HTTP 200 OK
Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET,OPTIONS,HEAD
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Allow: GET, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Link:
<http://pressfreedomtracker.us/api/edge/incidents/?format=api>; rel="first",
<http://pressfreedomtracker.us/api/edge/incidents/?cursor=cj0xJnA9MjAxOS0wMy0xOS00Mjg%3D&format=api>; rel="prev",
<http://pressfreedomtracker.us/api/edge/incidents/?cursor=cD0yMDE5LTAyLTE0LWZlZjhkYzU4LTMzNjEtMTFlYy05OWQ5LTkyOWFmZmQ4MzNjYg%3D%3D&format=api>; rel="next"
Vary: Accept
[
{
"title": "Pennsylvania borough settles lawsuit after punitively withdrawing advertising from local newspaper",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pennsylvania-borough-settles-lawsuit-after-punitively-withdrawing-advertising-local-newspaper/",
"first_published_at": "2019-04-05T17:59:11.309012Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-16T19:14:59.149033Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-16T19:14:59.053255Z",
"date": "2019-03-19",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Borough of Middletown",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"poel6\">On March 19, 2019, the Borough of Middletown in Pennsylvania agreed to a settlement on a lawsuit filed by the Press & Journal, a local weekly. The newspaper sued after the mayor and borough council sent an official policy letter withdrawing advertising dollars from the Press & Journal in retaliation for the paper’s reporting and editorializing.</p><p data-block-key=\"osvlk\">Joseph Sukle, publisher and vice president of the Press & Journal, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that there had been contentions with the borough over the last year or so.</p><p data-block-key=\"c8oij\">“I guess they didn’t like what we were reporting or the editorial viewpoints that we expressed, and then they just cut off all communications and not talking to us or our reporters, not commenting,” Sukle said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7znvu\">Sukle said he noticed that the borough stopped publishing public notices in the newspaper in June 2018. When he reached out to the borough to see if there was a problem, he was told he would shortly receive an official communication.</p><p data-block-key=\"5tduh\">Mayor James Curry III and six out of seven of the Middletown Borough Council members sent Sukle a <a href=\"http://cdn4.creativecirclemedia.com/pressandjournal/original/20190326-161915-Ltr_MtownBC_7_17_2018.jpg\">signed policy letter</a> the next month. The letter claimed that the newspaper’s reporting and editorials had been “detrimental to the efforts and initiatives of the Borough” and that it has contained “disheartening and demoralizing instances of distasteful sensationalism, misrepresentation of information and statements, unfounded speculation, questionable sourcing and observable bias.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qza2i\">The letter ended: “Should the Press and Journal demonstrate reliability to professionally and responsibly report on the actions and statements of Borough Council and Management, as well [sic] critiquing us from a founded and balanced position, we will be happy to patron your newspaper again.”</p><p data-block-key=\"taiwe\">In an <a href=\"http://pressandjournal.com/stories/we-are-not-the-enemy-editorial,55807\">editorial following the settlement</a>, the Press & Journal wrote that the letter took no pains to hide the meaning of the advertising ban: “In short, the letter was evidence of an unapologetic retaliation aimed at speech protected by the First Amendment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"o2td7\">In an effort to resolve the issue out of court, Aaron Martin, the newspaper’s attorney, appeared at a Sept. 18 borough council meeting to read a <a href=\"http://www.pressandjournal.com/stories/press-journal-lawyers-letter-to-council-we-implore-you-to-correct-the-unconstitutional,41133?\">letter</a> requesting a retraction of the policy letter. It argued that the council’s withdrawal of the borough’s advertising after a decades-long business relationship was a First Amendment violation.</p><p data-block-key=\"d0knq\">“This attempted punishment of a member of the free press—requiring a kind of probationary penitence prior to restoration—is a naked attempt to coerce favorable press coverage,” the letter <a href=\"http://www.pressandjournal.com/stories/press-journal-lawyers-letter-to-council-we-implore-you-to-correct-the-unconstitutional,41133?\">reads</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"pgkai\">The Press & Journal provided copies of the letter to each council member and Mayor Curry.</p><p data-block-key=\"bhqjh\">“While our attorney was standing there, and just about the time he was finished reading it,” Sukle said, “the mayor actually takes the letter, takes it in his hands, rips it apart, and tosses it on the desk in full view of everybody: fellow councilors, our attorney. It was just an incredible action by an elected official.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"kfjdc\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"4f73v\"><br/></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-image\">\n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Mayor_Curry_tears_letter_in_half2x.width-828.png\" width=\"828\" height=\"184\" alt=\"Photo collage\">\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5y2jp\">In this photo collage from a recording, Borough of Middletown Mayor James Curry III, back left, rips a letter from the Press & Journal during the Sept. 18, 2018, borough council meeting. The recording can be found at: <a href=\"https://middletownborough.com/event/borough-council-meeting-16/\">https://middletownborough.com/event/borough-council-meeting-16/</a></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"uwxxv\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3f492\">The paper asked that the council respond within seven days to its request in an effort to resolve the dispute out of court. Sukle told the Tracker that, in the end, they waited more than two weeks.</p><p data-block-key=\"g9mnx\">On Oct. 23, 2018, the law firm of Mette, Evans & Woodside filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the borough on the newspaper’s behalf, asserting violations of the Press & Journal’s rights to free speech and free press under the First Amendment.</p><p data-block-key=\"esq6v\">Within days, Council President Angela Lloyd <a href=\"https://middletownborough.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2018.10.26-Press-Release.pdf\">issued a press release</a> stating, “The global services offered by the Press and Journal do not meet the Borough’s needs.” She also charged that the suit had “no merit in fact or law.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gani0\">On Nov. 14, the borough <a href=\"https://dockets.justia.com/docket/pennsylvania/pamdce/1:2018cv02064/118460\">attempted</a> to have the suit dismissed. However, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Conner ruled against the borough and denied its request for dismissal on Dec. 13, stating that while no formal contract existed between the borough and the Press & Journal, the borough had placed more than 200 notices over the previous 10 years, establishing a reasonable expectation of future business.</p><p data-block-key=\"84b0z\">Though government bodies are required to publish certain public notices in publications available to the populations they serve, there are no federally mandated guidelines. In order to not violate the first amendment rights of publications, government entities cannot take into account the content or viewpoint of the news service as a criteria for placing public notices.</p><p data-block-key=\"vmild\">“Judge Conner’s decision will likely provide support to other media outlets facing retaliatory action by government for their reporting and editorializing,” Martin, the newspaper’s attorney, said in the Press & Journal’s editorial.</p><p data-block-key=\"6m9tc\">Under the terms of the settlement reached in March, the borough is required to spell out its criteria for placing advertisements on bases that are “content-neutral and viewpoint-neutral consistent with the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.” Of the six council members who signed the official letter to the Press & Journal, five remain on the council that established these criteria through a resolution.</p><p data-block-key=\"rm138\">Sukle, however, told the Tracker that the criteria are written in a way that excludes the Press & Journal because it is a weekly publication. Further, Sukle said, the mayor has continued to restrict the newspaper’s access, most significantly to the police department.</p><p data-block-key=\"96bxb\">“It’s gone so far that our staff—almost all of our staff—is blocked from the mayor’s Facebook pages, so we can’t access those,” Sukle said.</p><p data-block-key=\"f0o5r\">The newspaper did not ask for damages in the suit, though the settlement did require that Middletown Borough pay $22,000 to the Press & Journal’s law firm for legal costs.</p><p data-block-key=\"dvbbk\">In the editorial discussing the settlement, the Press & Journal wrote that it is undeterred by the borough council and mayor’s attempts to sway the newspaper’s reporting or editorializing: “We are not the borough council’s enemy. And we are not its PR firm.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Middletown_notice.9dc2df8b.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"vg3op\">A signed letter from Borough of Middletown, Pennsylvania, council members and mayor explicitly links withdrawal of the borough's advertising dollars to what it considers "detrimental" editorial content.<br/></p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"[Middletown] Press & Journal"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Department of State bars press pool from briefing call, allowing only “faith-based media”",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/department-state-bars-press-pool-briefing-call-allowing-only-faith-based-media/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-25T17:06:27.177663Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-21T17:07:01.529386Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T17:07:01.452197Z",
"date": "2019-03-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ghgf4\">The State Department barred the department’s press corps from a briefing call with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on March 18, 2019, stating that only “faith-based media” were permitted to participate. The department also took the unusual step of refusing to release a full transcript or a list of attendees.</p><p data-block-key=\"r9ygi\">The phone briefing was to discuss “international religious freedom” ahead of the secretary’s five-day trip to Beirut, Jerusalem, and Kuwait City. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/18/politics/state-department-faith-outlets-briefing/index.html\">reported</a> that one member of the department’s press corps was invited, but was un-invited after RSVPing. CNN also attempted to RSVP to the call, but received no reply from the department.</p><p data-block-key=\"38bqn\">Despite repeated inquiries and complaints from members of the press corps, The State Department announced that it would not provide a transcript of the call, a list of the faith-based media outlets allowed to participate, the criteria used to determine which outlets would be invited nor answer if the media outlets invited included a range of faiths.</p><p data-block-key=\"4hfs8\">Religion News Service reported that it was invited to participate in the call, though it stated that the publication “is not a faith-based media organization, but rather a secular news service that covers religion, spirituality and ethics.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1ynjo\">RNS also included a list of publications that asked questions during the briefing call: the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Algemeiner (which covers Jewish and Israel news), World Magazine (which publicizes its content as “reporting the news from a Christian worldview”), America Magazine (“the Jesuit perspective on news, faith and culture”) and The Leaven, the newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. CNN reported that a reporter with EWTN Global Catholic Television said the outlet was not originally invited but asked permission to participate.</p><p data-block-key=\"4drws\">In a statement sent to CNN, a State Department spokesperson said that while some press engagements, including department press briefings, teleconferences, briefings and sprays are open to any interested domestic or international press, that is not always the case. “Other engagements are more targeted or designed for topic, region, or audience-specific media. This has always been the case,” they said.</p><p data-block-key=\"i7cnv\">Former State Department spokesperson John Kirby, now a global affairs analyst for CNN, told the outlet that he has “certainly seen times when particular journalists or columnists have been targeted for inclusion on given topics.” However, “to exclude beat reporters from something as universally relevant as religious freedom in the Middle East strikes me as not only self-defeating but incredibly small-minded.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0dh1q\">Kirby also tweeted in response to news that no transcript of the briefing would be released. “This is absolutely not OK. Cabinet officials are public servants. They work for us. When they speak to reporters on the record everything they say—in its entirety—needs to be released at the earliest appropriate time,” he wrote.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is absolutely not OK. Cabinet officials are public servants. They work for us. When they speak to reporters on the record everything they say — in its entirety — needs to be released at the earliest appropriate time. That’s proper accountability. That’s what we deserve. <a href=\"https://t.co/OBJht2BaAK\">https://t.co/OBJht2BaAK</a></p>— John Kirby (@johnfkirby63) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/johnfkirby63/status/1107826830919327744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 19, 2019</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3p4of\">Standard norms are that when it concerns Cabinet-level officials like Pompeo, the department is expected to provide a transcript of the meeting remarks and a list of who attended to any interested journalist.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS2DRM9.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"b0v3i\">The same day the State Department barred members of the press corps from an earlier briefing call with him, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to the media on his plane after departing for the Middle East.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"CNN",
"State Department Press Corps"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Federal government: Agency"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": [
"Government event"
]
},
{
"title": "Judge orders ProPublica Illinois, other media, not to publish details of juvenile court case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-orders-propublica-illinois-other-media-not-publish-details-juvenile-court-case/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-27T17:42:06.855461Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-11T18:01:47.005478Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-11T18:01:46.921049Z",
"date": "2019-03-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yk0h4\">On March 14, 2019, a Cook County Juvenile Court judge ordered ProPublica Illinois and other news organizations not to publish certain details about an ongoing child welfare case in the Chicago-based juvenile court.</p><p data-block-key=\"xyjws\">In the course of reporting on child welfare issues, a ProPublica Illinois reporter had learned about the case. On March 7, after the reporter tried to attend a hearing in the case, the hearing was closed to the public and press.</p><p data-block-key=\"ltia1\">Bruce Boyer — a Loyola University law professor whose legal clinic represents the foster children in the case — then requested that the court issue an order prohibiting news outlets from publishing details about the case. On March 14, Patricia Martin, the presiding judge of the juvenile court’s child protection division, granted the request and issued a prior restraint order.</p><p data-block-key=\"jd6zv\">Documents related to the juvenile court case, including Martin’s prior restraint order, have not been made public. But on March 19, ProPublica Illinois <a href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/cook-county-judge-blocks-propublica-illinois-from-publishing-details-of-child-welfare-case\">reported on the existence of the prior restraint order</a>, describing it as an order “forbidding news organizations from publishing the names, addresses or any demographic information that would identify the children or the foster parents in a case ProPublica Illinois has been investigating.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2po47\">ProPublica Illinois was not initially a party to the case, but it asked the court to intervene in order to oppose the prior restraint order. On March 19, the court granted ProPublica Illinois’ motion to intervene, and on March 22, the news organization filed its opposition to the prior restraint order. A court hearing on the prior restraint order is now scheduled for April 5.</p><p data-block-key=\"12c1z\">Prior restraint orders are relatively unusual and should not be confused with sealing orders, which are far more commonly employed by courts. A sealing order is used when a court needs to allow attorneys and parties to a case access to sensitive information; the sealing order just prohibits the attorneys and parties from turning around and disclosing that information to the public. A prior restraint order is much more serious, since it prohibits a third party with no connection to the case (often a news organization) from publishing information that they learned on their own.</p><p data-block-key=\"lo76r\">ProPublica Illinois is opposing Martin’s prior restraint order because it sees it as an unconstitutional attempt by the government to interfere in its editorial process.</p><p data-block-key=\"m29a4\">“The Supreme Court has made it very clear that courts are not supposed to be editors,” ProPublica President Richard Tofel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “One of the Constitution’s guarantees is that editors should be editors.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ogi9w\">Tofel is correct that legal precedent is on ProPublica Illinois’ side. In 1971, the Supreme Court famously ruled that the government’s attempts to prevent The New York Times and the Washington Post from publishing a classified history of the Vietnam War <a href=\"https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/403/713/\">violated the news organizations’ First Amendment rights</a>. This “Pentagon Papers” case established the precedent that, except in extreme circumstances, prior restraints on the press are unconstitutional.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": "dropped",
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-04-15 13:33:00+00:00) Judge lifts some restrictions on publishing ban"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media",
"ProPublica Illinois"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Prior Restraint"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Ohio political reporter removed from Democratic Party mailing list, reinstated by chair",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ohio-political-reporter-removed-democratic-party-mailing-list-reinstated-chair/",
"first_published_at": "2019-05-09T15:52:01.899747Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:00:24.809537Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:00:24.677359Z",
"date": "2019-03-05",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Cleveland",
"longitude": -81.69541,
"latitude": 41.4995,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"sgy3z\">Cleveland political reporter Seth Richardson was removed from the Ohio Democratic Party press release mailing list by staff in March 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"k21lf\">Richardson posted a thread on Twitter that he had apparently been “frozen out” from covering the Ohio Democratic Party, and suggested he may have been removed from the press distribution list in response to his reporting.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">So I normally hate threads like these, but I've tried solving this privately and it feels like it deserves to be out there in the open. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DavidPepper?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@DavidPepper</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kirstinalv?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@kirstinalv</a> are apparently trying to freeze me out of covering the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/OHDems?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@OHDems</a> 1/</p>— Seth A. Richardson (@SethARichardson) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SethARichardson/status/1125842409542307841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 7, 2019</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8s2di\">Richardson, who reports for Cleveland.com, noted that not receiving the press releases made it difficult for him to do his job.</p><p data-block-key=\"t63ll\">Ohio Democratic Party Chair David Pepper responded to Richardson on Twitter, and told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was not aware of the problem until he saw the tweets. Pepper confirmed that Richardson was added back to the press release list immediately.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Seth, I was not aware of this and have already made clear you should be on the press list. <br><br>Take care.</p>— David Pepper (@DavidPepper) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DavidPepper/status/1125854087088607233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 7, 2019</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hk8d2\">“Any suggestion that I requested a reporter be removed from an email list because of a story, general coverage or any other reason is false,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5o8xo\">“We pride ourselves on not only being open to the press, but in supporting the freedom of the press at all levels,” Pepper wrote to the Tracker. “This was a poor decision made at a staff level that I immediately reversed when it came to my attention."</p><p data-block-key=\"oxcnb\">Pepper said that while there is not a written policy for removing reporters from the distribution, he said that practically, “we do not remove people from our press list,” and would never ask anyone to be removed. Pepper emphasized that the Ohio Democratic Party welcomes press coverage.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Ohio",
"abbreviation": "OH"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Democratic Party (state)"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Seth Richardson (Cleveland.com)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": [
"Press credential or media list"
]
},
{
"title": "Sacramento Bee reporter detained while covering protest march",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sacramento-bee-reporter-detained-while-covering-protest-march/",
"first_published_at": "2020-03-12T15:56:38.779285Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-16T20:22:48.248210Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-16T20:22:48.167400Z",
"date": "2019-03-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Sacramento",
"longitude": -121.4944,
"latitude": 38.58157,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"kpbm0\">Sacramento Bee reporter Dale Kasler was one of three journalists arrested on March 4, 2019, in Sacramento, California, as police blocked off exits and began arresting those remaining at a protest march.</p><p data-block-key=\"bf7f7\">Then-Sacramento Business Journal reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/three-journalists-arrested-while-covering-stephon-clark-protest-sacramento/\">Scott Rodd</a> and California State University student reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-among-reporters-arrested-while-covering-sacramento-protest/\">William Coburn</a> were also arrested. A Bee photojournalist, Hector Amezcua, was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sacramento-photojournalist-pushed-ground-police-while-covering-protest-his-camera-damaged/\">shoved to the ground by a bike officer</a> when police began to cordon protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9xqy\">About 100 people gathered around 6:30 p.m. in East Sacramento to protest the district attorney’s decision not to bring criminal charges against officers in the 2018 shooting death of Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old black man. The march proceeded uneventfully and eventually circled back to where it had begun, in a Trader Joe’s parking lot in the Fab 40s neighborhood.</p><p data-block-key=\"0b6kt\">Police spokesperson Sgt. Vance Chandler <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/03/05/700317892/police-arrest-84-after-stephon-clark-protest-in-east-sacramento\">told</a> NPR that officers gave 10 orders to disperse over a two-hour period. “Shortly after we started monitoring the group at [approximately] 7:30 p.m., we established the group was unlawfully assembling by standing in the street,” Chandler said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3uw64\">Protest organizers also reportedly encouraged attendees to leave, and many did. Soon after, however, a row of riot gear-clad officers formed a line and began slowly advancing while vans of bicycle officers blocked all side roads, leaving the only exit down 51st Street toward an overpass.</p><p data-block-key=\"vtj4t\">Kasler told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that a line of officers, unseeable at first, waited for them at the end of the bridge.</p><p data-block-key=\"vax7q\">Police had received reports that at least five cars had been keyed, according to a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NormLeong/status/1102816147471196160\">tweet</a> from Sacramento Police Department Capt. Norm Leong, and shortly after 10 p.m. officers began arresting those that had not dispersed.</p><p data-block-key=\"hkkg5\">The Sacramento Bee <a href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article227116519.html\">reported</a> that 84 people were arrested over the next four hours.</p><p data-block-key=\"dqaa2\">Kasler was live-streaming when two officers approached him and zip-tied his hands behind his back, placing his phone in his pants pocket. “I had held up my Bee badge and explained that I was a journalist but was taken into custody anyway,” Kasler <a href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article227127619.html\">wrote</a> in an account for The Bee.</p><p data-block-key=\"wmihe\">Within an hour, The Bee’s publisher and editor had made calls to have Kasler released. “Some higher-ups were summoned, I was pulled out of the line and my zip-ties were cut,” Kasler recounted.</p><p data-block-key=\"w41h5\">Kasler told the Tracker that after giving a brief statement to a sergeant he was given a certificate of release, on which the officer had checked the box for “arrestee exonerated.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gnwpb\">Reporters Rodd and Coburn were also zip-tied, and waited on a curb for 2 ½ hours before police loaded them onto vans heading to Cal Expo, a state fair ground, to be processed.</p><p data-block-key=\"hqad8\">The Sacramento County district attorney’s office announced a few days later that it would not charge those arrested at the protest, the San Francisco Chronicle <a href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/amp/Stephon-Clark-demonstration-Sacramento-County-DA-13674720.php\">reported</a>. Sacramento's police department and public safety accountability office are conducting ongoing internal investigations into the police tactics used during the protest, The Bee <a href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article227124634.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dt98e\">“I’m very disappointed the protest ended the way it did. I have many questions about what went on that precipitated the order to disperse and the subsequent arrests,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Mayor_Steinberg/status/1102831149716451328\">tweeted</a> in the early morning on March 5. “No matter the reason an order to disperse was given, no member of the press should be detained for doing their job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6esh6\">Kettling—surrounding protesters in order to prevent any exit, often followed by indiscriminate detentions and arrests—is used across the country as a protest response despite the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">risk it poses</a> to journalists covering the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"cf7m8\">“I thought I had made it clear to them as they were detaining me that I was a reporter,” Kasler told the Tracker. “I was telling them that I’m with The Sacramento Bee and my colleagues on the other side of the police line, who were not detained, were shouting, ‘This is a reporter! This is a reporter! This is a reporter!’ And it didn’t seem to matter.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ryq2a\"><i>Editor’s Note: While Kasler told the Tracker that he was not told that he was under arrest nor read his Miranda rights, and his experience is widely considered a detainment, the Tracker documents it as an arrest. In our methodology, his detainment for an hour in a context where police had announced that those failing to disperse would be arrested — and were indiscriminately detaining those present ahead of processing — coupled with the certificate noting “arrestee exonerated,” categorizes his experience as an arrest.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Kasler_arrest_SacBee.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"l3edj\">Sacramento Bee reporter Dale Kasler, center, was live-streaming a planned protest when officers put him in flexible cuffs. Police arrested more than 80 people in conjunction with the march.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Sacramento Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Dale Kasler (The Sacramento Bee)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Student journalist among reporters arrested while covering Sacramento protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-among-reporters-arrested-while-covering-sacramento-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-03-12T15:51:33.353083Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-08-05T18:54:12.349624Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-08-05T18:54:12.280455Z",
"date": "2019-03-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Sacramento",
"longitude": -121.4944,
"latitude": 38.58157,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"x8asp\">William Coburn, a reporter for the California State University student newspaper, The State Hornet, was one of three journalists arrested while covering a protest march on March 4, 2019, in Sacramento, California.</p><p data-block-key=\"jnvfa\">Then-Sacramento Business Journal reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/three-journalists-arrested-while-covering-stephon-clark-protest-sacramento/\">Scott Rodd</a> and Sacramento Bee reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sacramento-bee-reporter-detained-while-covering-protest-march/\">Dale Kasler</a> were also arrested that night. A Bee photojournalist, Hector Amezcua, was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sacramento-photojournalist-pushed-ground-police-while-covering-protest-his-camera-damaged/\">shoved to the ground</a> by a bike officer when police began to cordon protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"b4wys\">About 100 people gathered around 6:30 p.m. in East Sacramento to protest the district attorney’s decision not to bring criminal charges against officers in the 2018 shooting death of Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old black man. The march proceeded uneventfully and eventually circled back to where it had begun, in a Trader Joe’s parking lot in the Fab 40s neighborhood.</p><p data-block-key=\"4vouz\">Coburn told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the march had started uneventfully, and that fewer people had gathered than in the days after Clark was killed. After about two hours, the march circled back to the parking lot where it had begun.</p><p data-block-key=\"btkjn\">“It looked to me like the protest was winding down,” Coburn said.</p><p data-block-key=\"t96qd\">Police spokesperson Sgt. Vance Chandler <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/03/05/700317892/police-arrest-84-after-stephon-clark-protest-in-east-sacramento\">told</a> NPR that officers gave 10 orders to disperse over a two-hour period. “Shortly after we started monitoring the group at [approximately] 7:30 p.m., we established the group was unlawfully assembling by standing in the street,” Chandler said.</p><p data-block-key=\"eh1zl\">Protest organizers also encouraged people to leave, Coburn said, and many did. Others were still mingling in the Trader Joe’s parking lot, including a few photographers, and Coburn joined them to conduct a few final interviews. Then, he said, a row of riot gear-clad officers formed a line and began slowly advancing, leaving the only exit down 51st Street.</p><p data-block-key=\"pe6tc\">“The police just started marching forward, taking a few steps and then stopping,” Coburn told the Tracker. “By stepping forward, we all started moving along 51st Street looking for places to get out, but all of them were blocked off, either by vans or by a few bike cops. It looked like it was just the two bike cops going over the overpass, so we assumed they just wanted us out of this neighborhood.”</p><p data-block-key=\"744k2\">A line of officers, unseeable at first, waited for them at the end of the bridge.</p><p data-block-key=\"ng2tp\">Police had received reports that at least five cars had been keyed, according to a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NormLeong/status/1102816147471196160\">tweet</a> from Sacramento Police Department Capt. Norm Leong, and shortly after 10 p.m. officers began arresting those that had not dispersed.</p><p data-block-key=\"xhs30\">The Bee <a href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article227116519.html\">reported</a> that 84 people were arrested over the next four hours.</p><p data-block-key=\"tcciv\">Coburn told the Tracker that he had a professional camera around his neck, and when officers came to arrest him he said repeatedly that he was a reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"7q3n9\">“After a while I just stopped saying [that I was a journalist] because they just didn’t know what to do about it,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"r0e4r\">While he was originally in handcuffs, Coburn told the Tracker that once officers sat him down on the curb they switched him into flexi-cuffs. He sat that way for 2 ½ hours before police loaded all those arrested into vans heading to Cal Expo, a state fair ground, to be processed.</p><p data-block-key=\"o8yk5\">After more than four hours in detention, Coburn was released around 2:30 a.m. on March 5 with a ticket for failure to disperse and a court hearing scheduled on June 4.</p><p data-block-key=\"ocmbl\">The Sacramento County district attorney’s office announced a few days later that it would not charge those arrested at the protest, the San Francisco Chronicle <a href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/amp/Stephon-Clark-demonstration-Sacramento-County-DA-13674720.php\">reported</a>. Sacramento's police department and public safety accountability office are conducting ongoing internal investigations into the police tactics used during the protest, The Bee <a href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article227124634.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"gv4q0\">“I’m very disappointed the protest ended the way it did. I have many questions about what went on that precipitated the order to disperse and the subsequent arrests,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Mayor_Steinberg/status/1102831149716451328\">tweeted</a> in the early morning on March 5. “No matter the reason an order to disperse was given, no member of the press should be detained for doing their job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"iu6rh\">Kettling—surrounding protesters in order to prevent any exit, often followed by indiscriminate detentions and arrests—is used across the country as a protest response despite the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">risk it poses</a> to journalists covering the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"0opeh\"><i>Editor's Note: William Coburn originally reported to the Tracker that he was wearing university-issued press credentials when he was arrested, but it was later confirmed that he was not. This article was updated March 3, 2020.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Coburn.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"fnweb\">A line of police officers follow Sacramento, California, protesters who gathered in response to the district attorney’s decision to not prosecute officers after the shooting death of a young black man.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Sacramento Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2019-03-05",
"detention_date": "2019-03-04",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"kettle",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"William Coburn (The [Sacramento State University] State Hornet)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Nevada judge orders online journalist to reveal sources, says not protected by shield law",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nevada-judges-orders-online-journalist-reveal-sources-says-not-protected-shield-law/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-23T20:27:58.242506Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-13T22:35:54.868665Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-13T22:35:54.741469Z",
"date": "2019-03-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Carson City",
"longitude": -119.7674,
"latitude": 39.1638,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"clpb0\">A Nevada state court judge issued an <a href=\"https://www.scribd.com/document/401772560/Order-on-Plaintiff-s-Motion-to-Compel#from_embed\">order</a> on March 4, 2019, to compel an online journalist to reveal his confidential sources, ruling that because he did not work for a print publication he did not qualify as a journalist—and was thus not covered by Nevada's shield law at the time.</p><p data-block-key=\"812aa\">Sam Toll founded the online news site <a href=\"http://thestoreyteller.online/\">the Storey Teller</a>, covering Storey County, Nevada, in February 2017 and joined the state press association in August 2017. Toll was sued for defamation in December 2017 by Lance Gilman, a Storey County commissioner and owner of the Mustang Ranch, a legal brothel. In five stories, published between April and December 2017, Toll published claims that Gilman lives outside of Storey County, meaning he fails to meet the residency requirement to hold county office under Nevada law. The defamation suit demands Toll produces the sources of any information he procured before August 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"w5ph2\">Nevada's shield law—considered to be one of the most robust in the nation—states that "[n]o reporter, former reporter or editorial employee of any newspaper, periodical or press association ... may be required to disclose the source of any information procured or obtained by such person, in any legal proceedings, trial or investigation." But because this law was passed in 1969, some 14 years before the inception of the internet, it does not explicitly extend this protection to reporters for online publications.</p><p data-block-key=\"gxrmf\">In what has been criticized as an unduly narrow reading of the law, Judge James Wilson found that "[b]ecause Toll was not a reporter for a newspaper or press association before August of 2017 he was not covered by the news media privilege before August 2017, and therefore, the motion to compel must be granted as to any source of information obtained or procured by Toll before August of 2017."</p><p data-block-key=\"43nvj\">Wilson ruled that because the Storey Teller is an online-only publication, it "is not a newspaper and, therefore the news media privilege is not available to Toll under the 'reporter of a newspaper' provision of [Nevada's shield law]."</p><p data-block-key=\"o4liz\">In at least two other instances, Nevada courts have ruled that web-only publications were covered by the shield law, <a href=\"https://www.rgj.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/07/nevada-judge-rules-online-sites-not-protected-media-shield-law/3098026002/\">according</a> to the Reno Gazette Journal. “My understanding is that it’s the first ruling of its kind and actually conflicts with other rulings,” Richard Karpel, executive director of the Nevada Press Association, told the newspaper.</p><p data-block-key=\"8iky6\">Toll's lawyers filed a petition for writ of prohibition with the state Supreme Court on March 18. "While we respect Judge Wilson, we fundamentally disagree that an online journalist should be compelled to reveal their sources because they publish news articles in an online newspaper instead of traditional print newspaper," Luke Busby, one of Toll's attorneys, wrote in a statement. "Such a ruling undermines the protection of fundamental Constitutional principles of freedom of speech and of the press and stifles the free flow of information that is essential for any free society to exist."</p><p data-block-key=\"gjgwi\">On March 22, the Supreme Court stayed Gilman’s discovery request, pending review of Toll’s writ of prohibition. A deposition had been scheduled for March 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"x1cg4\">Other critics opined that Judge Wilson was splitting hairs in his order. "Unlike too many jobs in this country there is no such thing as a licensed journalist," newspaper columnist Thomas Mitchell <a href=\"https://elkodaily.com/opinion/columnists/thomas-mitchell-nevada-press-shield-law-protects-bloggers/article_431a34d6-e23f-5499-b2cf-30cfcc19edea.html\">wrote</a> in the Elko Daily Free Press.</p><p data-block-key=\"srgy3\">Toll told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he would go to jail, if necessary, to protect his sources. But he worried that if this ruling stands, it could have a chilling effect on online media in Nevada.</p><p data-block-key=\"jj9vy\">"It would be potentially devastating for people who report on matters of public interest to not be able to protect whistleblowers," Toll said. "Do I relish going to jail? No. But for the people behind me, who currently have an online-only presence, I owe it to them to stand my ground."</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Toll_legal_order.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"loebp\">A Nevada judge has ruled that journalist Sam Toll is not protected under the state's shield laws because he publishes exclusively online.<br/></p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Nevada",
"abbreviation": "NV"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-12-05 16:03:00+00:00) Supreme Court of Nevada rules that shield law applies to digital media, too",
"(2020-03-19 09:16:00+00:00) Nevada state judge says online publisher can’t be further compelled for confidential sources",
"(2020-06-15 13:24:00+00:00) District judge dismisses defamation suit against Nevada digital reporter"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sam Toll (The Storey Teller)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Three journalists arrested while covering Stephon Clark protest in Sacramento",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/three-journalists-arrested-while-covering-stephon-clark-protest-sacramento/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-13T16:32:58.972095Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-08-05T18:51:24.769921Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-08-05T18:51:24.700540Z",
"date": "2019-03-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Sacramento",
"longitude": -121.4944,
"latitude": 38.58157,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7elz1\">Sacramento Business Journal reporter Scott Rodd was one of three journalists arrested on March 4, 2019, in Sacramento, California, as police blocked off exits and began arresting those remaining at a protest march.</p><p data-block-key=\"yvh68\">Sacramento Bee reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sacramento-bee-reporter-detained-while-covering-protest-march/\">Dale Kasler</a> and California State University student reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-among-reporters-arrested-while-covering-sacramento-protest/\">William Coburn</a> were also arrested. A Bee photojournalist, Hector Amezcua, was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sacramento-photojournalist-pushed-ground-police-while-covering-protest-his-camera-damaged/\">shoved to the ground</a> by a bike officer when police began to cordon protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"zngfn\">About 100 people gathered around 6:30 p.m. in East Sacramento to protest the district attorney’s decision not to bring criminal charges against officers in the 2018 shooting death of Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old black man. The march proceeded uneventfully and eventually circled back to where it had begun, in a Trader Joe’s parking lot in the Fab 40s neighborhood.</p><p data-block-key=\"031ki\">Police spokesperson Sgt. Vance Chandler <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/03/05/700317892/police-arrest-84-after-stephon-clark-protest-in-east-sacramento\">told</a> NPR that officers gave 10 orders to disperse over a two-hour period. “Shortly after we started monitoring the group at [approximately] 7:30 p.m., we established the group was unlawfully assembling by standing in the street,” Chandler said.</p><p data-block-key=\"u15h2\">Protest organizers also reportedly encouraged attendees to leave, and many did. Soon after, however, a row of riot gear-clad officers formed a line and began slowly advancing while vans of bicycle officers blocked all side roads, leaving the only exit down 51st Street.</p><p data-block-key=\"s5or9\">In a video Rodd shared on Twitter, police officers informed those present that they would be able to leave if they continued down 51st toward the overpass.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The DA's office said it won't pursue charges against the 80+ people arrested at last week's <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/StephonClark?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#StephonClark</a> protests.<br><br>But the city and PD are pursuing several investigations into what happened. I captured the protests at a pivotal moment when riot police were deployed.<br><br>(🔊 ON) <a href=\"https://t.co/wuu3YkX26M\">pic.twitter.com/wuu3YkX26M</a></p>— Scott Rodd (@SRodd_CPR) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SRodd_CPR/status/1104821124947271681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 10, 2019</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ndtja\">Police had received reports that at least five cars had been keyed, according to a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NormLeong/status/1102816147471196160\">tweet</a> from Sacramento Police Department Capt. Norm Leong, and shortly after 10 p.m. officers began arresting those that had not dispersed.</p><p data-block-key=\"k8nys\">The Bee <a href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article227116519.html\">reported</a> that 84 people were arrested over the next four hours.</p><p data-block-key=\"j0e79\">Rodd and Coburn were among those zip-tied and left sitting on a curb for 2 ½ hours before police loaded them into vans heading to Cal Expo, a state fair ground, to be processed. The Bee’s Kasler was also zip-tied and detained, but released with a certificate of “arrestee exonerated.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I also captured when police encircled protesters on the Highway 50 overpass after directing the group down 51st Street. <br><br>The video shows the moment police began arresting protesters--starting with several clergy members--and ends with my own arrest.<br><br>(🔊 ON) <a href=\"https://t.co/VROrCXKcNO\">pic.twitter.com/VROrCXKcNO</a></p>— Scott Rodd (@SRodd_CPR) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SRodd_CPR/status/1104821128776769536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 10, 2019</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fn2dr\">Rodd was wearing a black T-shirt with “PRESS” in bold, white letters across the front and back, and a hat displaying Sacramento Business Journal credentials. Rodd told his arresting officer and a second officer at the scene that he was a reporter, but neither reacted. Then, he said, he tried to continue doing his job.</p><p data-block-key=\"30syd\">“I started asking one of the officers questions about what precipitated the arrest, what situation made them decide that they needed to arrest people,” Rodd told the Tracker. “After a few questions the officer said, ‘I can’t answer those questions because you’re a member of the press and I’m not at liberty to talk about it.’ He acknowledged that I was a member of the press and I was there, I was in flexicuffs, I was detained, and it looked like I was going to be processed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w67lt\">After more than four hours in detention, Rodd was released around 2:30 a.m. on March 5 with a ticket for failure to disperse and a court hearing scheduled on June 4.</p><p data-block-key=\"sawvf\">The Sacramento County district attorney’s office announced a few days later that it would not charge those arrested at the protest, the San Francisco Chronicle <a href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/amp/Stephon-Clark-demonstration-Sacramento-County-DA-13674720.php\">reported</a>. Sacramento's police department and public safety accountability office are conducting ongoing internal investigations into the police tactics used during the protest, The Bee <a href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article227124634.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"s70ql\">“I’m very disappointed the protest ended the way it did. I have many questions about what went on that precipitated the order to disperse and the subsequent arrests,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Mayor_Steinberg/status/1102831149716451328\">tweeted</a> in the early morning on March 5. “No matter the reason an order to disperse was given, no member of the press should be detained for doing their job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dk9nh\">Kettling — surrounding protesters in order to prevent any exit, often followed by indiscriminate detentions and arrests — is used across the country as a protest response despite the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">risk it poses</a> to journalists covering the protest.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-image\">\n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Stephon_Clark_Protest_Map.width-828.png\" width=\"828\" height=\"525\" alt=\"Courtesy Scott Rodd\">\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"28e92\"><i>Journalist Scott Rodd created a map of the events around the protest and subsequent arrests. Key coloring and descriptions updated by the Tracker.</i><br/></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "Sacramento Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2019-03-05",
"detention_date": "2019-03-04",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-04-25 11:55:00+00:00) Sacramento Police Department changes arrest status to detention"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Scott Rodd (Sacramento Business Journal)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Sacramento photojournalist pushed to the ground by police while covering protest, his camera damaged",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sacramento-photojournalist-pushed-ground-police-while-covering-protest-his-camera-damaged/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-13T16:09:06.811291Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-27T21:34:29.364734Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-27T21:34:29.244484Z",
"date": "2019-03-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Sacramento",
"longitude": -121.4944,
"latitude": 38.58157,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"warry\">A Sacramento police officer shoved Sacramento Bee Senior Photographer Hector Amezcua to the ground with his bicycle during a protest on March 4, 2019, breaking his equipment and interrupting his broadcast.</p><p data-block-key=\"96ztn\">More than 100 people gathered in a Trader Joe’s parking lot around 6:30 p.m. that day to protest the district attorney’s decision not to bring criminal charges against the officers who shot and killed Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old black man, last March. After about two hours, the march circled back to the parking lot where it had begun.</p><p data-block-key=\"0tfw3\">Police spokesperson Sgt. Vance Chandler <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/03/05/700317892/police-arrest-84-after-stephon-clark-protest-in-east-sacramento\">told</a> NPR that officers gave 10 orders to disperse over a two-hour period. “Shortly after we started monitoring the group at [approximately] 7:30 p.m., we established the group was unlawfully assembling by standing in the street,” Chandler said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4g4rs\">Protest organizers also encouraged people to leave, NPR <a href=\"https://www.tpr.org/post/police-arrest-84-after-stephon-clark-protest-east-sacramento\">reported</a>, and many did. Soon after that, a row of officers in riot gear formed a line and began slowly advancing, leaving only one exit for those remaining: Down 51st Street.</p><p data-block-key=\"po98h\">Amezcua told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was broadcasting a livestream as officers on bicycles began pushing marchers into a flower bed next to a large Trader Joe’s sign. “As I hugged the corner of the sign with my right shoulder I felt bicycle officers closing in on me. I felt an officer hit me with his bike from my left side,” Amezcua said. “I lost my balance for a second and looked into [the] officer’s face as I turned. He screamed, ‘I told you to get out of the way,’ I assume as motive for hitting me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v13ma\">He wasn’t aware that his camera had been damaged in the collision until his colleague Sam Stanton walked up to him to tell them they were no longer broadcasting live. The HDMI port and cable on his Nikon Z-6 camera were broken.</p><p data-block-key=\"uarmn\">The Bee <a href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/article227116989.html\">reported</a> that the assault was witnessed by National Lawyers Guild legal observers at the scene as well as Bee journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"ewnt4\">Amezcua stayed behind at the shopping center where his company car was parked as officers on bikes and in riot gear began circling the protesters and forcing them on to 51st Street. When he and Stanton switched the live feed to his cellphone they continued reporting, staying around 20 feet behind the officers who continued cordoning the protesters onto the Highway 50 overpass. A line of officers, initially out of view of the protesters, was waiting at the end of the bridge.</p><p data-block-key=\"irpcx\">Police had received reports that at least five cars had been keyed, according to a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NormLeong/status/1102816147471196160\">tweet</a> from Sacramento Police Department Capt. Norm Leong, and shortly after 10 p.m. officers began arresting those that had not dispersed.</p><p data-block-key=\"j1euk\">“As we walked closer we observed a large group of people on the overpass at 51st Street and Highway 50 surrounded by police officers on bikes and riot police with nowhere to go,” Amezcua said. “At this point I noticed our colleague Dale Kasler among those in the group.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2oxtk\">The Bee <a href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article227116519.html\">reported</a> that 84 people were arrested over the next four hours. The Tracker documented the arrests of three journalists, including Bee reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sacramento-bee-reporter-detained-while-covering-protest-march/\">Kasler</a>, Sacramento Business Journal <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/three-journalists-arrested-while-covering-stephon-clark-protest-sacramento/\">reporter Scott Rodd</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-among-reporters-arrested-while-covering-sacramento-protest/\">student journalist William Coburn</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ok6o\">Amezcua told the Tracker that he believes that he, Stanton, and other journalists from Univision, KCRA, NPA and ABC 10 were not arrested because they had not stayed with the group that was corralled at the end of the overpass.</p><p data-block-key=\"5k2ol\">Kettling — surrounding protesters in order to prevent any exit, often followed by indiscriminate detentions and arrests — is used across the country as a protest response despite the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">risk it poses</a> to journalists covering the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"oldg5\">“I’m very disappointed the protest ended the way it did. I have many questions about what went on that precipitated the order to disperse and the subsequent arrests,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Mayor_Steinberg/status/1102831149716451328\">tweeted</a> in the early morning on March 5. “No matter the reason an order to disperse was given, no member of the press should be detained for doing their job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ztt8c\">Sacramento's police department and public safety accountability office are conducting ongoing internal investigations into the police tactics used during the protest, The Bee <a href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article227124634.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"w1tz4\">Amezcua told the Tracker that people have asked him why they stayed after orders were given to disperse. “My response has been Section D of California PC 409.5,” Amezcua said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6hjlz\">That section of the penal code allows for any member of the news media to remain after orders to clear an area have been given.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX5F32D.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"76wfh\">Sacramento police officers watch protesters in March 2018 following the funeral of Stephon Clark, a young black man. Protests broke out in 2019 after the announcement that officers involved in his shooting won’t be charged.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "miscellaneous equipment"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Hector Amezcua (The Sacramento Bee)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "San Francisco police seize multiple phone records of independent journalist Bryan Carmody",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-francisco-police-seize-multiple-phone-records-independent-journalist-bryan-carmody/",
"first_published_at": "2019-06-11T14:04:17.351126Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-03-14T21:39:24.736745Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-03-14T21:39:24.615220Z",
"date": "2019-03-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Francisco",
"longitude": -122.41942,
"latitude": 37.77493,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5nre9\">In March and April 2019, San Francisco police seized phone records for freelance journalist Bryan Carmody as part of an investigation into one of Carmody’s confidential sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"4wy4y\">On May 31, the San Francisco Police Department formally notified Carmody that it had obtained a warrant to seize his mobile phone records. In a <a href=\"https://www.dropbox.com/s/czlyt7esf3te2w2/SFPD%20Certified%20Letter%20recd%205-31-19%20REDACTED%20by%20Bryan%20Carmody.pdf?dl=0\">letter to Carmody</a>, SFPD Sgt. Joseph Obidi wrote: “Mr. Carmody is being investigated as a co-conspirator in the theft of the San Francisco Police report, involving the death investigation of Jeff Adachi.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kh8bk\">Adachi, the San Francisco Public Defender, died unexpectedly on Feb. 22. Shortly after, Carmody obtained a copy of an SFPD report into Adachi’s death. The police report included salacious details about Adachi’s drug use and possible extramarital affair, and Carmody used the leaked report as the centerpiece of a story about Adachi’s death. Carmody sold his story on Adachi’s death to local TV news stations, who ran segments about the police report.</p><p data-block-key=\"q2cck\">Sgt. Obidi’s May 31 letter to Carmody stated that the SFPD had executed a search warrant on March 1 to compel Verizon to turn over Carmody’s mobile phone records, including “subscriber information, call detail records, SMS usage, mobile data usage, cell tower data,” for the period of time between 8:33 p.m. on Feb. 22 and 10:44 p.m. on Feb. 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"bholk\">On June 1, Carmody received <a href=\"https://www.dropbox.com/s/jxf0gcla14i6c9a/SFPD%20Certified%20Letter%20recd%206-1-19%20REDACTED%20by%20Bryan%20Carmody.pdf?dl=0\">two more letters</a> from Sgt. Obidi, notifying him that police had executed further warrants on March 13 and April 16 for his mobile phone records.</p><p data-block-key=\"b8pkz\">The March 13 warrant, like the earlier one executed on March 1, requested Verizon hand over Carmody’s mobile phone records for the same time period—between 8:33 p.m. on Feb. 22 and 10:44 p.m. on Feb. 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"d4lib\">The April 16 warrant was served on both Verizon and AT&T and requested that the two carriers hand over mobile phone records for three different phone numbers for the time period between 1:13 p.m. on April 12 and 11:59 p.m. on April 15.</p><p data-block-key=\"wzk50\">In addition to the warrants to seize Carmody’s mobile phone records, the SFPD obtained search warrants for Carmody’s home and office. On May 10, SFPD officers <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-francisco-police-use-search-warrant-raid-home-office-independent-journalist-source-material/\">raided Carmody’s home and office</a> and the reporter’s notebooks, computers, phones, and cameras.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2019-06-11_at_10.01.1.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"y8cwv\">Through a certified letter after the fact, independent journalist Bryan Carmody learned of three separate search warrants executed on his phone records by the San Francisco police department.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": "Verizon, AT&T",
"third_party_business": "telecom company",
"legal_order_venue": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-07-18 12:00:00+00:00) Judge quashes warrant used to seize phone records",
"(2020-05-26 14:51:00+00:00) San Francisco police agree to inform officers of press protections following raid",
"(2019-08-16 12:31:00+00:00) Judge quashes final warrant used in search of Bryan Carmody’s phone records",
"(2020-03-03 10:36:00+00:00) San Francisco to pay $369,000 for illegal raids of journalist Bryan Carmody",
"(2019-08-02 16:20:00+00:00) San Francisco judges quash three more warrants used in raid of independent journalist Bryan Carmody home, office and phone records"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Bryan Carmody (North Bay News)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "White House bars four print reporters from covering dinner between U.S., North Korea leaders",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-bars-four-print-reporters-covering-dinner-between-us-north-korea-leaders/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-04T15:40:01.934331Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T18:48:30.211122Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T18:48:30.103654Z",
"date": "2019-02-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Hanoi",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7k86o\">One day into President Trump’s diplomatic trip to Vietnam, the White House banned four U.S. journalists traveling in the press pool from covering the president’s dinner with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-bans-four-journalists-from-covering-trump-kim-dinner-because-of-shouted-questions/2019/02/27/36e1d26c-3a8d-11e9-a2cd-307b06d0257b_story.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cczxq\">On Feb. 27, 2019, shortly before the dinner was to take place in Hanoi, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the press pool that only the photographers and news camera crews would be allowed to cover the dinner. After boisterous protests, including from pool photojournalists, Sanders conceded that one print reporter would be permitted to attend: Vivian Salama of The Wall Street Journal.</p><p data-block-key=\"na1yn\">The four pool reporters who were barred: Jonathan Lemire of The Associated Press, Jeff Mason of Reuters, Justin Sink of Bloomberg News, and Eli Stokols of the Los Angeles Times.</p><p data-block-key=\"oh2bz\">The Washington Post reported that when Sanders was asked why the journalists representing the three largest wire services and a major newspaper were excluded, she said that it was because of “sensitivities over shouted questions in the previous sprays.”</p><p data-block-key=\"iipdd\">During two brief photo opportunities on Wednesday night, American reporters—including Lemire and Mason—directed four questions at Trump; they asked Kim none. Trump and his aides have often complained about reporters asking the president questions during photo opportunities, particularly in the presence of foreign leaders.</p><p data-block-key=\"mgah2\">In November, the White House <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jamiedupree/status/1064632625598529537/photo/1\">issued</a> new press conduct guidelines and has occasionally punished reporters for their questioning, most notably CNN reporters <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-suspends-cnn-reporter-jim-acostas-press-credentials-and-falsely-accuses-him-manhandling-intern/\">Jim Acosta</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-bans-cnn-reporter-event-asking-inappropriate-questions/\">Kaitlan Collins</a>, the latter of whom was banned from attending an event in retaliation for trying to ask President Trump a question during a photo-op.</p><p data-block-key=\"xlp73\">Traditionally the White House has upheld the rights of journalists while a president is traveling overseas, particularly in instances where the president is meeting with leaders of a country where press freedom is limited or absent.</p><p data-block-key=\"4tedp\">LA Times Executive Editor Norman Pearlstine said in a <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-trump-kim-vietnam-summit-20190227-story.html\">statement</a>, “Previous administrations have often intervened to protect press access when foreign leaders have tried to limit coverage of presidential meetings abroad. The fact that this White House has done the opposite and excluded members of the press provides another sad example of its failure to uphold the American public’s right to see and be informed about President Trump’s activities.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fqc42\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/whca/status/1100804535587692544\">statement</a>, Olivier Knox, White House Correspondents’ Association president, called the decision to exclude some of the journalists “capricious.” “This summit provides an opportunity for the American presidency to display its strength by facing vigorous questioning from a free and independent news media, not telegraph weakness by retreating behind arbitrary last-minute restrictions on coverage.”</p><p data-block-key=\"r3y1u\">Members of the press pool repeatedly asked Sanders whether North Korea was responsible for the restricted access, but she would not provide a direct answer. The ban came a day after the press pool was booted from the hotel where the White House had booked conference facilities to be used as a press workspace because Kim’s delegation had decided to stay at the same hotel.</p><p data-block-key=\"kqbpw\">In an emailed statement, Sanders said, “We are continuing to negotiate aspects of this historic summit and will always work to make sure the U.S. media has as much access as possible.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rb179\">The summit ended prematurely on Feb. 28.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX6OZAM.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"oxrvt\">President Donald Trump, accompanied by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaks at a news conference in Hanoi, Vietnam on Feb. 28. One day before, the White House barred four journalists from covering an event with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Vietnam",
"abbreviation": null
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Federal government: White House"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Eli Stokols (Los Angeles Times)",
"Jeff Mason (Reuters)",
"Jonathan Lemire (The Associated Press)",
"Justin Sink (Bloomberg News)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": [
"Government event"
]
},
{
"title": "Undercover police threaten to arrest journalist after he films the search of a black man",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/undercover-police-threaten-arrest-journalist-after-he-films-search-black-man/",
"first_published_at": "2019-04-04T17:27:07.090303Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:01:11.356912Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:01:11.266275Z",
"date": "2019-02-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Pittsburgh",
"longitude": -79.99589,
"latitude": 40.44062,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6ri9b\">An undercover Pennsylvania State Police officer threatened to arrest a journalist when he noticed that the reporter was recording three officers’ search of a black man at an Amtrak station in Pittsburgh on Feb. 26, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"i8u4o\">Mike Elk, a reporter and founder of Payday Report, was returning to his hometown after a trip and had disembarked at the Pittsburgh station. In an account of the incident, Elk <a href=\"http://paydayreport.com/pa-police-threatened-me-with-arrest-for-recording-search-of-a-black-man/\">wrote</a> for the labor publication that he was heading toward the exit when he noticed three undercover state police officers corner and begin searching a black man. He said he followed his journalistic instinct and began to record the interaction.</p><p data-block-key=\"3id13\">After the officers finished searching the man’s bags and released him, Elk told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that an officer saw that he was recording and approached him, demanding to see his identification while the two other undercover officers “hovered” nearby. Elk identified himself as a journalist and told the officer that he felt within his rights to record them in a public space.</p><p data-block-key=\"e3nzg\">“The undercover cop told me that I was illegally wiretapping him,” Elk wrote in his account. The officer noted that Elk’s breath smelled of alcohol—Elk wrote that he had three Bud Lites on the train—and that he could be arrested for public intoxication as soon as he stopped outside the station.</p><p data-block-key=\"6hok1\">When the officer repeated his demand that Elk show him identification, Elk handed the officer his passport, which Elk said was in his back pocket as he had just returned from Portugal. Elk wrote that the officer mocked him as “fancy” for having a passport, demanded to see his driver’s license and repeated his threat to arrest Elk once he left the train station.</p><p data-block-key=\"kt6v1\">“I showed [my driver’s license] to him and he said we are gonna check to see if they [sic] are any warrants out for your arrest,” Elk recounted.</p><p data-block-key=\"yv9yt\">Elk volunteered to erase the video he had taken of the officers’ interaction with the black man. “I informed the officer that I would erase the recording. Three cops crowded around me and watched as I deleted it,” Elk wrote. However, he continued, “the threats continued even after I erased the recording.</p><p data-block-key=\"mjqrj\">Elk wrote that after a few minutes he and the officer threatening arrest came to an agreement to walk away. A different officer approached him then and told Elk, “Why do you fuck with us? Don’t fuck with us and we won’t fuck with you.”</p><p data-block-key=\"teg8a\">Elk said he was able to leave the station approximately five minutes after he had disembarked from the train. Elk wrote that he has reached out to the American Civil Liberties Union and plans to take legal action in order to assert the rights of journalists, and the public generally, to record incidents involving the police in public spaces.</p><p data-block-key=\"ltybw\">“This is my hometown and I am not gonna be intimidated for standing up for racial justice,” Elk wrote.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Elk_amtrakstation2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"g1668\">Inside this Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Amtrak station journalist Mike Elk filmed undercover state police interaction with a black man, seen in the left corner.<br/></p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mike Elk (Payday Report)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Judge quashes energy company’s subpoena of former Post-Gazette managing editor",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-quashes-energy-companys-subpoena-of-former-post-gazette-managing-editor/",
"first_published_at": "2023-04-21T15:56:34.603719Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-04-21T16:12:24.646725Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-04-21T16:12:24.546612Z",
"date": "2019-02-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Pittsburgh",
"longitude": -79.99589,
"latitude": 40.44062,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"q5flo\">Staff of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette were subpoenaed in February 2019 by Range Resources while reporting around a confidential settlement between the gas-drilling company and Pennsylvania residents. On May 3, a Washington County judge <a href=\"https://www.post-gazette.com/news/2019/05/07/Range-Resources-Haney-settlement-shield-law-Washington-County/stories/201905070115\">quashed the requests</a> for testimony, sources, notes and documents from former Post-Gazette Managing Editor Sally Stapleton and two reporters.</p><p data-block-key=\"3gmks\">Beginning in January, the Post-Gazette sought to unseal an August 2018 <a href=\"https://www.post-gazette.com/news/environment/2019/02/07/Post-Gazette-asks-court-to-unseal-Haney-shale-gas-case-settlement/stories/201902070186\">settlement</a> between Range and families who alleged they had experienced serious health problems due to exposure to leaks, spills and air pollution emanating from a nearby company well. Range fought the outlet’s petition, claiming the request was not timely.</p><p data-block-key=\"cfben\">Range lawyers subpoenaed Stapleton and reporters <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pennsylvania-judge-denies-energy-companys-subpoena-of-pittsburgh-post-gazette-staff/\">Don Hopey</a> and <a href=\"/all-incidents/judge-quashes-energy-companys-subpoena-of-post-gazette-reporter-staff/\">David Templeton</a> on Feb. 25 to uncover the reporters’ sources and obtain their notes and documents related to the case, the Post-Gazette <a href=\"https://www.post-gazette.com/news/2019/05/07/Range-Resources-Haney-settlement-shield-law-Washington-County/stories/201905070115\">reported</a>. The outlet entered its objection to all three subpoenas on March 11, according to the court docket.</p><p data-block-key=\"9is5t\">In her May ruling quashing the subpoenas, Washington County Common Pleas Court President Judge Katherine Emery cited Pennsylvania’s shield law and its protection of news sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"51s37\">“The Shield Law must be liberally construed in favor of the news media,” Emery wrote in her order and opinion. “Under this law, the employees of the newspaper cannot be required to disclose any information that could lead to the disclosure of their sources.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b3pi1\">The Post-Gazette also asked Emery to order Range to cover the newspaper’s legal fees, calling the subpoenas “a brazen and legally abusive attempt to harass and intimidate the Post-Gazette.” Emery denied that request.</p><p data-block-key=\"2jl6t\">In a related incident, the same judge barred Pittsburgh-based reporter Reid Frazier <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pennsylvania-journalist-barred-publishing-document-mistakenly-made-public-order-vacated/\">from directly or indirectly publishing</a> contents of the settlement terms on May 30, which the reporter had inadvertently obtained from a glitch in the court’s software. On June 4, Range told Emery it would publicly release the settlement terms, <a href=\"https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2019/06/04/court-document-reveals-range-resources-other-defendants-agreed-to-3-million-settlement-in-washington-county-contamination-suit/\">Frazier reported</a>, effectively ending the Post-Gazette’s court action to unseal it and the publishing injunction. Read more on the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pennsylvania-journalist-barred-publishing-document-mistakenly-made-public-order-vacated/\">prior restraint here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"environmentalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sally Stapleton (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"quashed"
],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Judge quashes energy company’s subpoena of Post-Gazette reporter, staff",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-quashes-energy-companys-subpoena-of-post-gazette-reporter-staff/",
"first_published_at": "2023-04-21T16:03:01.557446Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-04-21T16:12:10.464911Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-04-21T16:12:10.372777Z",
"date": "2019-02-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Pittsburgh",
"longitude": -79.99589,
"latitude": 40.44062,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vhf5n\">Staff of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette were subpoenaed in February 2019 by Range Resources while reporting around a confidential settlement between the gas-drilling company and Pennsylvania residents. On May 3, a Washington County judge <a href=\"https://www.post-gazette.com/news/2019/05/07/Range-Resources-Haney-settlement-shield-law-Washington-County/stories/201905070115\">quashed the requests</a> for testimony, sources, notes and documents from former Post-Gazette reporter David Templeton and two other journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"6llg\">Beginning in January, the Post-Gazette sought to unseal an August 2018 <a href=\"https://www.post-gazette.com/news/environment/2019/02/07/Post-Gazette-asks-court-to-unseal-Haney-shale-gas-case-settlement/stories/201902070186\">settlement</a> between Range and families who alleged they had experienced serious health problems due to exposure to leaks, spills and air pollution emanating from a nearby company well. Range fought the outlet’s petition, claiming the request was not timely.</p><p data-block-key=\"c5st4\">Range lawyers subpoenaed Templeton, reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pennsylvania-judge-denies-energy-companys-subpoena-of-pittsburgh-post-gazette-staff/\">Don Hopey</a> and former Managing Editor <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-quashes-energy-companys-subpoena-of-former-post-gazette-managing-editor/\">Sally Stapleton</a> on Feb. 25 to uncover the reporters’ sources and obtain their notes and documents related to the case, the Post-Gazette <a href=\"https://www.post-gazette.com/news/2019/05/07/Range-Resources-Haney-settlement-shield-law-Washington-County/stories/201905070115\">reported</a>. The outlet entered its objection to all three subpoenas on March 11, according to the court docket.</p><p data-block-key=\"205sk\">In her May ruling quashing the subpoenas, Washington County Common Pleas Court President Judge Katherine Emery cited Pennsylvania’s shield law and its protection of news sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ua5e\">“The Shield Law must be liberally construed in favor of the news media,” Emery wrote in her order and opinion. “Under this law, the employees of the newspaper cannot be required to disclose any information that could lead to the disclosure of their sources.”</p><p data-block-key=\"crhkh\">The Post-Gazette also asked Emery to order Range to cover the newspaper’s legal fees, calling the subpoenas “a brazen and legally abusive attempt to harass and intimidate the Post-Gazette.” Emery denied that request.</p><p data-block-key=\"ab8su\">In a related incident, the same judge barred Pittsburgh-based reporter Reid Frazier <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pennsylvania-journalist-barred-publishing-document-mistakenly-made-public-order-vacated/\">from directly or indirectly publishing</a> contents of the settlement terms on May 30, which the reporter had inadvertently obtained from a glitch in the court’s software. On June 4, Range told Emery it would publicly release the settlement terms, <a href=\"https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2019/06/04/court-document-reveals-range-resources-other-defendants-agreed-to-3-million-settlement-in-washington-county-contamination-suit/\">Frazier reported</a>, effectively ending the Post-Gazette’s court action to unseal it and the publishing injunction. Read more on the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pennsylvania-journalist-barred-publishing-document-mistakenly-made-public-order-vacated/\">prior restraint here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"environmentalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"David Templeton (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"quashed"
],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Pennsylvania judge denies energy company’s subpoena of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette staff",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pennsylvania-judge-denies-energy-companys-subpoena-of-pittsburgh-post-gazette-staff/",
"first_published_at": "2019-06-06T14:55:26.942635Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-04-21T16:14:22.245205Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-04-21T16:14:22.121937Z",
"date": "2019-02-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Pittsburgh",
"longitude": -79.99589,
"latitude": 40.44062,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9kh0o\">Staff of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette were subpoenaed in February 2019 by Range Resources while reporting around a confidential settlement between the gas-drilling company and Pennsylvania residents. On May 3, a Washington County judge <a href=\"https://www.post-gazette.com/news/2019/05/07/Range-Resources-Haney-settlement-shield-law-Washington-County/stories/201905070115\">quashed the requests</a> for testimony, sources, notes and documents from former Post-Gazette reporter Don Hopey and two other journalists. </p><p data-block-key=\"78a8t\">Beginning in January, the Post-Gazette sought to unseal an August 2018 <a href=\"https://www.post-gazette.com/news/environment/2019/02/07/Post-Gazette-asks-court-to-unseal-Haney-shale-gas-case-settlement/stories/201902070186\">settlement</a> between Range and families who alleged they had experienced serious health problems due to exposure to leaks, spills and air pollution emanating from a nearby company well. Range fought the outlet’s petition, claiming the request was not timely. </p><p data-block-key=\"dum7l\">Range lawyers subpoenaed Hopey, reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-quashes-energy-companys-subpoena-of-post-gazette-reporter-staff/\">David Templeton</a> and former Managing Editor <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-quashes-energy-companys-subpoena-of-former-post-gazette-managing-editor/\">Sally Stapleton</a> on Feb. 25 to uncover the reporters’ sources and obtain their notes and documents related to the case, the Post-Gazette <a href=\"https://www.post-gazette.com/news/2019/05/07/Range-Resources-Haney-settlement-shield-law-Washington-County/stories/201905070115\">reported</a>. The outlet entered its objection to all three subpoenas on March 11, according to the court docket.</p><p data-block-key=\"444k4\">In her May ruling quashing the subpoenas, Washington County Common Pleas Court President Judge Katherine Emery cited Pennsylvania’s shield law and its protection of news sources. </p><p data-block-key=\"2a0lg\">“The Shield Law must be liberally construed in favor of the news media,” Emery wrote in her order and opinion. “Under this law, the employees of the newspaper cannot be required to disclose any information that could lead to the disclosure of their sources.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bsqa\">The Post-Gazette also asked Emery to order Range to cover the newspaper’s legal fees, calling the subpoenas “a brazen and legally abusive attempt to harass and intimidate the Post-Gazette.” Emery denied that request.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbsq6\">In a related incident, the same judge barred Pittsburgh-based reporter Reid Frazier <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pennsylvania-journalist-barred-publishing-document-mistakenly-made-public-order-vacated/\">from directly or indirectly publishing</a> contents of the settlement terms on May 30, which the reporter had inadvertently obtained from a glitch in the court’s software. On June 4, Range told Emery it would publicly release the settlement terms, <a href=\"https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2019/06/04/court-document-reveals-range-resources-other-defendants-agreed-to-3-million-settlement-in-washington-county-contamination-suit/\">Frazier reported</a>, effectively ending the Post-Gazette’s court action to unseal it and the publishing injunction. Read more on the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pennsylvania-journalist-barred-publishing-document-mistakenly-made-public-order-vacated/\">prior restraint here</a>. </p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2019-06-06_at_10.48.5.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"mooo6\">A notice of deposition to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Don Hopey, one of three people in the newsroom to ordered to turn over work product, stemming from the paper's request to unseal a private settlement.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"environmentalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Don Hopey (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"quashed"
],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "CBS San Francisco photographer robbed at gunpoint, security guard shot",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs-san-francisco-photographer-robbed-at-gunpoint-security-guard-shot/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-22T17:53:00.617276Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-09-09T21:12:56.367633Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-09-09T21:12:56.250267Z",
"date": "2019-02-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Oakland",
"longitude": -122.2708,
"latitude": 37.80437,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bcgjp\">John Anglin, a photographer for San Francisco-based local CBS KPIX 5 news, was robbed at gunpoint early in the evening on Feb. 24, 2019, while covering the Oakland teachers’ strike.</p><p data-block-key=\"eho60\">Having just finished gathering interviews around 5 p.m., Anglin was standing outside his news van when two men pulled up in a car, KPIX <a href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/02/25/armed-robbery-attack-kpix-news-crew-oakland/\">reported</a>. The men got out and one held a gun to Anglin’s head, demanding their camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"yah4k\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joenewsman/status/1099875256465010690\">video</a> posted online, Anglin states, “He came out of the car with a gun in hand, basically saying, ‘Give up the camera, I want the camera.’ I just walked away and said, ‘Take it, it’s yours.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"lgb2v\">Anglin surrendered the equipment, according to a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joenewsman/status/1099875256465010690\">tweet</a> from KPIX 5 reporter Joe Vazquez, and took cover in the news van.</p><p data-block-key=\"uc4pu\">Matt Meredith, a retired Berkeley police officer, was accompanying the news crew as a private security guard. Meredith exchanged fire with the suspect and was shot in the upper leg before the suspects fled.</p><p data-block-key=\"m21bc\">Meredith was transported to Highland Hospital where he was treated. He has since been released and is expected to recover, Oakland Police spokesperson Johnna Watson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"1oxdu\">This is not the first time that a news crew has been targeted for theft in the San Francisco area. Violent robberies targeting news crews became a consistent problem beginning in 2011 during the Occupy Wall Street movement, KPIX <a href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/02/25/armed-robbery-attack-kpix-news-crew-oakland/\">reported</a>, which has motivated many Bay area television stations to hire private security to accompany their teams in the field.</p><p data-block-key=\"9t6y6\">In July 2015, NBC Bay Area <a href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/NBC-Bay-Area-News-Crew-Mugged-Pistol-Whipped-at-San-Francisco-Pier-311452221.html\">reported</a> that two of their journalists and a reporter from KTVU were attacked and robbed in the early morning while preparing to go on air at Pier 14, a popular tourist designation, in San Francisco. A KPIX photojournalist was also <a href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/11/08/cbs-5-cameraman-beaten-robbed-after-oakland-live-shot/\">attacked and robbed</a> by a group of young men after broadcasting live in front of a school in Oakland in November 2012.</p><p data-block-key=\"q723r\">Watson confirmed that multiple suspects have been arrested in connection with the Feb. 24 robbery, but neither the names of the suspects nor charges will be released until the District Attorney’s Office formally files charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"16q1b\">Watson told the Tracker that at 5:15 p.m. on that day a suspect walked into a nearby hospital seeking treatment for several gunshot wounds and was arrested in connection with the robbery and shooting. Later that evening Oakland police also pursued another suspect driving a car connected with the robbery and detained the driver.</p><p data-block-key=\"v3aah\">As a result of the arrests, the stolen camera was recovered, and the investigation is ongoing.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2019-02-25_12.55.07.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"5ivml\">This screenshot from California-based KPIX 5 reporter, Joe Vazquez, shows the news team's security guard being transported after receiving a gunshot wound to the leg. He is expected to recover.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "private individual",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-10-18 00:00:00+00:00) Two convicted in attempted robbery of San Francisco news crew"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"robbery"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"John Anglin (KPIX-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "CBS San Francisco news reporter robbed at gunpoint, security guard shot",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs-san-francisco-news-crew-robbed-gunpoint-its-security-guard-shot/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-28T20:13:08.480713Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-02-21T15:20:14.276975Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-02-21T15:20:14.135287Z",
"date": "2019-02-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Oakland",
"longitude": -122.2708,
"latitude": 37.80437,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xovns\">Joe Vazquez, a reporter for San Francisco-based local CBS KPIX 5 News was robbed at gunpoint early in the evening on Feb. 24, 2019, while covering the Oakland teachers’ strike.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ae6r\">Having just finished gathering interviews around 5 p.m., Vazquez was standing outside his news van with photographer John Anglin when two men pulled up in a car, KPIX <a href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/02/25/armed-robbery-attack-kpix-news-crew-oakland/\">reported</a>. The men got out and one held a gun to Anglin’s head, demanding their camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"hr2gg\">According to a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joenewsman/status/1099875256465010690\">tweet</a> from Vazquez the men took cover in the news van with Vazquez, telling him to get down.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thank you, friends, for your well wishes. Our guard was shot today in Oakland while we were on assignment covering the Oakland teachers strike. We believe his wounds are not life threatening, thank God. Photographer John Anglin was robbed at gunpoint. 1/3 <a href=\"https://t.co/TP225CUJNQ\">pic.twitter.com/TP225CUJNQ</a></p>— Joe Vazquez (@joenewsman) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joenewsman/status/1099871095723765760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 25, 2019</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j6q6m\">In July 2015, NBC Bay Area <a href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/NBC-Bay-Area-News-Crew-Mugged-Pistol-Whipped-at-San-Francisco-Pier-311452221.html\">reported</a> that two of their journalists and a reporter from KTVU were attacked and robbed in the early morning while preparing to go on air at Pier 14, a popular tourist designation, in San Francisco. A KPIX photojournalist was also <a href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/11/08/cbs-5-cameraman-beaten-robbed-after-oakland-live-shot/\">attacked and robbed</a> by a group of young men after broadcasting live in front of a school in Oakland in November 2012.</p><p data-block-key=\"y2kx5\">Watson confirmed that multiple suspects have been arrested in connection with the Feb. 24 robbery, but neither the names of the suspects nor charges will be released until the District Attorney’s Office formally files charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"i2j6c\">Watson told the Tracker that at 5:15 p.m. on that day a suspect walked into a nearby hospital seeking treatment for several gunshot wounds and was arrested in connection with the robbery and shooting. Later that evening Oakland police pursued another suspect driving a car connected with the robbery and detained the driver.</p><p data-block-key=\"rx31g\">As a result of the arrests, the stolen camera was recovered, and the investigation is ongoing.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Update: The Oakland Police Department can confirm at least 2 arrests have been made in conn. with the armed robbery of a Bay Area news crew and the shooting of the crew’s security guard (2/24/19). Film camera recovered. Guard treated for gunshot wound & released from hospital. <a href=\"https://t.co/Ptpr0c7Sr0\">pic.twitter.com/Ptpr0c7Sr0</a></p>— Oakland Police Dept. (@oaklandpoliceca) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/oaklandpoliceca/status/1100078096131141632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 25, 2019</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i2xpa\">“We heard a flurry of loud gunshots. Very close! More shots, I saw a guy drag the camera away and saw our guard Matt was hit,” Vazquez wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"yr4ft\">Matt Meredith, a retired Berkeley police officer, was accompanying the news crew as a private security guard. Meredith exchanged fire with the suspect and was shot in the upper leg before the suspects fled.</p><p data-block-key=\"8tj7z\">“The security guard says he turned to run to retreat, there were no words exchanged, the gunman came straight up and shot him,” Vazquez told KPIX.</p><p data-block-key=\"fzajs\">Meredith was transported to Highland Hospital where he was treated. He has since been released and is expected to recover, Oakland Police spokesperson Johnna Watson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"9hwp0\">This is not the first time that a news crew has been targeted for theft in the San Francisco area. Violent robberies targeting news crews became a consistent problem beginning in 2011 during the Occupy Wall Street movement, KPIX <a href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/02/25/armed-robbery-attack-kpix-news-crew-oakland/\">reported</a>, which has motivated many Bay area television stations to hire private security to accompany their teams in the field.</p><p data-block-key=\"1v3fl\">As a result of the arrests, the stolen camera was recovered, and the investigation is ongoing.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2019-02-25_12.55.07.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"4ea47\">This screenshot from California-based KPIX 5 reporter, Joe Vazquez, shows the news team's security guard being transported after receiving a gunshot wound to the leg. He is expected to recover.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-10-18 00:00:00+00:00) Two convicted in attempted robbery of San Francisco news crew"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"robbery"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Joe Vazquez (KPIX-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Second subpoena issued for content of Illinois watchdog’s Dropbox account",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/second-subpoena-issued-for-content-of-illinois-watchdogs-dropbox-account/",
"first_published_at": "2020-02-25T21:23:39.708099Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-03-13T14:23:32.158870Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-03-13T14:23:32.066610Z",
"date": "2019-02-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Algonquin Township",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vq5vm\">A lawyer representing Algonquin Township, Illinois, filed a second subpoena to compel the file-hosting service Dropbox to produce information on an account belonging to the Edgar County Watchdogs, an Illinois-based government watchdog blog.</p><p data-block-key=\"zzc5z\">The <a href=\"https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.197/7b1.61b.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/19.02.22.Subpoena-for-Production-of-Business-Records.Dropbox.pdf\">subpoena</a>, issued on Feb. 22, 2019, requested much of the same information as the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-issued-contents-illinois-government-watchdogs-dropbox-account/\">first subpoena</a> filed in January — the content, IP and email addresses of all users, users’ access histories, payment information and comments of the account.</p><p data-block-key=\"ovk3e\">The outlet is currently suing Algonquin Township for failing to provide records in response to 16 different public records requests, and the subpoena was issued in the context of that lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"lluhq\">Edgar County Watchdogs <a href=\"https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2019/03/algonquin-township-attacks-media-a-second-time-subpoenas-for-our-dropbox-account-again/\">reported</a> it filed a motion to quash the subpoena, which was heard in March.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ma6m\">“Illinois law protects media and reporters from things like this, but the Township Board has decided to keep piling on and incurring more legal bills,” blog co-founder John Kraft wrote. “Not just their own legal bills, but the township will also pay our legal bills when they lose this FOIA lawsuit.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sgf8f\">In March, a McHenry County Court judge granted a stay in the production of the requested materials until a ruling could be made on the motion to quash, Edgar County Watchdogs <a href=\"https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2019/03/mchenry-county-judge-ordered-stay-of-production-in-algonquin-townships-subpoena-to-watchdogs-dropbox/\">reported</a>. The judge also confirmed that the first subpoena was quashed.</p><p data-block-key=\"dezak\">Edgar County Watchdogs shared court documents with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that show the motion to quash was denied on April 16, but the outlet filed a motion for the judge to reconsider.</p><p data-block-key=\"k6h96\">Kraft told the Tracker that the subpoenas would have a serious impact on the outlet if it weren’t for the support of other organizations, like the Press Freedom Defense Fund.</p><p data-block-key=\"zqpvj\">“We do not have the money to hire an attorney and do the paperwork to fight these subpoenas. Without these grants we wouldn’t be able to do it,” Kraft said. “We’d have to roll over and give them what they ask for.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/ECW_Dropbox2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"fifid\">A portion of a subpoena for the Edgar County Watchdog's Dropbox account information</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": "Dropbox",
"third_party_business": "tech company",
"legal_order_venue": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-07-10 16:08:00+00:00) Judge quashes subpoena for third-party work product, citing the state's reporter's privilege"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Edgar County Watchdogs"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"quashed"
],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "New Yorker staff writer subpoenaed for 'all documents' around 2014 article",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-yorker-staff-writer-subpoenaed-all-documents-around-2014-article/",
"first_published_at": "2019-11-08T18:03:06.675628Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-05T19:03:54.367789Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-05T19:03:54.250367Z",
"date": "2019-02-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"v59tn\">In February, attorneys representing the city of Chicago subpoenaed The New Yorker staff writer Nicholas Schmidle to produce documents in relation to an article published in the magazine in 2014.</p><p data-block-key=\"zl5e3\">A set of separate <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-yorker-staff-writer-subpoenaed-testimony-civil-rights-lawsuit/\">subpoenas for the reporter’s testimony</a> was served in June and quashed in October.</p><p data-block-key=\"d8x17\">In 2014, Schmidle wrote a <a href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/crime-fiction\">feature story for the New Yorker about Tyrone Hood</a>, who had been convicted of murder in 1996 and sentenced to 75 years in prison. Schmidle’s article included evidence strongly suggesting that Hood was innocent.</p><p data-block-key=\"f540u\">In January 2015, outgoing Illinois governor Pat Quinn <a href=\"https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/01/13/quinn-commutes-sentence-of-man-convicted-of-lying-in-murder-case/\">commuted the prison sentences</a> of a number of prisoners, including Hood, on his last day in office. Because Hood received a commutation, not a pardon, he was let out of jail early but the murder conviction stayed on his record.</p><p data-block-key=\"lupo9\">At the time, a spokeswoman for Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez told CBS 2 Chicago that Alvarez was “deeply disappointed” with the governor’s decision to commute Hood’s sentence.</p><p data-block-key=\"zcxdt\">Just a month later, though, Alvarez’s office announced that its Conviction Integrity Unit had completed a two-year investigation into Hood’s case, which concluded that Hood’s conviction should be vacated. Alvarez then <a href=\"https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-tyrone-hood-conviction-dismissed-met-0210-20150209-story.html\">asked a court to vacate Hood’s conviction</a>, which the court did. Hood was now out of prison and cleared of the murder conviction.</p><p data-block-key=\"183az\">In 2016, Hood filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Chicago and a number of Chicago police officers, accusing them of pressuring witnesses into falsely accusing him of murder.</p><p data-block-key=\"uzar6\">On Feb. 22, 2019, the defendants’ attorneys mailed the reporter Schmidle a document subpoena. The <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15957074/1/4/hood-v-city-of-chicago/\">extremely broad subpoena</a> ordered him to turn over, among other things, “All Documents Nicholas Schmidle received from any person or entity in connection with researching, investigating, preparing or publishing any of the Articles” about Hood. Schmidle’s attorneys <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15957074/1/5/hood-v-city-of-chicago/\">objected to the subpoena</a> on March 13, and the defendants seemed to drop it.</p><p data-block-key=\"uqy29\">In June 2019, Schmidle was served with <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15957074/1/6/hood-v-city-of-chicago/\">a subpoena to testify in the case</a> and a <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15957074/1/7/hood-v-city-of-chicago/\">second, more complete copy</a> of the same subpoena a week later.</p><p data-block-key=\"zoh0b\">Attorneys for both Hood and Schmidle have opposed the subpoenas for the reporter, arguing that a journalist’s documents and testimony are not relevant to a case that concerns the alleged behavior of Chicago police officers in the early 1990s.</p><p data-block-key=\"rmzst\">Attorneys for the city of Chicago’s attorneys and the other defendants in Hood’s civil rights have argued that Schmidle’s testimony is essential, using a theory that puts Schmidle at the center of the action.</p><p data-block-key=\"8nmo7\">The defendants’ attorneys have argued that Hood’s civil rights were not violated because he actually is guilty of murder and his murder conviction should not have been vacated. They argue that journalists like Schmidle were tricked into writing a false narrative, which in turn prompted Governor Quinn to commute Hood’s sentence and pressure the state attorney’s office to get Hood’s conviction thrown out.</p><p data-block-key=\"lbfxd\">The current status of the Feb. 22 document subpoena is somewhat unclear. After Schmidle’s attorneys objected to the subpoena in March, the defendants never moved to compel Schmidle to turn over the documents. In effect, they dropped the subpoena. But on July 10, Schmidle received another copy of the document subpoena by email. Once again, Schmidle refused to turn over the documents and the defendants didn’t bother to press the matter.</p><p data-block-key=\"71nyx\">Schmidle’s attorneys did not ask the judge to quash the document subpoena, but only because it seemed like the defendants had already given up on that one.</p><p data-block-key=\"fw0oo\">“Defendants have not moved to compel responses to the Document Subpoena, and therefore it is not at issue in this motion,” they wrote in the July 23 motion to quash the deposition subpoenas. That motion to quash was granted<a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15957074/12/hood-v-city-of-chicago/\"> in October</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"iiqbd\">Through a New Yorker spokeswoman, Schmidle declined to comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2019-11-08_at_12.56.4.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"r1cik\">A portion of the subpoena outlining broad requests for reporter Nicholas Schmidle's work product</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Nicholas Schmidle (The New Yorker)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"dropped"
],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Trump uses Twitter to endorse Covington student’s lawsuit against The Washington Post",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-uses-twitter-endorse-covington-students-lawsuit-against-washington-post/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-04T19:00:53.209658Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-22T16:54:31.692174Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-22T16:54:31.622277Z",
"date": "2019-02-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2rq86\">A Kentucky teen and his family have <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-washington-post-sued-by-family-of-covington-catholic-teenager/2019/02/19/aa252be4-349c-11e9-854a-7a14d7fec96a_story.html?utm_term=.61794dadd169\">sued The Washington Post</a>, seeking $250 million in damages for its coverage of his involvement in an encounter with a Native American advocate at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in January 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"jv4bf\">Filed on Feb. 19, the <a href=\"https://www.dropbox.com/s/rnio82555v8eiqk/2019-02-19%20Sandmann%20%20vs.%20Washington%20Post%20-%20Complaint.pdf?dl=0\">complaint</a> alleges that the Post “targeted and bullied” 16-year-old Nicholas Sandmann because he was white, Catholic and wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap in order to advance the paper’s biased agenda against President Donald Trump.</p><p data-block-key=\"ho7hv\">“In a span of three days in January of this year commencing on January 19, the Post engaged in a modern-day form of McCarthyism by competing with CNN and NBC, among others, to claim leadership of a mainstream and social media mob of bullies with attacked, vilified, and threatened Nicholas Sandmann, an innocent secondary school child,” states the complaint.</p><p data-block-key=\"ieikw\">The complaint cites seven articles published by the Post between Jan. 19 and 21, as well as the tweets posted to promote the articles. On March 1, the Post released an editor's note about its coverage around Sandmann and his Covington Catholic High School schoolmates, saying additional reporting, statements and video allowed for <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/03/01/editors-note-related-lincoln-memorial-incident/?utm_term=.999194ae047c\">“a more complete assessment of what occurred</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fj8ic\">The day after the suit was filed, President Trump tweeted out his support for the lawsuit and repeating his refrain that the Post is “fake news.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">“The Washington Post ignored basic journalistic standards because it wanted to advance its well-known and easily documented biased agenda against President Donald J. Trump.” Covington student suing WAPO. Go get them Nick. Fake News!</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1098201685518893056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 20, 2019</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2p06v\">Trump has had a combative relationship with the Post since at least December 2015, referring to it as a “<a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/673885376742825984\">scam</a>,” “<a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/742456254837215232\">phony</a>” and “<a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/880049704620494848\">fake news</a>.” The president has also repeatedly maligned the news outlet indirectly by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/880049704620494848\">referring</a> to it as the “#AmazonWashingtonPost” and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/673881733415178240\">targeting</a> the newspaper’s owner, Jeff Bezos.</p><p data-block-key=\"pmuhh\">The family is seeking $250 million in damages because, the complaint states, that is the amount Bezos paid for the newspaper when he purchased it in 2013.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS2BYCV.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"u0mdo\">A school marker for Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky, where one of its students and his family is suing The Washington Post, a move endorsed by President Trump on social media.<br/></p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-07-26 13:31:00+00:00) Judge dismisses libel suit against The Washington Post",
"(2019-10-28 15:07:00+00:00) A previously dismissed libel suit against the Washington Post is reinstated with narrowed scope",
"(2020-07-24 16:34:00+00:00) Washington Post settles defamation suit"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"The Washington Post"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Subpoena issued for Illinois-based government watchdog’s communications",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-issued-illinois-based-government-watchdogs-communications/",
"first_published_at": "2019-04-12T17:00:16.940403Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-06T19:49:32.463835Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-06T19:49:32.254789Z",
"date": "2019-02-19",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Glen Ellyn",
"longitude": -88.06701,
"latitude": 41.87753,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mtcvd\">Illinois-based government watchdog blog Edgar County Watchdogs has been subpoenaed for communications and documents relating to articles involving College of DuPage, a community college in Illinois.</p><p data-block-key=\"fjoiw\">As part of a civil lawsuit brought by former College of DuPage president Robert Breuder against the college, the Feb. 19, 2019, subpoena ordered Edgar County Watchdogs to produce communications between co-founders of the group, Kirk Allen and John Kraft, and numerous other entities including news organizations the Daily Herald and Chicago Tribune. It also orders the group to turn over copies of relevant Freedom of Information Act requests and records received.</p><p data-block-key=\"kfygx\">“We wrote a lot of articles on the College DuPage and the former president and contractors, as well as change orders that were made without proper board approval and crazy expenses by the college president,” Kraft told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “[Breuder] is suing the board members of the college for various civil rights violations, like his age and alleging lack of due process. They are working through discovery, and they’re trying to get communications between us, the board of the college, and various media outlets.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aiq4p\">Kraft noted that the FOIA requests and responsive records — which comprise thousands of pages — are already public records, so it isn’t necessary to order the group to produce them. “They can get them from the college,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4dyza\">The subpoena ordered the documents produced by April 1, but Kraft said that with the help of the group’s attorney, government transparency and media lawyer Matt Topic, they had secured an extension on compliance.</p><p data-block-key=\"utbst\">Topic confirmed that the group was granted an extension until May 1 to respond to the subpoena, and that that they will be opposing the order.</p><p data-block-key=\"lx71e\">“[The subpoena] makes us spend time, money, and effort fighting this, instead of writing like we should be doing,” Kraft said.</p><p data-block-key=\"fwvjw\">Attorneys for Breuder did not immediately respond to request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"rslr8\">In an unrelated case, Edgar County Watchdogs <a href=\"/all-incidents/subpoena-issued-contents-illinois-government-watchdogs-dropbox-account/\">received a subpoena</a> on Jan. 23 for information relating to the group’s Dropbox. The motion to quash that subpoena was granted on Feb. 11.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2019-04-12_at_12.49.1.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"8n9th\">A portion of the subpoena for communications from Edgar County Watchdogs.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-05-31 00:00:00+00:00) Illinois watchdog blog partly complies with subpoena"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Edgar County Watchdogs"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"pending"
],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Town marshal stops young journalist in Arizona, threatens to arrest her",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/town-marshal-stops-young-journalist-arizona-threatens-arrest-her/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-05T18:56:04.620543Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-11T17:56:45.413071Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-11T17:56:45.321504Z",
"date": "2019-02-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Patagonia",
"longitude": -110.7562,
"latitude": 31.53954,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i1ho4\">Hilde Kate Lysiak, a 12-year-old reporter and publisher of Orange Street News, was stopped and threatened by an Arizona town marshal while she was reporting a story on Feb. 18, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"aa7kc\">At around 1:30 p.m., Lysiak was chasing down a lead on her bicycle when Joseph Patterson, the town marshal in Patagonia, Arizona, stopped her and asked for her identification. Lysiak told Patterson her name and phone number, and mentioned that she is a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"jcauj\">Lysiak <a href=\"https://orangestreetnews.com/2019/02/18/patagonia-marshal-theatens-to-arrest-osn-publisher-see-the-video/\">reported</a> in OSN that Patterson told her, “I don’t want to hear about any of that freedom-of-the-press stuff.” He added that he would arrest her and send her to juvenile detention. Later, Lysiak ran into Patterson again, but this time she was recording.</p><p data-block-key=\"krbnv\">In the video, which Lysiak published to YouTube and OSN, she can be heard saying, “You stopped me earlier and you said that I can be thrown in juvie. What exactly am I doing that’s illegal?”</p><p data-block-key=\"pfkkv\">Patterson began to respond, but interrupted himself to ask if she was recording the encounter. “You can tape me, OK,” he is heard saying, “but what I’m going to tell you is if you put my face on the internet, it’s against the law in Arizona.”</p><p data-block-key=\"k3gha\">There is no such law and recording a law enforcement officer in a public place is protected under the First Amendment, a fact noted by Lysiak in her article about the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"4o0b4\">Patterson told her that he had noticed her trailing him as he responded to urgent calls around town, and accused her of disobeying his commands and lying about heading to a friend’s house (which she disputed). He also said that his concern was that she would be harmed by the mountain lion that had been seen wandering through that area of town. Finally, he told her, “I’ll be getting a hold of your parents,” and drove off.</p><p data-block-key=\"qveku\">Lysiak, whose father is also a journalist, knew her rights and published the video anyway.</p><p data-block-key=\"kfdye\">The Nogales International <a href=\"https://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/town-says-it-s-taken-action-after-marshal-s-encounter/article_c1192514-3585-11e9-87f1-7ba359bd40fc.html\">reported</a> that the town of Patagonia posted a statement to its website on Feb. 24, after receiving “many comments” regarding the interaction between Lysiak and Patterson. “The matter has been carefully reviewed and we have taken action we believe to be appropriate for the situation,” it said. The statement also noted that the town does not disclose personnel actions, including disciplinary actions, and would provide no further comment on the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"waz3m\">On Feb. 27, the town issued an apology during a Town Council meeting. In a <a href=\"https://orangestreetnews.com/2019/02/28/town-of-patagonia-apologizes-to-osn-will-not-tolerate-any-further-restrictions-on-freedom-of-speech-see-the-video/\">video of the meeting</a> published by Lysiak, Patagonia Mayor Andrea Wood said, “The governing body of the town of Patagonia would like to apologize for the First Amendment rights violation inflicted upon Hilde Lysiak, a young reporter who is in our community. We are sorry Hilde, we encourage and respect your continued aspirations as a successful reporter.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vykp5\">Lysiak made a name for herself in 2016, when she was the first to report on a grisly murder in her hometown of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Her continued reporting on local crime has garnered her many supporters, but also resulted in some threats. In January, Lysiak received threatening messages following her <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0ykAqEXooU\">reporting</a> on text message exchanges between an alleged drug dealer and his alleged accomplice in a car theft.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Arizona",
"abbreviation": "AZ"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Hilde Kate Lysiak (Orange Street News)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist stopped at the border for the third time, questioned about his work and FOIA request",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-border-third-time-questioned-about-his-work-and-foia-request/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-20T21:30:08.930706Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-29T17:04:07.419794Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-29T17:04:07.305624Z",
"date": "2019-02-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Miami",
"longitude": -80.19366,
"latitude": 25.77427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ru7zc\">Manuel Rapalo, a freelance journalist, was stopped and pulled aside for additional screening measures while entering the United States on Feb. 16, 2019. During the screening, Rapalo was questioned about his work, and specifically his reporting along the U.S.-Mexico border. It was the third time in 2019 he was stopped by border patrol while on a reporting trip.</p><p data-block-key=\"w1j3i\">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 the beginning of 2019, he says, he has been pulled aside for a secondary screening. 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.</p><p data-block-key=\"9kazl\">He said he was pulled aside in February when re-entering the U.S. in Miami from Haiti. He was previously stopped for secondary screening measures when returning from Mexico on <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-us-mexico-border-questioned-about-immigration-reporting/\">Jan. 5, when his notebooks were searched</a>, and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-border-second-time-camera-searched/\">Jan. 26, when his notebooks and photos on his camera were searched</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"jat8t\">“When coming into Miami, an officer scanned my passport and immediately said, ‘Hmm, I guess we have to pull you aside, Mr. Rapalo,’” he said of the Feb. 16 stop.</p><p data-block-key=\"2kmey\">Although Rapalo was returning from Haiti, he was questioned about his work and reporting on the migrant caravan along the Mexican border. Then his notebooks were searched.</p><p data-block-key=\"neodu\">One of his reporter notebooks included notes and information about the process of filing a Freedom of Information Act request, which he intended to do for his work.</p><p data-block-key=\"jpwdp\">“The officer took exception to this, and asked me why I was interested in filing FOIAs,” Rapalo said. “I told him, because I’m a journalist, and it’s one of the tools we have.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8scs3\">Rapalo said during this border stop in Miami, an official who seemed to “like him” indicated that these stops would be an ongoing problem. “He said I could try Global Entry to make this go faster next time.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tngxi\">Global Entry is a government program for expediting international travel.</p><p data-block-key=\"jt1qa\">Like the previous incidents, Rapalo said the secondary screenings began with about 30 minutes of questioning, then he was held for 1-2 hours while his luggage was searched. During this search, however, Rapalo said a large amount of attention focused on the paper receipts in his bag and wallet.</p><p data-block-key=\"0hk9x\">Rapalo said that he has changed his behavior due to concerns about protecting his sources and reporting materials. He now brings new memory cards with him each time he travels for work.</p><p data-block-key=\"7xin3\">CBP did not immediately respond to request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Image_from_iOS.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1wymu\">A journalist captures the movement of migrant children around the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 31, 2018.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "Miami International Airport",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 2,
"equipment": "work product"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
"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",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Manuel Rapalo (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Media figures, politicians among alleged targets of Coast Guard officer indicted for firearm and drug possession",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/media-figures-politicians-among-alleged-targets-coast-guard-officer-indicted-firearm-and-drug-possession/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-06T14:37:22.879277Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-11T17:59:08.876435Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-11T17:59:08.758088Z",
"date": "2019-02-15",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Silver Spring",
"longitude": -77.02609,
"latitude": 38.99067,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ozah9\">A Coast Guard officer was indicted by a grand jury on Feb. 27, 2019, following a search of his apartment that uncovered a cache of weapons and a hit list of “traitors” that he intended to attack, including prominent politicians and media figures.</p><p data-block-key=\"07ayl\">Federal authorities said that Christopher Paul Hasson, a Coast Guard lieutenant who has served for more than two decades, was taken into custody at work on Feb. 15. A computer program used to identify insider threats flagged suspicious activity on his work computer last fall, Lieutenant Commander Scott McBride, a service spokesman, <a href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-coast-guard-maryland-attack-0222-story.html\">told the Baltimore Sun</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"k3vo0\">McBride said that Hasson was arrested once Federal Bureau of Investigation and Coast Guard investigators were “confident in the strength of the evidence supporting the criminal complaint and warrant,” The Sun reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"cuz85\">Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant on his basement apartment in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Silver Spring, Maryland, and seized 15 firearms, two silencers, over 100 pills of the opioid painkiller tramadol, and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Officers also found a spreadsheet listing potential targets, including MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough and CNN’s Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo and Van Jones.</p><p data-block-key=\"s9iij\">Prosecutors say Hasson used his government computer to plot an assault, researching potential locations to target politicians and studying the writings of domestic terrorists including the Unabomber and the Virginia Tech shooter, The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/ex-coast-guard-lieutenant-ordered-held-for-14-days-while-government-weighs-terrorism-related-charges-in-his-planning-of-widespread-terrorist-attack/2019/02/21/57918f12-3573-11e9-854a-7a14d7fec96a_story.html?utm_term=.4d03949a4fb4\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"wwfk2\">In documents recovered from Hasson’s computer, he described himself as a “long time White Nationalist.” The Post reported that according to court documents, Hasson called for “focused violence” to “establish a white homeland.”</p><p data-block-key=\"q19km\">“The sheer number and force of the weapons recovered from Mr. Hasson’s residence in this case, coupled with the disturbing nature of his writing, appear to reflect a very significant threat to the safety of our community,” Robert Hur, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, told The Sun, “particularly given the position of trust that Mr. Hasson held with the United States government.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gcdv7\">A grand jury indicted Hasson on Feb. 27 on charges of illegal possession of firearm silencers, possession of firearms by a drug addict and unlawful user, and possession of a controlled substance. His court hearing has not yet been scheduled, but Hasson has been detained since his arrest on Feb. 15.</p><p data-block-key=\"3q7xc\">Prosecutors told The Post that Hasson could face up to 31 years in prison if convicted: 10 years for each of the weapons charges and one year for the possession of tramadol.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX6NOG6.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zw4zi\">A cache of guns and ammunition was uncovered in February by U.S. federal investigators in the home of U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant Christopher Paul Hasson in Silver Spring, Maryland.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Maryland",
"abbreviation": "MD"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-01-31 11:40:00+00:00) Former Coast Guard officer sentenced to 13 years in jail for planned attack that included media"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Chris Hayes (MSNBC)",
"Joe Scarborough (MSNBC)",
"Don Lemon (CNN)",
"Chris Cuomo (CNN)",
"Van Jones (CNN)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "NBC reporter shoved by officers while trying to interview senators at U.S. Capitol",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nbc-reporter-shoved-by-officers-while-trying-to-interview-senators-at-us-capitol/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-22T18:00:52.649357Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-10-22T18:00:52.649357Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-10-22T18:00:52.595533Z",
"date": "2019-02-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>On Feb. 14, 2019, U.S. Capitol Police officers pushed and shoved NBC reporter Leigh Ann and other journalists while they were trying to interview U.S. senators in the basement of the Senate building.</p><p>“It was happening to everyone who tried to get close to a senator,” Paul McLeod, a BuzzFeed News reporter who witnessed the altercations, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “I can tell you I witnessed [Leigh Ann] Caldwell of NBC get smashed out of the way when she was walking side-by-side with a senator. A bunch of people were yelling about getting shoved.”</p><p>McLeod said that the Capitol Police officers physically prevented reporters from interviewing senators, even though the senators were willing to talk to the press.</p><p>“I have never seen them do what they did today, which was forming a protective circle around senators to keep press away,” he said. “The senators were just walking in to a vote like normal and the police were doing it to everyone. There was no sign the senators were requesting it.”</p><p>McLeod said that the Capitol Police officers’ aggressive tactics were unprecedented.</p><p>“There were no more reporters there than there are any day of any week,” McLeod said.</p><p>The Feb. 14 altercation came in the midst of heated confrontations between members of Congress and journalists.</p><p>The day before, Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez accused Henry Rodgers, a reporter from the right-wing news site The Daily Caller, of harassing him and threatened to call the police.</p><p>“I won’t answer questions to the Daily Caller, period!” Menendez said,<a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/politics/menendez-threatens-to-call-capitol-police-after-reporter-asks-him-about-green-new-deal\"> according to Rodgers’ recording</a> of the conversation. “You’re trash … Don’t keep harassing me anymore or I’ll race to the Capitol Police!”</p><p>Menendez did not follow through on his threat to involve the Capitol Police.</p><p>McLeod said that the presence of the political tracker shouldn’t excuse the Capitol Police’s aggressive treatment of the press in the Senate basement.</p><p>“Looks like it was all an absurd over-reaction because this [political tracker] was apparently somewhere around,” he said. “But the thing is he can't get into the actual capitol and that is where this took place. We were in an area past a security checkpoint where you needed to have ID or be a guest of someone to get in. So the whole thing made no sense.”</p><p>The National Press Club also<a href=\"https://www.press.org/news-multimedia/news/national-press-club-criticizes-capitol-police-manhandling-reporters\"> released a statement</a> criticizing the Capitol Police response as an over-reaction.</p><p>“Capitol Police dramatically over-reacted on Thursday and did more harm than good when they prevented accredited reporters from doing their job and further obstructed senators from communicating with the press,” NPC President Alison Fitzgerald Kodjak said in a statement.</p><p>“There was no call for the police to shove or place their hands on the reporters.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": null,
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Leigh Ann Caldwell (NBC News)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
}
]
