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{
"title": "Washington, D.C.-based NBC affiliate subpoenaed in ongoing defamation suit from ‘Unite the Right’ rally",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/washington-dc-based-nbc-affiliate-subpoenaed-in-ongoing-defamation-suit-from-unite-the-right-rally/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-02T17:12:27.989097Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-05T17:55:25.494428Z",
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"date": "2021-05-20",
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"city": "Charlottesville",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vi8qe\">NBC4 Washington was among multiple media outlets and journalists subpoenaed on May 20, 2021, for testimony in an ongoing lawsuit stemming from the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"0i92u\">Hundreds of white nationalists who had flocked to Charlottesville to protest plans to remove a Confederate statue were met by crowds of counterprotesters, Time Magazine <a href=\"https://time.com/charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally-clashes/\">reported in 2017</a>, and the resulting violence led Virginia's governor to declare a state of emergency.</p><p data-block-key=\"clx0d\">Plaintiff Brennan Gilmore alleged that after witnessing and filming the vehicular murder of anti-racism protester Heather Heyer during the Aug. 12 rally, he was subjected to a series of false articles and conspiracy theories and received numerous death threats against him and his family, The Daily Progress <a href=\"https://dailyprogress.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/judge-denies-attempts-from-rally-lawsuit-defendant-to-subpoena-reporters/article_04e2b72c-e99f-11eb-8de8-9bcf70b2ba5c.html\">reported</a>. He filed a defamation lawsuit against multiple defendants 一 including Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit, Alex Jones and his website InfoWars 一 in March 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"mq3tt\">Hoft, as part of his defense, alleged that coverage of the rally was skewed by a vast conspiracy involving the press and government actors; he issued numerous subpoenas to non-party individuals and government and law enforcement agencies in an apparent effort to uncover the supposed conspiracy.</p><p data-block-key=\"t6h9p\">NBC4 Washington, which didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment, was issued a 19-page subpoena on May 20, 2021, ordering it to provide deposition testimony via Zoom on June 4.</p><p data-block-key=\"memtd\">The subpoena, reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, notified the broadcast station of a broad range of possible subjects for the deposition, including: 1) “the ‘hundreds of top-tier media outlets’ which provided ‘extensive coverage to the Charlottesville residents who were showing up to challenge the spectre of white supremacy;’” 2) the lawsuit and all the topics therein; 3) the KKK and 4) multiple activist organizations and at least 28 named individuals, including former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and billionaire philanthropist George Soros, both of whom have been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories from the far-right.</p><p data-block-key=\"a8ern\">The subpoena also commanded the outlet to turn over documents, videos, photos and communications exchanged by any of its employees or agents in connection with its coverage of the rally, Heyer’s death or the trials of her murderer, James Alex Fields, Jr.</p><p data-block-key=\"x95dx\">WVIR-TV, NBC4 reporter Julie Carey, WSLS-TV and its reporter Ashley Curtis <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/subpoena/?categories=6&city=Charlottesville&date_lower=2021-05-20&date_upper=2021-05-20\">received nearly identical subpoenas</a>. Attorney Leita Walker, representing all five parties, filed a motion to quash the subpoenas on June 14, describing them as “extremely overbroad and unduly burdensome.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pdq4j\">“[The subpoenas] seek virtually <i>every</i> court filing, police report, email, press release, video, photo or other document that the Non-Party Journalists received from <i>anyone</i>一government sources, witnesses to the events, social media, fellow journalists, wire services, etc.,” Walker wrote in the motion, which was reviewed by the Tracker. “[Hoft] is clearly engaged in a massive and massively inappropriate fishing expedition that, in the case of the Non-Party Journalists, seeks information they obtained in the course of their newsgathering activities.”</p><p data-block-key=\"76smi\">U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Virginia Joel Hoppe ruled in favor of the journalists and outlets, quashing the subpoenas on July 20, citing Hoft’s inadequate pleadings, according to The Daily Progress.</p><p data-block-key=\"rv9bz\">Walker didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "NBC-affiliate reporter in DC subpoenaed in ongoing defamation suit from ‘Unite the Right’ rally",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nbc-affiliate-reporter-in-dc-subpoenaed-in-ongoing-defamation-suit-from-unite-the-right-rally/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-02T17:24:25.384530Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-13T19:58:31.016709Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-13T19:58:30.725190Z",
"date": "2021-05-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Charlottesville",
"longitude": -78.47668,
"latitude": 38.02931,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qqjrf\">NBC4 Washington reporter Julie Carey was among multiple journalists and media outlets subpoenaed on May 20, 2021, for testimony in an ongoing lawsuit stemming from the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"n8o7s\">Hundreds of white nationalists who had flocked to Charlottesville to protest plans to remove a Confederate statue were met by crowds of counterprotesters, Time Magazine <a href=\"https://time.com/charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally-clashes/\">reported in 2017</a>, and the resulting violence led Virginia's governor to declare a state of emergency.</p><p data-block-key=\"f1fsf\">Plaintiff Brennan Gilmore alleged that after witnessing and filming the vehicular murder of anti-racism protester Heather Heyer during the Aug. 12 rally, he was subjected to a series of false articles and conspiracy theories and received numerous death threats against him and his family, The Daily Progress <a href=\"https://dailyprogress.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/judge-denies-attempts-from-rally-lawsuit-defendant-to-subpoena-reporters/article_04e2b72c-e99f-11eb-8de8-9bcf70b2ba5c.html\">reported</a>. He filed a defamation lawsuit against multiple defendants 一 including Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit, Alex Jones and his website InfoWars 一 in March 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ib5o\">Hoft, as part of his defense, alleged that coverage of the rally was skewed by a vast conspiracy involving the press and government actors; he issued numerous subpoenas to non-party individuals and government and law enforcement agencies in an apparent effort to uncover the supposed conspiracy.</p><p data-block-key=\"yf6ky\">Carey, who declined for comment when reached by email, was issued a 19-page subpoena on May 20, 2021, ordering her to provide deposition testimony via Zoom on June 4.</p><p data-block-key=\"fxs51\">The subpoena, reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, notified Carey of a broad range of possible subjects for the deposition, including: 1) “the ‘hundreds of top-tier media outlets’ which provided ‘extensive coverage to the Charlottesville residents who were showing up to challenge the spectre of white supremacy;’” 2) the lawsuit and all the topics therein; 3) the KKK and 4) multiple activist organizations and at least 28 named individuals, including former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and billionaire philanthropist George Soros, both of whom have been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories from the far-right.</p><p data-block-key=\"9600v\">The subpoena also ordered Carey to turn over documents, videos, photos and communications she exchanged in connection with NBC4’s coverage of the rally, Heyer’s death or the trials of her murderer, James Alex Fields, Jr.</p><p data-block-key=\"gcwh5\">NBC4, WVIR-TV, WSLS-TV and its reporter Ashley Curtis <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-05-20&date_upper=2021-05-20&city=Charlottesville&categories=Subpoena%2FLegal+Order\">received nearly identical subpoenas</a>. Attorney Leita Walker, representing all five parties, filed a motion to quash the subpoenas on June 14, describing them as “extremely overbroad and unduly burdensome.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kcizi\">“[The subpoenas] seek virtually <i>every</i> court filing, police report, email, press release, video, photo or other document that the Non-Party Journalists received from <i>anyone</i>一government sources, witnesses to the events, social media, fellow journalists, wire services, etc.,” Walker wrote in the motion, which was reviewed by the Tracker. “[Hoft] is clearly engaged in a massive and massively inappropriate fishing expedition that, in the case of the Non-Party Journalists, seeks information they obtained in the course of their newsgathering activities.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hc5ms\">U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Virginia Joel Hoppe ruled in favor of the journalists and outlets, quashing the subpoenas on July 20, citing Hoft’s inadequate pleadings, according to The Daily Progress.</p><p data-block-key=\"07ytt\">Neither NBC4 nor Walker replied to emailed requests for comment.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Roanoke reporter subpoenaed in ongoing defamation suit from ‘Unite the Right’ rally",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/roanoke-reporter-subpoenaed-in-ongoing-defamation-suit-from-unite-the-right-rally/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-02T16:55:15.762935Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-05T17:55:53.761131Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-05T17:55:53.636941Z",
"date": "2021-05-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Charlottesville",
"longitude": -78.47668,
"latitude": 38.02931,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f5zdx\">WSLS 10 News reporter Ashley Curtis was among multiple journalists and media outlets subpoenaed on May 20, 2021, for testimony in an ongoing lawsuit stemming from the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"mn47g\">Hundreds of white nationalists who had flocked to Charlottesville to protest plans to remove a Confederate statue were met by crowds of counterprotesters, Time Magazine <a href=\"https://time.com/charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally-clashes/\">reported in 2017</a>, and the resulting violence led Virginia's governor to declare a state of emergency.</p><p data-block-key=\"5cilz\">Plaintiff Brennan Gilmore alleged that after witnessing and filming the vehicular murder of anti-racism protester Heather Heyer during the Aug. 12 rally, he was subjected to a series of false articles and conspiracy theories and received numerous death threats against him and his family, The Daily Progress <a href=\"https://dailyprogress.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/judge-denies-attempts-from-rally-lawsuit-defendant-to-subpoena-reporters/article_04e2b72c-e99f-11eb-8de8-9bcf70b2ba5c.html\">reported</a>. He filed a defamation lawsuit against multiple defendants 一 including Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit, Alex Jones and his website InfoWars 一 in March 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"e3f62\">Hoft, as part of his defense, alleged that coverage of the rally was skewed by a vast conspiracy involving the press and government actors; he issued numerous subpoenas to non-party individuals and government and law enforcement agencies in an apparent effort to uncover the supposed conspiracy.</p><p data-block-key=\"e6qyp\">Curtis, who didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment, was issued a 19-page subpoena on May 20, 2021, ordering her to provide deposition testimony via Zoom on June 4.</p><p data-block-key=\"mxgcd\">The subpoena, reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, notified Curtis of a broad range of possible subjects for the deposition, including: 1) “the ‘hundreds of top-tier media outlets’ which provided ‘extensive coverage to the Charlottesville residents who were showing up to challenge the spectre of white supremacy;’” 2) the lawsuit and all the topics therein; 3) the KKK and 4) multiple activist organizations and at least 28 named individuals, including former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and billionaire philanthropist George Soros, both of whom have been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories from the far-right.</p><p data-block-key=\"6mnns\">The subpoena also commanded Curtis to turn over documents, videos, photos and communications she exchanged in connection with WSLS’s coverage of the rally, Heyer’s death or the trials of her murderer, James Alex Fields, Jr.</p><p data-block-key=\"146jd\">WSLS, WVIR-TV, NBC4 Washington and its reporter Julie Carey <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/subpoena/?categories=6&city=Charlottesville&date_lower=2021-05-20&date_upper=2021-05-20\">received nearly identical subpoenas</a>. Attorney Leita Walker, representing all five parties, filed a motion to quash the subpoenas on June 14, describing them as “extremely overbroad and unduly burdensome.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5hibv\">“[The subpoenas] seek virtually <i>every</i> court filing, police report, email, press release, video, photo or other document that the Non-Party Journalists received from <i>anyone</i>一government sources, witnesses to the events, social media, fellow journalists, wire services, etc.,” Walker wrote in the motion, which was reviewed by the Tracker. “[Hoft] is clearly engaged in a massive and massively inappropriate fishing expedition that, in the case of the Non-Party Journalists, seeks information they obtained in the course of their newsgathering activities.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v3qml\">U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Virginia Joel Hoppe ruled in favor of the journalists and outlets, quashing the subpoenas on July 20, citing Hoft’s inadequate pleadings, according to The Daily Progress.</p><p data-block-key=\"ry3wl\">Neither WSLS nor Walker replied to emailed requests for comment.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Former New York Times reporter’s phone records subpoenaed in defamation suit from ‘Unite the Right' rally",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-new-york-times-reporters-phone-records-subpoenaed-in-defamation-suit-from-unite-the-right-rally/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-02T17:28:23.685200Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-13T19:58:12.686999Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-13T19:58:12.553438Z",
"date": "2021-05-20",
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"city": "Charlottesville",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3cx62\">Phone records belonging to former New York Times reporter Jessica Bidgood were subpoenaed on May 20, 2021, as part of an ongoing lawsuit stemming from the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"azw9c\">Hundreds of white nationalists who had flocked to Charlottesville to protest plans to remove a Confederate statue were met by crowds of counterprotesters, Time Magazine <a href=\"https://time.com/charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally-clashes/\">reported in 2017</a>, and the resulting violence led Virginia's governor to declare a state of emergency.</p><p data-block-key=\"yrcwa\">Plaintiff Brennan Gilmore alleged that after witnessing and filming the vehicular murder of anti-racism protester Heather Heyer during the Aug. 12 rally, he was subjected to a series of false articles and conspiracy theories and received numerous death threats against him and his family, The Daily Progress <a href=\"https://dailyprogress.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/judge-denies-attempts-from-rally-lawsuit-defendant-to-subpoena-reporters/article_04e2b72c-e99f-11eb-8de8-9bcf70b2ba5c.html\">reported</a>. He filed a defamation lawsuit against multiple defendants 一 including Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit, Alex Jones and his website InfoWars 一 in March 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"daw7t\">Hoft, as part of his defense, alleged that coverage of the rally was skewed by a vast conspiracy involving the press and government actors; he issued numerous subpoenas to non-party individuals and government and law enforcement agencies in an apparent effort to uncover the supposed conspiracy. Five additional journalists or media outlets <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/subpoena/?categories=6&city=Charlottesville&date_lower=2021-05-20&date_upper=2021-05-20\">were subpoenaed in the proceedings</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"m7cg2\">On May 20, 2021, Hoft subpoenaed Verizon, ordering the telecommunications company to produce “all phone records, documents, and/or logs, text message documents, phone contacts, phone photos, phone media, phone video, SUBSCRIBER INFORMATION, and CALL DETAILS for the period of March 1, 2017 through March 1, 2018.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nk0k4\">The subpoena, reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, listed multiple phone numbers of which at least one belongs or formerly belonged to Bidgood, and ordered Verizon to produce the requested documents by June 4.</p><p data-block-key=\"5130v\">Bidgood, who didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment, was working for the Times during the dates specified; she is now a reporter at the Boston Globe.</p><p data-block-key=\"04jg0\">Charles Tobin, an attorney representing Bidgood, told the Tracker that the Times received word of the subpoena for Bidgood’s records on July 14. Tobin filed objections to the subpoena and a motion to quash the same day. According to that filing, by that date Verizon had already mailed records to Hoft’s attorney but Bidgood hoped that the company could take steps to stop their delivery.</p><p data-block-key=\"cp6co\">The following day, however, Tobin filed a motion on Bidgood’s behalf requesting that the court order Hoft’s attorney to destroy the documents that had successfully been delivered.</p><p data-block-key=\"1n423\">“The subpoena did not mention Bidgood by name, however, and it did not otherwise alert Verizon that Bidgood is a journalist and that her telephone records are therefore privileged journalistic work product under the First Amendment,” the motion read.</p><p data-block-key=\"cc9fk\">“The court should therefore order Hoft’s counsel to treat Bidgood’s privileged phone records as ‘Recalled Information’ under the Protective Order and to immediately destroy them, which will preserve the status quo while the Court considers Bidgood’s motion to quash the subpoena and any response and reply thereto,” the motion said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4hf5b\">U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Virginia Joel Hoppe granted the motion in part on July 16, directing Hoft’s counsel not to view the records and to secure the records in a sealed receptacle until the motion to quash is resolved.</p><p data-block-key=\"mdng6\">Tobin told the Tracker that they were pleased with how quickly the judge acted to protect Bidgood’s records.</p><p data-block-key=\"dr6a3\">“The Attorney General of the United States just announced that the news media will no longer be subpoenaed for leaks investigations,” Tobin said, referencing <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-01-01&date_upper=2020-01-01\">recent revelations</a> about Department of Justice subpoenas to multiple journalists and news organizations under the Trump administration. “It’s a giant step forward for the protection of reporters’ source materials and the protection of their relationships with sources. And examples like [Bigood’s] in civil litigation point out the need for greater protection under federal law by shield laws and by enforcement of First Amendment rights.”</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Media prevented from reporting on Texas execution for first time for decades",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/media-prevented-from-reporting-on-texas-execution-for-first-time-for-decades/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-15T19:08:27.443444Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-20T21:12:42.566773Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-20T21:12:42.468919Z",
"date": "2021-05-19",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Huntsville",
"longitude": -95.55078,
"latitude": 30.72353,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r6yts\">For the first time in decades the Texas Department of Criminal Justice failed to let journalists cover an execution, even though two reporters had been cleared to do so and were waiting nearby to be called into the state penitentiary in Huntsville on May 19, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"4e8uo\">A database maintained by the <a href=\"https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/death_row/dr_media_witness_list.html\">Texas Department of Criminal Justice</a> confirmed that there had been media in attendance at each of the state’s previous 570 executions. Prison officials said “miscommunication” had kept media from witnessing the 571st execution, of Quintin Jones, who was convicted of the 1999 murder of his great-aunt Berthena Bryant, according to <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/20/us/texas-execution-quintin-jones-reporter.html\">The New York Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"glnjl\">Joseph Brown, editor of The Huntsville Item in Huntsville, Texas, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and Associated Press reporter Michael Graczyk had arrived at around 5 p.m., about an hour ahead of the scheduled time for the execution. The Huntsville Item is one of two news outlets regularly called to attend and report on executions in Texas, and Brown said that he is often the reporter on duty.</p><p data-block-key=\"jamjg\">Brown said the two reporters were sequestered in an office across the street from the penitentiary and were waiting to be told by the prison’s communications director they could be taken over the road.</p><p data-block-key=\"uv13p\">But according to Brown, the call never came.</p><p data-block-key=\"vk98y\">Jones had appealed to <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/texas-executions-lifestyle-747fc8994706df9dee9e64909c464b99\">the U.S. Supreme Court</a> for clemency, but the court declined his appeal and the execution was set to go ahead at around 6:15 pm local time. According to Brown, reporters are usually called in to witness an execution about 10 minutes in advance. “We went 25-30 minutes and still hadn't heard the call. So we started asking questions,” Brown told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"k7gr4\">Brown said that when the communications director called to see what was happening, “he was informed that the warden was already in the room going through the process. It was already ongoing,” said Brown who then realized the reporters were locked out of witnessing the execution.</p><p data-block-key=\"gwzaz\">Jeremy Desel, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, told the Tracker: “Normally, upon the final notifications that there is no action pending in any court or from the Office of the Governor of Texas, a phone call is made to the Director of Communications to escort the media witnesses into the unit. As a result of a miscommunication between officials at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, there was never a call made to summon the media witnesses into the unit.”</p><p data-block-key=\"onmnj\">Desel said the department apologized “for this critical error. The agency is investigating to determine exactly what occurred to ensure it does not happen again.”</p><p data-block-key=\"yf9b7\">Editor Brown said he was skeptical about the department’s explanation, based on his experience covering previous executions.</p><p data-block-key=\"5e0ba\">The failure to call in reporters was an “egregious” error he said. “To me, it seems like a pretty big mess up to make. Because stuff like this is very methodical, it's very planned. It's very … to the book,” Brown said. If the department failed to tick one of the boxes in its normal routine this time, “what are the boxes that get missed that we don't know?” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5bqxh\">Coverage of executions is a longstanding media oversight tradition. Press advocates say it can be essential for making public issues such as a state’s use of faulty equipment or drugs. Jones was executed by lethal injection.</p><p data-block-key=\"m0qjk\">“It's the same reason why many members [of the media] cover your state legislature and your federal governments, your local councils,” said Brown. “If you don't have that public oversight, then they can almost willy nilly do whatever they want.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c3syg\">Brown said there were a number of procedural changes that were in place for the first time in the execution of Jones, making it even more imperative to have eyewitness media reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"3o3uv\">Graczyk, the AP reporter, did not respond to a request for a comment from the Tracker.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Reporter and colleague arrested during protests in Elizabeth City",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-and-colleague-arrested-during-protests-in-elizabeth-city/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-21T15:32:56.743111Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-08-05T19:09:56.404182Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-08-05T19:09:56.312180Z",
"date": "2021-05-19",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Elizabeth City",
"longitude": -76.25105,
"latitude": 36.2946,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"45yay\">Two reporters for The Staunton News Leader, a USA TODAY network paper, were arrested while covering a social justice protest in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on May 19, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"t3pll\">The protest <a href=\"https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2021/05/19/andrew-brown-jr-elizabeth-city-nc-protest-reporters-ayano-nagaishi-alison-cutler-arrested/5176430001/\">was in response</a> to an announcement earlier that day from the prosecutor’s office that the police shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man, on April 21 was justified and that none of the Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies would face charges. The demonstration was the latest in a wave of protests against racial injustice and police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ppnr3\">At approximately 9 p.m., law enforcement officers ordered the crowd to disperse under threat of arrest on charges of standing, sitting or lying on a street or roadway, the News Leader <a href=\"https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2021/05/19/andrew-brown-jr-elizabeth-city-nc-protest-reporters-ayano-nagaishi-alison-cutler-arrested/5176430001/\">reported</a>. Minutes later, as reporters Alison Cutler and Ayano Nagaishi were standing in a crosswalk about a foot away from the curb and filming an arrest across the street, law enforcement officers approached them, asking for the “ladies in the vests,” according to the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"05ee0\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/yanonaga98/status/1395174429714419714\">footage</a> captured on Nagaishi’s livestream, both journalists were placed in zip-tie cuffs and led away by officers. When asked on what charge they were being arrested, an officer can be heard responding, “For standing in the middle of the street, in the roadway.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Tensions are rising in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/ElizabethCity?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ElizabethCity</a> as protestors for <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/AndrewBrownJr?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AndrewBrownJr</a> are deemed an unlawful assembly ordered to leave the premises in under five minutes. One man has already been arrested. Stay tuned with <a href=\"https://twitter.com/yanonaga98?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@yanonaga98</a> live as we cover the scene on the ground tonight. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/USATODAY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@USATODAY</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/JJcnZ962wH\">pic.twitter.com/JJcnZ962wH</a></p>— Alison Cutler (@alisonjc2) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/alisonjc2/status/1395176810229477382?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 20, 2021</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=\"sedmv\">Cutler and Nagaishi were both wearing fluorescent yellow vests that said “NEWS MEDIA” and identified themselves as journalists when law enforcement in riot gear detained them, according to a<a href=\"https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2021/05/19/andrew-brown-jr-elizabeth-city-nc-protest-reporters-ayano-nagaishi-alison-cutler-arrested/5176430001/\"> video on their employer’s website</a> and Casey Blake, the North Carolina Statewide Team Editor, who spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists in a phone interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"s11c4\">According to the News Leader, a citizen filmed the journalists’ arrests using Nagaishi’s phone, and Cutler was able to call the news outlet from a police van to confirm they’d been arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"lfkbr\">Blake told CPJ, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, that the reporters could not distinguish which law enforcement officials arrested them because the officials were in unmarked riot gear.</p><p data-block-key=\"hwe9p\">Cutler was booked, but was not formally charged; Nagaishi was neither booked nor charged, according to Blake. The reporters were released from police custody at approximately 10:30 p.m., the News Leader reported. The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-colleague-arrested-while-documenting-elizabeth-city-protests/\">Nagaishi’s arrest here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"bzmrw\">When reached for comment via phone, an Elizabeth City Police Department officer directed CPJ to Deputy Chief of Police James Avens, who did not immediately respond to CPJ’s voicemail and email requesting comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"vfsna\">The Daily Advance, based in Elizabeth City, <a href=\"https://www.dailyadvance.com/news/local/updated-police-arrest-8-protesters-two-reporters-working-for-usa-today/article_800522dd-c8a8-531a-b5d3-73ab1a0c4726.html\">reported</a> that City Manager Montre Freeman said the two reporters were apart from the main group of protesters when they were arrested and that they had refused to comply with officers’ directives.</p><p data-block-key=\"dosai\">“Reporters have to decide if they’re going to be a protester or a reporter,” Freeman reportedly said. “They can be both, but they have to follow the directives of the officers out there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"iojuu\">While a curfew went into effect at 8 p.m., members of the press were explicitly exempted. The <a href=\"https://twitter.com/yanonaga98/status/1395174429714419714\">livestream footage</a> captured by the Nagaishi also contradicts Freeman’s assertions.</p><p data-block-key=\"l2uy1\">Cutler <a href=\"https://twitter.com/alisonjc2/status/1395233675340652546\">retweeted a post on Twitter</a> following their release that both reporters were safe.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ayano said it all in this tweet. Thank you to everyone who supported us in every way, especially our <a href=\"https://twitter.com/USATODAY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@USATODAY</a> family. We were two of many people who were arrested by police this evening. Tonight was an important night to be present here as a journalist in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/ElizabethCity?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ElizabethCity</a>. <a href=\"https://t.co/oaBaUxwkiK\">https://t.co/oaBaUxwkiK</a></p>— Alison Cutler (@alisonjc2) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/alisonjc2/status/1395233675340652546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 20, 2021</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=\"i1sig\">“Thank you to everyone who supported us in every way, especially our @USATODAY family,” Cutler wrote. “We were two of many people who were arrested by police this evening. Tonight was an important night to be present here as a journalist in #ElizabethCity.”</p></div>",
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"name": "North Carolina",
"abbreviation": "NC"
},
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"tags": [
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"court verdict",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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],
"targeted_journalists": [
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],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Reporter, colleague arrested while documenting Elizabeth City protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-colleague-arrested-while-documenting-elizabeth-city-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-21T15:27:13.144756Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-08-05T19:09:39.959507Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-08-05T19:09:39.896397Z",
"date": "2021-05-19",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Elizabeth City",
"longitude": -76.25105,
"latitude": 36.2946,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"53mh3\">Two reporters for The Staunton News Leader, a USA TODAY network paper, were detained while covering a social justice protest in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on May 19, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0vqu\">The protest <a href=\"https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2021/05/19/andrew-brown-jr-elizabeth-city-nc-protest-reporters-ayano-nagaishi-alison-cutler-arrested/5176430001/\">was in response</a> to an announcement earlier that day from the prosecutor’s office that the police shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man, on April 21 was justified and that none of the Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies would face charges. The demonstration was the latest in a wave of protests against racial injustice and police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"2tqzv\">At approximately 9 p.m., law enforcement officers ordered the crowd to disperse under threat of arrest on charges of standing, sitting or lying on a street or roadway, the News Leader <a href=\"https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2021/05/19/andrew-brown-jr-elizabeth-city-nc-protest-reporters-ayano-nagaishi-alison-cutler-arrested/5176430001/\">reported</a>. Minutes later, as reporters Ayano Nagaishi and Alison Cutler were standing in a crosswalk about a foot away from the curb and filming an arrest across the street, law enforcement officers approached them, asking for the “ladies in the vests,” according to the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"zc1j1\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/yanonaga98/status/1395174429714419714\">footage</a> captured on Nagaishi’s livestream, both journalists were placed in zip-tie cuffs and led away by officers. When asked on what charge they were being arrested, an officer can be heard responding, “For standing in the middle of the street, in the roadway.”</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://twitter.com/hashtag/ElizabethCity?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ElizabethCity</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/AndrewBrownJr?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AndrewBrownJr</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/9Gf5DxGJHm\">https://t.co/9Gf5DxGJHm</a></p>— Ayano Nagaishi (@yanonaga98) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/yanonaga98/status/1395174429714419714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 20, 2021</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=\"1tlsu\">Nagaishi and Cutler were both wearing fluorescent yellow vests that said “NEWS MEDIA” and identified themselves as journalists when law enforcement in riot gear detained them, according to a<a href=\"https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2021/05/19/andrew-brown-jr-elizabeth-city-nc-protest-reporters-ayano-nagaishi-alison-cutler-arrested/5176430001/\"> video on their employer’s website</a> and Casey Blake, the North Carolina Statewide Team Editor, who spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists in a phone interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"rp4oy\">According to the News Leader, a citizen filmed the journalists’ arrests using Nagaishi’s phone, and Cutler was able to call the news outlet from a police van to confirm they’d been arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"hvf8b\">Blake told CPJ, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, that the reporters could not distinguish which law enforcement officials arrested them because the officials were in unmarked riot gear.</p><p data-block-key=\"359mf\">Cutler was booked, but was not formally charged; Nagaishi was neither booked nor charged, according to Blake. The reporters were released from police custody at approximately 10:30 p.m., the News Leader reported. The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-and-colleague-arrested-during-protests-in-elizabeth-city/\">Cutler’s arrest here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"y32n0\">When reached for comment via phone, an Elizabeth City Police Department officer directed CPJ to Deputy Chief of Police James Avens, who did not immediately respond to CPJ’s voicemail and email requesting comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"di5oj\">The Daily Advance, based in Elizabeth City, <a href=\"https://www.dailyadvance.com/news/local/updated-police-arrest-8-protesters-two-reporters-working-for-usa-today/article_800522dd-c8a8-531a-b5d3-73ab1a0c4726.html\">reported</a> that City Manager Montre Freeman said the two reporters were apart from the main group of protesters when they were arrested and that they had refused to comply with officers’ directives.</p><p data-block-key=\"0qtjo\">“Reporters have to decide if they’re going to be a protester or a reporter,” Freeman reportedly said. “They can be both, but they have to follow the directives of the officers out there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c93hr\">While a curfew went into effect at 8 p.m., members of the press were explicitly exempted. The <a href=\"https://twitter.com/yanonaga98/status/1395174429714419714\">livestream footage</a> captured by the Nagaishi also contradicts Freeman’s assertions.</p><p data-block-key=\"gs556\">Nagaishi <a href=\"https://twitter.com/yanonaga98/status/1395232591192764424\">posted on Twitter</a> following their release that both reporters were safe.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I just want to say <a href=\"https://twitter.com/alisonjc2?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@alisonjc2</a> and I are safe. We truly appreciate the support we got from the local community, friends, family and co-workers from <a href=\"https://twitter.com/USATODAY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@USATODAY</a> Network. You can never make assumptions on what happens when reporting from the ground and this situation was one of them.</p>— Ayano Nagaishi (@yanonaga98) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/yanonaga98/status/1395232591192764424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 20, 2021</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=\"d8dr8\">“We truly appreciate the support we got from the local community, friends, family and co-workers from @USATODAY Network,” Nagaishi wrote. “You can never make assumptions on what happens when reporting from the ground and this situation was one of them.”</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Independent photographer sues NYC over protest arrest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photographer-sues-nyc-over-protest-arrest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-02-03T20:44:08.184122Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-03T20:44:08.184122Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-03T20:44:08.088276Z",
"date": "2021-05-18",
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"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4nl4h\">Independent photographer Sean Waltrous, arrested while covering a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York, New York, on May 18, 2021, sued the city and two New York City Police Department officers a year later, according to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"9icjt\">The <a href=\"https://pix11.com/news/local-news/manhattan/pro-palestinian-protesters-in-manhattan-denounce-israel-airstrikes-on-gaza/\">protest</a> at New York’s Israeli consulate was one of <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/22/us/pro-palestinian-protests-us/index.html\">several</a> demonstrations organized across the U.S. in May 2021 in response to heavy Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.</p><p data-block-key=\"eme2c\">Waltrous said in his May 2022 lawsuit that he was at the protest as a member of the media, and was clearly identifiable by the press pass around his neck and the expensive camera he was carrying. He said he was positioned away from the protesters and police in order to better capture events, and that at times he went into the street to get shots of the protesters on the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"3v5el\">At around 6 p.m., he said, the crowds had swelled and “had become too large to be accommodated on the sidewalk.” Sometime after that, Waltrous said he was “pushed and shoved aggressively, initially from the rear” by one of the unnamed NYPD officers designated in the complaint, who was trying to force him onto the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"8a1dp\">The officer then roughly grabbed and pulled Waltrous back, and “dragged/pushed” him toward a police van, where he was zip-tied, the complaint said. After around 20 minutes, he was put in a police transport vehicle, which Waltrous noted was “particularly uncomfortable” due to his size.</p><p data-block-key=\"4cks9\">Waltrous said that the NYPD officers proceeded to talk among themselves about what charges to bring against him and the other detainees. Waltrous recorded the conversation with his phone, which remained on and in his bag.</p><p data-block-key=\"ckv91\">In the recording, which was later <a href=\"https://x.com/taliaotg/status/1394816730946576387\">posted on social media</a>, NYPD officers can be heard discussing their “story” of why they arrested him, with one officer saying that instead of issuing summonses, which were an “inconvenience” for them, he would prefer to “just fucking hit ‘em with a stick.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4pk6d\">Waltrous was brought to an NYPD precinct and released after around three hours with a summons to appear in court on July 16 on a charge of “walking on the roadway with available sidewalk,” a violation that could lead to up to 15 days in jail.</p><p data-block-key=\"41qo2\">After his release, Waltrous added that he sought medical attention for injuries received during his arrest to his right elbow, wrist and hand.</p><p data-block-key=\"61pk8\">Waltrous was later notified that the NYPD had not filed charges, so he did not need to appear.</p><p data-block-key=\"e03kb\">In his lawsuit, Waltrous accused the city and the officers of false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and infliction of emotional distress. He also accused the defendants of negligence in hiring, training and supervising the officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"7tfsb\">Waltrous sought compensatory and punitive damages of $2 million for each of six claims.</p><p data-block-key=\"d83ik\">Waltrous declined to comment while the litigation was in progress.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"jfy0j\">Palestinian supporters face off with police during a demonstration near the United Nations headquarters in New York City on May 18, 2021. Independent photographer Sean Waltrous was arrested while covering the protest.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "New York City Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2021-05-18",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "452435/2022",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"ongoing"
],
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"tags": [
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
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"Sean Waltrous (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Talk radio host harassed and attacked at a Seattle demonstration protesting Palestinian evictions",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/talk-radio-host-harassed-and-attacked-at-a-seattle-demonstration-protesting-palestinian-evictions/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-21T17:57:43.116860Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-09T14:44:15.234529Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-09T14:44:15.160767Z",
"date": "2021-05-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Seattle",
"longitude": -122.33207,
"latitude": 47.60621,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lt7u7\">Jason Rantz, host of the talk radio show the Jason Rantz Show show on Seattle’s KTTH 770 AM, said he was harassed and attacked by members of a crowd at a May 16, 2021, demonstration in Seattle, Washington, that was called to protest evictions of Palestinians in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.</p><p data-block-key=\"kz1ps\">According to Falastiniyat, a Seattle-based group and <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/COqK6oVMNMw/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">organizers</a> of the demonstration, the event at Westlake Park also commemorated the 73rd anniversary of Nakba, the Palestinian term for the displacement of Palestinians from their villages and homeland in 1948.</p><p data-block-key=\"2fuot\">Rantz, whose Twitter account describes him as a conversative and that he writes for the station’s partner website MyNorthwest.com, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was covering the rally in the early afternoon when a member of the crowd recognized him and "alerted people in the crowd to harass me — which they did."</p><p data-block-key=\"3immw\"><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_LNoSz_pJ4\">A Youtube video</a> he posted online shows Rantz's camera blocked by a cardboard sign, beginning at 1:24 into the clip. Rantz continues to record audio as the video on his camera remains blocked by cardboard. At 3:44, Rantz can be heard repeatedly yelling, "Don't touch me," while someone else says, "Fuck off" and "Get the fuck out." He told the Tracker that a woman hit the back of his head with a Palestinian flag and then repeatedly hit him, forcing him to leave the rally. He later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jasonrantz/status/1394042400842997762?s=20\">tweeted</a> that he was fine.</p><p data-block-key=\"n0ob0\">Rantz also told the Tracker that he filed a report with police. The Seattle Police Department did not respond to a Tracker request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Washington",
"abbreviation": "WA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jason Rantz (KTTH)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "CBS4 News photojournalist assaulted, camera damaged as he covered story in Miami Beach",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs4-news-photojournalist-assaulted-camera-damaged-as-he-covered-story-in-miami-beach/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-09T18:02:31.047900Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-01T14:29:37.418056Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-01T14:29:37.318054Z",
"date": "2021-05-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Miami",
"longitude": -80.19366,
"latitude": 25.77427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vxps6\">Ebenezer Mends, a photojournalist for CBS4 News in Miami, Florida, was attacked and his camera was damaged while he was working on a story about rising crime rates in South Beach on May 12, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"p0kdv\">Mends was with CBS4 <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs-reporter-hit-sprayed-with-alcohol-as-she-reported-in-miami-beach/\">reporter Bobeth Yates</a> near Fifth Street and Ocean Drive in South Beach. The journalists were there to report on the Miami Beach City Commission’s passage of a <a href=\"https://cbsloc.al/33EtCug\">resolution to stop alcohol sales past 2 a.m.</a> in the city’s entertainment district as a way to curb unruly behavior, <a href=\"https://miami.cbslocal.com/2021/05/15/cbs4-crew-attacked-south-beach/\">the station reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dq1lj\">Mends and Yates were doing research in the busy nightlife area about 9 p.m. when a fight broke out. Mends began recording the fight, but some of the people involved in it came up to him and demanded that he not film them.</p><p data-block-key=\"ppkct\">When they started pushing his camera and hitting Mends, Yates said in the station’s report, she tried to get in the way.</p><p data-block-key=\"79rhx\">“To be honest, I've been reporting for a very long time,” Yates said, according to the report. “I don't want to date myself, but about 20 years and I've never been attacked like this on a story.”</p><p data-block-key=\"imwa9\">She said both she and Mends were hit. “The first hit came when we tried to kind of block the camera and I kind of stood in between everything because they started really coming on to Ebenezer and attacking him.”</p><p data-block-key=\"foudp\">At one point, Yates said, four or five people surrounded Mends. Yates said they hit her and tried to attack Mends and the camera, which was damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"g49ms\">“They also threw a bottle of liquid what I believe is some sort of alcohol because it was literally burning our skin, my eyes,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ma8s\">Yates called police and followed the people who harassed her and Mends, according to the station’s report. Neither Yates nor Mends responded to U.S. Press Freedom Tracker requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"6exs2\">Miami Beach police officers later detained two people near Seventh Street and Ocean Drive. The subjects were arrested for criminal mischief, resisting an officer and battery, the Miami Beach Police Department confirmed to the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"bd62y\">A charge sheet shared by police with the Tracker confirmed that Mends reported he had received a cut on his head during the incident and that Yates had reported being struck on her arms and being targeted when a liquid was thrown at the journalists. The police report also confirmed damage to the CBS4 crew’s Sony PXW-X400 video camera, which has a replacement value of $90,000. A CBS news report confirmed that the <a href=\"https://miami.cbslocal.com/2021/05/15/cbs4-crew-attacked-south-beach/\">camera was damaged</a> but did not specify the degree of damage.</p><p data-block-key=\"3rrim\"><i>Editor's Note: The date of the assault is May 12, 2021, not May 15, as originally published.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"actor": "private individual",
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-08-08 15:22:00+00:00) Charges dropped in attack on Miami photojournalist"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ebenezer Mends (WFOR-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "CBS4 News reporter hit, sprayed with alcohol as she reported in Miami Beach",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs-reporter-hit-sprayed-with-alcohol-as-she-reported-in-miami-beach/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-09T17:57:01.944791Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-13T19:57:08.796431Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-13T19:57:08.497840Z",
"date": "2021-05-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Miami",
"longitude": -80.19366,
"latitude": 25.77427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"l9yrj\">Bobeth Yates, a reporter for CBS4 News in Miami, Florida, was attacked on May 12, 2021, while she was working on a story about rising crime rates in South Beach.</p><p data-block-key=\"cvd5x\">Yates was near Fifth Street and Ocean Drive in South Beach to report on the Miami Beach City Commission passing a <a href=\"https://cbsloc.al/33EtCug\">resolution to stop alcohol sales past 2 a.m.</a> in the city’s entertainment district as a way to curb unruly behavior, <a href=\"https://miami.cbslocal.com/2021/05/15/cbs4-crew-attacked-south-beach/\">the station reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ggisr\">Yates was with photojournalist Ebenezer Mends doing research in the busy nightlife area about 9 p.m. when they started recording a fight in front of them. After Mends started filming, some of the people involved in the fight came over and demanded not to be filmed.</p><p data-block-key=\"bocx1\">When they started pushing the camera and hitting Mends, Yates said in the report, she tried to get in the way.</p><p data-block-key=\"w55n6\">“To be honest, I've been reporting for a very long time,” Yates said in the report. “I don't want to date myself, but about 20 years and I've never been attacked like this on a story.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wccty\">She said both she and Mends were hit. “The first hit came when we tried to kind of block the camera and I kind of stood in between everything because they started really coming on to Ebenezer and attacking him.”</p><p data-block-key=\"66ufr\">At one point, Yates said, maybe four or five people surrounded Mends. She said she tried to push them back but they hit her and tried to attack Mends and the camera, which was damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"xmbdp\">“They also threw a bottle of liquid what I believe is some sort of alcohol because it was literally burning our skin, my eyes,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3hz0a\">Yates, who didn’t respond to U.S. Press Freedom Tracker requests for comment, called police and followed the people who harassed her and Mends, the report said.</p><p data-block-key=\"roawv\">Miami Beach police officers detained two subjects near Seventh Street and Ocean Drive. The subjects were arrested for criminal mischief, resisting an officer and battery, the Miami Beach Police Department confirmed to the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"u00e8\">Police also confirmed damage to the Sony PXW-X400 video camera, belonging to the CBS News crew, and stated damage was estimated at $90,000, if the camera needed to be replaced. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs4-news-photojournalist-assaulted-camera-damaged-as-he-covered-story-in-miami-beach/\">Mends’ assault and the equipment damage is documented by the Tracker here.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"9j8ia\"><i>Editor's Note: The date of the assault is May 12, 2021, not May 15, as originally published.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-08-08 15:20:00+00:00) Charges dropped in attack on Miami reporter"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Bobeth Yates (WFOR-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Reporter subpoenaed for witness testimony in Idaho case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-subpoenaed-for-witness-testimony-in-idaho-case/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-12T17:22:19.487726Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-05T18:02:10.928063Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-05T18:02:10.785339Z",
"date": "2021-05-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Idaho Falls",
"longitude": -112.03414,
"latitude": 43.46658,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"doudg\">Idaho reporter Nate Eaton was subpoenaed on May 10, 2021, to give witness testimony as part of a conspiracy case relating to the deaths of two children that he’s covered extensively.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ngrs\">The news director at the local website EastIdahoNews.com, Eaton has been covering the case of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, who are on trial for altering evidence in relation to the killings of Vallow's two children whose remains were found on Daybell's property, according to the site’s <a href=\"https://www.eastidahonews.com/2021/03/the-latest-timeline-in-the-lori-and-chad-daybell-case/\">news</a> <a href=\"https://idahonews.com/news/local/journalist-chad-daybells-sister-in-law-subpoenaed-to-appear-in-court\">reports</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"k62x9\">Eaton posted on Twitter<a href=\"https://twitter.com/NateNewsNow/status/1391914412945018881/photo/1\"> an image of a subpoena</a> that requests his testimony in court on June 9. According to the document on <a href=\"https://coi.isc.idaho.gov/?fbclid=IwAR1hhhyHFZ7ytl5kSkZAubmHg3Mvwa235uCXgFVJg3BLIELBvSGFfKj4QZQ\">the website of the Idaho judiciary</a>, the subpoena was filed with the county’s deputy clerk by John Prior, an attorney representing the defendants in the case.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Well... <a href=\"https://t.co/9S2szhKLhl\">pic.twitter.com/9S2szhKLhl</a></p>— Nate Eaton (@NateNewsNow) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NateNewsNow/status/1391914412945018881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 11, 2021</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=\"eio2b\">The Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, emailed Prior for comment, but did not receive any response.</p><p data-block-key=\"osft0\">The Clerk of District Court who signed the subpoena, Eileen Parker, referred CPJ to Tammie Whyte, the trial court administrator for the Seventh District, who told CPJ that the process for issuing the subpoena was set forth in Idaho’s criminal rule 17. “I can’t speak for the presiding judge as to whether they’re going to enforce the subpoena or not,” she said in a phone interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"oi0p2\">EastIdahoNews.com Managing Editor Nate Sunderland confirmed to CPJ that Eaton was served the subpoena the day after it was filed, on May 11.</p><p data-block-key=\"sa8s8\">“Nate’s been covering this [case] for a year and a half now, and if he was called to the stand, it would really ruin his opportunity to continue covering it,” Sunderland told CPJ. “That’s our biggest concern—our ability to objectively cover this if we’re suddenly part of the story.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hwjxy\">The Tracker<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/subpoena/?categories=6&date_lower=2020-01-01&date_upper=2020-12-31\"> documented 31 subpoenas</a> filed to journalists and news organizations in 2020.</p></div>",
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"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "other testimony",
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Idaho",
"abbreviation": "ID"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-05-29 17:55:00+00:00) Subpoena for witness testimony dropped against Idaho reporter"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Nate Eaton (EastIdahoNews.com)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"dropped"
],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Florida journalists barred from covering Gov. DeSantis signing of controversial new election law",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/florida-journalists-barred-from-covering-gov-desantis-signing-of-controversial-new-election-law/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-24T13:13:14.758396Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-20T21:14:35.046863Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-20T21:14:34.913025Z",
"date": "2021-05-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "West Palm Beach",
"longitude": -80.05337,
"latitude": 26.71534,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"69fbj\">Journalists from multiple Florida news outlets said they were blocked from covering Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing of a controversial election bill on May 6, 2021, in West Palm Beach.</p><p data-block-key=\"4m1kg\">Among those denied access to the bill signing event were journalists from The South Florida Sun Sentinel; West Palm Beach TV stations WPEC CBS12 and WPTV Newschannel 5; and WPLG Local 10 News, an ABC affiliate in Miami. The only news outlet allowed in to cover the event was the Fox News program Fox & Friends, according to multiple journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"n2qvq\">Steve Bousquet, a columnist for The Sun Sentinel, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/stevebousquet/status/1390268388493103104\">posted on Twitter</a> that a DeSantis spokesperson told him the signing was a “Fox exclusive.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NEW: News media is barred from entry at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing of controversial elections bill, SB 90. DeSantis spokeswoman Taryn Fenske says bill signing is a “Fox exclusive” <a href=\"https://t.co/NAos6kmtQS\">pic.twitter.com/NAos6kmtQS</a></p>— Steve Bousquet (@stevebousquet) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/stevebousquet/status/1390268388493103104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 6, 2021</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=\"abdrt\">Bousquet told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he had no advance notice that access to the event would be exclusive for Fox. He said that he and other reporters came to a Hilton Hotel near the West Palm Beach airport, where a public announcement had said the bill signing would take place.</p><p data-block-key=\"x2tha\">Bousquet said the event, held in a hotel conference room, resembled a political rally. Reporters could see part of the event through a window, he said, while some watched on their phones as the Fox News broadcast carried the governor signing the bill.</p><p data-block-key=\"msogo\">Bill signings are not required to be held publicly, and sometimes governors sign legislation behind closed doors. However, Bousquet, a longtime Florida political journalist, said he had never encountered a similar situation for a bill signing, particularly on a piece of very high profile legislation.</p><p data-block-key=\"1balp\">“This was really astonishing because the amount of public interest and public and press attention on that elections bill was among the highest of any piece of legislation, you know, in decades in Tallahassee,” the capital of Florida, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"vkv3n\">Anthony Man, a reporter for the Sun Sentinel, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/browardpolitics/status/1390270455525822466\">posted a series of photos from the hotel on Twitter</a> showing a line of people waiting to enter the event where the “governor will sign new Florida election law on Fox News and demonstrate his conservative bona fides for national Republican audience.” The photos showed a banner and T-shirt supporting a 2024 presidential ticket of Donald Trump and Gov. DeSantis.</p><p data-block-key=\"whgtp\">Almost an hour later, Man tweeted that while outside the venue, he could hear cheering and chants of “Four more years!” from the crowd inside.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">From outside <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GovRonDeSantis</a> bill signing event, can hear him revving up crowd of supporters who will serve as audience for Fox News segment during which he’ll sign new election law. Hundreds of people on their feet, cheering and applauding. Now chanting “four more years!”</p>— Anthony Man (@browardpolitics) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/browardpolitics/status/1390283173033136134?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 6, 2021</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=\"nozh2\">Madeline Montgomery, a reporter for CBS12, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MadelineTV/status/1390278019344961536\">tweeted</a> that she had been at the Hilton, where the DeSantis event was planned, since 4 a.m.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It’s an odd situation here in West Palm Beach. The governor is set to speak and sign a bill at the Hilton, but media are not being allowed in. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CBS12?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CBS12</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/hcdsIHpKBM\">pic.twitter.com/hcdsIHpKBM</a></p>— Madeline Montgomery (@MadelineTV) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MadelineTV/status/1390276906088648704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 6, 2021</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=\"xqnkw\">Another CBS12 reporter, Danielle Waugh DeRos tweeted a photograph of journalists waiting outside after the event.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Reporters waiting outside DeSantis event in West Palm. We are being told it’s a Fox News exclusive and private ticketed event. Expecting him to sign controversial elections law today but won’t be able to show you <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CBS12?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CBS12</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/z15QXAE5Cx\">pic.twitter.com/z15QXAE5Cx</a></p>— Danielle Waugh DaRos (@DanielleCBS12) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DanielleCBS12/status/1390277403394691076?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 6, 2021</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=\"8x6df\">CBS12 reporter Jay O’Brien posted on Twitter at 1:58 p.m. to confirm that his channel’s news team would not be allowed in.</p><p data-block-key=\"3hf0x\">“We were a pool camera, assigned to feed this event to affiliates nationwide,” O’Brien tweeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"pllcp\">“It’s not just us. Not a single reporter is being let in. This in a ‘sunshine’ state that prides itself on open government.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rhlgi\">The Tracker was not able to confirm whether O’Brien was among the journalists denied access to the event.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Confirmed: <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CBS12?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CBS12</a> News is not allowed into the event where <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GovRonDeSantis</a> will sign a controversial elections bill into law, per <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MadelineTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MadelineTV</a> who is outside.<br><br>We were a pool camera, assigned to feed this event to affiliates nationwide. <br><br>Now, the only camera will be Fox News</p>— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jayobtv/status/1390274698370551810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 6, 2021</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=\"684ta\">WPLG Local 10 News reporter Glenna Milberg was at the event as well, according to a <a href=\"https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/05/06/gov-ron-desantis-expected-to-sign-elections-bill-in-west-palm-beach/\">story published by the outlet</a>. Introducing Milberg for a segment on the bill signing, a Local 10 News anchor said DeSantis signed the bill live on Fox News while “locking out local media.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lttpz\">WPTV journalists were also shut out of the event,<a href=\"https://www.wptv.com/news/political/wptv-other-news-media-not-allowed-inside-desantis-event\"> according to the outlet</a>. Reporter Matt Sczesny said in <a href=\"https://www.wptv.com/news/state/gov-ron-desantis-signs-elections-bill-in-west-palm-beach\">one report</a> that local media was excluded from the event, and reporter Linnie Supall called the exclusive access given to Fox an “unprecedented move” by the governor.</p><p data-block-key=\"fjuf0\">In a WPTV video, DeSantis can be seen walking to his car after signing the bill.</p><p data-block-key=\"2rkra\">“It was on national TV, it wasn’t secret,” DeSantis told reporters.</p><p data-block-key=\"bfsg3\">A spokesperson for DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"ub7pa\">Fox News <a href=\"https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/05/06/fox-news-didnt-ask-for-an-exclusive-on-desantis-bill-signing-network-says/\">told The Tampa Bay Times</a> that the network “did not request or mandate that the May 6th event and interview with Gov. Ron DeSantis be exclusive to FOX News Media entities.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nz044\">According to Florida First Amendment Foundation staff attorney Virginia Hamrick, the state’s Sunshine Law, which requires meetings between certain officials to be public, does not apply to the bill signing. However, she said that restricting access to the event raises First Amendment issues. “We're concerned by it,” Hamrick told the Tracker.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"il5qe\">Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, seen in this file photo, gave exclusive coverage of a bill signing to the Fox News program Fox & Friends on May 6, 2021, blocking all local journalists.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
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],
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"Danielle Waugh DeRos (WPEC)",
"Madeline Montgomery (WPEC)",
"Steve Bousquet (South Florida Sun Sentinel)",
"Anthony Man (South Florida Sun Sentinel)",
"Glenna Milberg (WPLG)",
"Matt Sczesny (WPTV-TV)",
"Linnie Supall (WPTV-TV)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Michigan broadcast reporter assaulted by a man who grabs and throws her microphone",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/michigan-broadcast-reporter-assaulted-by-a-man-who-grabs-and-throws-her-microphone/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-07T19:39:05.379117Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-01T14:30:10.522754Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-01T14:30:10.422053Z",
"date": "2021-05-06",
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"city": "Greilickville",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"90d1m\">An individual was caught on film assaulting a news team for NBC-affiliate UpNorthLive, based in Traverse City, Michigan. Video posted by the station shows the man throwing one of the broadcast team’s microphones and spitting on a camera during an event with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on May 6, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"l3ch3\">The news team was covering an outdoor event in Greilickville, at which Whitmer signed a bill authorizing spending to protect Michigan’s natural resources, UpNorthLive News <a href=\"https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/man-arrested-for-assaulting-upnorthlive-news-crew-during-whitmer-event-in-traverse-city\">reported</a>. The man first heckled the governor, shouting profanities during her speech and yelling “We don’t want you here,” before turning to criticize journalists covering the event, according to the broadcaster’s account.</p><p data-block-key=\"hke6w\">UpNorthLive reporters Natalie Spala and Cortney Brown covered the signing and were scheduled to interview the governor right after, but the interview was canceled when officials escorted Whitmer away from the heckler to her car, the outlet reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"mbs7k\">According to UpNorthLive, the man “then turned his attention to the UpNorthLive news crew, asking if he should destroy the reporter’s [Brown’s] camera before taking a microphone and throwing it across the parking lot.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b51v3\">Leelanau County Sheriff’s deputies at the scene intervened and arrested the man immediately, but as he was being handcuffed he <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/broadcast-reporter-threatened-spat-on-by-man-at-event-with-michigan-governor/\">spat on Brown and the camera she was carrying</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"pwqk3\">“OK, that’s unnecessary,” Spala can be heard saying in the footage published by UpNorthLive.</p><p data-block-key=\"6j1ho\">In an interview with the outlet, Sheriff Mike Borkovich said, “We have been in contact with this individual before, mostly regarding political-type things. I personally believe that’s not normally what he has done but I do think when you cross the line, people have to know that we will enforce the law.”</p><p data-block-key=\"yzkhm\">Neither of the reporters nor the station’s news director responded to emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"l2pyu\">The man was transported to the Leelanau County Correctional facility, where he was processed and charged with two counts of assault and battery and one count of malicious destruction of property, according to a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/LeelanauCountySheriffsOffice/posts/4336161326417286\">Facebook post</a> by the Sheriff’s Office.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">According to the sheriff’s office, he is currently in the Leelanau County Jail on two counts of assault and battery and one count of malicious destruction of property.<a href=\"https://t.co/HIV7ElZjsa\">https://t.co/HIV7ElZjsa</a></p>— upnorthlive.com (@upnorthlive) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/upnorthlive/status/1390429354778263554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 6, 2021</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=\"soygh\">UpNorthLive <a href=\"https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/man-arrested-for-assault-on-upnorthlive-news-crew-released-on-bond\">reported</a> that the man, a 39-year-old Traverse City resident, was released on a $100 interim bond later that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"01us6\">Sheriff Borkovich told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the arraignment of the arrested man was scheduled for June 8.</p></div>",
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"case_type": null,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "private individual",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "recording equipment"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-09-10 00:00:00+00:00) Man who attacked Michigan TV reporters sentenced"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Natalie Spala (WPBN-TV)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Broadcast reporter threatened, spat on by man at event with Michigan governor",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/broadcast-reporter-threatened-spat-on-by-man-at-event-with-michigan-governor/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-07T19:04:05.179576Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-18T15:58:52.892197Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-18T15:58:52.603017Z",
"date": "2021-05-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Greilickville",
"longitude": -85.63869,
"latitude": 44.78306,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6b31w\">An individual was caught on film assaulting a news team for NBC-affiliate UpNorthLive, based in Traverse City, Michigan. Video posted by the station shows the man throwing one of the news team’s microphones and spitting on a camera during an event with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on May 6, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"z6prt\">The news team was covering an outdoor event in Greilickville, at which Whitmer signed a bill authorizing spending to protect Michigan’s natural resources, UpNorthLive News <a href=\"https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/man-arrested-for-assaulting-upnorthlive-news-crew-during-whitmer-event-in-traverse-city\">reported</a>. The man first heckled the governor, shouting profanities during her speech and yelling “We don’t want you here,” before turning to criticize journalists covering the event, according to the broadcaster’s account.</p><p data-block-key=\"0dv99\">UpNorthLive reporters Natalie Spala and Cortney Brown covered the signing and were scheduled to interview the governor right after, but the interview was canceled when officials escorted Whitmer away from the heckler to her car, the outlet reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"urtgq\">According to UpNorthLive, the man “then turned his attention to the UpNorthLive news crew, asking if he should destroy the reporter’s [Brown’s] camera before taking a microphone and throwing it across the parking lot.” <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/michigan-broadcast-reporter-assaulted-by-a-man-who-grabs-and-throws-her-microphone/\">Spala's assault is documented here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"erfs0\">Leelanau County Sheriff’s deputies at the scene intervened and arrested the man immediately, but as he was being handcuffed he spat on Brown and the camera she was carrying.</p><p data-block-key=\"lxrbx\">“OK, that’s unnecessary,” Spala can be heard saying in the footage published by UpNorthLive.</p><p data-block-key=\"juqm8\">Brown confirmed in a <a href=\"https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=192678522673187&id=100057931215222\">Facebook post</a> that she was spat on and verbally threatened by the individual.</p><p data-block-key=\"pzqwa\">In an interview with the outlet, Sheriff Mike Borkovich said, “We have been in contact with this individual before, mostly regarding political-type things. I personally believe that’s not normally what he has done but I do think when you cross the line, people have to know that we will enforce the law.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vxz6r\">Neither of the reporters nor the station’s news director responded to emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"xfj4n\">The man was transported to the Leelanau County Correctional facility, where he was processed and charged with two counts of assault and battery and one count of malicious destruction of property, according to a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/LeelanauCountySheriffsOffice/posts/4336161326417286\">Facebook post</a> by the Sheriff’s Office.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">According to the sheriff’s office, he is currently in the Leelanau County Jail on two counts of assault and battery and one count of malicious destruction of property.<a href=\"https://t.co/HIV7ElZjsa\">https://t.co/HIV7ElZjsa</a></p>— upnorthlive.com (@upnorthlive) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/upnorthlive/status/1390429354778263554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 6, 2021</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=\"9edqf\">UpNorthLive <a href=\"https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/man-arrested-for-assault-on-upnorthlive-news-crew-released-on-bond\">reported</a> that the man, a 39-year-old Traverse City resident, was released on a $100 interim bond later that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"madwi\">Sheriff Borkovich told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the arraignment of the arrested man was scheduled for June 8.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-09-10 00:00:00+00:00) Man who attacked Michigan TV reporters sentenced"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"Cortney Brown (WPBN-TV)"
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{
"title": "Valley News Live journalists attacked in North Dakota, camera damaged",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/valley-news-live-journalists-attacked-in-north-dakota-camera-damaged/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-17T19:15:59.213259Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-01T14:30:32.759822Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-01T14:30:32.644160Z",
"date": "2021-05-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Fargo",
"longitude": -96.7898,
"latitude": 46.87719,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"439gz\">Two journalists with TV news station Valley News Live, an NBC affiliate based in Fargo, North Dakota, were attacked by a man wielding a screwdriver, who damaged their camera while they were reporting in the city on May 3, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"kqp2t\">Valley News Live photojournalist Michael Downs and reporter Nachai Taylor were near downtown Fargo, preparing for a 9 p.m. live report about a building the city commission had decided to demolish, Taylor said in a <a href=\"https://www.valleynewslive.com/2021/05/04/a-man-assaults-a-valley-news-live-crew-as-they-prepared-to-go-on-air/\">report</a> that aired on the station following the attack.</p><p data-block-key=\"90v6t\">In that report, Taylor said she was walking toward Downs, who was holding the camera when an unidentified man drove a pickup truck onto the curb. The man approached them, swinging a screwdriver, “which was kind of a scary situation,” Taylor said.</p><p data-block-key=\"qtz4c\">Video published by Valley News Live shows a man approaching the camera, gesturing with a screwdriver, then jabbing the tool directly at the camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"vwnk0\">Taylor said the man was shouting at the journalists to get off his property, though the journalists were on the sidewalk, she reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"4z7iq\">Taylor said after she told the man that she was going to call police, he got in his truck and left. She said the journalists gave statements to police about the incident, including the license plate number of the vehicle the man was driving. Taylor’s <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-valley-news-live-journalists-attacked-in-fargo-by-man-with-screwdriver/\">assault is documented here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1v3jx\">Neither Downs nor Taylor responded to requests for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"hpfgc\">Valley News Live news director Renee Nygren told the Tracker the camera was not operable after the attack. She said it was being repaired and believed that the damage would be fixable, but was not certain.</p><p data-block-key=\"27713\">Nygren said she does not believe either journalist was physically touched during the attack, but she described the incident as frightening. “It's concerning and really unfortunate that they had to go through that,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"sa9ub\">On May 18 Valley News Live reported that Gary Reinhart, the owner of the building slated for demolition, <a href=\"https://www.valleynewslive.com/2021/05/18/fargo-property-owner-charged-in-attack-on-a-valley-news-live-crew/\">was charged</a> with criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. The station reported that a fire had destroyed the property, after which the city ordered the building demolished by June 30.</p><p data-block-key=\"cr6ms\">The Fargo city attorney’s office told the Tracker it would not comment on charges against Reinhart because the case against him is still open. Reinhart entered a not guilty plea to both charges at his arraignment on June 8, according to North Dakota’s <a href=\"https://publicsearch.ndcourts.gov/Search.aspx?ID=100\">court tracking system</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"xlzdw\">Reinhart’s attorney declined to comment.</p></div>",
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{
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"name": "North Dakota",
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"(2021-10-20 00:00:00+00:00) Man who attacked North Dakota journalists sentenced"
],
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{
"title": "Two Valley News Live journalists attacked in Fargo by man with screwdriver",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-valley-news-live-journalists-attacked-in-fargo-by-man-with-screwdriver/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-17T19:17:14.398923Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-18T16:03:28.578506Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-18T16:03:28.387851Z",
"date": "2021-05-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Fargo",
"longitude": -96.7898,
"latitude": 46.87719,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4u1ch\">Two journalists with TV news station Valley News Live, an NBC affiliate based in Fargo, North Dakota, were attacked by a man wielding a screwdriver, who damaged their camera while they were reporting in the city on May 3, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"rd3lw\">Valley News Live photojournalist Michael Downs and reporter Nachai Taylor were near downtown Fargo, preparing for a 9 p.m. live report about a building the city commission had decided to demolish, Taylor said in a <a href=\"https://www.valleynewslive.com/2021/05/04/a-man-assaults-a-valley-news-live-crew-as-they-prepared-to-go-on-air/\">report</a> that aired on the station following the attack.</p><p data-block-key=\"i9e4h\">In that report, Taylor said she was walking toward Downs when an unidentified man drove a pickup truck onto the curb. The man approached them, swinging a screwdriver, “which was kind of a scary situation,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"9gybc\">Video published by Valley News Live shows a man approaching the camera, gesturing with a screwdriver, then jabbing the tool directly at the camera. Downs’ <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/valley-news-live-journalists-attacked-in-north-dakota-camera-damaged/\">assault and the equipment damage is documented here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"2sk58\">Taylor said the man was shouting at the journalists to get off his property, though the journalists were on the sidewalk, she reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"pk8n1\">Taylor said after she told the man that she was going to call police, he got in his truck and left. She said the journalists gave statements to police about the incident, including the license plate number of the vehicle the man was driving.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ebys\">Neither Taylor nor Downs responded to requests for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"oz1dk\">Valley News Live news director Renee Nygren told the Tracker the camera was not operable after the attack. She said it was being repaired, and believed that the damage would be fixable, but was not certain.</p><p data-block-key=\"yruy9\">Nygren said she does not believe either journalist was physically touched during the attack, but she described the incident as frightening. “It's concerning and really unfortunate that they had to go through that,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"b8pmp\">On May 18 Valley News Live reported that Gary Reinhart, the owner of the building slated for demolition, <a href=\"https://www.valleynewslive.com/2021/05/18/fargo-property-owner-charged-in-attack-on-a-valley-news-live-crew/\">was charged</a> with criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. The station reported that a fire had destroyed the property, after which the city ordered the building demolished by June 30.</p><p data-block-key=\"3qkzw\">The Fargo city attorney’s office told the Tracker it would not comment on charges against Reinhart because the case against him is still open. Reinhart entered a not guilty plea to both charges at his arraignment on June 8, according to North Dakota’s <a href=\"https://publicsearch.ndcourts.gov/Search.aspx?ID=100\">court tracking system</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ymx6v\">Reinhart’s attorney declined to comment.</p></div>",
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"name": "North Dakota",
"abbreviation": "ND"
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"(2021-10-20 00:00:00+00:00) Man who attacked North Dakota journalists sentenced"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist stopped, strip searched while crossing back into U.S.",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-stopped-strip-searched-while-crossing-back-into-us/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-09T15:33:03.999813Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-06T19:38:18.587835Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-06T19:38:18.476967Z",
"date": "2021-04-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Nogales",
"longitude": -110.93425,
"latitude": 31.34038,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zs94u\">Photojournalist Ash Ponders, whose work has appeared in The Intercept, The New York Times and other publications, was stopped for secondary screening and searched at the U.S. border after reporting on a protest in Nogales, Mexico, on April 30, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"gemhd\">Ponders told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they were strip searched by an admitting officer from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Arizona at the <a href=\"https://www.gsa.gov/historic-buildings/us-border-station-morley-gate-nogales-az\">Morley Gate</a> in Nogales on the Arizona/Mexico border. Ponders’ phone was taken away, and they were told by a border agent that they weren’t a journalist, after being asked what they did, and responding with “photojournalist”.</p><p data-block-key=\"wk9my\">“They did ask what I had been doing in Mexico, and I said I had been covering a march,” Ponders said.</p><p data-block-key=\"jgv6q\">While looking at their passport, an officer asked Ponders what they did for a living in Spanish. “I answered in English. And then someone came up over her shoulder and started...there was like, an immediate anger, frustration on their part.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3ipx7\">The officials wanted to see images from the journalist’s camera, but Ponders had already taken the memory card out of the camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"a77nb\">Ponders tried to show the officer the commission for the story. “And when I tried to suggest I had a letter from my editor on my phone he yanked it out of my hand (my index finger was on the power button so as he pulled it out of my hand it locked).”</p><p data-block-key=\"tp0hi\">The photographer was traveling with Intercept reporter Ryan Devereaux, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/intercept-reporter-told-you-are-not-a-journalist-when-stopped-by-border-officials/\">who also was stopped</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"hezph\">In a back room, another officer told Ponders to put their cameras and fanny pack on a table, before frisking the photographer.</p><p data-block-key=\"p47hg\">An officer questioned Ponders, who told her their city of birth, what they were doing in Nogales, and said they had traveled to and from Mexico many times.</p><p data-block-key=\"m7hba\">Eventually Devereaux was released. When he asked to stay until Ponders was released, too, he was told to wait outside.</p><p data-block-key=\"ty6kq\">“<a href=\"https://twitter.com/CBPArizona\">@CBPArizona</a> should not be hassling working journalists passing through the Nogales port of entry for work,” Devereux <a href=\"https://twitter.com/rdevro/status/1388274151186571264?s=20\">tweeted</a> just after being released: “I was just taken into secondary screening after being told I was “not a journalist.”<a href=\"https://twitter.com/ashponders\"> @ashponders</a> is still being detained. Going on an hour now.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qcu3d\">Ponders said an officer then had them remove their hat, glasses, mask, shoes and belt, and went through these while another officer watched.</p><p data-block-key=\"la9e6\">“He then asked me to pull down my pants and he felt around my genitals,” Ponders said. “And then having come up very empty (I’m quite boring) he told me to pull up my pants and get dressed. I did,” said Ponders.</p><p data-block-key=\"hky29\">CBP didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"68r92\">Ponders said they were held at the border for between 2 ½ to three hours. An officer had to run outside to give Ponders back their passport, they said.</p><p data-block-key=\"b8ueg\">Ponders, who regularly crosses the U.S.-Mexico border on assignment, said being stopped at the border was a regular occurrence. “It's not every time and it's not even most of the time. But it's enough that it's something that I plan for.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "Nogales-Morley Gate Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": true,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "unknown",
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"links": [],
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"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Arizona",
"abbreviation": "AZ"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
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"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
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"Ash Ponders (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Intercept reporter told “You are not a journalist” when stopped by border officials",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/intercept-reporter-told-you-are-not-a-journalist-when-stopped-by-border-officials/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-09T14:59:15.475860Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-08-22T19:49:54.474876Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-08-22T19:49:54.404573Z",
"date": "2021-04-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Nogales",
"longitude": -110.93425,
"latitude": 31.34038,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bx3rd\">Ryan Devereaux, who reports for The Intercept, was stopped and told “You are not a journalist” by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official at the Arizona border with Mexico on April 30, 2021, as he returned from covering a protest in Nogales, Mexico.</p><p data-block-key=\"j5d6g\">Devereaux, who was traveling with photojournalist Ash Ponders, said that after a long wait at the border, officials called Ponders first for processing. According to Devereaux, Ponders and a CBP official were deep in a long conversation and disagreement when the official tried to take their phone. The photojournalist managed to lock it.</p><p data-block-key=\"h19qd\">“The officer reached for it. Ash was then taken to a group holding cell and I was called forward,” Devereaux told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"x2a49\">Devereaux said the same officer then asked what he was doing in Nogales. “I told her I was a journalist and working in Nogales that day,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"z8c6e\">A second officer appeared and asked Devereaux what he did for a living. “I said I was a journalist who covers border issues and that I was in town covering an asylum protest,” he said. “I had already produced my passport. I was told to produce evidence that I was a journalist. I gave the officers an Intercept business card with my name on it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ftvbh\">At this point, Devereaux said he was told by a border official that he was not a journalist and was taken to the same cell where Ponders was being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"f7orp\">“After handing over our belongings, which sat on a table and were not moved, we sat in the cell with a handful of other detainees,” Devereaux said. “Eventually I was told I could go. I was never questioned.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tjwn5\">Devereaux said he was told he could not wait in the area for Ponders but must wait outside.</p><p data-block-key=\"5s3ox\">After being released, Devereux <a href=\"https://twitter.com/rdevro/status/1388274151186571264?s=20\">tweeted</a> that CPB officials should not be harassing journalists “I was just taken into secondary screening after being told I was “not a journalist.”<a href=\"https://twitter.com/ashponders\"> @ashponders</a> is still being detained. Going on an hour now.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/CBPArizona?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CBPArizona</a> should not be hassling working journalists passing through the Nogales port of entry for work.<br><br>I was just taken into secondary screening after being told I was “not a journalist.” <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ashponders?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ashponders</a> is still being detained. Going on an hour now.</p>— Ryan Devereaux (@rdevro) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/rdevro/status/1388274151186571264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 30, 2021</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=\"erk4n\">Ponders, whose case is documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-stopped-strip-searched-while-crossing-back-into-us/\">here</a>, was strip-searched and held for 2 1/2 to three hours before being released, the photojournalist told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbtpz\">CPB didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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"actor": null,
"border_point": "Nogales-Morley Gate Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": true,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
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"assailant": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Arizona",
"abbreviation": "AZ"
},
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"categories": [
"Border Stop"
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{
"title": "Univision journalist arrested, his phone seized while reporting in Arizona",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/univision-journalist-arrested-his-phone-seized-while-reporting-in-arizona/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-21T14:15:14.492759Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-08-17T17:21:38.637546Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-08-17T17:21:38.265068Z",
"date": "2021-04-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Gilbert",
"longitude": -111.78903,
"latitude": 33.35283,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r469a\">Local police officers arrested Univision Arizona news anchor León Felipe González Cortés and seized his cellphone while he was reporting in Gilbert, Arizona, on April 30, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"zqkty\">González was in Gilbert, about 20 miles southeast of Phoenix, to report on the death of one policeman and critical injury of another the previous day. The officers were hit by a man driving a stolen pickup truck, who was being chased by police, <a href=\"https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/chandler/2021/05/03/jonathon-altland-arrested-suspicion-killing-chandler-officer-christopher-farrar/4924152001/\">according to The Arizona Republic.</a> The man was later arrested on suspicion of first degree murder, the newspaper reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"brn34\">According to a <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20797414-reporter-cell-phone-complaint?embed=true&responsive=false&sidebar=false\">motion</a> filed in Gilbert Municipal Court on June 3 by attorneys for the journalist, González was one of several reporters covering the story in Gilbert that day. But he was the only one “arrested, handcuffed, transported, fingerprinted and charged” with a crime, according to the motion. Gilbert police records charge him with trespassing and interfering with an officer, the motion states; police charge that González was reporting “from the wrong side of police tape.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ihlml\">González did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"8l3ly\">According to<a href=\"https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/gilbert/2021/06/04/gilbert-police-refuse-to-return-univision-arizona-leon-felipe-gonzalez-cellphone/7536595002/\"> The Arizona Republic</a>, attorneys representing González allege that police also seized his cellphone, threatened to access its contents by "brute force" and referred to him in a derogatory way as "compadre," in reference to his Latino heritage.</p><p data-block-key=\"67r0v\">"[He] was wearing a Univision shirt, was accompanied by a Univision photographer, and he identified himself as a journalist to the Gilbert Police officers working at the scene," according to the motion, which demands that police return the cellphone to González.</p><p data-block-key=\"zz5vd\">In a statement to The Arizona Republic, Univision Arizona President and General Manager Joe Donnarumma said the channel supported its journalist and demanded immediate return of his cellphone, “a mobile journalism tool which was seized on baseless and unreasonable grounds."</p><p data-block-key=\"jwycs\">"Freedom of the press is a cornerstone of our democracy,” Donnarumma said, “as are the tools, technologies and constitutionally protected newsgathering activities that our journalists employ every day across the country to keep our audiences informed."</p><p data-block-key=\"3wqiu\">Gilbert Police spokesperson Brenda Carrasco told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that González was arrested “after he intentionally walked inside a clearly-marked crime scene during the criminal investigation.” Carrasco said the journalist’s phone was seized “as evidence at the time of his arrest, as the Police Department had probable cause to believe that the phone contained evidence of his criminal conduct.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rbj6r\">A pre-trial conference on the charges against González is scheduled for July 8.</p></div>",
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"arresting_authority": "Gilbert Police Department",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
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"state": {
"name": "Arizona",
"abbreviation": "AZ"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-11-22 12:57:00+00:00) Court sets aside conviction of Arizona journalist"
],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"León Felipe González Cortés (KTVW-DT)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "FBI drops 'unconstitutional' subpoena for USA Today readership information",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fbi-drops-unconstitutional-subpoena-for-usa-today-readership-information/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-21T14:21:36.173149Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-22T15:03:45.418950Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-22T15:03:45.358442Z",
"date": "2021-04-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1a4no\">The Federal Bureau of Investigation subpoenaed Gannett Company, publisher of USA Today, on April 29, 2021, seeking information about people who had read a story the paper published about a shooting that left two FBI agents dead and three wounded. The FBI then withdrew the subpoena in early June.</p><p data-block-key=\"x7j8b\">The<a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.231951/gov.uscourts.dcd.231951.1.1.pdf\"> subpoena</a> sought Internet Protocol addresses and "other potentially identifying information ‘for computers or other electronic devices’” used by readers to access a Feb. 2 USA Today <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/02/02/sunrise-florida-shooting-fbi-agents-injured/4352344001/\">story</a> headlined: “FBI identifies 2 agents killed in Florida while serving warrant in crimes against children case.” The subpoena said the information “relates to a federal criminal investigation being conducted by the FBI” regarding its agents, who were shot during an attempt to serve a warrant in a child exploitation case.</p><p data-block-key=\"17tao\">In a<a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.231951/gov.uscourts.dcd.231951.1.0.pdf\"> U.S. District Court filing</a> dated May 28, Gannett attorneys wrote, "in making this unconstitutional demand, the FBI has failed to demonstrate compliance with the United States Attorney General's regulations for subpoenas to the press.” Gannett asked the court to quash the subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"ix7xi\">A<a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/03/usa-today-subpeona-florida-shooting-491847\"> Politico</a> story about the subpoena noted that “The accusation that the FBI defied the Justice Department’s guidelines for seeking news media records comes as the department is facing criticism from journalists, press freedom advocates and even President Joe Biden for a series of court orders obtained last year in leak investigations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7m926\">On June 5, Keith Becker, deputy chief of the U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal division, <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.231951/gov.uscourts.dcd.231951.6.1_1.pdf\">informed</a> Gannett attorneys that the FBI was withdrawing the subpoena “because the child sexual exploitation offender subject of the investigation has at this time been identified via other means.”</p><p data-block-key=\"03qyg\">The Department of Justice did not respond to an emailed request from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"USA Today"
],
"tags": [
"Department of Justice"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
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"subpoena_statuses": [
"dropped"
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},
{
"title": "Washington Post journalist subpoenaed for documents from college reporting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/washington-post-journalist-subpoenaed-for-documents-from-college-reporting/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-14T18:01:37.867772Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-11T20:32:28.881469Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-11T20:32:28.722904Z",
"date": "2021-04-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jtkmg\">Journalist Fenit Nirappil was subpoenaed on April 22, 2021, in a lawsuit involving former Chicago police officers for documents related to his work on two stories for the Medill Innocence Project nearly a decade earlier, according to the <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/fenit-nirappil-subpoena-letter/\">Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"tqg24\">Nirappil, now a journalist for The Washington Post, was a part of a team of Northwestern University students who investigated the conviction of Ariel Gomez during the 2011-2012 academic year, according to RCFP, which is representing Nirappil. RCFP is a partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"0i7gp\">The subpoena was issued by Chicago-based Sotos Law Firm on behalf of four law enforcement officers and officials who are defendants in a federal lawsuit Gomez is pursuing alleging misconduct related to his conviction.</p><p data-block-key=\"h3qtt\">The officers’ legal team sought a broad range of documents from Nirappil related to his undergraduate education, according to a letter RCFP senior attorney Sarah Matthews wrote in response to the subpoena. Matthews is a member of the Tracker’s advisory committee.</p><p data-block-key=\"ga7aa\">Matthews argued in the letter that Nirappil isn’t required to comply with the subpoena, citing First Amendment privilege for journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"8djdp\">She also wrote that the subpoena was invalid due to procedural rules. It was improperly served because it was sent through the mail, rather than personally served, she wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"le4nw\">The subpoena was also overly broad, including requests for records related to 49 individuals, according to the letter. Matthews wrote that it effectively sought all information related to Nirappil’s undergraduate education.</p><p data-block-key=\"sb51a\">The subpoena requested Nirappil’s documents by May 5 — an “insufficient” amount of time to reply given the scope of the request, and that he only received the subpoena on May 1, Matthews wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"xm4ad\">Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, if the subject of a subpoena for documents files an objection within a certain window of time, they don’t need to comply with the subpoena, according to Matthews.</p><p data-block-key=\"0kms8\">She told the Tracker Nirappil wasn’t under any further obligation to respond, unless the attorneys representing the Chicago police officers file a motion in court.</p><p data-block-key=\"9dysg\">Nirappil didn’t respond to a request for comment. He posted on Twitter about the subpoena on May 10.</p><p data-block-key=\"9b99q\">“I'm not going to roll over when attorneys for law enforcement come after my reporting notes, even if they were from college a decade ago,” he wrote.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I'm not going to roll over when attorneys for law enforcement come after my reporting notes, even if they were from college a decade ago. Thank you for helping me fight this, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/rcfp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@rcfp</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/rF7d7MM3y8\">https://t.co/rF7d7MM3y8</a></p>— Fenit Nirappil (@FenitN) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/FenitN/status/1391853448359030785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 10, 2021</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=\"w98rl\">Sotos Law Firm also didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"cgh6r\"><i>Editor’s Note: The original 2021 report has been revised to correct a mistaken identification for Ariel Gomez.</i></p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-07-08 15:42:00+00:00) Subpoena for college reporting of Washington Post journalist dropped"
],
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"tags": [
"student journalism"
],
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
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"Fenit Nirappil (Medill Innocence Project)"
],
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"objected to"
],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter detained by LA deputies while trying to re-enter press conference",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-detained-by-la-deputies-while-trying-to-re-enter-press-conference/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-10T17:16:25.663640Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-06-10T17:16:25.663640Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-06-10T17:16:25.624897Z",
"date": "2021-04-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Freelance reporter Cerise Castle said she was detained by LA County sheriff’s officers when she attempted to re-enter a press conference being held on the steps of the Hall of Justice, Los Angeles, on April 20, 2021.</p><p>Castle <a href=\"https://twitter.com/cerisecastle/status/1384621148718080003\">said on Twitter</a>: “I was detained today while covering a press conference hosted by the LA County Sheriff's Department. Yes, I had my press pass.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I was detained today while covering a press conference hosted by the LA County Sheriff's Department. Yes, I had my press pass. <a href=\"https://t.co/GtTDA37Kuk\">https://t.co/GtTDA37Kuk</a></p>— Cerise Castle (@cerisecastle) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/cerisecastle/status/1384621148718080003?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 20, 2021</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>The press conference was part of National Victims’ Rights Week, a series of annual events highlighting services for victims of crime and related issues.</p><p>John Schreiber, a photojournalist at local LA stations KCBS 2 / KCAL 9, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/johnschreiber/status/1384696980056596482?s=20\">filmed Castle</a> as LA County Sheriff’s officers detained her and then prevented her from returning to the press conference.</p><p>In his Twitter post, Schreiber wrote that he and Castle had stood next to each other at the press conference. “When protesters arrived, we both went over to film” them, he wrote. “Then, saw deputies try to block her from coming back. She was later let back in.”</p><p>Castle told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that police held her “for between 5-15 minutes” before sheriff’s officers allowed her to return to the press conference. She said she was wearing a press pass issued by VICE, where she had been previously employed, and currently freelances.</p><p>Castle, who has published an investigative series on <a href=\"http://knock-la.com/lynwood-vikings-sheriff-gang-origins-abuse/\">a history of violence</a> within the LA County Sheriff’s department, said she had been working with a few outlets on stories about the department and was pursuing a chance to ask Sheriff Alex Villanueva a question during a question and answer session at the press conference.</p><p>Referring to attempts by officers to block Castle from returning to the press conference, the ACLU <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACLU_SoCal/status/1384981237836644355?s=20\">Southern California</a> office said: “This conduct is unacceptable, and we strongly support journalists’ demands for an immediate change in practice.”</p><p>Such incidents “offend the First Amendment’s unambiguous protection of newsgathering,” the ACLU stated. “Journalists, like the public, have a robust right of access to document government activity free of interference from law enforcement.”</p><p>The ACLU statement summarized a series of actions by southern California law enforcement agencies toward journalists in recent months, describing them as unacceptable patterns of behavior.</p><p>“Law enforcement practices at protests throughout Southern California exhibit a disturbing trend in treatment of journalists—detaining, arresting, harassing, and otherwise interfering with journalists’ First Amendment rights to gather and disseminate information to the public,” the ACLU wrote. “The public interest requires that law enforcement agencies allow journalists to access and cover protests to the full extent of their First Amendment rights.”</p><p>When contacted by the Tracker, the LA County Sheriff’s Office said: “We are unfamiliar with the details surrounding this incident and will need to conduct an inquiry to ascertain more information. At this time we are unable to offer further comment, but what we can say is Sheriff Alex Villanueva strongly supports the First Amendment, the right to peacefully protest, and the people’s right to be informed by the press.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
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"case_number": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
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"Cerise Castle (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Judge orders New Mexico public school district to pay news outlets for violating state public records act",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-orders-new-mexico-public-school-district-to-pay-news-outlets-for-violating-state-public-records-act/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-07T18:32:06.736108Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-13T22:29:46.847205Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-13T22:29:46.735605Z",
"date": "2021-04-19",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Albuquerque",
"longitude": -106.65114,
"latitude": 35.08449,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"71rt6\">On April 19, 2021, a Bernalillo County judge ruled that Albuquerque Public Schools violated New Mexico’s Inspection of Public Records Act when handling requests for documents made by two media outlets. The judge ordered the school district to pay the news organizations more than $400,000.</p><p data-block-key=\"2fv1q\">The Albuquerque Journal and local NBC-affiliate KOB 4 had jointly sued the school district, alleging that it failed to meet deadlines in turning over public documents that the news outlets had requested in 2014. The documents related to the abrupt departure of former schools Superintendent Winston Brooks, the Journal <a href=\"https://www.abqjournal.com/2381835/aps-ordered-to-pay-400k-for-violating-state-records-law.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"k66qb\">Then-school board president Analee Maestas said at the time of Brooks’ departure that “a serious item of concern to Board members was raised and discussed,” according to the Journal. An outside attorney hired to investigate the issue produced a report for the school board; the news outlets had requested copies of the report, along with other documents and communications related to Brooks’ record as superintendent, his sudden departure two years before the end of his contract with the district and the <a href=\"https://www.abqjournal.com/446498/aps-superintent-brooks-resigns.html\">$350,000 he was paid</a> to buy out his contract.</p><p data-block-key=\"wovof\">Judge Nancy Franchini had earlier denied the request for the attorney’s report, saying it was exempt from disclosure because it contained personnel information, according to the Journal. But in her April ruling the judge found that the school district’s actions were “unreasonable,” KOB 4 <a href=\"https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/bernalillo-county-judge-rules-against-aps-over-public-records-case/6080406/\">reported</a>, when it failed to produce other records requested and missed deadlines set out in the state’s public records act on 13 separate instances. Among documents the judge said should be released to the news organizations was a spreadsheet documenting complaints against Brooks, according to the Journal.</p><p data-block-key=\"jfzy3\">Franchini ordered the school district to pay KOB 4 $118,000 and the Journal $293,625, as well as their court costs and reasonable attorneys fees, the news outlets reported. According to KOB 4, she also ordered the school district to release the requested records within 20 days.</p><p data-block-key=\"q58dv\">The Journal reported that the school district has announced plans to appeal the ruling.</p><p data-block-key=\"qpzj6\">“APS works diligently to be transparent in responding to all records requests, and this matter was no different,” school district spokesperson Monica Armenta said. “In this same case, the Court previously sided with APS and found that the District correctly withheld the investigatory report regarding former Superintendent Winston Brooks.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jy8s5\">Both news organizations said they intend to appeal Franchini’s earlier ruling that the attorney’s report on Brooks is exempt from disclosure. But they praised the decision ordering the school district to pay fees for failure to comply with open records rules. In a <a href=\"https://www.abqjournal.com/2381835/aps-ordered-to-pay-400k-for-violating-state-records-law.html\">statement</a>, Journal Editor Karen Moses said the ruling sent a clear message on the importance of adherence to the public records act.</p><p data-block-key=\"j4bvq\">“Noncompliance of the state’s open records law has been a longstanding issue with APS,” Moses said. “And when public bodies fail to follow the requirements for timely production of public records, the community is deprived of information that it is entitled to.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9ebd0\">Michelle Donaldson, the vice president and general manager of KOB 4, also stressed the importance of public records laws in a <a href=\"https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/bernalillo-county-judge-rules-against-aps-over-public-records-case/6080406/\">statement</a> to the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"k0x5b\">“A school district cannot pick and choose when to obey the law, especially when it’s writing six-figure checks to outgoing personnel,” Donaldson said. “People cannot have faith in the system when the laws are ignored.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "New Mexico",
"abbreviation": "NM"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Albuquerque Journal",
"KOB"
],
"tags": [
"public records"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
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{
"title": "Block Club Chicago journalist assaulted, his camera damaged at protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/block-club-chicago-journalist-assaulted-his-camera-damaged-at-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-24T13:13:55.203454Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:51:08.394395Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:51:08.290837Z",
"date": "2021-04-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"twd6m\">Block Club Chicago reporter and photojournalist Colin Boyle was assaulted by a Chicago police officer while he was covering a demonstration in northwest Chicago, Illinois, on April 16, 2021. According to its website, <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/\">Block Club</a> is a local, reader-supported nonprofit newsroom “dedicated to delivering reliable, nonpartisan and essential coverage of Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8pec2\">According to the <a href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2021/4/16/22388624/adam-toledo-fatal-police-shooting-little-village-rally-protest-march-logan-square\">Chicago Sun Times</a>, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of the city’s Logan Square Monument the evening of April 16 to demand justice for 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer on March 29, 2021. After several speeches and chants, the paper reported, the crowd marched north on Milwaukee Avenue, yelling phrases such as, "No justice, no peace, abolish the police!"</p><p data-block-key=\"9h9ea\">Boyle said he was leaving the demonstration around 9:50 p.m., after several hours of covering a peaceful protest, when he saw an alert on Twitter that said the Chicago Police Department was calling units to return to an intersection where Boyle had been<a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/04/16/thousands-march-in-chicago-to-protest-police-killing-of-13-year-old-adam-toledo-adam-deserved-to-live/\"> photographing</a> earlier.</p><p data-block-key=\"jluu1\">Around 10 p.m., he said he arrived on the scene of a standoff between officers and protesters. Boyle said he had been following a group of protesters down West Logan Boulevard toward an area where police had blocked off the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"aff73\">"There was a police sergeant telling the police officers to form a line and two seconds later after he made that call, he looked at me and directed me to move," Boyle told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview. Boyle said he began to move, but “under four seconds after the sergeant told me to move, an officer comes power walking up behind me and he says, 'Sir, he's not going to tell you again.'"</p><p data-block-key=\"5dffq\">Boyle said he was holding a Chicago Police Department press badge in his hand and had press markings across his helmet and vest on front and back. He said he also verbally announced that he was press. Still, he said, the officer marched up to him and "shoved me backwards through a crowd of police officers."</p><p data-block-key=\"g8roq\">According to Boyle, he repeatedly told the officer he was already moving, but the officer cut him off and said, "Nope, nope, nope. Keep on going." After being pushed through "a wall of his coworkers [officers] who did not intervene," Boyle said he lost balance and fell on his camera gear, breaking a camera hood, busting open a flash, and shaking up a telephoto lens, which he said still rattles from the impact.</p><p data-block-key=\"ivfu7\">"This is how you treat press credentialed by your department, again?" Boyle<a href=\"https://twitter.com/colinbphoto/status/1383258884844843009?s=20\"> wrote on Twitter</a> alongside several photographs taken at the scene. "Shameful."</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The cop on the right started tossing me as I was leaving upon order. I was pushed to the ground and that broke my camera lens hood. Thanks, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CPD_Media?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CPD_Media</a>. This is how you treat press credentialed by your department, again? Shameful. <a href=\"https://t.co/rOdJknBudb\">pic.twitter.com/rOdJknBudb</a></p>— Colin Boyle (@colinbphoto) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/colinbphoto/status/1383258884844843009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 17, 2021</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=\"1l29t\">After the incident, Boyle said he shared his frustration with CPD Director Glen Brooks, and a few days later he filed a formal complaint. As of early May, Boyle said, he had received no information on the status of his complaint.</p><p data-block-key=\"dtdt2\">Chicago police did not respond immediately to an emailed request for comment. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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{
"quantity": 2,
"equipment": "camera equipment"
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{
"quantity": 1,
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],
"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
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"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
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"targeted_journalists": [
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]
