aware of an August 24 cyberattack while investigating the September incident. In its notice of data breach to the attorney general, <a href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/Entercom%20-%20CA%20Notice%20of%20Data%20Event.pdf\">Entercom</a> stated it was upgrading security protections by implementing staff training, rotation of password and other best practices.</li></ul></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": null,
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Entercom",
"Max Media",
"The Weather Channel",
"Townsquare Media",
"Urban One",
"WMNF-FM"
],
"tags": [
"cyberattack"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist questioned at San Ysidro border",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-san-ysidro-border/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-21T18:42:33.285879Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-07T17:53:34.918836Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-07T17:53:34.731944Z",
"date": "2018-12-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0t50p\">While covering the migrant caravan in Mexico, freelance photojournalist Ariana Drehsler has been stopped for secondary screenings each time she has re-entered the United States since December 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"c8154\">At around 12:15 a.m. on Dec. 30, 2018, Drehsler arrived at the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego to cross back into the United States. She had been covering the <a href=\"https://www.apnews.com/553a27f836ca4fa0a800ad676c09759a\">migrant caravan</a> for wire service United Press International. She would be <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-us-mexico-border-second-time/\">stopped again on Jan. 2</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-san-ysidro-border-separated-camera/\">Jan. 4</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fphdg\">Drehsler said that the U.S. border agent who had her passport asked her a couple of questions before informing her that she would need to go to secondary screening.</p><p data-block-key=\"dvtsv\">“A man and a woman in civilian clothes came up to me and took me into another room. They asked me what I was doing in Tijuana, who I work for, what other outlets I’ve worked for, my editor’s phone number,” Drehsler said. “They also asked about my background as a photographer.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7spm\">She said that she was asked about what she knew about the caravan, people crossing the border illegally, and details about the shelters for migrants in Mexico.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ra8m\">“I didn’t hide anything, but I also didn’t give them information like the names of fellow journalists. And they also didn’t ask me for specific names.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9og12\">Drehsler told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the border officials informed her that her passport had been “flagged,” but they did not know why, and they indicated that she might want to budget more time for border crossings since she could be stopped again.</p><p data-block-key=\"4tm7r\">The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents did not search Drehsler’s notes, electronic devices, or baggage, and she was permitted to bring her phone into questioning. She left the port of entry and entered the United States around 1:25 a.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"e1k46\">CBP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Drehsler_borderstop_1.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"scpkb\">Unlike the U.S. side, where onlookers are supposed to keep a distance, those at Las Playas de Tijuana in Mexico are allowed to get close to the border wall that separates the two countries.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:19-cv-06570",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Photojournalist sues DHS, agencies after questioned about caravan coverage"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ariana Drehsler (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist stopped at US-Mexico border for secondary screening",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-stopped-at-us-mexico-border-for-secondary-screening/",
"first_published_at": "2022-01-14T15:59:14.344475Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-03T19:36:32.809053Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-03T19:36:32.722609Z",
"date": "2018-12-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ope2p\">Go Nakamura and Bing Guan, American photojournalists, were pulled into secondary screening on Dec. 29, 2018, while driving through the San Ysidro point of entry, a border crossing between San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico.</p><p data-block-key=\"wjkhl\">U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers separated Guan, who was driving his car, and Nakamura and questioned them individually. Guan <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2019/02/several-journalists-say-us-border-agents-questione.php\">told the Committee to Protect Journalists</a> that he was questioned by two plainclothes CBP agents, one of whom produced a tear sheet with photographs of people who had been around the caravan. Guan told CPJ that the agents showed him two or three sheets of photo arrays “with between 9 and 12 photos” on each page. These included some photos that appeared like mugshots and others that seemed like surveillance photos.</p><p data-block-key=\"4fbp4\">Guan told <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2019/02/08/us-mexico-border-journalists-harassment/\">The Intercept</a> that he recognized two individuals as anti-migrant activists and thought that a third was associated with Pueblo Sin Fronteras, an immigrant rights group. Guan said that the CPB agents referred to the people in the photos as “instigators.”</p><p data-block-key=\"08cgv\">Guan was asked to open his camera and show photographs, which he did, reasoning that it would be too dark to identify anyone, according to the account in The Intercept.</p><p data-block-key=\"nxik8\">Likewise, Nakamura told CPJ that a CBP officer asked him to show his photographs to prove he was a photographer. The officer then showed Nakamura photographs of 20 people and asked whether he had seen them in Mexico. Nakamura said that he was not given an explanation of who the people were.</p><p data-block-key=\"25w5j\">Two days prior to the secondary screening, Nakamura and Guan were stopped by Mexican municipal police officers who photographed their passports.</p><p data-block-key=\"yjiao\">A few weeks before he was pulled into secondary screening, Guan had driven through the same San Ysidro port of entry without any issues, he said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS2A5AT.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"9862m\">U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents participate in a readiness exercise in January at the San Ysidro port of entry with Mexico in San Diego, California.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:19-cv-06570",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "searched without seizure",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Photojournalists sue DHS, agencies after questioned about caravan coverage"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Go Nakamura (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Student photojournalist stopped at US-Mexico border for secondary screening",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-photography-students-stopped-us-mexico-border-secondary-screening/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-15T18:10:00.072279Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-03T19:36:07.011860Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-03T19:36:06.906887Z",
"date": "2018-12-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qy7xo\">Bing Guan and Go Nakamura, American photojournalists, were pulled into secondary screening on Dec. 29, 2018, while driving through the San Ysidro point of entry, a border crossing between San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico.</p><p data-block-key=\"qenw2\">U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers separated Guan, who was driving his car, and Nakamura and questioned them individually. Guan <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2019/02/several-journalists-say-us-border-agents-questione.php\">told the Committee to Protect Journalists</a> that he was questioned by two plainclothes CBP agents, one of whom produced a tear sheet with photographs of people who had been around the caravan. Guan told CPJ that the agents showed him two or three sheets of photo arrays “with between 9 and 12 photos” on each page. These included some photos that appeared like mugshots and others that seemed like surveillance photos.</p><p data-block-key=\"ulj99\">Guan told <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2019/02/08/us-mexico-border-journalists-harassment/\">The Intercept</a> that he recognized two individuals as anti-migrant activists and thought that a third was associated with Pueblo Sin Fronteras, an immigrant rights group. Guan said that the CPB agents referred to the people in the photos as “instigators.”</p><p data-block-key=\"40jma\">Guan was asked to open his camera and show photographs, which he did, reasoning that it would be too dark to identify anyone, according to the account in The Intercept.</p><p data-block-key=\"7heag\">Likewise, Nakamura told CPJ that a CBP officer asked him to show his photographs to prove he was a photographer. The officer then showed Nakamura photographs of 20 people and asked whether he had seen them in Mexico. Nakamura said that he was not given an explanation of who the people were.</p><p data-block-key=\"rlsyf\">Two days prior to the secondary screening, Nakamura and Guan were stopped by Mexican municipal police officers who photographed their passports.</p><p data-block-key=\"2aomd\">A few weeks before he was pulled into secondary screening, Guan had driven through the same San Ysidro port of entry without any issues, he said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS285Y2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"gn6w3\">U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents look toward the Mexican border at the San Ysidro border in San Diego, California in November 2018.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:19-cv-06570",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "searched without seizure",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Photojournalists sue DHS, agencies after questioned about caravan coverage"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Bing Guan (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Cyberattack disrupts Tribune newspaper computer systems and delivery across the U.S.",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cyberattack-disrupts-tribune-newspaper-computer-systems-and-delivery-across-us/",
"first_published_at": "2019-01-03T22:39:40.110435Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-05T20:16:55.087158Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-05T20:16:55.017005Z",
"date": "2018-12-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Multiple",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jgivj\">Tribune Publishing, the parent company of Los Angeles Times and many other regional newspapers in the United States, was targeted with a cyberattack on Dec. 29, 2018, that disrupted its computer systems and delayed delivery of newspapers for several news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"248di\">The Los Angeles Times, one of the outlets impacted by the attack, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-times-delivery-disruption-20181229-story.html\">reported</a> that what originally arose as a server outage was ultimately identified as a malware attack. According to the Times, a virus “spread through Tribune Publishing’s network and reinfected systems crucial to the news production and printing process.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jxx7l\">Citing sources with knowledge of the Tribune situation, the Times reported that the attack came in the form of ransomware called “Ryuk.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bt9rh\">The <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-times-delivery-disruption-20181229-story.html\">Times further reported</a>:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" >\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"l734o\">“We believe the intention of the attack was to disable infrastructure, more specifically servers, as opposed to looking to steal information,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. The source would not detail what evidence led the company to believe the breach came from overseas.</p></div>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1bibu\">Several news outlets share a production platform under Tribune Publishing, which owns papers including Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Capital Gazette, Hartford Courant, New York Daily News, South Florida Sun Sentinel and Orlando Sentinel.</p><p data-block-key=\"kzkbw\">The Times and San Diego Tribune are no longer owned by Tribune, but were also impacted because they continue to <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-times-delivery-disruption-20181229-story.html\">share its production software</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9o1i0\">It’s unclear precisely how many news readers were impacted by the delayed deliveries, but the Times reported that a majority of its subscribers received their papers, albeit hours late.</p><p data-block-key=\"14jtq\">The motive for the cyberattack remains unclear. <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-times-delivery-disruption-20181229-story.html\">The Times reported</a> that the Tribune “suspected the cyberattack originated from outside the United States,” but did not elaborate further on whether a foreign government was involved, or why Tribune may have been targeted.</p></div>",
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"Capital Gazette",
"Chicago Tribune",
"Hartford Courant",
"Los Angeles Times",
"[New York] Daily News",
"Orlando Sentinel",
"South Florida Sun Sentinel",
"The Baltimore Sun",
"The San Diego Union-Tribune"
],
"tags": [
"cyberattack"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent filmmaker stopped while crossing U.S.-Mexico border",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-filmmaker-stopped-while-crossing-us-mexico-border/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-06T13:37:36.207400Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-29T17:01:39.842769Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-29T17:01:39.732048Z",
"date": "2018-12-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5pemj\">An independent documentary filmmaker was stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border twice by U.S. officials while following the migrant caravan for a film project.</p><p data-block-key=\"r5r01\">The foreign-born citizen is based in the U.S. and asked to not have his name used for fear of reprisal.</p><p data-block-key=\"r4cci\">The filmmaker told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that on Dec. 28, 2018, he was crossing the San Ysidro border near San Diego, California, by car when Mexican authorities pointed out that his temporary work visa had been mis-stamped. The authorities let him cross, however, into the United States.</p><p data-block-key=\"bt0jr\">On the U.S. side, the filmmaker went into the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office to show an officer the error, and asked him to correct it. The officer started to until another agent said of him, “I know that guy—he’s in the video at the border.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pgwd3\">The officer was referring to a video taken of the journalist filming at the border. The video seemed to have been taken from a car, and in it, the filmmaker was clearly recognizable.</p><p data-block-key=\"iflwe\">“I was following a family of migrants,” the filmmaker said, “And border patrol was trying to trip me up, trying to get me away from the family I was following.”</p><p data-block-key=\"yu5ua\">When CBP took away the family and pushed the filmmaker back, he said he gave them no resistance.</p><p data-block-key=\"8srjh\">While inside the Customs office, a CBP officer told the filmmaker to sit down, that he’d “be there for hours,” and “a special team was going to come in.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wtk7a\">The officers continued re-watching the video, and the filmmaker waited for nearly 2 hours. Finally, he said, there was a shift change in the office and the next officer on duty cleared him to go.</p><p data-block-key=\"bod0v\">A week later, while returning to Mexico through the same San Ysidro border, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-filmmaker-stopped-second-time-while-crossing-us-mexico-border-car-and-phone-searched/\">the filmmaker was stopped again</a>, and the car he was in and his phone were searched.</p><p data-block-key=\"qnrzq\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has detailed <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=migrant+caravan&categories=Border+Stop\">nearly a dozen border stops</a> of journalists following the migrant caravan. In March, San Diego’s NBC 7 investigative news team received leaked documents <a href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/investigations/Source-Leaked-Documents-Show-the-US-Government-Tracking-Journalists-and-Advocates-Through-a-Secret-Database-506783231.html\">showing the U.S. government had been tracking</a> and keeping dossiers on American journalists, lawyers and activists involved with the caravan. The news station also received an internal email showing <a href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/investigations/Blumenthal-Grave-Concerns-Over-Border-Surveillance-Documents-506892591.html\">the order to increase surveillance</a> came from the head of the city’s Department of Homeland Security.</p></div>",
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"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
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"assailant": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Anonymous documentary journalist 2 (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Subject of reporting attempts to force journalist to reveal a source",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subject-reporting-attempts-force-journalist-reveal-source/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-25T18:31:09.577385Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-22T17:35:24.009345Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-22T17:35:23.928733Z",
"date": "2018-12-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9ehf0\">A New York State Supreme Court judge allowed a lawsuit to proceed under seal for more than three months under which investigative journalist Teri Buhl was asked to disclose a confidential source. The judge ultimately ruled that she could not be forced to reveal the source’s identity.</p><p data-block-key=\"82gvq\">Bruce Bernstein, an employee at Rockmore Capital and the <a href=\"http://www.teribuhl.com/2018/09/19/rockmore-capitals-bruce-bernstein-ex-wife-outs-him-for-possible-sec-violations-in-xspa-deal/\">subject of a story by Buhl on securities fraud</a>, filed a lawsuit alleging that Buhl had use a document in her reporting from his divorce filings that was under seal.</p><p data-block-key=\"aybu8\">“Bernstein is entitled to pre-action discovery that will allow him to determine who - the Binn Parties, their counsel, Aufrichtig or a party currently unknown to Bernstein - sent the Document and email to Buhl,” reads the pre-discovery petition filed December 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"37n15\">Manhattan Judge W. Franc Perry sealed the lawsuit, preventing the public from ascertaining the details of the lawsuit for months after it was filed. </p><p data-block-key=\"5qijj\">“I was still reporting on securities fraud, but I couldn’t report that they were suing me and bullying me,” Buhl told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"og8j\">On Jan. 18, Buhl wrote on her news website, Smashmouth Investigative Journalism, that a subject of her reporting was <a href=\"http://www.teribuhl.com/2019/01/18/ny-court-case-putting-journalist-source-protection-at-risk/\">attempting to force her to disclose a source</a>, and that she was fighting back.</p><p data-block-key=\"3mgl9\">Buhl’s attorneys filed an opposition to the application to seal the records, and filed in support of the motion to dismiss the pre-action disclosure petition on Jan. 28.</p><p data-block-key=\"5oad2\">“In a desperate bid to keep potentially damaging information from public view, Petitioner seeks to upend bedrock constitutional principles protecting both the public’s right to access the courts and the free exchange of ideas,” the opposition reads. “Petitioner has brought this special proceeding under CPLR 3102(c), in part, to compel Ms. Buhl, a seasoned investigative journalist, to reveal confidential source information relating to her reporting on Petitioner’s possible SEC violations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"swq7e\">On March 5, the judge ruled that Buhl could not be forced to disclose her confidential source. Buhl said that on the Friday before, March 1, the judge had ruled in favor of a motion by Buhl’s attorneys to unseal the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"6mkv6\">The dismissal of Bernstein’s petition for pre-discovery cites reporters’ ability to protect their sources: “...[G]iven New York’s long tradition of protecting freedom of the press and recognizing the critical role that the press plays in our democratic society, Ms. Buhl, as a professional journalist, is protected by the Shield Law, which was enacted to provide the highest level of protection in the nation for those which gather and report the news and to promote the free flow of dissemination.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tw3v2\">On March 4, Buhl updated the post on her website to note that numerous news organizations and press freedom groups, including the New York Times and Reporters without Borders, had joined an amicus brief in support.</p><p data-block-key=\"avra4\">“This is an important win because it confirms that the New York shield law applies to freelance journalists like Teri Buhl, who self-publish on their own news sites,” said Sarah Matthews, staff attorney for Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which submitted <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2019-01-28-Anonymous-v-Anoymous-Teri-Buhl.pdf\">its own friend-of-the-court brief</a> in January. “Unsealing this case was particularly important because it involved an attempt to force a journalist to reveal her source.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ao1yi\">The Press Freedom Defense Fund provided the legal funding for Buhl’s case. (<i>Full disclosure: Matthews provides intake for the Fund and sits on the steering committee for the Tracker.</i>)</p><p data-block-key=\"nq8l8\">Buhl agreed that the judge’s ruling helps all freelancers in New York.</p><p data-block-key=\"afm03\">“It’s alarming that a state court judge even agreed to seal this case before any hearing took place, based on what one Wall Street lawyer said in his motion,” said Buhl said. “Pre-action discovery cannot be used as a fishing expedition to get reporters’ sources.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ku2u2\">Buhl also told the Tracker that she could think of no circumstance under which she would comply with such a legal order and reveal the identity of a source.</p><p data-block-key=\"hksr0\">“I would rather be held in contempt,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"dy8ys\">Bernstein did not respond to request for comment by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"3qf4q\"><i>Editor's Note: This article was updated to reflect that</i> <i>Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press submitted its own amicus brief in the case.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Buhl_legal_order.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"by76h\">Attorneys Mark Bailen, left, and Peter Shapiro celebrate a favorable decision for their client, journalist Teri Buhl, who had been sued to reveal a confidential source.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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],
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"Teri Buhl (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Filmmaker Saeed Taji Farouky has device taken and searched upon arrival in U.S.",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/filmmaker-saeed-taji-farouky-has-device-taken-and-searched-dhs-upon-arrival-us/",
"first_published_at": "2019-01-30T16:52:54.770816Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-10T14:34:07.753766Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-10T14:34:07.660732Z",
"date": "2018-12-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": null,
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"l5rjn\">While flying from the United Kingdom into the United States on Dec. 23, 2018, filmmaker and director Saeed Taji Farouky was stopped by border authorities, who questioned him about his work and family and asked him to unlock his cellphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"nbdcz\">Farouky, who is based in the UK, had obtained a visa for this trip, and was checking in at the airport. At the check-in counter, Farouky heard the employee who had his paperwork tell another employee, “I’ve got someone here relating to those two words that I can’t say.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kqpp4\">“I was like, what are those two words?” Farouky said. “Why would you say that in front of me?”</p><p data-block-key=\"ffblg\">Whatever those two words were, Farouky was pulled aside for an interview by the Department of Homeland Security. He said the interview didn’t surprise him. While securing his visa for the trip, an embassy representative told him he might be interviewed again while traveling. Plus, he said, he is used to it.</p><p data-block-key=\"bk3gn\">“This time,” Farouky said, “This DHS guy showed up and questioned me for 10 minutes. There were some questions about my work, and also strange questions about whether I had family in the United States—he wanted to know if they were ‘OK,’ or if they had medical issues. When I mentioned living in Morocco in the past, he kept bringing up this story in which two Scandinavian hikers were killed by an ISIS affiliate. The story is horrifying, but he kept bringing it up over and over. It felt like maybe he was phishing to see my reaction.”</p><p data-block-key=\"r4yhj\">After he was told by DHS that he was good to go, Farouky said his luggage was given an additional swab to test for explosives, and then he boarded his flight to Florida. But upon landing, he said he was quickly pulled aside again.</p><p data-block-key=\"2cyyr\">“I sat there for a long time while someone asked me questions, and it focused on my travel history. He brought up Syria a lot, which I visited in 2009 before the United States’ cutoff date to visit the country.”</p><p data-block-key=\"up6oe\">Farouky said a border agent then asked for his phone, and requested him to unlock it. The border officials did not ask him for his passcode.</p><p data-block-key=\"39ogp\">“I didn’t know what my rights were,” Farouky said. “I asked, ‘What if I am not comfortable with that?’ And they said the only other option was sending my phone to a private company, which meant I wouldn’t get it back for weeks.”</p><p data-block-key=\"82asc\">Border agents <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/business/border-enforcement-airport-phones.html\">cannot force travelers to unlock their phones or laptops</a>, but they can ask them to do so and escalate the situation. If travelers refuse, <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/business/border-enforcement-airport-phones.html\">officials can seize the devices and copy the data</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fctu8\">Farouky said he was worried about his contacts, both personal and professional. “If they harvested all of the names and numbers, that’s everyone I have ever interviewed, so my sources could be put in some sort of database. But I didn’t feel like I had a choice.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5cby0\">He said he felt intensely uncomfortable, but unlocked his phone and gave it to the officials. Farouky said they told him they were just looking for evidence of illegal activity. The border agents then took his phone into another room, returning it after about five minutes, Farouky said. When it was returned, it was on airplane mode.</p><p data-block-key=\"85he0\"><a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/PIA-CBP%20-%20Border-Searches-of-Electronic-Devices%20-January-2018%20-%20Compliant.pdf\">A 2018 Customs and Border Protection directive</a> requires officials to ensure that prior to a search, devices are not connected to the internet, so that searches only involve content that is stored locally on the device.</p><p data-block-key=\"w0urk\">Farouky also noted that at no point was he offered a piece of paper detailing his rights in the situation. He also said that he was concerned that pushing back would only spike the authorities’ interest in his devices and work.</p><p data-block-key=\"rcpp2\">“I certainly didn’t want them looking at my laptop. I’m not even doing hardcore investigative work,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"g9yk5\">DHS did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"6tzgq\">Farouky emphasized that this kind of incident is not uncommon for him, and that he has been questioned by authorities while traveling and asked to unlock his devices at other times. He said in a Tel Aviv airport around 2009, Israeli authorities asked him to unlock his phone and he refused. And a few years ago in New York, he was interrogated in what he called a much ruder and longer fashion. There, his phone was taken but not unlocked.</p><p data-block-key=\"4oviv\">“I don’t have any doubt that this is because I am a Muslim, a Palestinian, and a journalist. It really pissed me off intellectually,” Farouky said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "United Kingdom",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. non-resident",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": true,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "yes",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United Kingdom"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Saeed Taji Farouky (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist cited for trespassing in Florida city hall",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-cited-trespassing-florida-city-hall/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-05T21:37:49.202277Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:35:56.929178Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:35:56.814339Z",
"date": "2018-12-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Punta Gorda",
"longitude": -82.04537,
"latitude": 26.92978,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"odb2q\">On Dec. 20, 2018, reporter and activist Andrew Sheets was cited for trespassing after filming inside the city hall building in Punta Gorda, Florida, in violation of a local ordinance.</p><p data-block-key=\"soigf\">Sheets, a member of the National Press Photographers Association, is a self-described “copwatch reporter” who runs a YouTube channel focused on police misconduct and corruption.</p><p data-block-key=\"aitog\">The local law that Sheets was accused of violating, Ordinance 1872-17, prohibits filming people without permission in certain areas of city-controlled buildings, including Punta Gorda City Hall and City Hall Annex.</p><p data-block-key=\"nvgu1\">Ordinance 1872-17 <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5727919-Punta-Gorda-Ordinance-1872-17.html\">states</a>:</p><p data-block-key=\"1fpbc\">“Except within the City Council Chambers, conference rooms, and other locations in which a public meeting is being conducted pursuant to a public notice, it shall be unlawful and a violation of this Ordinance to record video and/or sound within City-owned, controlled, and leased property, without the consent of all persons whose voice or image is being recorded. … Any person who refuses to cease the unconsented to video and/or sound recording, and refuses to immediately leave the premises following the request of the City Manager or his designee, shall be considered as a trespasser.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7hm8s\">On Dec. 20, Sheets used a body camera to record himself going to the Punta Gorda City Clerk’s Office and making a records request for a copy of Ordinance 1872-17. Sheets later <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx3UwzBgMRs\">posted the video</a> recorded by his body camera on YouTube.</p><p data-block-key=\"8yo6r\">The video shows Sheets entering the City Hall Annex building and going to the city clerk’s office, where he makes a request for a copy of the ordinance. Two city hall staffers who appear on the video tell Sheets that they do not have their permission and film them and ask him to stop recording.</p><p data-block-key=\"xmkpr\">“You don’t have our permission to record us,” one of the staffers tells Sheets.</p><p data-block-key=\"2inam\">“You’re a public official in a public building,” Sheets replies.</p><p data-block-key=\"zfabz\">“This is a staff area,” the staffer says. “It’s not a public meeting area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1fgd5\">Later in the video, Sheets goes to the Punta Gorda police station and asks to speak with the police chief. An officer, later identified as Lt. Justin Davoult, then approaches him in the lobby to inform them that the police chief will not speak with him. Davoult also issues two trespass warnings to Sheets, which ban Sheets from returning to Punta Gorda City Hall and City Hall Annex for one year.</p><p data-block-key=\"6su3d\">“Before we go any further, this is what we’re going to do,” Davoult tells Sheets in the video. “The chief’s not available to speak to you. OK, so this is what you’ve got. This is a trespass warning for City Hall and City Annex, OK, for both addresses over at City Hall. You are no longer to be at or on that property for a period of one year or you will face arrest.”<br/></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-image\">\n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Sheets_trespass_warning.width-828.jpg\" width=\"348\" height=\"255\" alt=\"A portion of the trespass notice received by Andrew Sheets.\">\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"o3rib\">Sheets later filed a personnel complaint against Davoult, accusing him of “unlawful trespass issued.” The police department conducted an internal investigation, which cleared Davoult of any wrongdoing.</p><p data-block-key=\"qlxp8\">“The circumstances detailed on Dec. 20, 2018 confirmed that Andrew Sheets was in violation of the city ordinance,” the investigation report states. “This investigation has determined Lieutenant Justin Davoult’s actions were lawful, proper, and consistent with department policy and therefore is Exonerated from the allegation of unlawful trespass issued.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ogk1v\">Sheets believes that the prohibition on filming in Punta Gorda City Hall may be unconstitutional.</p><p data-block-key=\"29qgh\">In April 2017, the Punta Gorda Police Department asked the Florida State Attorney’s Office to bring wiretapping charges against someone who had been caught filming inside the city hall building. The State Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute, explaining in <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5727926-Florida-State-Attorney-s-Office-disposition-notice.html\">a felony warrant request disposition notice</a> that “a citizen’s right to film government officials, in the discharge of their duties in a public place is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8lnad\">The constitutionality of the city ordinance has never been tested in court.</p><p data-block-key=\"j8euv\">Mickey Osterreicher, the general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, told Freedom of the Press Foundation that the city of Punta Gorda may have violated Sheets’ First Amendment rights when it issued the trespass warning.</p><p data-block-key=\"x4azv\">“Aside from being based upon a constitutionally suspect ordinance, the trespass notice issued to Mr. Sheets is a blatant violation of his First Amendment rights and chills his ability to gather and disseminate information on important matter of public concern,” Osterreicher said.</p><p data-block-key=\"gs49j\">Melissa Reichert, a spokeswoman for the city, <a href=\"https://www.yoursun.com/charlotte/news/illegally-barred-from-punta-gorda-city-hall/article_95b6df26-151c-11e9-a574-e7cecdfe4833.html\">told The Port Charlotte Sun</a>, a local newspaper, that the city believes the ordinance is valid and will continue to enforce it.</p><p data-block-key=\"m1wdx\">“The city has enforced Ordinance 1872-17 as provided therein since its adoption in May 2017,” Reichert told the paper. “Unless and until a court of competent jurisdiction determines otherwise, the city staff believes the ordinance is valid."</p></div>",
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"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"name": "Florida",
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},
"updates": [
"(2019-12-02 00:00:00+00:00) Videographer drops lawsuit against city over trespassing citation",
"(2019-07-12 15:04:00+00:00) Videographer sues to erase previous trespassing citation"
],
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"withdrawn"
],
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},
{
"title": "More than two dozen newsrooms receive hoax bomb threats",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/more-two-dozen-newsrooms-receive-hoax-bomb-threats/",
"first_published_at": "2019-01-24T16:11:01.981235Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-12T15:32:38.001399Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-12T15:32:37.916936Z",
"date": "2018-12-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Multiple",
"longitude": null,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"aef2t\">Becky Maxwell, publisher at the Journal Express in Knoxville, Iowa, received an email on Dec. 13, 2018, claiming that a bomb had been placed in newspaper’s building that would detonate if she failed to send a ransom in bitcoin by the end of business. The Express was one of 12 newspapers owned by the media company CNHI to receive such a threat that day.<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"xepjz\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented that at least 27 U.S. media outlets were targeted with the hoax bomb threats, alongside hundreds of schools, businesses and public buildings across the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to the CNHI (formerly Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.) papers, eight stations owned by Gray TV and two newspapers owned by McClatchy received the email threats. More may have received the email hoax and not publicized it.<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"2ef5s\">“When I first received [the email],” Maxwell told the Tracker, “I read it a couple of times and I thought, ‘Oh, this is just a scam.’” But, because of previous incidents over the past 15 years, she said, they now take any kind of threat seriously.<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"luvhx\">After consulting with the chief of police, the Express did not evacuate. Neither did the staff at the Joplin Globe in Joplin, Missouri. When reporters Debby Woodin and Emily Younker each received the threatening email, they brought it to Globe Editor Carol Stark and the publisher, who immediately called the police. While the Globe has policies in place for tornadoes and fires, Stark told the Tracker, on the day they received the threat they lacked a clear procedure to follow.<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"cfz8g\">“We did not evacuate because the police really thought it was a bogus call, but in hindsight now we should have,” she said.<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"cxpge\">Events over the past year have spurred many newsrooms across the country to reevaluate their security infrastructure and procedures, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/panic-buttons-cameras-and-gun-under-desk-local-newsrooms-update-security-wake-capital-gazette-attack/\">editors and publishers told the Tracker</a>, and none more so than the June shooting at a newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland. On June 28, Jarrod Ramos entered the Capital Gazette offices and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-upset-newspaper-coverage-shoots-and-kills-multiple-journalists-capital-gazette-newsroom/\">shot to death five people</a>, including four journalists and a sales associate.<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"z6dkr\">Andy Bernhard, publisher for The Park Record in Park City, Utah, said that when his newsroom received the bomb threat they were already in the process of following through with recommendations from the county sheriff for improvements to the office’s physical security.<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"88zyp\">“It was actually the Annapolis Capital incident that got us moving on evolving our security procedures,” he said. “We’re actively receiving quotes for specifically that: shatterproof glass, keycard entry and new security cameras.”<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"3t4q1\">Media companies, including CNHI and Swift Communications, have also initiated security reviews and updates in the wake of the Annapolis shooting, including conducting active shooter training with the full staff at each of their outlets.<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"vyxg6\">On July 10, McClatchy sent an internal email, shared with the Tracker, informing its newsrooms that all locations would have hostile intruder trainings and that it was evaluating and updating the emergency plans and physical security of all locations. The email stated: “These upgrades may include installing panic buttons, remote entry maglocks, video cameras in entryways, shatter-resistant film coating to windows and additional on-site security guards.”<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"6t394\">Jeanne Segal, McClatchy communications director, told the Tracker that all trainings and physical upgrades have been completed.<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"ysieg\">Al Lancaster, VP general manager at WSAW-TV in Wausau, Wisconsin, was glad that the threat came in in the middle of the day, when four department heads were in the newsroom and able to clear the building in fewer than 10 minutes. Lancaster told the Tracker, “It was pretty clear that we should evacuate whether we thought the threat was legitimate or not.”<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"vwuel\">Lancaster said that the bomb hoax checked their preparedness for such an event.<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"lgv7r\">“We did just pull our disaster plan which had not been updated for a while,” Lancaster said, “And because of that bomb scare actually we’re looking at it with our department heads and revising and tweaking some things.”<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"wyzwx\">In a year that saw an increase of violence and threats against journalists, this single-day email bomb hoax tested security procedures and trainings that newsrooms across the country have undertaken.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xk9mv\">The Tracker has been able to verify the following media outlets were recipients of the hoax bomb threat:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"buxa3\">The Chicago Tribune, Tribune, Chicago, IL</li><li data-block-key=\"h6d5w\">Clinton Herald, CNHI, Clinton, IA</li><li data-block-key=\"edntv\">Enid News & Eagle, CNHI, Enid, OK</li><li data-block-key=\"4hrnu\">Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, CNHI, Johnstown, PA</li><li data-block-key=\"67rk8\">Joplin Globe, CNHI, Joplin, MO</li><li data-block-key=\"r6b2c\">Journal Express, CNHI, Knoxville, IA</li><li data-block-key=\"umz8j\">Kansas City Star, McClatchy, Kansas City, MO</li><li data-block-key=\"ha80c\">KCRG-TV, GrayTV, Cedar Rapids, IA</li><li data-block-key=\"depn3\">KMVT-TV, GrayTV, Twin Falls, ID</li><li data-block-key=\"e1kbu\">KTUU-TV, GrayTV, Anchorage, AK</li><li data-block-key=\"blt6x\">Muskogee Phoenix, CNHI, Muskogee, OK</li><li data-block-key=\"z5jm9\">The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC</li><li data-block-key=\"c6m6a\">News & Tribune, CNHI, Jeffersonville, IN</li><li data-block-key=\"hcql8\">Ottumwa Daily Courier, CNHI, Ottumwa, IA</li><li data-block-key=\"c0b4y\">The Park Record, Swift Communications, Park City, UT</li><li data-block-key=\"r0ybb\">Parkersburg News & Sentinel, Ogden, Parkersburg, WV</li><li data-block-key=\"sxvc0\">Pauls Valley Democrat, CNHI, Pauls Valley, OK</li><li data-block-key=\"g630q\">Suwanee Democrat, CNHI, Live Oak, FL</li><li data-block-key=\"pr9u3\">Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI, Valdosta, GA</li><li data-block-key=\"s9i72\">Washington Examiner, Clarity Media Group, Washington, DC</li><li data-block-key=\"n5v3k\">WBKO-TV, GrayTV, Bowling Green, KY</li><li data-block-key=\"xmtkm\">WBOC-TV, Draper Holdings, Salisbury, MD</li><li data-block-key=\"k4vw6\">WCAX-TV, GrayTV, Burlington, VT</li><li data-block-key=\"itqnn\">Weatherford Daily Times, CNHI, Weatherford, TX</li><li data-block-key=\"ssp0j\">WNDU-TV, GrayTV, South Bend, IN</li><li data-block-key=\"t678g\">WSAW-TV, GrayTV, Wausau, WI</li><li data-block-key=\"3vcc0\">WTVY-TV, GrayTV, Dothan, AL</li></ul></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"3vb8o\">Newsrooms across the U.S., plus schools and businesses here and abroad, received bomb threats via email on the same December day.<br/></p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": null,
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"CNHI",
"Gray Media",
"McClatchy"
],
"tags": [
"bomb / bomb threat"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
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},
{
"title": "NC news publisher charged with criminal contempt of court",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nc-news-publisher-charged-with-criminal-contempt-of-court/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-03T14:39:53.420386Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-11T14:28:24.991952Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-11T14:28:24.878840Z",
"date": "2018-12-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Franklin",
"longitude": -83.38154,
"latitude": 35.18232,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ekfej\">Davin Eldridge, publisher of the local news site and Facebook page <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/trappreport/\">Trappalachia</a>, was charged with contempt of court on Dec. 3, 2018, for recording and livestreaming a criminal proceeding in November 2018 at the Macon County Courthouse in Franklin, North Carolina.</p><p data-block-key=\"cje1q\">The News & Observer <a href=\"https://www.newsobserver.com/article249893653.html\">reported</a> that despite posted signs stating that recording was not permitted in the courtroom and a warning from a bailiff, Eldridge allegedly continued to film court proceedings. The presiding judge, William Coward, reiterated his rule against recording and, after viewing Eldridge’s Facebook <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=740930952934357&id=592652141095573&__cft__[0]=AZWsuXV6HS2Isov2F_cU_Hjtw59d0QZHJE6tsY3BSFy9no9qawpYueZ9yUbbhAEgHXoq-IdVPrbk_rFzO5OIe6XPHwj8C-EqUqUnyZv9_BqOcnPnHpquiiZYUvii8tF7p7GzdgP_AL2gT3hpKOnBK8QI&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R\">posts</a>, which included the livestreamed footage, ordered the journalist to return to the courtroom later that day. Eldridge did not comply with that order, according to a <a href=\"https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=2&pdf=38602\">subsequent ruling</a> by the North Carolina Court of Appeals.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qy9z\">Eldridge did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"uvowc\">On Dec. 3, Coward issued an order for Eldridge to appear in court on Jan. 11, 2019, to argue why he should not be held in criminal contempt of court. The judge also signed a search warrant granting the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation access to Eldridge’s Facebook account records and several messaging threads.</p><p data-block-key=\"hnvnn\">On the date of the hearing, Eldridge motioned for Coward to recuse himself, arguing that since the inciting incident had taken place in his courtroom, the judge could not be impartial; Eldridge’s motion was denied. Coward subsequently found Eldridge guilty of criminal contempt and sentenced him to 30 days in jail, which was suspended; the journalist was then placed on probation for one year. A condition of Eldridge’s probation, the Free Speech Center <a href=\"https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/post/422/judge-s-order-for-essay-on-respect-for-court-system-upheld-with-dissent-arguing-first-amendment\">reported</a>, was that he write and publish a 2,000-to-3,000-word essay online about respect for the court system and delete any negative comments people may write.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ex85\">Eldridge immediately appealed the ruling, challenging Coward’s decision not to recuse himself, the charge and the legality of the probation conditions, including the essay writing.</p><p data-block-key=\"jpwqg\">In December 2019, the Court of Appeals <a href=\"https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=2&pdf=38602\">upheld Coward’s ruling</a>, stating, “Given defendant’s questionable and intentional conduct, his frequent visits to the courtroom, and his direct willingness to disobey courtroom policies, we discern no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s decision to impose conditions on defendant’s probationary sentence. Such conditions are reasonably related to the necessity of preventing further disruptions of the court by defendant’s conduct, and the need to provide accountability without unduly infringing on his rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"uws6x\">A dissenting opinion was entered by Judge Christopher Brook, who agreed that Coward had the right to restrict recording in the courtroom and find Eldridge guilty of contempt but found that the conditions of his probation had “deeply troubling constitutional problems.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v14h9\">The Tracker has captured Coward’s required pre-approval of the essay and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/court-orders-journalist-to-write-blog-censor-replies-as-part-of-sentencing/\">removal of all negative comments</a> in its prior restraint category.</p><p data-block-key=\"8kla3\">Eldridge again appealed the ruling. On March 12, 2021, the North Carolina Supreme Court <a href=\"https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=1&pdf=40135\">affirmed</a> the Appeals Court’s decision without any explanation.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Macon County Circuit Court",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
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"case_number": null,
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"status_of_seized_equipment": "searched without seizure",
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"legal_order_venue": "State",
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "social media account"
}
],
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"state": {
"name": "North Carolina",
"abbreviation": "NC"
},
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"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Search or Seizure",
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],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Davin Eldridge (Trappalachia)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Arkansas high school suspends student newspaper",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/arkansas-high-school-suspends-student-newspaper/",
"first_published_at": "2018-12-05T00:32:19.552582Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-20T19:07:29.131741Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-20T19:07:29.048480Z",
"date": "2018-11-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Springdale",
"longitude": -94.12881,
"latitude": 36.18674,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uxy8y\">A high school student newspaper in Arkansas was suspended, and its adviser threatened with termination, after student journalists published an article about a story questioning the legitimacy of the transfer of football players to another school.</p><p data-block-key=\"l5yeo\"><a href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/amberjamieson/harber-high-arkansas-student-newspaper-suspended-football\">According to BuzzFeed News</a>, Har-Ber High School in Springdale suspended its student paper on Nov. 27, 2018, after it published <a href=\"https://splc.org/2018/12/censored-story-athletes-transfers-in-question/\">an investigative story</a> in October.</p><p data-block-key=\"kb3nl\">In a statement, Springdale district superintendent Jim Rollins called The Herald’s story "intentionally negative, demeaning, hurtful and potentially harmful to the students" as well as "divisive and disruptive" to the community, but did not dispute the accuracy of the reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"dysnr\">Springdale school district reportedly requested that the paper’s adviser, Karla Sprague, remove the article from the paper’s website. The article was removed, and the school principal suspended the Herald from publishing at all until new guidelines are implemented. The article has been re-published on the Student Press Law Center's website.</p><p data-block-key=\"r612l\">BuzzFeed noted that the principal also threatened Sprague with potential termination if the Herald continued to publish.</p><p data-block-key=\"yl5g9\">Buzzfeed described the investigation conducted by the students:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" >\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"0ogw5\">District policy states that students can’t transfer schools because they’re recruited or want to play on a different team. An academic transfer is one of the few valid exceptions to allow a transfer student to play sports.</p><p data-block-key=\"wktnj\">So the student journalists — the newspaper class has 10 students and is held in second period every day — got to digging.</p><p data-block-key=\"ewux1\">An anonymous source gave them a pile of FOIA documents from the Arkansas Activities Association showing that five of the players’ parents wrote letters requesting their sons be allowed to play football because they transferred schools for academic reasons.</p><p data-block-key=\"4sv8u\">However, the Herald had also conducted on-the-record interviews with the transfer students themselves, months earlier.</p><p data-block-key=\"zq2kr\">In those interviews, two of the teens said they were transferring to play football.</p></div>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"y3kvy\">The 1995 <a href=\"https://splc.org/1995/04/arkansas-student-publications-act/\">Arkansas Student Publications Act</a> protects the rights of student publications from censorship from school administrators, except under specific circumstances.</p><p data-block-key=\"skf2j\">“School officials at this point seem to me to have completely thrown up their hands and said, ‘We’re not going to listen to what the law says in our state, and we’re going to do what we want,’” Mike Hiestand, senior legal counsel for the Student Press Law Center, told BuzzFeed.</p><p data-block-key=\"xsgp4\">Student journalists at the Herald did not immediately respond to requests to comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"yrton\">On Dec. 3, 40/29 News <a href=\"https://www.4029tv.com/article/har-ber-newspaper-students-plan-to-appeal-districts-decision-to-remove-article/25387724\">reported</a> that students said that the administration announced that the Herald could be reinstated.</p><p data-block-key=\"t00h9\">“After continued consideration of the legal landscape, the Springdale School District has concluded that the Har-Ber Herald articles may be reposted,” Rick Schaeffer, the communications director for the Springdale School District, wrote on Dec. 4. “This matter is complex, challenging and has merited thorough review. The social and emotional well-being of all students has been and continues to be a priority of the district.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8t2k0\">Schaeffer declined to comment on whether new guidelines will be implemented that govern publishing in Springdale schools.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Journalist stopped at border for the fourth time, questioned about immigration reporting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-border-fourth-time-questioned-about-immigration-reporting/",
"first_published_at": "2019-08-02T18:40:17.874585Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-29T17:01:30.440913Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-29T17:01:30.349595Z",
"date": "2018-11-24",
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"city": "San Diego",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t9udv\">Freelance multimedia reporter Brooke Binkowski was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers while she was re-entering the United States on Nov. 24, 2018, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?categories=5&targets=382\">the fourth time in six months</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"qis01\">Binkowski told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was returning from a reporting trip to visit the migrant caravan moving that month, and was crossing later in the day than she normally would, which worried her.</p><p data-block-key=\"hy9xm\">“I knew heading back there was going to be a problem,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"js2rl\">The Tracker has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/border-stop/\">documented</a> other cases where CBP officers targeted journalists covering migrant caravans for questioning about their reporting and sources. Freelance photojournalist Ariana Drehsler <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-us-mexico-border-second-time/\">told the Tracker</a> that when officers asked about her reporting on the caravan and about organizers and activists, “I felt like an informant.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s5fi6\">Binkowski told the Tracker that while the officers did not ask to search her phone and were less aggressive than during her previous stops, it felt like an “escalation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qwoyl\">“They kept me: no threats, no yelling. But that was almost worse because if felt like they were just keeping me because they could,” Binkowski said.</p><p data-block-key=\"btcec\">CBP officers held her for about an hour, Binkowski said, questioning her about where she had been in Tijuana and about her work as a journalist before letting her cross into the U.S. It was their “mindless exercise of power,” she told the Tracker, that pushed her to stop crossing the border. She hasn’t been back since this trip.</p><p data-block-key=\"solzz\">“In the end I stopped crossing not because of myself, though now I think it was prudent,” Binkowski said, “But because I was worried about potentially getting other people’s names on a list, and that kind of responsibility in this time is just too much.”</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"xq12r\">While covering the migrant caravan, freelance multimedia reporter Brooke Binkowski was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection multiple times.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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{
"title": "Portland mayor’s office requests reporters sign non-disclosure agreement",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/portland-mayors-office-requests-reporters-sign-non-disclosure-agreement/",
"first_published_at": "2019-01-07T18:16:36.968244Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-04-06T20:29:57.910138Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-04-06T20:29:57.853138Z",
"date": "2018-11-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"er85d\">A representative for Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler invited reporters from three news organizations to sign a non-disclosure agreement as a condition for access to the Portland Police Bureau's Incident Command Post during a protest by the right-wing group Patriot Prayer on Nov. 17, 2018, <a href=\"https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2018/12/02/the-mayors-office-asked-select-reporters-to-sign-non-disclosure-agreements-and-let-a-police-officer-determine-what-they-publish/\">according to Willamette Week</a></p><p data-block-key=\"r9ilo\"><a href=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/arc-wordpress-client-uploads/wweek/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/06102138/Protest_Observation_Application_and_NDA_.pdf\">The agreement</a> prohibits the publication of “confidential” information which it broadly defines to include direct quotes.</p><p data-block-key=\"26s89\">“Direct quotes of the assigned employee or any other member interviewed or conversed with are Confidential unless the assigned employee otherwise consents to and authorizes publication of their direct quote,” the agreement states.</p><p data-block-key=\"u93fl\">“The Receiving Party acknowledges that access to PPB facilities and Confidential Information during an observation and tour is a privilege and not a right. Thus, the Receiving Party agrees to waive any claims and hold City and PPB harmless for any perceived failure of the Disclosing Party to grant the Receiving Party access to Confidential Information, or for any restriction on the Receiving Party’s ability to use, reproduce, or publish Confidential Information.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lf2uu\">Willamette Week, <a href=\"https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2018/12/11/portland-mayors-draft-non-disclosure-agreement-would-have-barred-reporters-from-repeating-a-laundry-list-of-information/\">which published a copy of the non-disclosure agreement</a>, reported that journalists from KGW-TV, The Oregonian and the Portland Tribune were offered the deal by the mayor’s communications director Eileen Park.</p><p data-block-key=\"5r318\">"It's an effort to provide more access, transparency, and to show the public what goes into the decision making and planning process prior to and during these protests," Park stated in an email to a KGW reporter <a href=\"https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2018/12/02/the-mayors-office-asked-select-reporters-to-sign-non-disclosure-agreements-and-let-a-police-officer-determine-what-they-publish/\">obtained by Willamette Week</a>. "Lt Craig Dobson will be your liason [sic], and can guide when and what you will be able to tweet and share.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1g4o3\"><a href=\"https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2018/11/15/24590776/mayor-invites-fair-and-balanced-reporters-to-cover-protest-from-police-hq\">The Portland Mercury wrote that</a> Park worked with the Portland Police Bureau to select journalists based on their history of “fair and balanced” reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"fzngq\">"In hindsight, I can see how this does not look good," Park said. “Ideally, we should open this option up to every media outlet."</p><p data-block-key=\"v1923\">“We hear the concerns and hope media sees from our office it was about increasing access,” a spokesperson for the mayor told Willamette Week. "We'll continue to do that no matter what."</p><p data-block-key=\"m6vnh\"><a href=\"https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2018/12/12/portlands-mayor-and-police-asked-reporters-to-agree-to-strict-rules-in-exchange-for-behind-the-scenes-access/\">According to the Willamette Week</a>, no news organization accepted the offer which was ultimately rescinded. <a href=\"https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2018/11/17/despite-a-few-small-skirmishes-saturdays-protests-show-portland-police-can-keep-warring-protesters-apart/\">Six people</a> were arrested during the protest.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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{
"title": "Journalist Jamie Kalven subpoenaed to testify in police officer trial",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-jamie-kalven-subpoenaed-testify-police-officer-trial/",
"first_published_at": "2018-11-26T18:38:42.229046Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-05T19:10:17.724800Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-05T19:10:17.621240Z",
"date": "2018-11-16",
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"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cne6q\">Jamie Kalven was subpoenaed on Nov. 16, 2018 to testify in the trial of three Chicago police officers accused of lying to protect a fellow police officer who murdered a teenager in 2014.</p><p data-block-key=\"uo37u\">Kalven is an independent journalist based in Chicago and the founder of the Invisible Institute, a journalistic outlet focused on government accountability.</p><p data-block-key=\"1sasx\">Three Chicago police officers — David March, Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney — stand accused of falsifying reports about the fatal shooting of teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014. The <a href=\"https://www.apnews.com/0c9f69160de1498787d8d72a0d8706bc\">trial</a> is set to begin Nov. 27, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"2kwaq\">The subpoena orders him to appear in court and testify on Nov. 29. Craig Futterman — an attorney and University of Chicago Law School professor who was instrumental in getting video footage related to the shooting released — was also subpoenaed in the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"74jwp\">In a Nov. 20 <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5280518-Motion-to-quash-subpoena-of-Jamie-Kalven-11-20-18.html\">motion to quash</a>, his attorneys argue that reporter’s privilege protects Kalven from testifying about his reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"ihk2v\">“Journalist Jamie Kalven and attorney Craig Futterman have no firsthand knowledge of any events that are possibly relevant to this case; their only connection to the Laquan McDonald shooting or the Defendant’s accused conduct is in reporting on the veracity of the official narrative,” the motion reads.</p><p data-block-key=\"9xj9m\">James McKay — attorney for Chicago police officer on trial David March — did not immediately respond to request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"zf943\">Kalven was also subpoenaed to testify and reveal details about his sources in October 2017, at a pre-trial hearing in the murder case of former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke.</p><p data-block-key=\"j1r7y\">Attorneys for Kalven quickly filed a motion to quash it, arguing that as a journalist, he could not be forced to reveal information about his sources except under exceptional circumstances. The judge in that case agreed and found that Van Dyke’s attorneys had not shown the necessity of Kalven’s testimony.</p><p data-block-key=\"5k1vy\">That subpoena was quashed in December 2017, and Van Dyke was ultimately found guilty of murdering teenager Laquan McDonald.</p></div>",
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"subpoena_type": "other testimony",
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
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"(2018-11-28 11:17:00+00:00) Subpoena withdrawn"
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