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{
"title": "Yahoo News investigative reporter subpoenaed for documents in defamation suit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/investigative-reporter-subpoenaed-for-documents-in-defamation-suit/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-16T02:16:48.942639Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-04-06T15:42:48.616442Z",
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"date": "2020-04-23",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"66bgr\">In the early hours of July 10, 2016, Seth Rich, a 27-year-old staffer with the Democratic National Committee, was <a href=\"https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/man-shot-killed-in-northwest-dc/2074048/\">fatally shot</a> while walking to his home in Washington, D.C. His death, while unsolved, is believed to be the result of a <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/08/08/749392506/conspiracyland-debunks-theories-about-murder-of-dnc-staffer-seth-rich\">robbery gone wrong</a>. It quickly, however, became a <a href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-43727858\">flash point</a> for conspiracy theories: that Rich had been behind a DNC email dump to WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, and that he’d effectively been assassinated because of it. None of the claims have ever been substantiated.</p><p data-block-key=\"2hc5u\">On March 26, 2018, Rich’s brother, Aaron, <a href=\"https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/27/media/seth-rich-brother-sues-washington-times/index.html\">filed a defamation suit</a> in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against a slew of defendants — Texas businessman and then-frequent Fox News guest Ed Butowsky, the Washington Times, America First Media Group and its founder, Matt Couch — who he’d alleged had shown a “reckless disregard for the truth” and falsely linked both himself and his brother to the email leak.</p><p data-block-key=\"jvcpl\">During the course of three years of litigation, attorneys for both sides collectively subpoenaed nearly a dozen news outlets and members of the press. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all subpoena requests individually; Find a complete overview of the known subpoenas for this case in the blog post, “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/nearly-a-dozen-journalists-outlets-and-third-parties-subpoenaed-in-defamation-suit/\">Nearly a dozen journalists, outlets and third parties subpoenaed in defamation suit</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8ut3r\">In January 2021, both <a href=\"https://thedcpatriot.com/statement-from-matt-couch/\">Couch</a> and <a href=\"https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/i-never-had-physical-proof-to-back-up-any-such-statements-former-fox-news-guest-apologizes-to-seth-richs-brother-for-dnc-conspiracy-theory/\">Butowsky</a> publicly apologized and retracted prior claims made about the Rich brothers, though Butowsky deleted his statement of contrition almost immediately, according to Law & Crime. Couch and Rich reached a settlement agreement on Jan. 19; Butowsky and Rich reached an agreement on March 22. The lawsuit was terminated officially when District Judge Richard Leon granted Rich’s motions to dismiss the charges against the defendants on March 29. The details of the settlement agreements were not made public.</p><h4 data-block-key=\"0pz5s\">Michael Isikoff | Yahoo News investigative reporter</h4><p data-block-key=\"7uf4y\">Isikoff hosted a six-episode podcast on the case titled “<a href=\"https://news.yahoo.com/conspiracyland-podcast-all-episodes-160000883.html\">Conspiracyland</a>,” which explored the motivations and methods used to propel the conspiracy theories surrounding Seth Rich’s death.</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"sxz0x\"><b>Aug. 18, 2019:</b> Couch lists Isikoff in his initial disclosure statement as someone who is likely to have discoverable information, alleging he “has knowledge about the podcasts he has produced relating to, among other things, Aaron Rich, Matt Couch, the alleged DNC hacking and investigations and news reports relating to the foregoing.”</li><li data-block-key=\"hu7vc\"><b>April 23, 2020:</b> District Judge Richard Leon notes in his ruling that the defendants had served Isikoff with a subpoena, but that the journalist had not produced any documents in response. Leon grants Butowsky and Couch permission to litigate the subpoena as necessary.</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"37pvk\"><b>Status of Subpoena</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"kp99z\">Isikoff told the Tracker via email that he had no knowledge of the subpoena and that he suspects it was never served. Because the defendants did not pursue the subpoena further following Leon’s ruling, and because the case has been closed, the Tracker is listing the status of the subpoena as “dropped.”</li></ul></div>",
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{
"title": "Fox News subpoenaed for documents in defamation suit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fox-news-subpoenaed-for-documents-in-defamation-suit/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-16T02:14:13.643649Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-14T21:55:03.697329Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-14T21:55:03.594547Z",
"date": "2020-04-23",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cdgrs\">In the early hours of July 10, 2016, Seth Rich, a 27-year-old staffer with the Democratic National Committee, was <a href=\"https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/man-shot-killed-in-northwest-dc/2074048/\">fatally shot</a> while walking to his home in Washington, D.C. His death, while unsolved, is believed to be the result of a <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/08/08/749392506/conspiracyland-debunks-theories-about-murder-of-dnc-staffer-seth-rich\">robbery gone wrong</a>. It quickly, however, became a <a href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-43727858\">flash point</a> for conspiracy theories: that Rich had been behind a DNC email dump to WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, and that he’d effectively been assassinated because of it. None of the claims have ever been substantiated.</p><p data-block-key=\"qjobk\">On March 26, 2018, Rich’s brother, Aaron, <a href=\"https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/27/media/seth-rich-brother-sues-washington-times/index.html\">filed a defamation suit</a> in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against a slew of defendants — Texas businessman and then-frequent Fox News guest Ed Butowsky, the Washington Times, America First Media Group and its founder, Matt Couch — who he’d alleged had shown a “reckless disregard for the truth” and falsely linked both himself and his brother to the email leak.</p><p data-block-key=\"v9yvr\">During the course of three years of litigation, attorneys for both sides collectively subpoenaed nearly a dozen news outlets and members of the press. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all subpoena requests individually; Find a complete overview of the known subpoenas for this case in the blog post, “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/nearly-a-dozen-journalists-outlets-and-third-parties-subpoenaed-in-defamation-suit/\">Nearly a dozen journalists, outlets and third parties subpoenaed in defamation suit</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2c772\">In January 2021, both <a href=\"https://thedcpatriot.com/statement-from-matt-couch/\">Couch</a> and <a href=\"https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/i-never-had-physical-proof-to-back-up-any-such-statements-former-fox-news-guest-apologizes-to-seth-richs-brother-for-dnc-conspiracy-theory/\">Butowsky</a> publicly apologized and retracted prior claims made about the Rich brothers, though Butowsky deleted his statement of contrition almost immediately, according to Law & Crime. Couch and Rich reached a settlement agreement on Jan. 19; Butowsky and Rich reached an agreement on March 22. The lawsuit was terminated officially when District Judge Richard Leon granted Rich’s motions to dismiss the charges against the defendants on March 29. The details of the settlement agreements were not made public.</p><h4 data-block-key=\"y28w5\">Fox News Network</h4><p data-block-key=\"oq8lv\">Fox News published an article written by Malia Zimmerman in May 2017 that reported on the conspiracy surrounding Seth Rich’s death. The outlet retracted the article a week later. Both Zimmerman and Fox reporter Adam Housley were also subpoenaed during the course of litigation, which the Tracker documented separately.</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"oj0fm\"><b>Jan. 7, 2020:</b> Aaron Rich issues Zimmerman a deposition subpoena that orders her to testify about her communications with Butowsky, any knowledge she may have as to whether he acted intentionally or recklessly, and Fox News’ decision-making process behind the retraction. Zimmerman allegedly communicated regularly with Butowsky in the weeks leading up to publishing the article and used Butowsky as a source, though he was not quoted in the piece.</li><li data-block-key=\"aiwrv\"><b>Jan. 15, 2020:</b> Fox and Zimmerman move for a protective order barring the reporter’s deposition on the basis of news-gathering privilege under the First Amendment and New York’s reporter shield law.</li><li data-block-key=\"b0tb1\"><b>March 25, 2020:</b> District Judge Richard Leon denies the motion. In an April 9 order explaining the decision, Leon states that the privilege does not apply because Butowsky was not her source.</li><li data-block-key=\"drk00\"><b>April 22, 2020:</b> Fox and Zimmerman file a motion for the court to reconsider the denial. In the motion, they argue that Leon took an “unduly narrow” view of what is protected by reporter’s privilege, including that the decision to retract an article is made through the same editorial process as the decision to publish.</li><li data-block-key=\"02w4x\"><b>April 23, 2020:</b> Leon notes in his ruling that Rich had served Fox News itself with a document subpoena and grants him permission to file appropriate motions — such as a motion to compel — as necessary. It is unclear when the subpoena was served to the outlet.</li><li data-block-key=\"wzmf8\"><b>Sept. 28, 2020:</b> Fox and Zimmerman withdraw their motion for reconsideration, as well as the initial motion for a protective order, as part of an agreement with Rich. It is unclear whether the agreement also pertained to the documents requested of the outlet.</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"p1g5w\"><b>Status of Subpoena</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"ynwzf\">With the case closed, any outstanding subpoenas would become moot. Attorneys for Fox News did not respond to the Tracker’s emailed request for comment, and it is unclear from the court filings alone whether the outlet contested the subpoena. Therefore, the Tracker is listing the status of the subpoena as “unknown” until further information is available.</li></ul></div>",
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{
"title": "Fox News White House correspondent receives second subpoena for documents, testimony in defamation case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fox-news-white-house-correspondent-receives-second-subpoena-for-documents-testimony-in-defamation-case/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-16T02:10:39.510376Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-04-06T15:43:51.997745Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"g5ang\">In the early hours of July 10, 2016, Seth Rich, a 27-year-old staffer with the Democratic National Committee, was <a href=\"https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/man-shot-killed-in-northwest-dc/2074048/\">fatally shot</a> while walking to his home in Washington, D.C. His death, while unsolved, is believed to be the result of a <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/08/08/749392506/conspiracyland-debunks-theories-about-murder-of-dnc-staffer-seth-rich\">robbery gone wrong</a>. It quickly, however, became a <a href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-43727858\">flash point</a> for conspiracy theories: that Rich had been behind a DNC email dump to WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, and that he’d effectively been assassinated because of it. None of the claims have ever been substantiated.</p><p data-block-key=\"v7kur\">On March 26, 2018, Rich’s brother, Aaron, <a href=\"https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/27/media/seth-rich-brother-sues-washington-times/index.html\">filed a defamation suit</a> in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against a slew of defendants — Texas businessman and then-frequent Fox News guest Ed Butowsky, the Washington Times, America First Media Group and its founder, Matt Couch — who he’d alleged had shown a “reckless disregard for the truth” and falsely linked both himself and his brother to the email leak.</p><p data-block-key=\"4isba\">During the course of three years of litigation, attorneys for both sides collectively subpoenaed nearly a dozen news outlets and members of the press. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all subpoena requests individually; Find a complete overview of the known subpoenas for this case in the blog post, “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/nearly-a-dozen-journalists-outlets-and-third-parties-subpoenaed-in-defamation-suit/\">Nearly a dozen journalists, outlets and third parties subpoenaed in defamation suit</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"daqm0\">In January 2021, both <a href=\"https://thedcpatriot.com/statement-from-matt-couch/\">Couch</a> and <a href=\"https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/i-never-had-physical-proof-to-back-up-any-such-statements-former-fox-news-guest-apologizes-to-seth-richs-brother-for-dnc-conspiracy-theory/\">Butowsky</a> publicly apologized and retracted prior claims made about the Rich brothers, though Butowsky deleted his statement of contrition almost immediately, according to Law & Crime. Couch and Rich reached a settlement agreement on Jan. 19; Butowsky and Rich reached an agreement on March 22. The lawsuit was terminated officially when District Judge Richard Leon granted Rich’s motions to dismiss the charges against the defendants on March 29. The details of the settlement agreements were not made public.</p><h4 data-block-key=\"e2mfo\">Ellen Ratner | Former Fox News White House correspondent</h4><p data-block-key=\"699bn\">Ratner — who’s late brother, Michael, was one of WikiLeaks’ U.S. lawyers — <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M3Z4eE6cJA\">claimed</a> Assange told her during a three-hour meeting in London that the DNC email dump was executed by an insider, not the Russian government.</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"08hmh\"><b>Aug. 18, 2019:</b> Couch lists Ratner in his initial disclosure statement as someone who is likely to have discoverable information, alleging she “has knowledge of her communications with Julian Assange relating to the leak of DNC emails to Wikileaks by one or more DNC insiders or affiliated persons.”</li><li data-block-key=\"hrt5j\"><b>Jan. 17, 2020:</b> Ratner completes a Rule 31 deposition — which refers to a type of deposition that is completed remotely with pre-written questions — at the request of Rich. The details of that <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fox-news-white-house-correspondent-subpoenaed-in-defamation-suit/\">deposition subpoena can be found here</a>.</li><li data-block-key=\"21xvr\"><b>Feb. 21, 2020:</b> Butowsky raises for the first time the desire to “do an hour of cross on Ellen Ratner.”</li><li data-block-key=\"lsttu\"><b>Feb. 29, 2020:</b> Butowsky notifies Rich and the court of his desire to serve his own deposition subpoena on Ratner.</li><li data-block-key=\"mhh38\"><b>April 23, 2020:</b> District Judge Richard Leon approves the request by Butowsky’s attorney to subpoena Ratner for documents and a second deposition.</li><li data-block-key=\"lt52v\"><b>May 11, 2020:</b> Butowsky’s attorney notifies the court that he has been unable to serve Ratner with the subpoena by mail and requests that the court grant permission to serve her through less-conventional means, such as social media.</li><li data-block-key=\"2czph\"><b>Aug. 31, 2020:</b> Ratner files a motion to quash Butowsky’s subpoena for a second deposition and documents. The motion was filed under seal and therefore the Tracker was unable to review it.</li><li data-block-key=\"bn0xl\"><b>Sept. 14, 2020:</b> Butowsky files an opposition to the motion to quash and a cross-motion to strike “certain scandalous and impertinent material and the entirety of Ms. Ratner’s Rule 31 Deposition.” The motions were filed under seal and therefore the Tracker was unable to review them.</li><li data-block-key=\"u4fl3\"><b>Sept. 29, 2020:</b> Rich files a motion in opposition to Butowsky’s cross-motion.</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"j1mbv\"><b>Status of Subpoena</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"x8oqr\">With the case closed, any outstanding subpoenas would become moot. Ratner’s attorneys did not respond to the Tracker’s emailed request for comment, and it is unclear from the court filings, many of which are sealed, whether her second deposition was completed or the subpoena upheld. Therefore, the Tracker is listing the status of the subpoena and deposition as “unknown” until more information is available.</li></ul></div>",
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{
"title": "Fox 11 News photojournalist held at knifepoint over footage of California shelter-in-place protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fox-11-news-photojournalist-held-knifepoint-over-footage-california-shelter-place-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-04-22T19:53:52.842241Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-18T19:55:12.049248Z",
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"date": "2020-04-17",
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"city": "Huntington Beach",
"longitude": -117.99923,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i0kw4\">A man was arrested in Huntington Beach, California, and charged with kidnapping a Fox 11 News photographer at knifepoint during a protest on April 17, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"sgpdo\">Fox 11 <a href=\"https://www.foxla.com/news/costa-mesa-man-faces-kidnapping-charge-after-holding-fox-11-photographer-at-knifepoint\">reported</a> that its two-person crew was covering a demonstration against the state’s shelter-in-place guidelines when a man approached the reporter and photographer with a pocket knife in hand and demanded they delete any video he might appear in.</p><p data-block-key=\"9meqy\">A Fox News spokesperson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the crew requested to not be identified.</p><p data-block-key=\"259vt\">The man, later identified as 36-year-old Christien Petersen, then forced the photographer to go to his news van in order to delete the protest footage. Fox 11 reported that Petersen was still holding the cameraman at knifepoint in the van when police arrived at the scene at around 7:30 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"k7eie\">Police <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/story/2020-04-20/man-arrested-for-threatening-journalist-at-huntington-beach-stay-at-home-protest\">told The Los Angeles Times</a> that Petersen appeared intoxicated.</p><p data-block-key=\"vj8tc\">The Fox News spokesperson told the Tracker that the station turned over all footage to the police to aid in their investigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"x3kxd\">Officer Angela Bennett confirmed that to the Tracker that Petersen faces charges of kidnapping and exhibiting a deadly weapon other than a firearm. Bennett also noted that Petersen was released from police custody on April 20 after he posted bail. Fox 11 reported the bail was set at $100,000.</p><p data-block-key=\"umg52\">In a <a href=\"https://nypost.com/2020/04/21/lawyer-allegedly-threatened-journalist-at-stay-at-home-protest/\">statement to the New York Post</a>, Petersen’s attorney, Christopher Darden, said the incident was a “gross misunderstanding.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nu1mn\">“A man took [Petersen]’s photo and [Petersen] objected because he was not part of the protest and did not want to be associated with it. We do not believe that an attempted kidnapping is supported by the facts and that all that has happened to [Petersen] is due to a gross misunderstanding,” Darden said.</p><p data-block-key=\"szpx0\">Darden, who identified his client as a lawyer and father of two, says Petersen intends to apologize to the news photographer.</p><p data-block-key=\"cftwe\">The spokesperson added that both the photographer and reporter were shaken but uninjured, and are looking forward to returning to work.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-07-13 15:54:00+00:00) Attorney sentenced for false imprisonment of California photojournalist"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"coronavirus",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Unidentified photojournalist 1 (KTTV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Police seize drone as photojournalist documents mass graves in New York",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-seize-drone-photojournalist-documents-mass-graves-new-york/",
"first_published_at": "2020-04-24T17:36:55.959240Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-11T20:03:49.755859Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-11T20:03:49.628552Z",
"date": "2020-04-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"kuasr\">New York City police confiscated the drone of independent aerial photojournalist George Steinmetz as he attempted to document mass burials on Hart Island on April 14, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"fp0ox\">The island has been used as a potter’s field — a burial site for the city’s unidentified deceased or those without means for burial elsewhere — since the 19th century. The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/hart-island-mass-graves-coronavirus-new-york/2020/04/16/a0c413ee-7f5f-11ea-a3ee-13e1ae0a3571_story.html\">reported</a> that since the outbreak of the new coronavirus, burials on the island have grown from an average of 25 per week to a peak of 120. While access to the island is usually limited, during the pandemic it has been completely shut off to the press, Gothamist <a href=\"https://gothamist.com/news/nypd-seizes-drone-photojournalist-documenting-mass-burials-hart-island\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ohodj\">Steinmetz told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was piloting his drone at dawn on that Tuesday from a parking lot in City Island in the Bronx, which is a half mile away from Hart Island. He was accompanied by a CBS News journalist, as the outlet was doing <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rr0Tsijtr0\">a video piece</a> on Steinmetz and his photography of the city amid COVID-19.</p><p data-block-key=\"xeoms\">Minutes after starting to take pictures of the island, a group of plainclothes NYPD officers exited an unmarked van and told him to land the drone, Steinmetz said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ojyfc\">The officers initially demanded that Steinmetz show them the photos he had taken, which he did, and then asked him to turn over his memory card. He told the Tracker he refused.</p><p data-block-key=\"11xdn\">Steinmetz said that the officers did not work at the local precinct, and therefore he waited with them in the parking lot for nearly an hour until another officer could bring the correct paperwork to seize the drone and censure Steinmetz.</p><p data-block-key=\"dc4j0\">Ultimately, in addition to the seizure of his $1,500 drone, the officers issued Steinmetz a misdemeanor summons for “avigation,” a law which prevents private individuals from launching drones anywhere in the metro area that isn’t an airport. According to Steinmetz, he faces up to a $1,000 fine for violating the regulation.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ygpo\">“The law about avigation is really written for flying over densely populated parts of New York City — like lower Manhattan — where with all the radio and cell traffic and microwaves it’s possible to lose contact with the drone or it could crash into a building and fall onto people’s heads,” Steinmetz said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6q46x\">Steinmetz said that since the drone was flying over the water, it couldn’t endanger anyone.</p><p data-block-key=\"ujxqg\">“It was clear to me that they were trying to harass the press,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"94doc\">Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, told the Tracker that while Steinmetz has a FAA license to pilot a drone, that only prevents him from running afoul of the federal regulations. That does not matter under the city’s avigation restrictions, Osterreicher said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1r4a1\">“In one sense, I understand why the police see the drone as evidence, but in another sense it’s like taking a journalist’s camera: This is a device that he or she is using to gather and disseminate news and by taking it from them it is depriving them of the ability to do that, because drones are not inexpensive,” Osterreicher said.</p><p data-block-key=\"klplx\">When asked about the return of Steinmetz’s drone and maximum penalties for violating the avigation law, an NYPD spokesperson emailed this statement: “Drones are illegal to fly in New York City except for authorized areas. The areas approved for flying drones are very limited and set by the FAA.”</p><p data-block-key=\"79isn\">Osterreicher noted that Steinmetz is the second journalist whose drone was seized while attempting to photograph Hart Island in recent weeks. He added that police returned the drone to the first photojournalist the following day, but declined to publicly identify that journalist. As of publication, Steinmetz’s drone had not been returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"qpq0x\">A spokesperson for the Department of Corrections, which oversees Hart Island and typically conducts the burials, told Gothamist in a statement, "Out of respect to the families and friends of those buried on Hart Island, we have a longstanding policy of not permitting photography of an active burial site from Hart Island. It is disrespectful."</p><p data-block-key=\"rwcgt\">Mayoral spokesperson Olivia Lapeyrolerie told Gothamist that Bill de Blasio’s administration is exploring ways of granting press access to Hart Island burials safely.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS38JML.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6wbp2\">Drone images of bodies being buried on New York’s Hart Island were captured on April 9. About a week later, a photojournalist capturing similar images was issued a citation and had his drone seized by the New York Police Department.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "New York City Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-08-18 16:28:00+00:00) Charges dropped, drone returned to aerial photojournalist"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"coronavirus"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"George Steinmetz (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Georgia woman charged with kidnapping after hijacking news van with reporter inside",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/georgia-woman-charged-kidnapping-after-hijacking-news-van-reporter-inside/",
"first_published_at": "2020-04-16T20:28:56.369820Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-05-29T19:23:37.554851Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-05-29T19:23:37.290846Z",
"date": "2020-04-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Atlanta",
"longitude": -84.38798,
"latitude": 33.749,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9nuue\">A woman was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, and charged with kidnapping after police said she hijacked a news van on April 14, 2020, with a reporter inside.</p><p data-block-key=\"ojqzh\">Atlanta police spokesperson Officer Anthony Grant told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that at approximately 5:30 a.m. police were called to the scene of a crashed Toyota involving a pregnant woman, later identified as 38-year-old Seniqua Lunsford.</p><p data-block-key=\"dlm8v\">A CBS46 news crew was nearby to cover the crash, the <a href=\"https://www.cbs46.com/news/cbs46-reporter-okay-after-news-van-stolen-with-her-inside-in-downtown-atlanta/article_1000b8dc-7e59-11ea-a275-ffb261a43d35.html\">outlet reported</a>, and had just finished a live shot. Reporter Iyani Hughes had started the news van to power her computer as she sat in the back editing footage, while the photojournalist with her stood outside.</p><p data-block-key=\"iecsu\">Grant told the Tracker that, unbeknownst to the officers approaching the scene of the crash, Lunsford exited the vehicle. She then jumped behind the wheel of the news van and sped away.</p><p data-block-key=\"lcfnd\">Grant said that officers heard reporter Hughes’s screams, attempted to stop the van and then gave chase.</p><p data-block-key=\"t1uou\">Police spokesman Officer Steve Avery <a href=\"https://www.ajc.com/news/crime--law/breaking-news-van-stolen-with-reporter-inside-wrecks-midtown/FnLLakIDpuzwUC6vBuHGLN/\">told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution</a> that Hughes attempted to make Lunsford pull over.</p><p data-block-key=\"2tlet\">“The suspect wouldn’t do that, so [Hughes] did the smart thing: She got into her seat and put her seat belt on,” Avery said.</p><p data-block-key=\"k7a58\">The chase ended when Lunsford crashed the news van into a traffic circle approximately a mile away, deploying the airbags. Police quickly arrived at the scene and arrested Lunsford, Officer Grant told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"tapv8\">Hughes was not injured in the crash, Grant said, but was taken to the hospital as a precaution. During the course of their investigation, police learned that both Hughes and Lunsford are pregnant.</p><p data-block-key=\"wfa0m\">CBS46 Station Manager Jeff Holub told the Tracker, “This was obviously a very dangerous and frightening situation and we are happy that Iyani is OK.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5n726\">Lunsford is being held on charges of kidnapping, which is punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2010/title-16/chapter-5/article-3/16-5-40/\">under Georgia law</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/hughes_screenshot.73208745.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"15yyf\">Shortly after Georgia TV reporter Iyani Hughes, pictured, recorded a live shot in Atlanta on April 14, 2020, the news van where she was editing footage was hijacked and then crashed.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"actor": "private individual",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "vehicle"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Georgia",
"abbreviation": "GA"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-01-29 00:00:00+00:00) Woman gets 10 years probation after kidnapping Georgia TV reporter"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
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"Iyani Hughes (WANF)"
],
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},
{
"title": "White House accuses Voice of America of spreading propaganda",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-accuses-voice-america-spreading-propaganda/",
"first_published_at": "2020-04-16T20:24:25.147510Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T18:46:02.575654Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T18:46:02.485122Z",
"date": "2020-04-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t9phu\">A White House newsletter accused a U.S.-funded and independent international news outlet of uncritically spreading Chinese state propaganda on April 10, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"1zu7d\">The “1600 Daily” <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/amid-a-pandemic-voice-of-america-spends-your-money-to-promote-foreign-propaganda/\">newsletter</a>, which a White House official <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/10/white-house-attacks-voice-of-america-daily-newsletter-179191\">told ProPublica</a> has approximately 2.5 million subscribers, was sent under the headline “Amid a Pandemic, Voice of America Spends Your Money to Promote Foreign Propaganda.” It went on to assert that “VOA too often speaks for America’s adversaries—not its citizens.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rrjli\">While attacks on the press have become <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/trump-crisis-mode-tweets-his-2000th-attack-press/\">commonplace</a> on the president’s Twitter feed, it came as <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/us/politics/white-house-voice-of-america.html\">a shock to many</a> that VOA was singled out on a platform often used to highlight the president’s accomplishments and daily schedule.</p><p data-block-key=\"3csao\">The newsletter specifically cited VOA’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in China, criticizing the outlet for tweeting a video of the quarantine being lifted in Wuhan and alleged that the outlets used Chinese government statistics in its graphics.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ut4y\">In a <a href=\"https://www.insidevoa.com/a/a-statement-from-voa-director-amanda-bennett-/5367327.html\">response</a> to the allegations, VOA Director Amanda Bennett detailed more than two dozen articles published by VOA in recent weeks on China’s response to the pandemic and on the Chinese government’s misinformation and lack of transparency. Bennett also noted that the data cited in the graphic mentioned by the newsletter was drawn from Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, which has been used around the world.</p><p data-block-key=\"v0jw5\">"Unlike China, VOA has stuck to verifiable facts, including publishing numerous articles in Mandarin, English and other languages that outed China's initial secrecy keeping information of the initial outbreak from the world," Bennett wrote. "VOA has thoroughly debunked much of the information coming from the Chinese government and government-controlled media."</p><p data-block-key=\"6kf6k\">It is unclear what triggered the White House’s targeting of the outlet. However, on April 9 — the day before the newsletter went out — Dan Scavino, an adviser to President Donald Trump who handles his social media strategy, retweeted VOA’s post on the end of the quarantine in Wuhan. In his <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Scavino45/status/1248248406167830528\">post</a>, Scavino accused VOA of parroting Chinese propaganda and called the outlet a “disgrace.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zz3hc\">Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon condemned the newsletter in <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2020/04/trumps-white-house-blasts-voa-for-promoting-propag.php\">a statement</a> and said the attack was appalling.</p><p data-block-key=\"ip3sa\">“It is outrageous that the White House is attacking Voice of America, which has a tradition of reporting stories that challenge the narratives of authoritarian regimes around the world,” Simon said. “At this moment, citizens in some highly censored countries are depending for their health and safety on VOA news of the coronavirus, and President Trump should absolutely not undermine the news outlet’s efforts to do its job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mp5jf\">While VOA has not been directly targeted by the president on Twitter, Trump went on a rant against the outlet during a press briefing in the Rose Garden on April 15, several days after the newsletter was published, Business Insider <a href=\"https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-threatens-to-adjourn-congress-rants-against-voice-of-america-2020-4\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"nqdgi\">"If you hear what's coming out of the Voice of America, it's disgusting," Trump said. "The things they say are disgusting to our country."</p><p data-block-key=\"f6fd4\">At the same briefing, the president also railed against Congress for failing to confirm various nominees including Michael Pack, whom the president nominated to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA. Trump also threatened to take the unprecedented step of forcing Congress to adjourn so he could install his nominees.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX7DAUY.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"99a1c\">President Trump used part of the Coronavirus Task Force briefing at the White House on April 15, 2020, to attack Voice of America days after a White House newsletter was critical of the government-funded outlet.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"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,
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-04-30 15:37:00+00:00) CDC bars Voice of America from interviewing officials, citing White House newsletter"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Voice of America"
],
"tags": [
"coronavirus",
"Donald Trump"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
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},
{
"title": "Liberty University obtains trespassing warrants against two journalists",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/liberty-university-obtains-trespassing-warrants-against-two-journalists/",
"first_published_at": "2020-04-14T19:33:58.549517Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-05-01T14:45:05.798425Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-05-01T14:45:05.639959Z",
"date": "2020-04-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Lynchburg",
"longitude": -79.14225,
"latitude": 37.41375,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qxi58\">Arrest warrants were issued on April 6, 2020, for two journalists after they visited Liberty University to cover the school's decision to invite students back to campus following spring break during the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p data-block-key=\"qlzfe\">Virginia Magistrate Kang Lee signed the misdemeanor arrest warrants, which were sought by the Liberty University Police Department against ProPublica's Alec MacGillis, who wrote a March 26 <a href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/whats-it-like-on-one-of-the-only-university-campuses-still-open-in-the-us\">report</a> about students who returned to the university's Lynchburg, Virginia, campus, and Julia Rendleman, a freelance photographer on assignment for The New York Times whose photos accompanied a March 29 <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/us/politics/coronavirus-liberty-university-falwell.html\">story</a> in the newspaper. A warrant was not issued for the author of the Times piece, Elizabeth Williamson, as university officials had not located eyewitnesses placing her on campus, University President Jerry Falwell Jr. <a href=\"https://apnews.com/895d67d2263dd55454341fb26ac01959\">told The Associated Press</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0y8p9\">Falwell has faced criticism of downplaying the risk posed by the coronavirus and being slow to halt in-person classes at the school. Around 1,000 students remain on campus. In MacGillis' ProPublica piece, "What’s It Like on One of the Only University Campuses Still Open in the U.S.?" he describes many examples of students on campus not adhering to social distancing guidelines and students and faculty worried about their personal safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"ijkih\">The decision whether to prosecute will be up to Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Bethany Harrison,<a href=\"https://apnews.com/895d67d2263dd55454341fb26ac01959\"> according</a> to the AP. "Once I receive copies of the served warrants, obtain reports from the Liberty University Police Department, conduct any necessary follow up investigation, and thoroughly research the applicable statutes and case law, I will make a final decision about how to proceed," Harrison said in a news release. Under Virginia law criminal trespassing is a class one misdemeanor, carrying a sentence of up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.</p><p data-block-key=\"3u42f\">"We have heard nothing about this warrant from either Liberty or any authority of the Commonwealth of Virginia," ProPublica President Richard Tofel wrote in an email to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. "We have also still never heard any suggestion from Liberty that anything in our story was factually inaccurate. We continue to believe this was a story of significant public interest about the greatest public health crisis of our time."</p><p data-block-key=\"ew4au\">Eileen Murphy, a Times spokesperson, decried the decision to seek a warrant for someone taking photos for a news story in a <a href=\"https://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/liberty-university-police-pursing-trespassing-case-against-two-journalists/article_18da5830-a38c-553b-b976-d0e6b2fb1dc9.html\">statement</a> to the Lynchburg News & Advance. "We are disappointed that Liberty University would decide to make that into a criminal case and go after a freelance journalist because its officials were unhappy with press coverage of the university's decision to reopen campus in the midst of the pandemic," Murphy said.</p><p data-block-key=\"p3ik2\">Falwell announced the warrants in an April 8 appearance on the Todd Starnes <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JerryFalwellJr/status/1247979710463778818\">radio show</a> and accused the reporters of putting students at risk by coming onto campus from known hot spots.</p><p data-block-key=\"b68hl\">"To us it's so hypocritical for them to come to a campus that is doing everything right — social distancing, take-out food only, protecting our students who have no place else to go and no classes — and to come on our campus from New York or Washington or wherever the hotspot is that they come from and put our students at risk," he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"utjkf\">Falwell <a href=\"https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/libertys-falwell-threatens-to-sue-nyt-for-fake-covid-on-campus-report\">shared</a> a letter with the Washington Examiner that Liberty University lawyers have sent to the general counsel of the Times seeking a retraction.</p><p data-block-key=\"fzdul\">Liberty University has been roundly criticized by press freedom advocates for obtaining the warrants.</p><p data-block-key=\"3hwr8\">Katie Townsend, legal director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said in a <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/statement-liberty-university-arrest-warrants/\">statement</a> that journalists should not face retaliation or threats of criminal penalties for routine newsgathering.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ctga\">“These arrest warrants appear to be intended to harass journalists who were simply, and rightly, doing their jobs — reporting on the impact of Liberty University’s decision to partially reopen during a pandemic — and to intimidate other reporters from doing the same type of reporting," Townsend said.</p><p data-block-key=\"k3v7d\">The Virginia chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists also issued a statement, <a href=\"https://spjva.com/2020/04/09/spjva-board-condemns-actions-of-liberty-university-in-seeking-arrest-warrants-for-journalists/\">writing</a>, “The journalists were reporting about a health crisis of public interest and importance, and doing so in a professional and responsible manner. By pursuing criminal charges, Liberty University has cast a chilling effect on newsgathering activities vital to a free and democratic society.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d5o93\">The Washington Post editorial board <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/liberty-universitys-shameful-crackdown-on-journalists/2020/04/12/d5499852-7b70-11ea-9bee-c5bf9d2e3288_story.html\">weighed in</a> on April 12, comparing the move against the journalists as a tactic favored by authoritarian strongmen abroad. "But it is more than a little jarring to see this tactic of criminalizing journalism being employed in the United States — and by a university whose name celebrates American freedom," the editorial said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ftjb6\">The AP also <a href=\"https://apnews.com/895d67d2263dd55454341fb26ac01959\">reported</a> that a Liberty University campus security officer asked one of its photographers to leave campus and delete the photos he had taken there on March 24. After speaking to his supervisor, the photographer complied, a decision the AP now says was incorrect. “We don’t delete photos or any other material at the request of an individual law enforcement officer,” said Sally Buzbee, the AP’s executive editor and senior vice president. “We try to fight such orders legally.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1opwt\">Portions of two trespassing warrants against a ProPublica reporter and a New York Times freelance photographer following coverage of Liberty University's decision to remain partially open during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>",
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"name": "Virginia",
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"(2020-05-15 13:50:00+00:00) Criminal charges against two journalists dropped"
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"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
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],
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},
{
"title": "Liberty University obtains trespassing warrant against ProPublica reporter",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/liberty-university-obtains-trespassing-warrant-against-propublica-reporter/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-29T20:07:01.590633Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-05-01T14:45:14.292659Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-05-01T14:45:14.139053Z",
"date": "2020-04-06",
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"city": "Lynchburg",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yc4uj\">Arrest warrants were issued on April 6, 2020, for two journalists after they visited Liberty University to cover the school's decision to invite students back to campus following spring break during the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p data-block-key=\"3uq59\">Virginia Magistrate Kang Lee signed the misdemeanor arrest warrants, which were sought by the Liberty University Police Department against ProPublica's Alec MacGillis, who wrote a March 26 <a href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/whats-it-like-on-one-of-the-only-university-campuses-still-open-in-the-us\">report</a> about students who returned to the university's Lynchburg, Virginia, campus, and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/liberty-university-obtains-trespassing-warrants-against-two-journalists/\">Julia Rendleman</a>, a freelance photographer on assignment for The New York Times whose photos accompanied a March 29 <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/us/politics/coronavirus-liberty-university-falwell.html\">story</a> in the newspaper. A warrant was not issued for the author of the Times piece, Elizabeth Williamson, as university officials had not located eyewitnesses placing her on campus, University President Jerry Falwell Jr. <a href=\"https://apnews.com/895d67d2263dd55454341fb26ac01959\">told The Associated Press</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"kzxjy\">Falwell has faced criticism of downplaying the risk posed by the coronavirus and being slow to halt in-person classes at the school. Around 1,000 students remain on campus. In MacGillis' ProPublica piece, "What’s It Like on One of the Only University Campuses Still Open in the U.S.?" he describes many examples of students on campus not adhering to social distancing guidelines and students and faculty worried about their personal safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"58yk6\">The decision whether to prosecute will be up to Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Bethany Harrison, <a href=\"https://apnews.com/895d67d2263dd55454341fb26ac01959\">according</a> to the AP. "Once I receive copies of the served warrants, obtain reports from the Liberty University Police Department, conduct any necessary follow up investigation, and thoroughly research the applicable statutes and case law, I will make a final decision about how to proceed," Harrison said in a news release. Under Virginia law criminal trespassing is a class one misdemeanor, carrying a sentence of up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.</p><p data-block-key=\"votec\">"We have heard nothing about this warrant from either Liberty or any authority of the Commonwealth of Virginia," ProPublica President Richard Tofel wrote in an email to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. "We have also still never heard any suggestion from Liberty that anything in our story was factually inaccurate. We continue to believe this was a story of significant public interest about the greatest public health crisis of our time."</p><p data-block-key=\"osr8b\">Eileen Murphy, a Times spokesperson, decried the decision to seek a warrant for someone taking photos for a news story in a <a href=\"https://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/liberty-university-police-pursing-trespassing-case-against-two-journalists/article_18da5830-a38c-553b-b976-d0e6b2fb1dc9.html\">statement</a> to the Lynchburg News & Advance.</p><p data-block-key=\"v8st4\">"We are disappointed that Liberty University would decide to make that into a criminal case and go after a freelance journalist because its officials were unhappy with press coverage of the university's decision to reopen campus in the midst of the pandemic," Murphy said.</p><p data-block-key=\"95vji\">Falwell announced the warrants in an April 8 appearance on the Todd Starnes <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JerryFalwellJr/status/1247979710463778818\">radio show</a> and accused the reporters of putting students at risk by coming onto campus from known hot spots.</p><p data-block-key=\"hr5q4\">"To us it's so hypocritical for them to come to a campus that is doing everything right — social distancing, take-out food only, protecting our students who have no place else to go and no classes — and to come on our campus from New York or Washington or wherever the hotspot is that they come from and put our students at risk," he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6mx50\">Falwell <a href=\"https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/libertys-falwell-threatens-to-sue-nyt-for-fake-covid-on-campus-report\">shared</a> a letter with the Washington Examiner that Liberty University lawyers have sent to the general counsel of the Times seeking a retraction.</p><p data-block-key=\"z2xo3\">Liberty University has been roundly criticized by press freedom advocates for obtaining the warrants.</p><p data-block-key=\"96cg1\">Katie Townsend, legal director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said in a <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/statement-liberty-university-arrest-warrants/\">statement</a> that journalists should not face retaliation or threats of criminal penalties for routine newsgathering.</p><p data-block-key=\"z6pjr\">“These arrest warrants appear to be intended to harass journalists who were simply, and rightly, doing their jobs — reporting on the impact of Liberty University’s decision to partially reopen during a pandemic — and to intimidate other reporters from doing the same type of reporting," Townsend said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ss2j\">The Virginia chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists also issued a statement, <a href=\"https://spjva.com/2020/04/09/spjva-board-condemns-actions-of-liberty-university-in-seeking-arrest-warrants-for-journalists/\">writing</a>, “The journalists were reporting about a health crisis of public interest and importance, and doing so in a professional and responsible manner. By pursuing criminal charges, Liberty University has cast a chilling effect on newsgathering activities vital to a free and democratic society.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eykqz\">The Washington Post editorial board <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/liberty-universitys-shameful-crackdown-on-journalists/2020/04/12/d5499852-7b70-11ea-9bee-c5bf9d2e3288_story.html\">weighed in</a> on April 12, comparing the move against the journalists as a tactic favored by authoritarian strongmen abroad. "But it is more than a little jarring to see this tactic of criminalizing journalism being employed in the United States — and by a university whose name celebrates American freedom," the editorial said.</p><p data-block-key=\"jeg0a\">The AP also <a href=\"https://apnews.com/895d67d2263dd55454341fb26ac01959\">reported</a> that a Liberty University campus security officer asked one of its photographers to leave campus and delete the photos he had taken there on March 24. After speaking to his supervisor, the photographer complied, a decision the AP now says was incorrect. “We don’t delete photos or any other material at the request of an individual law enforcement officer,” said Sally Buzbee, the AP’s executive editor and senior vice president. “We try to fight such orders legally.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Liberty_U_Warrants.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"nymw2\">Portions of two trespassing warrants by Liberty University against two journalists following their coverage of the university's decision to remain partially open during the coronavirus pandemic</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Liberty University Police Department",
"arrest_status": "charged without arrest",
"release_date": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-05-15 15:06:00+00:00) Criminal charges against two journalists dropped"
],
"case_statuses": [],
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"tags": [
"coronavirus"
],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
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"Alec MacGillis (ProPublica)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Florida journalist barred from governor’s COVID-19 briefing",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/florida-journalist-barred-from-governors-covid-19-briefing/",
"first_published_at": "2020-03-31T21:29:47.438213Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-21T16:39:55.303563Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T16:39:55.169341Z",
"date": "2020-03-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Tallahassee",
"longitude": -84.28073,
"latitude": 30.43826,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cjxol\">A reporter was barred from attending a press conference held by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on the COVID-19 pandemic at the state capitol in Tallahassee on March 28, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"fwz5h\">Mary Ellen Klas — the Miami Herald's Tallahassee bureau chief, who also reports for the Tampa Bay Times — was denied entry to the capitol to attend DeSantis' news briefing, where Florida's lieutenant governor, director of emergency management and state surgeon general also appeared.</p><p data-block-key=\"3tlqb\">Outside of the capitol, Meredith Beatrice, a spokeswoman for DeSantis, told Klas she could not attend because she had previously requested "social distancing" at these briefings. Beatrice said the briefings were available to view on Florida Channel, a government access television network. Klas countered that this would not afford her the opportunity to ask questions.</p><p data-block-key=\"ovb5t\">Klas posted a video of her exchange with Beatrice to Twitter:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"und\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://t.co/jG8AlmpTnM\">pic.twitter.com/jG8AlmpTnM</a></p>— Mary Ellen Klas (@MaryEllenKlas) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaryEllenKlas/status/1243976107923255299?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 28, 2020</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=\"p3ocl\">“I asked for social distancing. I didn’t ask to be excluded,” Klas said in a <a href=\"https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article241591161.html\">story</a> about the incident by the Miami Herald's David Smiley.</p><p data-block-key=\"51wbj\">A few days prior, Klas had requested that the governor's news briefings, in accordance with public health guidelines, be modified to allow for practicing social distancing. One option she suggested was moving them to a Zoom-style videoconference where reporters would have the opportunity to ask questions without having to meet in close quarters, according to the Herald’s <a href=\"https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article241591161.html\">story</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"zs8cs\">This request was repeated in<a href=\"https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article241591266.ece/BINARY/Letter%20to%20DeSantis.pdf#storylink=readmore_inline\"> writing</a> in a March 20 letter signed by editors from the Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times, el Nuevo Herald, Bradenton Herald, Palm Beach Post, Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel.</p><p data-block-key=\"7zvuq\">"The briefing room at the Emergency Operations Center is typically packed with reporters in a room about 15-20 feet wide. Reporters are seated in chairs close together. At the Wednesday briefing, there were 22 reporters and photographers in the room," the letter stated. "We’d ask, respectfully, that the state move these briefings to a larger space to accommodate all reporters in person and at recommended distances. Alternatively, we would ask that the state set up a small pool of reporters for each briefing along with the ability for the governor and staff to take questions from press corps members outside the room through a live-stream. Either option, or a combination of both, would preserve access to these critical meetings and ensure a safer environment for all concerned."</p><p data-block-key=\"znykw\">That letter did not receive a reply, but briefings were subsequently moved to the governor’s office at the capitol, where a hand-selected group of reporters were invited to attend and everyone else could watch via livestream, Klas told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Klas and others were able to submit questions in writing, but did not have any of them answered. So Klas decided to attend the March 28 briefing in person, but was turned away.</p><p data-block-key=\"ekkg8\">But a television reporter waiting outside the capitol, Mike Vasilinda, was allowed in to the press conference after a Florida Department of Law Enforcement drove out to pick him up, Klas <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaryEllenKlas/status/1243974180082769921?s=20\">tweeted</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"wwc3g\">On Twitter, Klas posted the questions she had planned to ask DeSantis at the press conference:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Want to know the questions <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GovRonDeSantis</a> didn't want to get today, so he kept us out? <br><br>You are preparing four alternative hospitals to prepare for a surge in hospital capacity, please explain when Florida will reach its peak? What is the timeline?/thread</p>— Mary Ellen Klas (@MaryEllenKlas) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaryEllenKlas/status/1243981251138158593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 28, 2020</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-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You said you were going to be transparent throughout this process, why have to refused to disclose the nursing homes that have had COVID positive cases, except the one you considered negligent? /</p>— Mary Ellen Klas (@MaryEllenKlas) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaryEllenKlas/status/1243981728953368576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 28, 2020</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-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Health care workers are especially at risk; a 33-year Miami-Dade Nurse has died from <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#COVID19</a>, what are you doing to assist them? <br><br>You are critical of the reckless behavior of people from NYC and NOLA. Are you fostering it by not imposing stricter restrictions across the state?</p>— Mary Ellen Klas (@MaryEllenKlas) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaryEllenKlas/status/1243982210983747584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 28, 2020</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=\"foqbx\">Helen Aguirre Ferré, DeSantis' main spokeswoman, <a href=\"https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article241591161.html\">told</a> the Herald in an email that another reporter from the paper had been told about the press conference. “Every endeavor is made to ensure the public continues to have full access to information as the safety and security of Florida residents is our greatest concern,” Ferré wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"j8bx0\">In an<a href=\"https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article241597106.html\"> editorial</a>, the Miami Herald dubbed the move "vindictive, petty — and illegal." DeSantis, the editorial board wrote, “should be ashamed because, in not allowing Klas to do her job and ask the serious questions that deserve his serious answers, he is really denying access to the Floridians who look to these media outlets for vital information.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tlo9f\">CPJ program director Carlos Martinez de la Serna also decried the move in a statement: “Authorities in Florida and throughout the United States must show they are taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously, and should accommodate requests from journalists to follow guidance by public health experts,” he <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2020/03/reporter-denied-access-to-florida-governors-briefi.php\">said</a>. “Now is the time for the government to increase its transparency and access for the press, not limit it. Governor DeSantis should let Mary Ellen Klas and all other reporters cover his government freely.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS35D68.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ouagl\">In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis greets the U.S. president on March 9, the same day he declared a state of emergency due to the novel coronavirus. A reporter who requested social distancing measures for media was later barred from a COVID-19 briefing.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"coronavirus"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"State government: Governor"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mary Ellen Klas (Miami Herald)"
],
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"type_of_denial": [
"Government event"
]
},
{
"title": "Illinois mayor threatens journalist for taking pictures, video on public street",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/illinois-mayor-threatens-journalist-taking-pictures-video-public-street/",
"first_published_at": "2020-04-15T15:57:09.851657Z",
"last_published_at": "2020-04-17T14:03:58.611884Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2020-04-17T14:03:58.493801Z",
"date": "2020-03-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Bellmont",
"longitude": null,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>The mayor of an Illinois village threatened a reporter with assault and called the local sheriff to intervene in newsgathering on March 26, 2020.</p><p>Journalist John Kraft, co-founder of state government watchdog blog Edgar County Watchdogs, was notified by residents in Bellmont, Illinois, that Mayor Gary Lance had been recorded allegedly using the village tractor to gravel a parking area in front of his personal residence, which would violate laws barring the use of town property for personal purposes.</p><p>Kraft told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he attempted to call Lance multiple times for comment concerning the allegations, and that Lance returned his calls on the morning of March 26.</p><p>According to an <a href=\"https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2020/03/video-bellmont-mayor-to-reporter-maybe-i-outta-get-out-and-jist-whip-yer-ass/\">account</a> of the call published by Edgar County Watchdogs, they spoke about the use of the tractor, which Lance refused to admit belonged to the village. Lance hung up on Kraft then called back soon after to ask for Kraft’s name, telling the reporter that his actions were “none of [his] business.”</p><p>Before hanging up again, Lance told Kraft that if the reporter contacted him again he would pursue harassment charges.</p><p>“I considered that conversation an invitation to drive to Bellmont and see the new gravel driveway for myself,” Kraft wrote.</p><p>Kraft told the Tracker that as he was taking photos and video of the driveway from a public road, Lance drove up and stopped next to his truck. Lance told him to leave or he’d call the Wabash County sheriff.</p><p>“I’m not going to move along,” Kraft can be heard saying in a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOnukOTb_iU\">video of the interaction</a>. “Go ahead, I’ll wait right here for [the sheriff]. 911 is their number.”</p><p>Lance says, “Maybe I ought to get out and just whip your ass,” to which Kraft responds, “Go ahead and try it.”</p><p>Lance then told the reporter that he is “worthless.” Kraft responds, “You’re the one that is.”</p><p>Wabash County Sheriff Derek Morgan told the Tracker that the sheriff’s deputy who went to the scene told Lance that Kraft was within his rights to photograph in a public place. Shortly after speaking with the deputy himself, Kraft left the scene.</p><p>Lance declined to comment to the Tracker.</p><p>On March 31, Lance <a href=\"https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2020/04/bellmont-mayor-files-for-stalking-order-doesnt-like-videos-of-him-using-village-tractor-for-private-gain/\">filed requests for restraining orders</a> against five village residents — including a village trustee — who he alleged were stalking him by taking video of him graveling his driveway and posting the footage online.</p><p>Sheriff Morgan confirmed to the Tracker that Lance did not request a restraining order against Kraft.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p>Reporter John Kraft captures video of a sheriff's deputy interacting with the mayor of Bellmont, Illinois, who had wanted the reporter removed. The sheriff's deputy confirmed that Kraft was within his rights.</p>",
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"name": "Illinois",
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{
"title": "Illinois county drops subpoena for government watchdog’s communications",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/illinois-county-drops-subpoena-for-government-watchdogs-communications/",
"first_published_at": "2020-04-10T15:54:36.783318Z",
"last_published_at": "2020-04-10T15:54:36.783318Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2020-04-10T15:54:36.683295Z",
"date": "2020-03-25",
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"city": "Effingham County",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Illinois-based government watchdog blog Edgar County Watchdogs received a second subpoena for communications and documents relating to articles involving an ambulance service operating in Effingham County, Illinois, on March 25, 2020.</p><p>Edgar County Watchdogs <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoenas-seeking-illinois-based-government-watchdogs-communications-and-documents-dropped/\">received the first subpoena</a> as part of a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by Lakeside EMS, LLC, against the county in August 2019. That lawsuit was dismissed in September pending the results of a state case brought against the ambulance service by Effingham County. As a result, the subpoena was dropped.</p><p>The most recent subpoena was filed as part of the state suit, and is identical to the first: It orders the Edgar County Watchdogs to produce communications or documents exchanged with Lakeside CEO Jerrod Estes, as well as any “employee or agent” of Lakeside or the county. It also orders the turnover of copies of articles written or generated relating to Effingham County, county Board Chairman Jim Niemann or Lakeside.</p><p>Edgar County Watchdogs co-founder and reporter John Kraft told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they planned to contest the subpoena under Illinois’ reporter’s privilege law.</p><p>Kirk Allen, the blog’s other co-founder and reporter, told the Tracker in September 2019 that Edgar County Watchdogs had been pursuing a Freedom of Information Act violation claim against the county for two years, pressing for the release of documents related to the ambulance service investigation.</p><p>Attorneys for Effingham County Philip Lading and Zachary Merkle did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p>According to emails reviewed by the Tracker, the county’s attorneys dropped the subpoena without prejudice on April 7, after the blog’s lawyer informed them that they had not complied with the “special witness” doctrine. The doctrine requires that the party seeking testimony must first state the specific testimony the reporter is expected to give and demonstrate how it is not only relevant, but necessary to the party’s case.</p><p>The Tracker has documented multiple other subpoenas against Edgar County Watchdogs in 2019, including a<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-issued-contents-illinois-government-watchdogs-dropbox-account/\"> subpoena for their communications and documents</a> relating to the College of DuPage and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-issued-contents-illinois-government-watchdogs-dropbox-account/\">multiple</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/second-subpoena-issued-for-content-of-illinois-watchdogs-dropbox-account/\">subpoenas</a> for the group’s Dropbox contents. While the latter two were dropped in February and July 2019, a motion to quash the former is still pending.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p>A portion of the subpoena demanding work product from Edgar County Watchdogs</p>",
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"name": "Illinois",
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},
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"Edgar County Watchdogs"
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"Subpoena/Legal Order"
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"dropped"
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{
"title": "AP photographer ordered to delete photos, leave Liberty University campus",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ap-photographer-ordered-to-delete-photos-leave-liberty-university-campus/",
"first_published_at": "2022-09-28T13:42:44.637274Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-01-30T21:58:39.592734Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-01-30T21:58:39.489891Z",
"date": "2020-03-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Lynchburg",
"longitude": -79.14225,
"latitude": 37.41375,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4axam\">An Associated Press photographer covering Liberty University’s decision to remain partially open during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic was ordered to delete photos and leave the campus in Lynchburg, Virginia, by a security officer on March 24, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"7opsf\">According to the AP, its photographer was approached by a campus security officer who told him to <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-entertainment-jerry-falwell-virginia-lynchburg-895d67d2263dd55454341fb26ac01959\">delete all of the photos he had taken while on campus</a> and leave. The photojournalist, who was not identified by the news organization, consulted with his supervisor about the images after being forced off-campus. The photos were deleted, which the AP said was a mistake in retrospect.</p><p data-block-key=\"4m5g8\">“We don’t delete photos or any other material at the request of an individual law enforcement officer,” said Sally Buzbee, then the AP’s executive editor and senior vice president. “We try to fight such orders legally.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d9ck3\">The president of Liberty University, Jerry Falwell, <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/08/liberty-university-falwell-reporters-warrants-176346\">sought trespassing charges</a> against a ProPublica reporter and a freelance photographer hired by The New York Times who had pursued similar stories about Liberty’s pandemic responses. Charges against the journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/liberty-university-obtains-trespassing-warrants-against-two-journalists/\">were eventually dropped</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"blh0i\">Neither the AP nor Liberty University responded to requests for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p></div>",
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{
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"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
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"tags": [
"coronavirus"
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"Equipment Damage"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"Unidentified photojournalist 26 (The Associated Press)"
],
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},
{
"title": "California community blog subpoenaed in ongoing lawsuit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/california-community-blog-subpoenaed-ongoing-lawsuit/",
"first_published_at": "2020-04-02T19:28:45.048808Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:42:49.621371Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:42:49.532884Z",
"date": "2020-03-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Fullerton",
"longitude": -117.92534,
"latitude": 33.87029,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"df8fy\">The city of Fullerton, California, filed three deposition orders for testimony and documents from Friends for Fullerton’s Future, a community blog, and two of its journalists on March 13, 2020, as part of its <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/california-journalists-sued-for-hacking-citys-open-dropbox-folder-barred-from-publishing/\">ongoing suit</a> accusing them of violating state and federal anti-hacking laws.</p><p data-block-key=\"shdql\">The city’s complaint, filed Oct. 24, 2019, concerns more than a dozen documents that it alleges were illegally downloaded from the city’s account on the file hosting and sharing service Dropbox. The depositions were filed one day after a district judge granted the city a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/appellate-judge-rules-california-blog-can-publish-but-not-destroy-city-records/\">preliminary injunction</a>, barring the blog from publishing, sharing or deleting any of the contested files. The prior restraint was stayed, or paused, fewer than two weeks later.</p><p data-block-key=\"21fqa\">Joshua Ferguson and David Curlee, two of the blog’s journalists, each received a deposition subpoena ordering them to appear for questioning on March 23 and 24, respectively. A third deposition ordered that the “person most knowledgeable for defendant Friends for Fullerton’s Future” appear for questioning on March 26. The order said topics of discussion would include the structure of the blog, who its contributors are and the sources of all city documents posted to the blog.</p><p data-block-key=\"zd0s3\">Ferguson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that no such individual exists.</p><p data-block-key=\"imo5h\">“Nobody runs this blog, it’s a blog,” he said. “We do do journalistic work insofar as we report on stories — we do break stories, we do have people that we talk to — but we don’t have an official structure: I don’t have an editor.”</p><p data-block-key=\"efjfm\">The blog’s attorney, Kelly Aviles, told the Tracker that a deposition order such as this is standard legal procedure when seeking information from an entity. She also said that all three orders were invalid because they were improperly filed after the city had received notice of her clients’ appeal, which stays, or pauses, all pending matters.</p><p data-block-key=\"gq5nz\">Kimberly Hall Barlow, attorney for the city of Fullerton, told the Tracker the orders were filed properly and that they will continue to pursue the depositions as part of the discovery process.</p><p data-block-key=\"9texk\">The deposition orders, reviewed by the Tracker, demand that the individual bring numerous documents and communications related to the city’s allegations, including around the use or possession of nearly two dozen files from the city’s Dropbox, the IP addresses for all its computers and electronic devices, Dropbox activity logs and private browser use.</p><p data-block-key=\"1zh6t\">They also command the production of all documents, including communications, relating to the blog’s argument that the city’s Dropbox was accessible to the public at large, and that accessing it was part of routine newsgathering.</p><p data-block-key=\"bb04t\">The depositions also focus on communications around 15 public records requests, six of which were filed by Ferguson and one by Curlee. Many of the remaining requests were filed by individuals associated with Air Combat USA, Inc., a private company which has sued the city for breach of contract. The subpoenas also request copies of all communications between the blog or its staff and anyone affiliated with the corporation.</p><p data-block-key=\"dvcsr\">Ferguson told the Tracker that the city, essentially, wants to know everything about the blog.</p><p data-block-key=\"6vaia\">“They want to know IP addresses, who accesses it, how you share data, who you talk to, all of stuff that is absolutely covered under the reporter shield laws… because they’re arguing that we’re a blog, ergo, not a news site,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"tl24l\">Hall Barlow told the Tracker that the city’s intent is not to be punitive or suppress the press, but to retrieve the confidential documents containing the private information of multiple individuals that were downloaded from the Dropbox account.</p><p data-block-key=\"i7246\">The subpoenas request an amount of invasive information not typically seen outside of national security cases, said Aviles. The attempt to subvert California’s shield law and reporter’s privilege protections are concerning, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"l8jyl\">“Not only is the entire case so outrageous that a government agency would come after an organization that was reporting on it in this fashion, claiming that they committed crimes by accessing documents that the city put on a website without any kind of protection, but then all of these procedural maneuverings by the city that have just tried to make it more difficult for the journalists — I think that is especially troubling.”</p><p data-block-key=\"j3w7b\">Aviles told the Tracker that she hopes all filings in the appeal will be complete in the next two to three months.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zb5f4\">A portion of the subpoena demanding documents and work product from the blog Friends for Fullerton's Future</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
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"(2021-05-12 14:40:00+00:00) City drops lawsuit against bloggers it accused of hacking documents"
],
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],
"targeted_journalists": [
"David Curlee (Friends for Fullerton’s Future)",
"Joshua Ferguson (Friends for Fullerton’s Future)"
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},
{
"title": "WikiLeaks subpoenaed in defamation lawsuit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wikileaks-subpoenaed-in-defamation-lawsuit/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-16T02:29:39.179654Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-04-06T15:46:59.132760Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-04-06T15:46:59.084852Z",
"date": "2020-03-13",
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"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"psezz\">In the early hours of July 10, 2016, Seth Rich, a 27-year-old staffer with the Democratic National Committee, was <a href=\"https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/man-shot-killed-in-northwest-dc/2074048/\">fatally shot</a> while walking to his home in Washington, D.C. His death, while unsolved, is believed to be the result of a <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/08/08/749392506/conspiracyland-debunks-theories-about-murder-of-dnc-staffer-seth-rich\">robbery gone wrong</a>. It quickly, however, became a <a href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-43727858\">flash point</a> for conspiracy theories: that Rich had been behind a DNC email dump to WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, and that he’d effectively been assassinated because of it. None of the claims have ever been substantiated.</p><p data-block-key=\"r14c9\">On March 26, 2018, Rich’s brother, Aaron, <a href=\"https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/27/media/seth-rich-brother-sues-washington-times/index.html\">filed a defamation suit</a> in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against a slew of defendants — Texas businessman and then-frequent Fox News guest Ed Butowsky, the Washington Times, America First Media Group and its founder, Matt Couch — who he’d alleged had shown a “reckless disregard for the truth” and falsely linked both himself and his brother to the email leak.</p><p data-block-key=\"9yjqv\">During the course of three years of litigation, attorneys for both sides collectively subpoenaed nearly a dozen news outlets and members of the press. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all subpoena requests individually; Find a complete overview of the known subpoenas for this case in the blog post, “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/nearly-a-dozen-journalists-outlets-and-third-parties-subpoenaed-in-defamation-suit/\">Nearly a dozen journalists, outlets and third parties subpoenaed in defamation suit</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0ete8\">In January 2021, both <a href=\"https://thedcpatriot.com/statement-from-matt-couch/\">Couch</a> and <a href=\"https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/i-never-had-physical-proof-to-back-up-any-such-statements-former-fox-news-guest-apologizes-to-seth-richs-brother-for-dnc-conspiracy-theory/\">Butowsky</a> publicly apologized and retracted prior claims made about the Rich brothers, though Butowsky deleted his statement of contrition almost immediately, according to Law & Crime. Couch and Rich reached a settlement agreement on Jan. 19; Butowsky and Rich reached an agreement on March 22. The lawsuit was terminated officially when District Judge Richard Leon granted Rich’s motions to dismiss the charges against the defendants on March 29. The details of the settlement agreements were not made public.</p><h4 data-block-key=\"w10lt\">WikiLeaks</h4><p data-block-key=\"2msr0\">In July 2016, some four months before the U.S. presidential election, WikiLeaks “released a trove of 20,000 emails stolen from the servers of the Democratic National Committee,” <a href=\"https://www.vox.com/2016/7/23/12261020/dnc-email-leaks-explained\">according to Vox</a>. How WikiLeaks obtained those emails fueled endless speculation around Seth Rich and his death. Assange was also subpoenaed over the course of the lawsuit, which the Tracker has documented here.</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"lylem\"><b>Oct. 31, 2019:</b> Aaron Rich motions the court for permission to serve WikiLeaks a subpoena via Twitter, citing his inability to serve subpoenas to either WikiLeaks or Assange through conventional means for more than a year.</li><li data-block-key=\"842gw\"><b>Jan. 24, 2020:</b> District Judge Richard Leon approves Rich’s request to serve WikiLeaks a subpoena via Twitter.</li><li data-block-key=\"po7tz\"><b>March 13, 2020:</b> Rich serves WikiLeaks the subpoena <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Rich_v_Butowsky/status/1238576313537101826\">via Twitter</a>, which orders the outlet to turn over all documents and communications that reference either Seth or Aaron Rich, a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/763565863861616640\">tweet</a> from the WikiLeaks account citing its “original and only statement on the murder of US Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich,” and an <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp7FkLBRpKg\">interview</a> Assange gave to a Dutch television program in which he appeared to insinuate that Seth Rich was the source of the leaked emails, by March 27.</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"bc1p8\"><b>Status of Subpoena</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"x64ar\">With the case closed, any outstanding subpoenas would become moot. WikiLeaks did not respond to the Tracker’s request for comment via Twitter, and it is unclear from the court filings alone whether the outlet complied with the subpoena. Therefore, the Tracker is listing the status of the subpoena as “unknown” until further information is available.</li></ul></div>",
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{
"title": "Appellate judge rules California blog can publish — but not destroy — city records",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/appellate-judge-rules-california-blog-can-publish-but-not-destroy-city-records/",
"first_published_at": "2020-04-02T19:18:27.478744Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T22:40:54.594217Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T22:40:54.516203Z",
"date": "2020-03-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Fullerton",
"longitude": -117.92534,
"latitude": 33.87029,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f9wnk\">The city of Fullerton, California, can pursue its lawsuit against local blog Friends for Fullerton’s Future and two of its reporters, a judge ruled on March 12, 2020. Superior Court Judge James Crandall also granted the city’s motion for a preliminary injunction to bar the blog from publishing, sharing or destroying a number of city documents.</p><p data-block-key=\"93ai7\">Two weeks later, on March 26, an appellate judge stayed, or paused, portions of the prior restraint, allowing the blog to publish but not destroy records.</p><p data-block-key=\"daoao\">The city <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/california-journalists-sued-for-hacking-citys-open-dropbox-folder-barred-from-publishing/\">alleges</a> that the blog FFFF and journalists Joshua Ferguson and David Curlee violated state and federal anti-hacking laws by illegally accessing and downloading city files uploaded to Dropbox, a file hosting and sharing service.</p><p data-block-key=\"o634d\">Both Ferguson and Curlee told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they had been provided a link to the city’s Dropbox account in response to their previous public records requests. The folder was not password protected, and anyone could access it via the web address in the link.</p><p data-block-key=\"zvnmi\">A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/california-journalists-sued-for-hacking-citys-open-dropbox-folder-barred-from-publishing/\">previous temporary restraining order</a> was rendered moot when this injunction was granted.</p><p data-block-key=\"bl46n\">In his ruling, Crandall also denied FFFF’s motion to dismiss the suit under California’s anti-SLAPP provision, which permits courts to dismiss lawsuits that are intended to censor public speech.</p><p data-block-key=\"ng9u2\">Kelly Aviles, attorney for FFFF, told the Tracker they have already filed an appeal of the judge’s decision.</p><p data-block-key=\"q64ln\">“The court’s denial of the anti-SLAPP motion is a big problem because it’s the only opportunity for the client to get the money that they had to expend in this case in terms of trying to get their costs back,” Aviles said. She noted that responding to dozens of declarations and briefs have driven up FFFF’s attorneys fees and costs.</p><p data-block-key=\"403y5\">Kimberly Hall Barlow, attorney for the city of Fullerton, told the Tracker, “The city’s goal here is not to be punitive, it is to retrieve files containing confidential documents that were stolen from the Dropbox account.”</p><p data-block-key=\"g1rdk\">“We’re under an obligation to protect the privacy interests of the numerous individuals whose private information is included in those documents,” she said. “This is not about trying to suppress the press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0kbwk\">The city also filed three deposition orders for testimony and documents from <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/california-community-blog-subpoenaed-ongoing-lawsuit/\">FFFF</a>, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-joshua-ferguson-subpoenaed-ongoing-lawsuit-between-blog-city-fullerton/\">Ferguson</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-david-curlee-subpoenaed-ongoing-lawsuit-between-blog-city-fullerton/\">Curlee</a>, all captured in the Tracker’s subpoena category. Aviles said they were all filed after she had filed their appeal and are therefore invalid.</p><p data-block-key=\"zci6l\">Hall Barlow told the Tracker the orders were filed properly and that they will continue to pursue the depositions as part of the discovery process.</p><p data-block-key=\"h6wo1\">Fourth Appellate District Judge Raymond Ikola, who granted the stay on the preliminary injunction on March 26, granted a writ of supersedeas on April 2, which lifts the restraint on publishing throughout the appellate hearings.</p><p data-block-key=\"h0upu\">Curlee told the Tracker that he is hopeful that the appellate court will understand the conditions of the case more clearly.</p><p data-block-key=\"machh\">“My hope is that they understand this better and realize that no crime occurred, no theft occurred,” he said. “We’re hopeful that the appeals court will see this for what it is and not by the city’s argument about it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5djkp\">Aviles said that she hopes all filings on their appeals will be completed in the next two to three months.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"92ofv\">A portion of the ruling prohibiting the blog Friends for Fullerton's Future from publishing records and denying its request to dismiss a suit from the city of Fullerton. The restraint was later lifted.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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"(2021-05-12 14:38:00+00:00) City drops lawsuit against bloggers it accused of hacking documents"
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{
"title": "Journalist subpoenaed for testimony about confidential sources in defamation suit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-subpoenaed-for-testimony-about-confidential-sources-in-defamation-suit/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-16T02:33:47.195321Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-04-06T16:48:15.289434Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-04-06T16:48:15.170054Z",
"date": "2020-02-29",
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"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hh7w1\">In the early hours of July 10, 2016, Seth Rich, a 27-year-old staffer with the Democratic National Committee, was <a href=\"https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/man-shot-killed-in-northwest-dc/2074048/\">fatally shot</a> while walking to his home in Washington, D.C. His death, while unsolved, is believed to be the result of a <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/08/08/749392506/conspiracyland-debunks-theories-about-murder-of-dnc-staffer-seth-rich\">robbery gone wrong</a>. It quickly, however, became a <a href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-43727858\">flash point</a> for conspiracy theories: that Rich had been behind a DNC email dump to WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, and that he’d effectively been assassinated because of it. None of the claims have ever been substantiated.</p><p data-block-key=\"0od0s\">On March 26, 2018, Rich’s brother, Aaron, <a href=\"https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/27/media/seth-rich-brother-sues-washington-times/index.html\">filed a defamation suit</a> in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against a slew of defendants — Texas businessman and then-frequent Fox News guest Ed Butowsky, the Washington Times, America First Media Group and its founder, Matt Couch — who he’d alleged had shown a “reckless disregard for the truth” and falsely linked both himself and his brother to the email leak.</p><p data-block-key=\"u1d77\">During the course of three years of litigation, attorneys for both sides collectively subpoenaed nearly a dozen news outlets and members of the press. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all subpoena requests individually; Find a complete overview of the known subpoenas for this case in the blog post, “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/nearly-a-dozen-journalists-outlets-and-third-parties-subpoenaed-in-defamation-suit/\">Nearly a dozen journalists, outlets and third parties subpoenaed in defamation suit</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kgdv1\">In January 2021, both <a href=\"https://thedcpatriot.com/statement-from-matt-couch/\">Couch</a> and <a href=\"https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/i-never-had-physical-proof-to-back-up-any-such-statements-former-fox-news-guest-apologizes-to-seth-richs-brother-for-dnc-conspiracy-theory/\">Butowsky</a> publicly apologized and retracted prior claims made about the Rich brothers, though Butowsky deleted his statement of contrition almost immediately, according to Law & Crime. Couch and Rich reached a settlement agreement on Jan. 19; Butowsky and Rich reached an agreement on March 22. The lawsuit was terminated officially when District Judge Richard Leon granted Rich’s motions to dismiss the charges against the defendants on March 29. The details of the settlement agreements were not made public.</p><h4 data-block-key=\"8tdwt\">Seymour “Sy” Hersh | Investigative reporter</h4><p data-block-key=\"dqu7y\">Hersh, who was investigating Seth Rich’s death, contacted Butowsky during the course of his reporting. <a href=\"https://bigleaguepolitics.com/audio-seymour-hersh-states-seth-rich-wikileaks-source/\">Butowsky recorded</a> one call between the pair, without Hersh’s knowledge, in which the investigative journalist said that he’d heard about an FBI report that said that Rich had contacted WikiLeaks to sell the DNC emails. Hersh later <a href=\"http://www.npr.org/2017/08/16/543830392/the-role-of-ed-butowsky-in-advancing-retracted-seth-rich-story\">told NPR</a> that he was fishing for information from Butowsky, and that he never published about the case because the claims could not be proved.</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"sxpc2\"><b>Aug. 18, 2019:</b> Couch lists Hersh in his initial disclosure statement as someone who is likely to have discoverable information, alleging that the journalist “has knowledge of the leaking of the DNC emails to WikiLeaks and the FBI’s report relating to the leaked DNC emails.”</li><li data-block-key=\"c5tgr\"><b>December 2019:</b> Butowsky informs the court of his intention to subpoena Hersh.</li><li data-block-key=\"lz13k\"><b>Feb. 29, 2020:</b> Butowsky re-notices the subpoena against Hersh, citing previous failures to serve it to him. The subpoena orders Hersh to appear for a deposition on March 13.</li><li data-block-key=\"7lcgk\"><b>March 11, 2020:</b> Butowsky informs Rich that he has been unable to serve the subpoena and the deposition will likely not take place on the scheduled date.</li><li data-block-key=\"nhxj3\"><b>April 23, 2020:</b> District Judge Richard Leon approves a request by the defendants’ attorney to depose Hersh. Leon also approves Rich’s attorney’s request to cross-notice Hersh — functionally extending the length of the deposition to allow both the plaintiff and the defendants the opportunity to question the witness without limitation on subject matter.</li><li data-block-key=\"1wk1k\"><b>May 8, 2020:</b> Attorneys for the defendants issue a new subpoena with identical requests, stating that the initial deposition date had passed. The new subpoena directs Hersh to appear on June 15.</li><li data-block-key=\"mh0nc\"><b>July 15, 2020:</b> Hersh appears for a deposition wherein he asserts the reporter’s privilege to protect confidential sources.</li><li data-block-key=\"oe9go\"><b>Oct. 2, 2020:</b> Defendants’ attorneys file a motion to compel Hersh to comply with the subpoena.</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"i2hia\"><b>Status of Subpoena</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"fkdkz\">With the case closed, any outstanding subpoenas would become moot. Hersh’s attorneys confirmed to the Tracker over email that Leon never ruled on the motion to compel. Therefore, the Tracker is listing the status of the subpoena as “dropped.”</li></ul></div>",
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{
"title": "Five members of neo-Nazi group arrested for alleged targeted harassment of journalists",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/five-members-neo-nazi-group-arrested-alleged-targeted-harassment-journalists/",
"first_published_at": "2020-03-10T18:56:58.597549Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:46:49.992884Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:46:49.889144Z",
"date": "2020-02-26",
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"city": "Multiple",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"boox0\">The FBI arrested five members of the neo-Nazi paramilitary group Atomwaffen in four states on Feb. 26, 2020, for allegedly participating in campaigns of targeted harassment of journalists and others using racist and anti-Semitic slurs.</p><p data-block-key=\"pox73\">Four men arrested and charged in U.S. District Court in Seattle with criminal conspiracy were Cameron Brandon Shea, 24, of Redmond, Washington; Kaleb James Cole, 24, of Montgomery, Texas; Taylor Ashley Parker-Dipeppe, 20, of Spring Hill, Florida, and Johnny Roman Garza, 20, of Queen Creek, Arizona.</p><p data-block-key=\"yhek7\">“These defendants sought to spread fear and terror with threats delivered to the doorstep of those who are critical of their activities,” said U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran for the Western District of Washington.</p><p data-block-key=\"chdm0\">Collaborating via an encrypted messaging service, the men identified journalists and other targets — focusing their efforts on Jewish and other minority individuals — and created threatening<a href=\"https://dpa730eaqha29.cloudfront.net/myedmondsnews/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Flyer2.jpg\"> posters</a> covered in swastikas and containing the line "You have been visited by your local Nazis," which they then delivered or mailed to their homes, according to the<a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1252261/download\"> criminal complaint</a>. One member of the group suggested the men identify their targets using the Society of Professional Journalists' online freelance directory. Their targets included Jewish journalists and a leader of a black journalists association in the state of Arizona</p><p data-block-key=\"qlg60\">"We will be postering journalists [sic] houses and media buildings to send a clear message that we too have leverage over them," Shea wrote in a chat message. The group coordinated to deliver all the posters on Jan. 25, 2020. Garza wrote that their goal was "a show of force, demonstrating we are capable of mass coordination."</p><p data-block-key=\"nhd74\">A fifth man, John Cameron Denton, 26, of Montgomery, Texas, was arrested and charged separately in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia in a "swatting" conspiracy stretching from November 2018 to April 2019, allegedly targeting a ProPublica investigative journalist and the outlet's New York offices, as well as Old Dominion University, a historically black baptist church in Virginia, and a cabinet official of the Trump administration.</p><p data-block-key=\"hoamp\">The Justice Department press release defined swatting as "a harassment tactic that involves deceiving dispatchers into believing that a person or persons are in imminent danger of death or bodily harm and causing the dispatchers to send police and emergency services to an unwitting third party’s address."</p><p data-block-key=\"4nigu\">Denton unknowingly met with an undercover FBI agent and described his role in the swatting calls, according to an<a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/press-release/file/1252081/download\"> affidavit</a>. He specifically targeted ProPublica and a journalist who worked there because he was furious that he had been identified as the leader of Atomwaffen in a<a href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-inside-white-hate-group\"> story</a> for the publication.</p><p data-block-key=\"ifor3\">On Dec. 14, 2018, a dozen New York Police Department officers showed up at ProPublica's New York City offices after receiving a call from a man claiming to be an Atomwaffen member named James Mason, who claimed he had "multiple pipe bombs, an AR 15, one hostage, and a dead body." Only one employee was present in the office at time. "This employee was visibly shaken by the threat and police response," the affidavit said.</p><p data-block-key=\"trkmx\">On Feb. 8, 2019, Denton and an unnamed co-conspirator swatted a ProPublica journalist, the affidavit alleges, placing a swatting call to the Richmond Police Department, in Northern California. On the call, the co-conspirator claimed to be the journalist, saying he had shot his wife with an M16 and threatening to shoot any officers who approached his home. Law enforcement officers went to the journalist's home, put him and his wife in separate police cars, where the journalist explained "he had been receiving threats because he was a journalist that wrote about white supremacists," according to the affidavit.</p><p data-block-key=\"j30cq\">Following Denton’s February 2020 arrest, Magistrate Judge Nancy K. Johnson ordered him transferred to the Eastern District of Virginia, where he will be detained pending a hearing there.</p><p data-block-key=\"s6ysp\">Shea is currently detained in Federal Detention Center, SeaTac. He has a court hearing set for March 12, but on March 6 the chief judge for the U.S. District Court’s Western Washington District <a href=\"https://www.wawd.uscourts.gov/sites/wawd/files/03-06-20General%20Order01-20.pdf\">postponed</a> all in-person hearings at the federal courthouses in Seattle and Tacoma until at least the end of the month due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. In criminal cases, “the time period of the continuances implemented by this general order will be excluded under the Speedy Trial Act, as the Court specifically finds that the ends of justice served by ordering the continuances outweigh the best interests of the public and any defendant’s right to a speedy trial,” Martinez wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"stn5b\">Garza, Cole, and Parker-Dipeppe will remain in federal custody pending transfer to the Western District of Washington. "There are no conditions of release that would reasonably protect the safety of the community," read a detention order signed by Magistrate Judge Thomas G. Wilson on March 2, regarding Parker-Dipeppe.</p><p data-block-key=\"tswwg\">A spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service declined comment on the timing of this transfer, citing a policy of not discussing prisoner movements.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"71b3x\">A portion of a poster that was mailed or hand delivered to journalists as part of an alleged coordinated harassment campaign from the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen</p>",
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"(2021-09-29 12:05:00+00:00) Atomwaffen leader convicted for plotting harassment campaign against journalists",
"(2020-12-09 16:40:00+00:00) Atomwaffen division member sentenced to 16 months",
"(2021-05-04 10:36:00+00:00) Atomwaffen division member sentenced to 3.5 years for harassment campaign",
"(2022-01-11 12:58:00+00:00) Atomwaffen leader sentenced to seven years for plotting harassment campaign against journalists",
"(2020-09-09 08:03:00+00:00) Atomwaffen division member pleads guilty to conspiracy",
"(2020-07-14 08:05:00+00:00) Former Atomwaffen division leader pleads guilty to conspiracy, interstate threats"
],
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{
"title": "Virginia circuit court quashes subpoena seeking investigative journalist’s voicemail",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/virginia-circuit-court-quashes-subpoena-seeking-investigative-journalists-voicemail/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-17T18:53:08.712455Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-03-17T18:57:19.076753Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-03-17T18:57:19.042939Z",
"date": "2020-02-21",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Richmond",
"longitude": -77.46026,
"latitude": 37.55376,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>On Feb. 21, 2020, the Circuit Court for the City of Richmond, Virginia, <a href=\"https://www.closeupsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/Marathon-Resource-Management-v-Fresh-Cuts-Lawn-Care.pdf\">quashed a subpoena</a> issued to WRIC-TV investigative reporter Kerri O’Brien that sought a voicemail the journalist had received during the course of reporting.</p><p>Neither O’Brien nor WRIC responded to requests for comment as of press time.</p><p>The subpoena was sought as part of a lawsuit Marathon Resource Management Group, a facilities management company based in Ashland, had filed in 2019 against one of its subcontractors, Fresh Cuts Lawn Care Inc., alleging that it had made disparaging statements to the news media and on Facebook about Marathon engaging in unfair business practices and not paying the workers it contracted.</p><p>O’Brien filed a motion to quash the subpoena, citing reporter’s privilege.</p><p>In its finding, the court stated: “Even assuming that this voicemail would be relevant because it goes to the publication element of the Plaintiff’s defamation claim, the Court FINDS that Plaintiff has failed to satisfy their burden as to the other two prongs of the qualified privilege. Specifically, the information sought by the Plaintiff can be obtained by alternative means, namely the testimony of the Defendant. Further … the evidence sought by the subpoena of Ms. O’Brien is not compelling because publication can be established through other mechanisms.”</p></div>",
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kerri O’Brien (WRIC-TV)"
],
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"quashed"
],
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},
{
"title": "State Department classifies five Chinese state-run outlets as ‘foreign missions’",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/state-department-classifies-five-chinese-state-run-outlets-as-foreign-missions/",
"first_published_at": "2020-02-28T20:20:00.400052Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-22T17:38:25.225761Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-22T17:38:25.118032Z",
"date": "2020-02-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zozgf\">The State Department announced on Feb. 18, 2020, it was classifying five Chinese state-run media outlets as foreign missions, a move that makes them subject to the same rules as foreign embassies and consulates located inside the U.S under the 1982 <a href=\"https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/17842.pdf\">Foreign Missions Act</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"z6ew6\">The media organizations named were the U.S.-based outlets of Xinhua News Agency (the official state-run press agency of the People’s Republic of China), China Global Television Network (the international division of state broadcaster CCTV), China Radio International (the state-run radio broadcaster), the China Daily newspaper (the Communist Party of China’s English-language daily paper), and Hai Tian Development USA (distributor for The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China’s newspaper).</p><p data-block-key=\"nfu0g\">Under the new classification, these outlets will have to obtain approval from the State Department’s Office of Foreign Missions to lease or buy real estate, and must report a list of all their employees, including their addresses and ages, on an ongoing basis to the office.</p><p data-block-key=\"r62f6\">At a background <a href=\"https://www.state.gov/senior-state-department-officials-on-the-office-of-foreign-missions-designation-of-chinese-media-entities-as-foreign-missions/\">briefing</a> on the change, a senior state department official said these media organizations are under “very clear state control” and so the change was made because “each one of these entities meets the definition of foreign mission under our Foreign Mission Act, which is to say they are either substantially owned or effectively controlled by a foreign government.”</p><p data-block-key=\"yfrre\">That official cautioned that these new rules would not impact the outlets abilities to report in the United States. “We’re not in any way, shape, or form constraining any of the journalistic activities these entities engage in. We’re just saying we’re going to treat them as a foreign mission,” the official said.</p><p data-block-key=\"zteiu\">Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang disagreed with that sentiment in his <a href=\"http://fm.china-embassy.org/eng/fyrth/t1746893.htm\">daily briefing</a> on Feb. 19. “We deplore and reject the wrong decision of the US,” he said. “The US touts its press freedom. However, it is wantonly restricting and thwarting Chinese media outlets' normal operation there. This is totally unjustified and unacceptable. We urge the US to discard its ideological prejudice and Cold War zero-sum game mentality, and stop ill-advised measures that undermine bilateral trust and cooperation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"p1ufm\">Later in that same briefing, Shuang announced that China <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/business/media/china-wall-street-journal.html\">was expelling</a> three Wall Street Journal reporters over anger at a headline in the outlet’s Opinion section.</p><p data-block-key=\"be9c0\">In September 2018, the Department of Justice ordered CGTN and Xinhua to register as foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA. CGTN compiled with the request in February 2019, but Xinhua has yet to register. China Daily and the Hai Tian Development have been registered under FARA since 1983 and 1996, respectively.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX1UET0.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"63gi9\">China Radio International headquarters in Beijing. CRI is one of five media organizations from the country whose U.S.-based outlets are being classified as foreign missions by the U.S. State Department.</p>",
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"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-09-06 16:46:00+00:00) Chinese government limits visas for journalists for US media outlets",
"(2020-03-17 14:20:00+00:00) Chinese government announces expulsion of journalists from three outlets, will require financial disclosures from two others",
"(2020-05-11 15:33:00+00:00) U.S. restricts length of work visas for Chinese journalists in the county",
"(2020-06-22 21:28:00+00:00) State Department announces four additional Chinese state-run media outlets in the U.S. will be treated as ‘foreign missions’",
"(2020-07-01 16:24:00+00:00) Chinese government demands four U.S. news outlets disclose financial, staffing details",
"(2020-03-02 10:57:00+00:00) Four of the five Chinese state-run media outlets in the U.S. ordered to reduce staff",
"(2020-10-21 15:51:00+00:00) State Department labels six additional Chinese media outlets as ‘foreign missions’, bringing total to 15"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Beijing Review [China]",
"CGTN Radio [China]",
"China Central Television [China]",
"China Daily [China]",
"China Global Television Network [China]",
"China News Service [China]",
"China Social Sciences Press",
"Economic Daily [China]",
"Global Times [China]",
"Jiefang Daily [China]",
"People’s Daily [China]",
"Xinhua News Agency [China]",
"Xinmin Evening News [China]",
"Yicai Global [China]"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
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},
{
"title": "Fresno Bee reporters barred from event with cabinet secretary, house representative",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fresno-bee-reporters-barred-event-cabinet-secretary-house-representative/",
"first_published_at": "2020-02-27T16:50:35.363402Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-21T16:40:49.310177Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T16:40:49.197050Z",
"date": "2020-02-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Tulare",
"longitude": -119.34734,
"latitude": 36.20773,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"w59dd\">California newspaper The Fresno Bee says it was barred from attending an event with Rep. Devin Nunes and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s top official in Tulare County, California, on Feb. 18, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"8wxd1\">In an article about its exclusion, The Bee <a href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article240285026.html\">reported</a> that it had registered and received tickets through an Eventbrite website to attend a water forum moderated by the Friant Water Authority, a public agency, and featuring David Bernhardt, secretary of the Interior Department, and Nunes. The Bee noted that the event was not a private fundraiser.</p><p data-block-key=\"tfu3u\">At 10 a.m. the day of the event, the outlet said a Nunes staffer contacted The Bee to make clear its reporters would not be allowed to cover the forum.</p><p data-block-key=\"b8k41\">“I saw you registered for the event today,” Nunes’ staffer Crystal Ervin said in a voicemail to The Bee, “but I want to make it clear that it’s invited press only, and you’re not on the list and your ticket will not scan at the door.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b1g1f\">Journalists from other news outlets were allowed to cover the event, including local Fox affiliate KMPH and ABC30 News.</p><p data-block-key=\"shttu\">An Interior Department spokesperson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the agency was not responsible for press credentialing the event. The Friant Water Authority did not immediately respond to the Tracker’s request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ggle\">Spokespeople for Nunes did not respond to the Tracker’s questions about The Bee’s exclusion and whether the decision was connected to his pending lawsuit against the outlet’s parent company, Sacramento-based McClatchy Company.</p><p data-block-key=\"0fixl\">Nunes <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/california-congressman-devin-nunes-files-defamation-suit-against-newspaper-its-coverage/\">filed the $150 million defamation lawsuit</a> in April 2019, arguing that a 2018 Bee article on the congressman constituted “character assassination.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wydlx\">In <a href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/article240433786.html\">an editorial</a> about the outlet’s exclusion, The Bee wrote, “Nunes’ decision to bar the region’s biggest newspaper from attending represents a new strategy in his war against the free press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zsven\">“In barring The Bee from the water forum, Nunes unveiled a new tactic: excluding media outlets from public events as punishment for doing their jobs. He appears to be once again copying the behavior of Trump, who in the past has banned news outlets like Bloomberg News, Buzzfeed news and Politico from covering his events,” the editorial reads.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX7BRKW.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1l6ae\">California newspaper The Fresno Bee was denied entrance to a water forum with its representative, Devin Nunes, here on Capitol Hill, and others. Nunes is also suing The Bee's parent company over the outlet's articles on the congressman.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"The Fresno Bee"
],
"tags": [],
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"Federal government: Legislature"
],
"authors": [],
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"Denial of Access"
],
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"type_of_denial": [
"Government event"
]
},
{
"title": "Chicago CBS affiliate ordered to turn over unedited interview footage",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/chicago-cbs-affiliate-ordered-turn-over-unedited-interview-footage/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-13T21:35:26.629890Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:42:27.467883Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:42:27.390134Z",
"date": "2020-02-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qkn04\">A federal judge ruled on Aug. 3, 2020, that WMMB-TV CBS2 President and General Manager Derek Dalton must comply with a subpoena for communications and unedited audio and video recordings of interviews with a woman who alleged Chicago, Illinois, police officers illegally raided her home.</p><p data-block-key=\"9pfkr\">In 2018, investigative reporter Dave Savini created <a href=\"https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2018/11/08/chicago-police-raids-wrong-homes-cbs-2-investigators/\">a series of stories</a> for the CBS affiliate, highlighting allegations that the Chicago Police Department conducted illegal searches of residents’ homes. In one segment, Savini interviewed South Side resident Ebony Tate, who filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Chicago and a group of police officers after a mistaken 2018 search on her home. <a href=\"https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-chicago-police-raid-wrong-house-20181109-story.html\">According to the Chicago Tribune</a>, body camera footage captures officers openly questioning if they had the right place.</p><p data-block-key=\"4dqo3\">CBS2 received <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilnd.358361/gov.uscourts.ilnd.358361.158.1.pdf\">two subpoenas</a> — one for Dalton and the <a href=\"/all-incidents/chicago-cbs2-reporter-subpoenaed-for-aired-and-unpublished-footage/\">other for Savini</a> — from lawyers for the officers on Feb. 12, 2020, seeking any and all notes, documents and communications related to interviews with Tate and five other interview subjects. The subpoena also demanded “outtake” footage, or recordings that were not released to the public, from the interviews.</p><p data-block-key=\"5coro\">CBS2 <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilnd.358361/gov.uscourts.ilnd.358361.158.0.pdf\">objected to the subpoena</a> on Feb. 26, and on Aug. 3, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert of the Northern District of Illinois <a href=\"https://casetext.com/case/tate-v-city-of-chi-1\">denied the outlet’s bid</a> to block it.</p><p data-block-key=\"cnl2\">In Gilbert’s ruling, he disagreed with CBS that producing the requested materials placed an “undue burden” on the station, finding that the unedited footage and other statements by Tate are “at the very heart of this litigation” and “clearly relevant” to the claims in Tate’s civil rights lawsuit. The recordings were made with the expectation that they might be shown to the public, Gilbert said, without expectation of anonymity.</p><p data-block-key=\"clqs6\">The judge did quash the portion requesting off-camera and unpublished communications between CBS2, Savini and the interviewees.</p><p data-block-key=\"6me3b\">CBS2 declined to comment on the ruling or whether the station would file an appeal. Al Hofield Jr., who represented Tate in her federal suit, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email that federal law tends to have fewer protections for journalists’ sources than state shield laws, and he felt the judge followed the law.</p><p data-block-key=\"55o2t\">Lawyers for the officers named in Tate’s lawsuit, who issued the subpoenas, did not respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/CBS2_-_Tate_subpoena.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"h9nwq\">A portion of the subpoena issued to CBS2 President and General Manager Derek Dalton on Feb. 12, 2020, seeking unedited audio and video recordings of his interviews with a woman suing the city of Chicago and multiple police officers.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"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": [
"Derek Dalton (WBBM-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"quashed",
"upheld"
],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Chicago CBS2 reporter subpoenaed for aired and unpublished footage",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/chicago-cbs2-reporter-subpoenaed-for-aired-and-unpublished-footage/",
"first_published_at": "2023-04-20T19:51:06.232360Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:38:41.225243Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:38:41.149243Z",
"date": "2020-02-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cbpxa\">A federal judge ruled on Aug. 3, 2020, that WMMB-TV CBS2 investigative reporter Dave Savini must comply with a subpoena for communications and unedited audio and video recordings of interviews with a woman who alleged Chicago, Illinois, police officers illegally raided her home.</p><p data-block-key=\"bbmlv\">In 2018, Savini created <a href=\"https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2018/11/08/chicago-police-raids-wrong-homes-cbs-2-investigators/\">a series of stories</a> for the CBS affiliate, highlighting allegations that the Chicago Police Department conducted illegal searches of residents’ homes. In one segment, Savini interviewed South Side resident Ebony Tate, who filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Chicago and a group of police officers after a mistaken 2018 search on her home. <a href=\"https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-chicago-police-raid-wrong-house-20181109-story.html\">According to the Chicago Tribune</a>, body camera footage captures officers openly questioning if they had the right place.</p><p data-block-key=\"3gcsp\">CBS2 received <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilnd.358361/gov.uscourts.ilnd.358361.158.1.pdf\">two subpoenas</a> — one for <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/chicago-cbs-affiliate-ordered-turn-over-unedited-interview-footage/\">Derek Dalton</a>, in his role as president and general manager of CBS2, and the other for Savini — from lawyers for the officers on Feb. 12, 2020, seeking any and all notes, documents and communications related to interviews with Tate and five other interview subjects. The subpoena also demanded “outtake” footage, or recordings that were not released to the public, from the interviews.</p><p data-block-key=\"cnakg\">CBS2 <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilnd.358361/gov.uscourts.ilnd.358361.158.0.pdf\">objected to the subpoena</a> on Feb. 26, and on Aug. 3, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert of the Northern District of Illinois <a href=\"https://casetext.com/case/tate-v-city-of-chi-1\">denied the outlet’s bid</a> to block it.</p><p data-block-key=\"3t9pq\">In Gilbert’s ruling, he disagreed with CBS that producing the requested materials placed an “undue burden” on the station, finding that the unedited footage and other statements by Tate are “at the very heart of this litigation” and “clearly relevant” to the claims in Tate’s civil rights lawsuit. The recordings were made with the expectation that they might be shown to the public, Gilbert said, without expectation of anonymity.</p><p data-block-key=\"7o8m9\">The judge did quash the portion requesting off-camera and unpublished communications between CBS2, Savini and the interviewees.</p><p data-block-key=\"dt73p\">CBS2 declined to comment on the ruling or whether the station would file an appeal. Al Hofield Jr., who represented Tate in her federal suit, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email that federal law tends to have fewer protections for journalists’ sources than state shield laws, and he felt the judge followed the law.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7c7r\">Lawyers for the officers named in Tate’s lawsuit, who issued the subpoenas, did not respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Savini_-_Tate_subpoena.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"i41bk\">A portion of the subpoena issued to CBS2 investigative reporter Dave Savini on Feb. 12, 2020, seeking unedited audio and video recordings of his interviews with a woman suing the city of Chicago and multiple police officers.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"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": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Dave Savini (WBBM-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"quashed",
"upheld"
],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "FBI arrests man following threatening calls to investigative reporter",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fbi-arrests-man-following-threatening-calls-investigative-reporter/",
"first_published_at": "2020-03-10T18:33:49.887425Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-11-18T19:59:54.045986Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-11-18T19:59:53.984411Z",
"date": "2020-02-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Buffalo",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>FBI agents arrested a seminary professor in Buffalo, New York, on Feb. 12, 2020, in connection with death threats made against WKBW chief investigative reporter Charlie Specht.</p><p>Specht told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he had been receiving harassing and threatening voicemails from an unknown caller for nearly six months.</p><p>“Then it was kind of a menacing voice and they were leaving messages that were very personal but also they were criticizing my reporting and saying that there were going to be consequences,” Specht said.</p><p>WKBW, the local ABC affiliate, <a href=\"https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/fbi-arrests-man-accused-of-making-death-threat-to-investigative-reporter-charlie-specht\">reported</a> that the calls began in August 2019, as Specht and the station’s investigative team reported on alleged abuse and corruption scandals at Christ the King Seminary. The voicemails told Specht to end the investigations into the diocese, threatened to end his career and referenced members of his family.</p><p>“You’re still a bad Catholic and a horrible reporter,” one voicemail warned, according to the complaint filed against the caller. “I hope to God I don’t see you walking around [town].”</p><p>In another, the caller said, “You destroyed the Diocese of Buffalo and Bishop Malone. Oh, you must be so proud. You’re a piece of shit, you really are a piece of shit. You’re not a journalist … and you don’t know how to be a journalist.”</p><p>WKBW reached out to law enforcement when the calls began, the outlet reported, but prosecutors needed more information about the caller and the specific nature of the threats.</p><p>Specht told the Tracker that the calls kept escalating until Feb. 4 when — moments after Specht gave a live report on the diocese’s announcement that the seminary would be closing — the caller threatened to kill him.</p><p>“You must be so happy the seminary’s closing. You’re a bad person. I know where you live,” the caller said. “I’m gonna find you. I’m gonna kill you.”</p><p>WKBW decided to cancel Specht’s 6 p.m. live broadcast as a precaution, he told the Tracker.</p><p>Specht said that he and his family were shocked and scared by the calls. WKBW hired private security for them and had the family stay in a hotel for a week as prosecutors opened an investigation and assigned an FBI field officer to investigate.</p><p>“It was clear that this wasn’t someone who got upset with a news broadcast and did a spur of the moment thing. This was persistent and it seemed like this guy really had it out for me. That’s what really worried us,” Specht said.</p><p>The caller, eventually identified as adjunct seminary professor Paul Lubienecki, was arrested and charged with cyberstalking on Feb. 12, accused of making 11 “harassing” phone calls to Specht between August 2019 and February 2020, according to a complaint filed against Lubienecki. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.</p><p>Specht told WKBW that he was grateful the FBI made the investigation a priority.</p><p>“Criticism of news reporting is acceptable and even welcomed. But making personal threats against a reporter for simply doing his job goes against the entire American belief in a free press,” he said.</p><p>Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, whom the Pope appointed as interim administrator for the diocese, condemned the threats against Specht in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BuffaloDiocese/status/1227947700777357312\">series</a> of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BuffaloDiocese/status/1227947703260372993\">tweets</a>.</p><p>“There is no place — nor should there be any tolerance — for threats or harassment towards members of the news media or any one else. This is against who we are as Christians, but also against our nation’s founding principles that guarantee freedom to the press and freedom of speech,” Scharfenberger wrote.</p><p>Lubienecki was released on a $2,500 bond to await trial. The judge in the case <a href=\"https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/defense-considers-options-for-man-accused-in-death-threat-of-i-team-reporter\">granted</a> a 60-day adjournment for Lubienecki and his attorney to consider possible defenses, and he is scheduled back in court on April 24.</p></div>",
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"(2021-08-03 09:03:00+00:00) Former seminary professor pleads guilty to sending death threats to reporter",
"(2021-11-09 00:00:00+00:00) Former seminary professor sentenced to 12 months in prison for sending death threats to reporter"
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{
"title": "Utah State Legislature suspends editor’s media credential",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/utah-state-legislature-suspends-editors-media-credential/",
"first_published_at": "2025-02-06T18:26:54.543599Z",
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"date": "2020-02-11",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pqix6\">Bob Bernick, a contributing editor at Utah Policy, had his media credential suspended for a week by the Utah State Legislature in Salt Lake City on Feb. 11, 2020, the outlet reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"9nu78\">Utah Policy <a href=\"https://utahpolicy.com/archive/22949-utahpolicy-com-reporter-bob-bernick-suspended-by-utah-legislature\">said</a> it was told that the suspension was issued after Bernick entered a hallway and caucus room that had been made off-limits while then-U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah was visiting the Legislature on Feb. 5.</p><p data-block-key=\"ak9ie\">According to the outlet, Bernick entered a hallway outside the House chamber in an attempt to question Romney. Jon Ammons, the House deputy chief of staff, told Bernick to leave the hallway because it was being closed for “security reasons.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4viu9\">Bernick told Ammons that he had a right to be in the hallway, which was typically open to the press prior to House floor time. Bernick continued into the House majority caucus room to question Romney there.</p><p data-block-key=\"9g39t\">A member of the Utah Highway Patrol then told Bernick he was not allowed to be in the area, and Bernick left.</p><p data-block-key=\"8hvr2\">In a Feb. 11 statement to Utah Policy, Utah Senate Director of Communications Aundrea Peterson said Bernick’s credential was suspended for “entering a secure area of the Capitol without permission,” adding that the decision was “based upon a report from Utah Highway Patrol, eyewitness and video.”</p><p data-block-key=\"78qkv\">The outlet <a href=\"https://utahpolicy.com/archive/23028-bernick-is-out-of-the-doghouse-and-back-in-full-fellowship\">reported</a> that the decision was made “without any discussion or warning,” and that Bernick was not given a chance to review the complaint against him by the Highway Patrol officer. Bernick denied accessing a restricted area, Utah Policy said.</p><p data-block-key=\"a66gd\">Utah Policy Publisher LaVarr Webb, who called Bernick “the dean” of Utah political reporters after having covered the Legislature for more than 40 years, said, “He was doing what reporters do — going after a story.”</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"l9g7p\">The Utah State Capitol building in Salt Lake City in November 2015. The state legislature suspended Utah Policy contributing editor Bob Bernick’s media credential for one week on Feb. 11, 2020.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Utah",
"abbreviation": "UT"
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"Bob Bernick (Utah Policy)"
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]
