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{
"title": "Radio reporter ordered to testify in assault trial connected to BLM protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/radio-reporter-ordered-to-testify-in-assault-trial-connected-to-blm-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-20T16:46:24.596379Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-03-09T19:50:06.199235Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-03-09T19:50:06.098458Z",
"date": "2021-08-05",
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"city": "Madison",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"w8hyb\">Chali Pittman, a reporter and news and public affairs director for WORT-FM, was one of three journalists subpoenaed on Aug. 5, 2021, to testify at the upcoming trial of two women charged with assault in Madison, Wisconsin.</p><p data-block-key=\"943r0\">Pittman told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker the subpoena is connected to the assault of state Sen. Tim Carpenter at a Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020. On June 23, protesters were hostile to anyone who was filming or photographing and members of the crowd directed their ire at Carpenter when he stopped to take a photo of the demonstration, Isthmus <a href=\"https://isthmus.com/news/news/statues-toppled/\">reported</a> at the time. A group of approximately 10 individuals then beat the senator as he attempted to identify himself.</p><p data-block-key=\"t9r09\">According to a court filing in opposition to the subpoenas, the Dane County district attorney’s office issued subpoenas to Pittman, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/senior-reporter-ordered-to-testify-in-assault-trial-connected-to-blm-protest/\">Isthmus reporter Dylan Brogan</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/broadcast-reporter-ordered-to-testify-in-assault-trial-connected-to-blm-protest/\">WKOW-TV reporter Lance Veeser</a> via mail to compel their eyewitness testimony. An attorney representing the journalists notified Assistant District Attorney Paul Humphrey they would not comply with the subpoenas as served, as they were issued improperly and violated the state’s shield law.</p><p data-block-key=\"c9hn2\">“The Wisconsin Legislature has enacted a reporters’ privilege law that absolutely prohibits compelling a news person to testify about confidential sources and conditionally prohibits the issuance of a subpoena compelling a news person to testify about ‘[a]ny news, information, or identity of any source of any news or information,’” the filing reads.</p><p data-block-key=\"wbozx\">The district attorney’s office argued that it had been unable to identify other witnesses and therefore the journalists’ testimony is vital to the case against the defendants, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel <a href=\"https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2021/09/09/judge-compels-journalists-testify-trial-into-lawmakers-beating/8258733002/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"tupti\">Pittman told the Tracker none of the three journalists are able to identify the individuals involved in the attack.</p><p data-block-key=\"m663j\">On Sept. 9, 2021, Judge Josann Reynolds ruled in favor of the prosecutors and granted an order compelling the three journalists to comply with the subpoenas and appear to testify starting Oct. 18, according to the Journal Sentinel.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This morning, a Dane Co judge ruled to compel me and two other local journalists to testify about the events of this night and specifically, the attack against state Sen. Tim Carpenter. <br><br>Yet, none of us are unable to identify any of the attackers. <a href=\"https://t.co/cqXTKF8CKQ\">https://t.co/cqXTKF8CKQ</a></p>— chali (@chalipittman) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/chalipittman/status/1435993972313366544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 9, 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=\"5oecz\">“I have personal and professional reasons for not testifying beyond just reporter’s privilege,” Pittman said. “I work at a community radio station where I wear a lot of hats: One of them is building ties with communities who may not have always trusted community radio or had their voices well-represented in media. So testifying would make that more difficult.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ekqjr\">District Attorney Ismael Ozanne told the Tracker via email that his office was pleased with the ruling.</p><p data-block-key=\"29y4j\">“It is my understanding the court made a very good record of the decision in this case on this matter,” Ozanne wrote. “This is not a situation in which an informant’s identity needs to be kept confidential. I don’t believe telling the truth compromises a person’s reputation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qhinn\">The reporters are considering appealing the ruling, Pittman told the Tracker, but the financial burden is daunting.</p><p data-block-key=\"qqjo0\">“Our lawyers told us that an appeal this time would cost about $20,000 and we’re a nonprofit radio station hanging on by the skin of our teeth,” Pittman said.</p><p data-block-key=\"s7qpz\">Pittman told the Tracker that if they are unable to move forward with an appeal or the appeal fails, she will comply with the subpoena.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Wisconsin",
"abbreviation": "WI"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-10-18 13:04:00+00:00) Radio reporter compelled to testify in Wisconsin senator’s assault trial"
],
"case_statuses": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Chali Pittman (WORT-FM)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"carried out"
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},
{
"title": "Journalist at advocacy news organization dragged from press conference",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-at-advocacy-news-organization-dragged-from-press-conference/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-15T20:42:56.490127Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-03T14:02:23.708485Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-03T14:02:23.600077Z",
"date": "2021-08-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Hialeah Gardens",
"longitude": -80.3245,
"latitude": 25.8651,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8qqpj\">Grant Stern, executive editor of the news arm of the progressive political organization Occupy Democrats, said he was forcefully removed from a press conference at the Hialeah Gardens Museum in Hialeah Gardens, Florida, on Aug. 5, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"xv03i\">Stern told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was alerted to a press conference with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republican lawmakers via email from the governor’s press office. The email noted that the press conference was open to all and did not require an RSVP. When he arrived, Stern said, he identified himself as a reporter for Occupy Democrats and was granted entry.</p><p data-block-key=\"78oaq\">“I went into the press conference like anybody else and I was there recording with my audio recorder,” Stern said, “and everything else I did with a cellphone or hand-held camera, recording all of these speeches.”</p><p data-block-key=\"iftgh\">Approximately 30 minutes into the press conference, Stern said, a congressional staffer approached him and asked him to identify himself and who he worked for. Stern said he identified himself again and offered to show them his Twitter profile and author bio, as he does not carry press credentials with him. When the staffer asked him to leave, Stern said he had complied with the procedure to enter and would leave only if asked to do so by a museum employee.</p><p data-block-key=\"xnyt6\">During the Q&A session at the end of the press conference 15 minutes later, he said, Stern began to ask a question about the House’s proposed Jan. 6 commission. In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/grantstern/status/1423328925250473986\">his footage</a> of the incident, Stern’s camera suddenly begins shaking and moving backward as he attempts to finish his question. Stern said four officers dragged him out of the room on his heels and ordered that he leave the museum.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I tried to ask <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GOPLeader?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GOPLeader</a> McCarthy a question after he decried Cuban police pickup up people in the streets.<br><br>Why does he oppose the bipartisan <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/January6thCommission?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#January6thCommission</a>?<br><br>A Congressional staffer had four cops pick me up and drag me from the room.<br><br>I still asked the question. <a href=\"https://t.co/HDqrhvARaC\">pic.twitter.com/HDqrhvARaC</a></p>— Grant Stern is fully vaccinated (@grantstern) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/grantstern/status/1423328925250473986?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 5, 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=\"4zr65\">“I start asking a question and I feel a hand on the small of my back through my backpack,” Stern said. “My first thought was whether someone was trying to steal my journalistic equipment and then I realized that they were searching me for weapons.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nqvuk\">Stern said the officers then grabbed him, pulled him out of the room and turned off his phone recording with such force they scratched the face of his cellphone in multiple places; he said he intends to replace the screen as a result of the damage.</p><p data-block-key=\"9qoqn\">“They dragged me clear out of the room, told me to go away, involuntarily turned off my camera and pushed me out of the front door,” Stern said. “They did not make any attempt to identify me, to arrest or detain me further, to ask me any other questions.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0gq49\">A spokesperson for McCarthy <a href=\"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kevin-mccarthy-press-conference-capitol-riot-b1897801.html\">told The Independent</a> that “congressional staff had nothing to do [with Stern’s] removal.” McCarthy’s office did not respond to a request for additional comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"69gc4\">Stern told the Tracker his left knee capsule was ruptured as the officers pushed and dragged him, and he will need occupational therapy to restore full mobility.</p><p data-block-key=\"vfp68\">The Hialeah Gardens Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
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"actor": "law enforcement",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Federal government: Legislature",
"State government: Governor"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Denial of Access",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Grant Stern (Occupy Democrats)"
],
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"Government event"
]
},
{
"title": "Parent accosts Michigan journalist after school board meeting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/parent-accosts-michigan-journalist-after-school-board-meeting/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-10T18:09:44.049141Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-08-10T18:09:44.049141Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-08-10T18:09:44.009465Z",
"date": "2021-08-02",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Mount Pleasant",
"longitude": -84.76751,
"latitude": 43.59781,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Reporter Eric Baerren was attacked by a parent who wanted him to delete photos from his camera on Aug. 2, 2021, after covering a school board meeting, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p>Baerren told the Tracker that the school board at Mount Pleasant High School in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, had been discussing wearing masks in school and he had been covering the story for the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun and taking photographs.</p><p>He told the Tracker that after the meeting, at about 9 p.m., a man approached him while he was packing up his equipment in front of the school auditorium and asked if he'd taken photos of his daughter during the public comment period.</p><p>“I told him I didn't know and he asked me if I'd go through my camera to check. I told him I wasn't going to do that and that if I did, it was while his daughter was giving public comment during a public meeting. He told me that he'd asked me nicely, which I took as an implied threat.”</p><p>The parent then “tried to grab my phone out of my hand and kick my camera away from my grasp. From behind me, I heard the district superintendent call for the police, so I got my equipment and stood up to wait for them.”</p><p>“Then the man indicated that he wouldn't let me leave until I complied with his wishes, and I then pointed my thumb to the approaching officer.” An officer from the Mount Pleasant Police Department’s Youth Services Unit was on scene, and he responded quickly.</p><p>Baerren said that the officer took them into the lobby, and after a brief investigation asked the reporter if he wanted to file assault charges. He declined, and two more officers kept the parent in a corner until Baerren could leave.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
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"tags": [
"coronavirus"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Eric Baerren (Mount Pleasant Morning Sun)"
],
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{
"title": "Independent videographer punched while covering anti-vaccine protest in LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-punched-while-covering-anti-vaccine-protest-in-la/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-05T17:30:05.530760Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-12-10T15:17:07.224297Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-12-10T15:17:07.162793Z",
"date": "2021-07-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Vishal Singh, a videographer who works on Netflix documentaries and has been covering demonstrations in Los Angeles since May 2020, said he was punched multiple times while documenting protests at a restaurant in Los Angeles, California, on July 29, 2021.</p><p>Local digital outlet WeHoTimes <a href=\"https://wehotimes.com/anti-vaccination-protest-returns-to-harlowe-restaurant-and-gets-violent/\">reported</a> that the West Hollywood restaurant Harlowe had become a target of anti-vaccine protests because of its policy requiring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to enter the premises. Similar stipulations have been put in place across the country in order to <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/08/03/world/covid-delta-variant-vaccine\">curb the spread of coronavirus variations</a>, particularly amid unvaccinated populations.</p><p>Singh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he arrived to document the protest at approximately 7 p.m., having <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1420609340398989312\">reported on violence</a> that broke out at the restaurant the night before. By the time he began filming from across the street, a scuffle had broken out between the protesters and another individual and the crowd began following the man down the street.</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 just severely injured by a mob of anti-vaxxers. They were surrounding and assaulting someone. I went to film and help him escape. They attacked from behind. Possible concussion. Maced. Had to fight them off me by myself. Deployed mace in self defense after I was concussed. <a href=\"https://t.co/NTkn6A8XJT\">pic.twitter.com/NTkn6A8XJT</a></p>— Vishal P. Singh (They/He) (@VPS_Reports) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1420940687697055748?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 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>As the crowd turned down an alley, Singh said they directed their attention on him; in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1420984675502153728\">footage</a> of the incident a man can be seen positioning himself behind Singh, bumping the videographer with his shoulder and then punching Singh multiple times as Singh defends himself. In the footage, Singh’s press badge can be seen on a lanyard around his neck.</p><p>Singh said a second individual then ripped the mask off his face and the man again punched him, knocking him to the ground. Singh told the Tracker he continued defending himself and used pepper spray to disperse the crowd until he was eventually able to leave the area.</p><p>“I felt that if I turned around they would chase me and beat me more, so I really didn’t have a choice but to stand my ground and defend myself,” Singh said.</p><p>Singh said he immediately went to a hospital, where he was told he suffered multiple breaks to his eye sockets and nose as a result of the attack.</p><p>Singh told the Tracker the day after the incident that he hadn’t yet filed a police report about the incident.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"(2021-09-30 00:00:00+00:00) Independent videographer charged with assault in connection with anti-vaccine protest where he was punched"
],
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"tags": [
"coronavirus",
"protest"
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"categories": [
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"targeted_journalists": [
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{
"title": "Journalists for Polish news station were assaulted, chased out of DC’s Lafayette Square park during Cuba protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-for-polish-news-station-were-assaulted-chased-out-of-dcs-lafayette-square-park-during-cuba-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-17T14:38:26.527437Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-10-19T19:37:23.792838Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-10-19T19:37:23.750878Z",
"date": "2021-07-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Journalist Marcin Wrona, a U.S. correspondent for the Polish TV channel TVN Discovery, was filming a live broadcast on July 26, 2021, from Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., when members of the public stopped the broadcast and started to throw objects at Wrona and his cameraman, Marcin Wyszogrodzki.</p><p>Wrona told U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email that individuals in the park repeatedly interrupted their broadcast, which was covering a declaration sponsored by the <a href=\"https://www.state.gov/united-states-and-concerned-nations-stand-together-for-the-cuban-people/\">U.S. State Department</a> calling for freedom in Cuba, signed by the United States and 19 other countries, and a protest <a href=\"https://www.cibercuba.com/noticias/2021-07-27-u208060-e208060-s27061-periodista-expulsado-cubanos-marcha-casa-blanca-prensa\">against repression in Cuba</a>.</p><p>The veteran broadcaster, who has worked in journalism for 33 years, told the Tracker: “First we were approached by an individual with a bullhorn who was yelling something in Spanish straight in our microphone and camera. I asked him to stop doing it, as the viewers would not be able to hear a word of our reporting. We moved a few steps over.</p><p>“Later a group of about five people lined up behind my back, blocking the view with their raised signs. I asked them to lower the signs because we would not be able to show how big the protest is.”</p><p>Wrona said that as he was about to go on air at 11 a.m., the crowd started yelling in Spanish, telling them they were not welcome there.</p><p>“They started physically pushing us out of the park,” he said, confirming that they were prevented from doing the broadcast. Wrona said their equipment displayed the station logo and his cameraman was carrying press identification. The assault of cameraman Wyszogrodzki and damage of the station equipment <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cameraman-and-journalist-for-polish-tv-station-chased-from-dcs-lafayette-park-during-protest-for-cuba/\">is documented by the Tracker here</a>.</p><p>When the TVN crew decided to pack up and leave, <a href=\"https://www.cibercuba.com/noticias/2021-07-27-u208060-e208060-s27061-periodista-expulsado-cubanos-marcha-casa-blanca-prensa\">the crowd started punching them, grabbing equipment</a>, spraying water on them and throwing bottles and other objects at them.</p><p>“They were calling me an assassin (<i>assassino)</i> and other words in Spanish. I heard people yelling in English that I had blood on my hands,” Wrona said.</p><p>The crew managed to get across H street, still chased by the crowd, and went toward two Metropolitan Police officers on a bicycle patrol. The officers tried to hold back the crowd with their bikes, and then called for backup. Finally about 10 officers escorted them to safety, Wrona said.</p><p>“We covered at least three or four blocks and the crowd was still attacking us. Finally the police decided to get us into their squad vehicle and their lieutenant drove us away, although her car was followed by some Cubans.”</p><p>He added that some people had started posting videos online, calling him a Cuban regime agent, communist, or supporter of the Castro regime. “Some were lamenting that I wasn't severely beaten.”</p><p>Wrona, who works for a TV station that is often described as the last <a href=\"https://www.euronews.com/2021/08/12/poland-government-in-chaotic-parliamentary-tussle-over-disputed-media-ownership-bill\">independent news</a> channel in Poland, said that he knows what living under communism is like, as he grew up under a communist regime. He said he was in a group of 10 people who built the first independent radio station in Poland after the fall of communism.</p><p>He also said that there had been some “horrible” follow-up personal attacks on social media, stoked by people spreading false information.</p><p>“There were a few really tough days emotionally after the attack. But I am a reporter; I have to keep doing my job,” Wrona said.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Discovery Channel subpoenaed for documentary footage in criminal case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/discovery-channel-subpoenaed-for-documentary-footage-in-criminal-case/",
"first_published_at": "2022-08-02T19:27:47.705155Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-08-02T19:27:47.705155Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-08-02T19:27:47.654744Z",
"date": "2021-07-26",
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"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pscek\">Discovery Inc. was issued a subpoena by the state’s attorney of Cook County for unaired documentary footage as part of a wrongful-conviction hearing in Chicago, Illinois, on July 26, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"6c2ud\">An attorney for the media company, Steven Mandell, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker the subpoena requested both published and unpublished footage from an episode of “Reasonable Doubt,” which aired on Investigation Discovery. The <a href=\"https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/video/reasonable-doubt-investigation-discovery/it-wasnt-me\">episode</a> investigated assertions that Roosevelt Myles was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1996, and included interviews with his family members and neighbors, including a witness who claimed he could provide Myles an alibi. The episode aired in May 2020 and Myles was released from prison that July. The subpoena was issued by an assistant state’s attorney as part of the post-conviction hearing discovery process.</p><p data-block-key=\"fdqtq\">Mandell said Painless Television, Inc., a California-based production company, produced the documentary for Discovery Channel and was itself subpoenaed in October 2021. The Tracker has documented that subpoena <a href=\"/all-incidents/production-company-subpoenaed-for-documentary-footage-in-criminal-case/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ek88k\">“One of the things that the prosecutor did was not only ask for the as-broadcast version of the program but also any outtakes, including any footage of witnesses that were not broadcast,” Mandell said. “In response, the producers at Discovery were willing to give the as-broadcast version but maintained — appropriately in my view — that the outtakes were protected by the shield law.”</p><p data-block-key=\"14p96\">Discovery and Painless Television are headquartered in New York and California, respectively, states that have some of the strongest shield laws for members of the press in the country, Mandell said. Illinois, on the other hand, has a qualified privilege meaning that it can be overcome or “divested” under certain circumstances.</p><p data-block-key=\"dgsvt\">Mandell told the Tracker that after the subpoena to Discovery Channel was mistakenly issued to an address in Washington state, it was reissued on March 11, 2022.</p><p data-block-key=\"el3mh\">“We argued that if there’s a public interest involved it’s to protect the press,” Mandell said. “One of the roles the press plays is to shine a light on government, not to assist or facilitate government action. To preserve the flow of information from confidential or even non-confidential sources, the press has to assert its privilege and not be viewed as an arm or an instrument of the police.”</p><p data-block-key=\"18sfa\">On June 27, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Carol Howard struck down the subpoenas against both Discovery and Painless Television. According to a <a href=\"https://medialaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/07.07.22illinois.pdf\">court transcript</a> reviewed by the Tracker, Howard found that the state’s attorney had failed to meet the requirements to overcome the reporter’s privilege.</p><p data-block-key=\"asrma\">“The State has not set forth the specific information that is sought and why that information is relevant to the proceedings. The State cannot say with any amount of specificity exactly what they are seeking,” Howard said. “And the State simply has not met the third requirement that requires you to exhaust all available sources of the information.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b8min\">Discovery Inc. did not respond to messages requesting comment.</p></div>",
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"name": "Illinois",
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],
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{
"title": "Cameraman and journalist for Polish TV station chased from DC’s Lafayette park during protest for Cuba",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cameraman-and-journalist-for-polish-tv-station-chased-from-dcs-lafayette-park-during-protest-for-cuba/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-17T14:29:24.867651Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-01T14:22:34.877965Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-01T14:22:34.762916Z",
"date": "2021-07-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yjg7v\">Cameraman Marcin Wyszogrodzki, who works for the Polish TV channel TVN Discovery, was trying to film a live broadcast from Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., on July 26, 2021, when members of the public prevented his team from broadcasting and threw objects at them.</p><p data-block-key=\"2be6i\">Wyszogrodzki told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that just before 11 a.m., members of the public in the park began making it difficult for him to film the TVN journalist Marcin Wrona and screaming at both him and Wrona.</p><p data-block-key=\"1yds4\">Normally, Wyszogrodzki said, they would walk away and film somewhere nearby, but in this case the angry people continued to follow them, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8vdzp\">“The worst thing was they didn’t want to give up — they would follow us and there was more and more hate against us. They were trying to rip off the wires from the camera. They were behind my back and pulling wires from the camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"odxxd\">“It was something unusual. It never should happen when you are doing your work,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"0vy3t\">“I felt like it was coming to the point when it might turn out very badly for us,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"nrpcv\">One of the assailants had ripped a wire from the back of the camera and someone threw water at them and their equipment, but the camera was not damaged. Only a wire was missing, he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"foo8f\">Wrona told the Tracker that the crew had been covering a <a href=\"https://www.state.gov/united-states-and-concerned-nations-stand-together-for-the-cuban-people/\">U.S. State Department</a>-sponsored declaration calling for freedom in Cuba, signed by the United States and 19 other countries, and a protest <a href=\"https://www.cibercuba.com/noticias/2021-07-27-u208060-e208060-s27061-periodista-expulsado-cubanos-marcha-casa-blanca-prensa\">against government repression in Cuba</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"uoeyj\">“First we were approached by an individual with a bullhorn who was yelling something in Spanish straight in our microphone and camera. I asked him to stop doing it as the viewers would not be able to hear a word of our reporting. We moved a few steps over,” Wrona said.</p><p data-block-key=\"js111\">“Later a group of about five people lined up behind my back, blocking the view with their raised signs. I asked them to lower the signs because we would not be able to show how big the protest is.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hf5ua\">As he was about to go on air, the crowd started “yelling something in Spanish and telling us that we were not welcome there. They started physically pushing us out of the park,” he said, confirming that they were prevented from doing the broadcast. Wrona said the equipment displayed the station logo and Wyszogrodzki was carrying press identification.</p><p data-block-key=\"aunjc\">When the TVN crew decided to pack up and leave, <a href=\"https://www.cibercuba.com/noticias/2021-07-27-u208060-e208060-s27061-periodista-expulsado-cubanos-marcha-casa-blanca-prensa\">the crowd started punching them, grabbing equipment</a>, spraying water on them and throwing bottles and other objects at them. The Tracker <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-for-polish-news-station-were-assaulted-chased-out-of-dcs-lafayette-square-park-during-cuba-protest/\">documented Wrona’s assault here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0cmo2\">They managed to get across H street, still being chased by the crowd, and went towards two Metropolitan Police officers on a bicycle patrol. The officers tried to hold back the crowd using their bikes and then called for backup. Finally about 10 officers escorted them to safety, Wrona said.</p><p data-block-key=\"29io5\">“We covered at least three or four blocks and the crowd was still attacking us. Finally the police decided to get us into their squad vehicle and their lieutenant drove us away, although her car was followed by some Cubans.”</p><p data-block-key=\"roee3\">TVN is often described as the last<a href=\"https://www.euronews.com/2021/08/12/poland-government-in-chaotic-parliamentary-tussle-over-disputed-media-ownership-bill\"> independent news</a> channel in Poland.</p><p data-block-key=\"lv2gv\">Wrona also said that there had been some “horrible” follow-up personal attacks on social media, stoked by people spreading false information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTXESS02.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"w7yb5\">Protesters in Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Square park call for the support of protesters in Cuba on July 26, 2021. While broadcasting from the demonstration, a news crew for Polish television station TVN Discovery was chased out of the park.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"actor": "private individual",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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{
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"name": "District of Columbia",
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},
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"Equipment Damage"
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],
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist’s phone knocked from hands during ‘We Are Israel’ rally",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalists-phone-knocked-from-hands-during-we-are-israel-rally/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-05T18:50:08.764180Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-10T21:41:31.607362Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T21:41:31.548453Z",
"date": "2021-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "El Cajon",
"longitude": -116.96253,
"latitude": 32.79477,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"19rrr\">Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg’s phone was deliberately knocked out of her hands while she was documenting clashing demonstrations in El Cajon, California, on July 25, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"col8c\">The San Diego Union-Tribune <a href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/story/2021-07-25/we-are-israel-rally-draws-recall-candidate-trumps-former-secretary-of-state-and-protesters-to-el-cajon\">reported</a> far-right demonstrators had gathered in the San Diego suburb to attend the “We Are Israel” rally at which former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder were scheduled to speak. Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she began reporting that day around 2:30 p.m. at a nearby park where counterprotesters were gathering ahead of a planned march to the rally.</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 in El Cajon, inland from San Diego, where Christian Zionists are staging a rally with Mike Pompeo and Larry Elders. Jewish Voice for Peace and PSL are staging a protest <a href=\"https://t.co/Gde2YHMhTS\">pic.twitter.com/Gde2YHMhTS</a></p>— Lefty-Desiree McLefty Face, Milkshake Whisperer (@TinaDesireeBerg) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg/status/1419409881832951809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 25, 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=\"jge2e\">Berg said that around 4 p.m. the marchers had made it to approximately a block away from the Prescott Promenade, where the rally was taking place, when they ran into a group of far-right demonstrators who were standing around some sort of a blockade on the street. Berg said she quickly ran up to begin filming the group and their interactions with the marchers.</p><p data-block-key=\"70ahs\">“As I was standing there filming I decided to pull out my phone camera too to get back-up footage just because there was so much going on,” Berg said. “And I’m standing there and I’m concentrating just on filming so I didn’t see it coming but he came over and he blasted the phone out of my hand and I ran to go get it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ljhd4\">At 2:08 in <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sac4J5Ct0g4\">footage</a> Berg posted to YouTube, an individual can be seen grabbing at independent videographer Vishal Singh’s press badge and then turning to taunt the crowd. At 0:33 in Singh’s <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1419431006264860677\">footage</a> of the incident, the same man can be seen deliberately knocking the phone out of Berg’s hands before seconds later returning to where Singh is filming and deliberately knocking the phone from his hands as well.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There is an immediate clash between sides, instigated by the far right extremists. The man in the punisher shirt with the yellow sleeves tries to assault me, then he knocks <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TinaDesireeBerg</a>’s phone down, then he knocks my phone down as well. <a href=\"https://t.co/iO76cApYCi\">pic.twitter.com/iO76cApYCi</a></p>— Vishal P. Singh (They/He) (@VPS_Reports) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1419431006264860677?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 25, 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=\"6o99d\">Berg <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg/status/1419435285075533826\">tweeted</a> immediately following the incident that she was also caught in a cloud of bear spray, and in her footage she can be heard coughing and reacting to the spray and puts her camera down at 6:15 in the clip in order to receive treatment. She told the Tracker that her phone was not damaged by the fall, but she decided shortly after the incident to leave without making it to the rally.</p><p data-block-key=\"ahk5d\">“Me and two of the other press guys who were there — I’m not sure who, one of them was from the San Diego Union-Tribune — we never made it down to the event because it was not safe,” Berg told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"dhx4y\">Berg said in addition to her video camera she was also wearing a press badge around her neck and a flak jacket labeled with “PRESS.” She said she hasn’t filed a police report about the incident.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Tina-Desiree Berg (Independent)"
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{
"title": "Independent videographer’s phone knocked from hands during ‘We Are Israel’ rally",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographers-phone-knocked-from-hands-during-we-are-israel-rally/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-05T18:53:27.439849Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-10-19T21:01:14.482816Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-10-19T21:01:14.434881Z",
"date": "2021-07-25",
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"longitude": -116.96253,
"latitude": 32.79477,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Vishal Singh, a videographer who works on Netflix documentaries and has been covering demonstrations in Los Angeles since May 2020, was pushed and his phone knocked out of his hands as he documented clashing demonstrations in El Cajon, California, on July 25, 2021, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p>The San Diego Union-Tribune <a href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/story/2021-07-25/we-are-israel-rally-draws-recall-candidate-trumps-former-secretary-of-state-and-protesters-to-el-cajon\">reported</a> far-right demonstrators had gathered in the San Diego suburb to attend the “We Are Israel” rally at which former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder were scheduled to speak. Singh told the Tracker that he began reporting that day shortly before 3 p.m. at a nearby park where counterprotesters were gathering ahead of a planned march to the rally.</p><p>Singh said that around 4 p.m. the marchers had made it to approximately a block away from the Prescott Promenade, where the rally was taking place, when they ran into a group of far-right demonstrators standing around a barricade.</p><p>“There was pretty much immediately a clash between the two sides,” Singh said, “and I was one of the first people assaulted.”</p><p>Singh told the Tracker that an individual came forward from the barricade and attempted to push him and grab his press badge, but Singh was able to deflect him and told the man not to touch him. In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1419431006264860677\">footage</a> Singh posted to Twitter, the clip begins with the man approaching him. At 0:33 in the footage, the individual can be seen deliberately knocking the phone out of independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg’s hands before returning to where Singh is filming and deliberately knocking the phone from his hands as well.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There is an immediate clash between sides, instigated by the far right extremists. The man in the punisher shirt with the yellow sleeves tries to assault me, then he knocks <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TinaDesireeBerg</a>’s phone down, then he knocks my phone down as well. <a href=\"https://t.co/iO76cApYCi\">pic.twitter.com/iO76cApYCi</a></p>— Vishal P. Singh (They/He) (@VPS_Reports) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1419431006264860677?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 25, 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>Singh told the Tracker that his phone may have sustained additional damage, but the screen was already cracked from an <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-struck-with-baton-during-protest-at-las-wi-spa/\">incident on July 17</a>.</p><p>After the clashes continued, Singh said, a far-right demonstrator walked up to the counterprotesters and sprayed a chemical irritant at them. “And then he turned around to me, chased me and bear maced me,” Singh said.</p><p>Singh said he hasn’t yet filed a police report about the assaults.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Documentarian pushed, sprayed with chemical irritant while covering LA anti-mask protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/documentarian-pushed-sprayed-with-chemical-irritant-while-covering-la-anti-mask-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-09T18:32:06.274644Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-10T21:42:05.311127Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T21:42:05.235694Z",
"date": "2021-07-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2yf8s\">Documentary writer, director and producer Rocky Romano was shoved and sprayed with bear mace and his camera was knocked from his hands while he was covering anti-mask protests in Los Angeles, California, on July 22, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"3258j\">Romano told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was covering demonstrations outside the Cedars-Sinai Breast Health Services Building in West Hollywood, where <a href=\"https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkbxmg/breast-cancer-patient-attacked-anti-mask-protest\">demonstrators had gathered</a> to protest the clinic’s requirement that patients wear masks indoors. Similar rules have been put in place across the country in order to <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/08/03/world/covid-delta-variant-vaccine#:~:text=Fully%20vaccinated%20people%20are%20protected,worse%20before%20it%20gets%20better.%E2%80%9D\">curb the spread of COVID-19 variations</a>, particularly among unvaccinated populations.</p><p data-block-key=\"0u4qe\">“The group consisted of anti-maskers holding signs with anti-vaxx and QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theories gathered on the sidewalk by the cancer clinic harassing patients and doctors,” Romano wrote in an email to the Tracker. “Community members arrived and attempted to thwart the efforts of the anti-vaxxers and violence erupted.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v25zp\">Romano said that at approximately 11 a.m. an anti-vaccine protester struck him, knocking his camera to the ground, when he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/directedbyrocky/status/1418970657438638080\">attempted to ask</a> why the protest was taking place. The individual then kicked the camera into the street, and both Romano and his assailant raced to get it; Romano said he was able to retrieve the camera before his assailant was able to kick it again into the intersection.</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 assaulted and had my camera knocked out of my hand when I tried to inquire as to why the anti-vaccine protestors chose to protest a cancer clinic. Later I was bear maced along with <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Katerqburns?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Katerqburns</a>. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PlasticJesus9?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PlasticJesus9</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wysiwygtv?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@wysiwygtv</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/chadloder?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@chadloder</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/misstessowen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@misstessowen</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/rALYP6ICHG\">pic.twitter.com/rALYP6ICHG</a></p>— Rocky Romano (he/him) (@directedbyrocky) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/directedbyrocky/status/1418970657438638080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 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=\"30f6b\">The camera sustained minor damage Romano said, and he was able to continue filming the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"30hhf\">Approximately three hours later, Romano said he was covering the main crowd of protesters in front of the clinic when an individual pulled out what he described as a can of bear mace and sprayed Romano, as well as a cancer patient and multiple counterprotesters.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Anti-vax protestor assaults members of the community, a credentialed media person (me), and cancer patient <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Katerqburns?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Katerqburns</a> with bear mace to their faces. Notice the community member assisting the cancer patient to safety. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/misstessowen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@misstessowen</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/chadloder?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@chadloder</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@VPS_Reports</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PlasticJesus9?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PlasticJesus9</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/rKhGii6MWn\">pic.twitter.com/rKhGii6MWn</a></p>— Rocky Romano (he/him) (@directedbyrocky) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/directedbyrocky/status/1419017484691132417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 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=\"efyfv\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/directedbyrocky/status/1419017484691132417\">footage of the incident</a> Romano posted to Twitter, Romano appears to have been one of the first people targeted with the bear mace. In the footage, Romano can clearly be seen wearing a helmet and flak jacket labeled “PRESS.”</p><p data-block-key=\"uwhvt\">Romano told the Tracker his lungs and eyes were inflamed for four to six hours after he was sprayed, and it took him 24 hours to recover fully. He said he hasn’t yet filed a police report about the incident.</p></div>",
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"name": "California",
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"coronavirus",
"protest"
],
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{
"title": "Colorado Politics reporter assaulted by member of the public in Denver Capitol newsroom",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/colorado-politics-reporter-assaulted-by-member-of-the-public-in-denver-capitol-newsroom/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-19T14:51:29.177488Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-08-19T14:51:29.177488Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-08-19T14:51:29.142476Z",
"date": "2021-07-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Denver",
"longitude": -104.9847,
"latitude": 39.73915,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Pat Poblete, a legislative reporter for Colorado Politics, was working in the Capitol newsroom in Denver when he said a woman assaulted him on July 20, 2021.</p><p>“I was assaulted. In the Capitol newsroom. Because I am a journalist,” Poblete wrote in a series of<a href=\"https://twitter.com/byPatPoblete/status/1417593843856277504?s=20\"> tweets</a>. “The woman who attacked me and attempted to make off with @MGoodland‘s property was set off when she found out she was in the press room and echoed the rhetoric the former president directed at journalists.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I generally try to steer clear of getting personal on the TL but something happened to me today I feel compelled to share<br><br>I was assaulted. In the Capitol newsroom. Because I am a journalist. <br><br>I’m fine, but it’s left me with a lot to get off my chest</p>— Pat Poblete (@byPatPoblete) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/byPatPoblete/status/1417593843856277504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 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>At about 10 p.m., Poblete had been writing up a short story when a woman entered the press room, according to Westword, an independent publication in Denver. “I imagine she just wandered in because it was hot outside,” he said in the<a href=\"https://www.westword.com/news/reporter-pete-poblete-attacked-at-colorado-state-capitol-12036831\"> article</a>. “Then she asked what I did and where we were, and I said we were in one of the CPA [Capitol Press Association] press rooms, and that set her off. She did the whole Trumpy, nine-yards thing about fake news and how you guys are making up lies and journalism is poisoning the community.”</p><p>Marianne Goodland, Colorado Politics' chief statehouse reporter, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was not in the room at the time of the assault, but that things on her desk had been moved, although nothing was damaged.</p><p>“To reiterate, I’m physically fine,” Poblete wrote in another<a href=\"https://twitter.com/byPatPoblete/status/1417594394182492163\"> tweet</a>. “Mentally is a different story and the what if’s are haunting me. What if I was seriously hurt? What if she had a weapon? What if it was a gun? What if, instead of a 5’4 woman, it was an assailant the same height and weight as me?”</p><p>Goodland told the Tracker that Poblete chose not to press charges, but that the newspaper has asked for a copy of the video footage. “We've never had anything like this happen,” she said. “We were just horrified. He has been grateful for all the support he has gotten.”</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Independent videographer struck with baton during protest at LA’s Wi Spa",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-struck-with-baton-during-protest-at-las-wi-spa/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-05T17:28:40.485981Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-01T14:23:57.476631Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-01T14:23:57.363680Z",
"date": "2021-07-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tk1j3\">Vishal Singh, a videographer who works on Netflix documentaries and has been covering demonstrations in Los Angeles since May 2020, was struck in the hand with a baton by a police officer while covering demonstrations outside a spa in Los Angeles, California, on July 17, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"4bsqs\">Wi Spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate<a href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/07/wi-spa-la-transphobic-protest.html\"> reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"vkiqy\">Singh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he arrived at approximately 10 a.m. to cover what he expected to be another confrontation between anti-transgender demonstrators and pro-LGBTQ counterprotesters outside the spa. Demonstrations had been occuring at the site for days; Singh reported that a Los Angeles Police Department officer shoved him with a baton while he was covering protests there on July 3.</p><p data-block-key=\"iq6ua\">Shortly before 11 a.m., the two groups were about to clash at an intersection a block away from the spa, Singh said, when LAPD officers quickly advanced in order to separate the sides.</p><p data-block-key=\"i0aem\">“At that point I decided to go down Coronado Street and kind of go around the police barricade and go to the sidewalk and film the far-right side of the protest,” Singh said. Singh said he was a few steps behind a couple of other journalists who were walking the same direction, but an LAPD officer stopped him when he was about halfway across the street and pushed him back, ordering Singh to get on the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"km5p2\">“He was basically saying, ‘Get back to the sidewalk.’ I said, ‘Are you serious?’ And he responded, ‘Yes I’m serious, this is our street,’” Singh said.</p><p data-block-key=\"0610x\">Within seconds of getting on the sidewalk, Singh said, a group of officers began confronting the pro-LGBTQ counterprotesters. In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1416498387428397058\">footage of the incident</a> Singh shared on Twitter later that day, he can be seen on the right-hand side wearing a helmet and tie-dyed shirt.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ljce\">“I started stepping backwards and I turned my camera to film the side-view shot of the protesters getting brutalized and at that point [the officer] leaned over, stepped forward toward me and with both hands on his baton like a baseball bat hit my outstretched hand that was holding my camera as hard as he could,” Singh said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sorry for the stop in coverage. Hand was injured and phone was damaged after <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LAPDHQ</a> batoned my hand. Here’s the video from @Exile_in_LA of the assault. <a href=\"https://t.co/LKgG6YKw8y\">pic.twitter.com/LKgG6YKw8y</a></p>— Vishal P. Singh (They/He) (@VPS_Reports) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1416498387428397058?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 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=\"3tzix\">“My hand immediately fractured around the joints of my ring finger and my pinky finger and my camera phone fell down and was smashed,” Singh said.</p><p data-block-key=\"k50p8\">Singh told the Tracker the screen of his phone screen was cracked from the fall, the case had been knocked off and it lost all cellular service for days following the incident until he was able to have it repaired. He said he also had to repeatedly turn his phone on and off before he was able to resume filming that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"zxcrn\">“I kept covering the protest right up to when the kettling started,” Singh said. “At that point I was like, ‘OK, I don’t need to get arrested.’ So I left the area and decompressed a little bit and then went to urgent care.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Singh_7-17.width-828.jpg\" width=\"828\" height=\"1380\" alt=\"COURTESY VISHAL SINGH\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"snyzy\">An X-ray taken of independent videographer Vishal Singh's right hand after an LAPD officer struck him with a baton shows a fracture to the metacarpal of his little finger.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — COURTESY VISHAL SINGH\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"34d1m\">After being directed to a hand specialist, Singh said, he was told he had a significant fracture in his hand and that in addition to six weeks of recovery he would also likely need physical therapy.</p><p data-block-key=\"ys5l1\">Singh told the Tracker he has filed a report with the department and said he plans to file a lawsuit against the department.</p><p data-block-key=\"5h05d\">The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
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},
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"tags": [
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"protest"
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"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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{
"title": "Photographer shoved with police baton at LA Wi Spa protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-shoved-with-police-baton-at-la-wi-spa-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-10T16:27:07.884817Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-13T20:16:45.008870Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-13T20:16:44.889401Z",
"date": "2021-07-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xq5py\">Raquel Natalicchio, a freelance photographer, says she was shoved against a wall by a Los Angeles Police Department officer using his baton on July 17, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"jho52\">Natalicchio was on an assignment for Zuma Press to cover the protests around the Wi Spa. The spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video that police are now treating as a hoax, according to <a href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/07/wi-spa-la-transphobic-protest.html\">Slate</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"pqq6j\">She told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that just before she was shoved, the LAPD had declared an unlawful assembly after the two groups of protesters began to clash in front of the spa.</p><p data-block-key=\"u9olw\">She said that LAPD also showered rubber bullets at trans-rights demonstrators, some even being shot at point blank range — apparently in violation of an April court order banning the use of “less lethal” projectiles against protesters from less than five feet away, and restricting their use to situations in which the targets pose a significant threat of violence.</p><p data-block-key=\"gi5hb\">The LAPD formed several kettles, or tight cordons, around the protesters, telling them to leave the area while pushing them further along the street, so that the protesters were not able to disperse, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"p4g02\">Dozens were arrested while attempting to follow police orders to disperse, Natalicchio said.</p><p data-block-key=\"het8g\">At around 11 a.m., the photographer was on the sidewalk at Rampart Boulevard and 6th Street, when LAPD officers were pushing back counterprotesters, activists and anyone walking on the street or sidewalk, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"liijj\">“I communicated to the officer that I was press and that I would move back as the crowd behind me moved back. He then pushed me with his baton up against a wall while continuing to scream at me to move. Being I had nowhere to go, I stepped forward to turn around and find another way back and he pushed me from behind again into a crowd of protesters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7grlf\">An activist posted a video of the second part of the incident <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1418035733789478919?s=20\">on Twitter</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dy7vm\">The photographer said the incident had affected her mental health and she worries about her safety when covering actions in which police are involved. “It seems as if the police had no respect for me as a working journalist and treated me as if I was a protester.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mrgzp\">When contacted for comment, LAPD responded by email that the department had no further information to provide at this time.</p><p data-block-key=\"tygvk\"><i>This article was updated with comment from the Los Angeles Police Department.</i></p></div>",
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{
"title": "Photographer held in multiple kettles by LA police while covering Wi Spa protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-held-in-multiple-kettles-by-la-police-while-covering-wi-spa-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-27T17:16:48.758165Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-21T22:51:02.650262Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-21T22:51:02.583070Z",
"date": "2021-07-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"185q7\">Freelance photographer Joey Scott said he and other members of the media were twice corralled and stopped from moving by police as they covered a protest in Los Angeles on July 17, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"fcqbi\">Scott said and other journalists were reporting on protests around the Wi Spa when they were held by police using <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">a crowd-control technique called kettling</a>, which corrals and restricts people from dispersing. The spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate <a href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/07/wi-spa-la-transphobic-protest.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"c0xaj\">In the first kettle, Scott and other media were told by the Los Angeles Police Department they would be arrested, but were later let go, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “They wouldn't let us disperse out of the kettle despite telling them this is where we were told to go.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3yqkf\">In the second kettle they were told by a police officer that they had been there all day and refused to leave, so they were being arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"z8cxx\">Scott said he was wearing press identification and a helmet with PRESS on it.</p><p data-block-key=\"5tux0\">“Media was threatened with arrest initially but we were able to convince someone else to let us out with our press credentials,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"2tp7r\">An LAPD spokesperson said arrests had been made on July 17 around Rampart Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard after people failed to leave the area following a dispersal order.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbzq2\">“We do not have information specific to Joey Scott or statements being made that media would be arrested, so we are unable to confirm it occurred.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sq5kv\"><i>This article was updated to remove a tweet that referenced a different detainment. The Tracker also documented the</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-detained-shoved-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\"><i>kettling and detainment of Scott</i></a><i> while he covered a protest around the eviction of a homeless encampment in Los Angeles in March.</i></p></div>",
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"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
"kettle",
"LGBTQ+ rights",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
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"Joey Scott (Freelance)"
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{
"title": "Guardian reporter thrown to the ground during protest at LA’s Wi Spa",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/guardian-reporter-thrown-to-the-ground-during-protest-at-las-wi-spa/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-27T12:21:12.966380Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-13T20:16:29.237665Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-13T20:16:29.151996Z",
"date": "2021-07-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"sr172\">Guardian reporter Lois Beckett was pushed to the ground by protesters around the Wi Spa in Los Angeles, California, on July 17, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"ymdpo\">The spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video that police are now treating as a hoax, Slate <a href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/07/wi-spa-la-transphobic-protest.html\">reported</a>. Beckett was covering protests and counterprotests around the spa on Wilshire Boulevard.</p><p data-block-key=\"qav49\">Beckett, a senior reporter at the Guardian’s West Coast bureau, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/loisbeckett/status/1416467648364220418\">said on Twitter</a> that she was thrown to the ground “as a crowd converged on me and chased me. They threw water at me and screamed about Jesus and said to grab my phone.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just got thrown to the ground by right-wing anti-pedophile protesters as a crowd coverged on me and chased me. They threw water at me and screamed about Jesus and said to grab my phone. Police would not let me through the police line but after I got thrown on the ground they did. <a href=\"https://t.co/LDGqkua3fi\">pic.twitter.com/LDGqkua3fi</a></p>— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/loisbeckett/status/1416467648364220418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 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=\"jh2a7\">She added that officers initially wouldn’t let her through the police line, but did after she was thrown to the ground. Beckett told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she couldn’t comment immediately.</p><p data-block-key=\"orvzw\">“I’m doing okay — if I had been left alone to run from the right-wing crowd in the street, rather than let through the police line, not sure that would be the case,” she tweeted later, adding <a href=\"https://twitter.com/loisbeckett/status/1416469737383493632\">she was wearing her press credential</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"b0kcx\">The Guardian said in a statement that it was alarmed by the treatment of Beckett, and that it was essential that she and her colleagues in the U.S. be protected as they carry out their jobs. “At a time when journalists and press freedom are under even greater threat around the world, we are concerned for the safety of journalists, who have a right to keep the public informed without facing danger.”</p></div>",
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"protest"
],
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"Assault"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist attacked, has $1,000 of gear stolen while covering Wi Spa protests in LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-attacked-has-1000-of-gear-stolen-while-covering-wi-spa-protests-in-la/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-27T17:22:37.278252Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-01T14:23:15.611817Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-01T14:23:15.503253Z",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bjf6k\">Photographer and journalist Eric Levai said he was surrounded and had around $1,000 of equipment taken from him after he photographed individuals at the Wi Spa, in Los Angeles, California.</p><p data-block-key=\"317pe\">The spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate <a href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/07/wi-spa-la-transphobic-protest.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"qmvg7\">Levai, who said he doesn’t wear press identification as he believes it attracts harassment, said it was around noon and he was covering what was happening at the Wi Spa when he spotted a photo opportunity. He stepped forward to take a shot of some masked individuals and a car around 50 feet away.</p><p data-block-key=\"dz7ov\">“I was doing my job and they just attacked me, screaming I was taking their picture,” Levai told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “Also, when they surrounded me, I kept telling them I was a journalist, but they kept attacking me.</p><p data-block-key=\"dl448\">Levai, who works regularly for the Daily Dot and Forensic News, as well as hosting a podcast, told the Tracker that he heard a shout, and then was charged by seven or eight people, who took his backpack including items which he valued in total at around $1,000. The items included a gas mask, goggles and a tripod.</p><p data-block-key=\"4qzl5\">“They grabbed the bag and phone,” he said. “They took pictures of me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"i7hp9\">Levai said he wasn’t injured in the incident, and that he had managed to take the phone with his photos out of the backpack, though another phone was stolen. The masked individuals then took off with his equipment, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ot4eq\">He said that going forward he would reconsider wearing a press ID, though he felt it could mean he gets targeted.</p></div>",
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{
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{
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"categories": [
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"Equipment Damage"
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{
"title": "Five indicted in connection with plot to kidnap NY-based Iranian journalist",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/five-indicted-in-connection-with-plot-to-kidnap-iranian-american-journalist/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-22T19:18:11.504908Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-25T20:48:04.770504Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-25T20:48:04.503247Z",
"date": "2021-07-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rn3a7\">Brooklyn, New York-based Iranian journalist and writer Masih Alinejad was the target of an international kidnapping plot, according to a <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1411366/download\">federal indictment</a> unsealed on July 13, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"bu100\">Four Iranian nationals allegedly involved in the country’s intelligence network were indicted with conspiring to kidnap Alinejad, who <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/31/opinion/iran-hijab-feminist.html\">fled the country in 2009</a> and has been critical of the Iranian government, The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/13/nyregion/iran-masih-alinejad-kidnapping.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=New%20York\">reported</a>. A fifth individual was indicted on charges of providing financial support for the plot, but wasn’t alleged to have participated in the kidnapping conspiracy; she was arrested in California on July 1.</p><p data-block-key=\"uq8id\">In <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/10/iranian-officials-have-declared-they-want-kidnap-me-its-happened-others-before/\">an op-ed</a> published by The Washington Post in August 2020, Alinejad wrote that “the Iranian government had unleashed a social media campaign calling for my abduction.” According to the Times, the Iranian government had attempted to induce Alinejad’s relatives into luring her into an abduction in 2018 and began plotting her kidnapping in earnest as early as June 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"5rdds\">“As alleged, four of the defendants monitored and planned to kidnap a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin who has been critical of the regime’s autocracy, and to forcibly take their intended victim to Iran, where the victim’s fate would have been uncertain at best,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-kidnapping-conspiracy-charges-against-iranian\">news release</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"830ja\">According to the indictment, the defendants used private investigators to surveil Alinejad’s residence in Brooklyn, capturing photographs and video of her and other members of her household. They also reportedly researched means of transporting Alinejad out of the country, including using military-style speedboats to travel from New York to Venezuela, the government of which has friendly relations with Iran.</p><p data-block-key=\"k0qsg\">Alinejad <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/14/us/iranian-nationals-charged-kidnapping-journalist/index.html\">told CNN</a> after the indictment was unsealed that she has been under FBI protection since the end of 2020, and had been staying at different safe houses.</p><p data-block-key=\"9et6n\">The four defendants were each charged with conspiracies related to kidnapping, sanctions violations, bank and wire fraud and money laundering and face life in prison, but remain at large, according to a <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-kidnapping-conspiracy-charges-against-iranian\">news release</a> from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.</p><p data-block-key=\"u6qht\">“This is not some far-fetched movie plot,” William F. Sweeney Jr., the head of the FBI’s New York office, said in the <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-kidnapping-conspiracy-charges-against-iranian\">news release</a>. “We allege a group, backed by the Iranian government, conspired to kidnap a U.S. based journalist here on our soil and forcibly return her to Iran. Not on our watch. When we find you, you will be brought here and held accountable under U.S. law.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hhycp\">In a statement published by The Iranian Students’ News Agency, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson dismissed the allegations as “baseless and ridiculous,” CNN reported.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"mc74n\">Iranian journalist and women's rights activist Masih Alinejad speaks at the 2019 Women In The World Summit. In July 2021, the federal government unsealed an indictment revealing a kidnapping plot against Alinejad.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
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"updates": [
"(2022-07-28 15:21:00+00:00) Man armed with AK-47 arrested outside Iranian journalist’s Brooklyn home",
"(2023-01-27 14:30:00+00:00) DOJ charges three men in murder plot targeting Brooklyn-based Iranian journalist",
"(2023-04-07 11:42:00+00:00) California resident sentenced for assisting in plot to kidnap Iranian journalist in NYC",
"(2024-10-17 00:00:00+00:00) Four more arrested for plotting to murder Iranian-born US journalist"
],
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"categories": [
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"Masih Alinejad (Independent)"
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},
{
"title": "Texas journalist barred from briefing by sheriff, files civil rights suit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/texas-journalist-barred-from-briefing-by-sheriff-files-civil-rights-suit/",
"first_published_at": "2023-07-25T18:30:11.516511Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-09-27T18:15:29.034225Z",
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"date": "2021-07-12",
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"city": "Richmond",
"longitude": -95.76078,
"latitude": 29.58218,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1pgo9\">Independent journalist Justin Pulliam was barred from attending an open-air press conference by Fort Bend County Sheriff Eric Fagan in Richmond, Texas, on July 12, 2021. Pulliam subsequently filed a civil rights suit against the county and members of the sheriff’s office over the barring and a later arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"9t954\">Pulliam lives in Fort Bend County near Houston and independently reports on local government and law enforcement for his social media channels, including on YouTube and Facebook. <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txsd.1898419/gov.uscourts.txsd.1898419.33.0_2.pdf\">According to the lawsuit</a>, he arrived at Jones Creek Ranch Park to film as officers responded to reports of a submerged vehicle connected to a missing persons case.</p><p data-block-key=\"6m33l\">Sheriff’s deputies closed the park, directing Pulliam and other media to a designated area at its entrance for a press conference with a representative of the sheriff's office. Afterward, Pulliam went to his vehicle but returned when Fagan approached the designated area, according to his <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxcv6YZaNT4\">footage from that day</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"40gt4\">Fagan was then filmed gesturing in Pulliam’s direction and saying, in part, “... if he don’t do it, arrest him. He’s not a part of the local media so he has to go back.” Moments later, two officers — identified in the lawsuit as Robert Hartfield and Jonathan Garcia — approached Pulliam, saying, “You are not media, so at the sheriff’s request could you step back this way with us please.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fsj78\">Hartfield then gestured in the direction of Pulliam’s vehicle and escorted him approximately 85 feet away, where Pulliam said he could not hear what was being said by Fagan or the other journalists, according to the lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"9khga\">Public interest law firm Institute for Justice <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66612909/pulliam-v-fort-bend-county-texas/\">filed the lawsuit on Pulliam’s behalf</a> on Dec. 5, 2022, against the county, Fagan and four others. The suit alleges violations of his First, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights by barring him from the July 2021 press conference, as well as by arresting him and seizing his equipment during a subsequent <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/texas-journalist-files-suit-following-arrest-equipment-seizure/\">incident in December 2021</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"5vv9k\">“The Defendants did not have a compelling, or even legitimate, governmental interest in removing Justin from the open-air press conference, which occurred at a public park,” the lawsuit stated. “Instead, the Defendants removed Justin because they did not deem him a member of the media, disagreed with his viewpoint, and disliked that he was critical of the police both earlier that day and in his work generally.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2esgk\">Pulliam told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the experience has significantly chilled his willingness to cover incidents involving the sheriff’s office or to attend its press conferences.</p><p data-block-key=\"8sjhe\">“I basically don’t film Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office anymore; I’ve greatly reduced my direct coverage of filming live police incidents,” Pulliam said.</p><p data-block-key=\"2elii\">On June 29, 2023, District Judge David Hittner denied the county’s motion to dismiss the majority of Pulliam’s claims. Hittner <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txsd.1898419/gov.uscourts.txsd.1898419.48.0.pdf\">ruled that</a> Pulliam had sufficiently argued that he had been singled out for exercising his First Amendment rights and that the officers are not protected by qualified immunity at this time.</p><p data-block-key=\"qb83\">The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment when reached in July 2023, citing the ongoing litigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"5impi\">Christie Hebert, one of the attorneys at the Institute for Justice representing Pulliam, <a href=\"https://ij.org/press-release/citizen-journalist-wins-first-round-of-his-first-amendment-lawsuit-against-fort-bend-county-sheriff/\">said in a statement</a> following the ruling that Hittner recognized the gravity of Pulliam’s claims.</p><p data-block-key=\"bfq3g\">“The heart of the First Amendment is the right to speak out about government, and Fort Bend County does not get to pick and choose who will cover their activities,” Hebert said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7q0hj\">Hebert told the Tracker that the case is tentatively scheduled to go to trial in early 2024.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Justin-Pulliam-0481.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"oqbcw\">Independent journalist Justin Pulliam reviews footage from a law enforcement investigation in Richmond, Texas, on July 12, 2021. A local sheriff ordered officers to bar Pulliam from attending a press conference about the investigation that day.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "4:22-cv-04210",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-09-24 00:00:00+00:00) Court rules Texas journalist’s rights were violated by news conference ejection"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Law enforcement: Local"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
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"Justin Pulliam (Independent)"
],
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"Government event"
]
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist charged with grand larceny following filing assault complaint against NYPD officer",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-charged-with-grand-larceny-following-filing-assault-complaint-against-nypd-officer/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-15T15:12:31.781802Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-02-21T18:22:01.380749Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-02-21T18:22:01.250487Z",
"date": "2021-07-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2l3qd\">Independent photojournalist Gabe Quinones said he was arrested on charges of grand larceny by the New York City Police Department on July 6, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"fqwnw\">The department alleges that Quinones attempted to steal an NYPD officer’s baton on June 5, the photojournalist told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. On that evening, Quinones was covering demonstrations in Washington Square Park, which had been the site of both protests and street parties in the weeks preceding. Gothamist <a href=\"https://gothamist.com/news/citing-disorder-nypd-enforce-10-pm-curfew-washington-square-park\">reported</a> that for several months the NYPD had <a href=\"https://gothamist.com/news/nypd-clears-washington-square-park-clubs-and-arrests-during-rare-curfew-sweep\">attempted to enforce</a> the park’s largely ignored midnight curfew, and had announced a 10 p.m. curfew at the end of May.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Riot cops just cleared Washington Square Park, arresting one person because he has a speaker playing Fuck The Police, and swinging batons at a teenager. Because the park closes at midnight <a href=\"https://t.co/nrGDDEQYba\">pic.twitter.com/nrGDDEQYba</a></p>— Jake Offenhartz (@jangelooff) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jangelooff/status/1324946178539220992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 7, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r0td8\">Quinones told the Tracker that officers arrived well before the closure of the park and advanced on the crowds gathered there shortly before 10 p.m. As officers attempted to enforce the curfew and clear the park, Quinones said an officer ran up behind him as he walked down the sidewalk and shoved him into a wall with his baton. The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pushed-by-nypd-officer-struck-with-baton-while-covering-protest/\">that incident here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"pulfq\">Quinones told the Tracker he filed a complaint against the officer and was contacted by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Office to provide his footage and answer questions about the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"yt117\">On July 6, Quinones said officers arrived at his apartment and arrested him on charges of grand larceny, alleging that he had attempted to steal the officer’s baton during the June 5 incident. Quinones denied the allegations unequivocally.</p><p data-block-key=\"7m5og\">“There’s no humanly possible way that I could have stolen anything,” Quinones said. “I got assaulted by that baton: I didn’t try to steal it. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing when I walked in there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4ve4r\">Quinones said he was taken to the NYPD’s 6th Precinct where he was held for three to four hours before being released with a hearing scheduled for July 26.</p><p data-block-key=\"jbj7f\">The NYPD didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "New York City Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-11-01 11:23:00+00:00) Charge of grand larceny against photojournalist dropped"
],
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"tags": [
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Gabe Quinones (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Woman smashes Connecticut TV station’s camera",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/woman-smashes-connecticut-tv-stations-camera/",
"first_published_at": "2023-11-22T17:15:13.777193Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-22T17:15:13.777193Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-22T15:40:25.983012Z",
"date": "2021-07-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Hartford",
"longitude": -72.68509,
"latitude": 41.76371,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fdjhz\">A woman grabbed and repeatedly smashed a video camera belonging to Connecticut station WVIT-TV and threw it against the station’s vehicle outside the Hartford Police Department, where a WVIT reporter and photographer were parked in the early hours of July 6, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"eemgc\">WVIT reporter Jennifer Joas <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1155371744967546\">posted a video</a> of the incident on Facebook shot from inside the station’s vehicle, where she and a WVIT photographer, who was not fully identified, were sitting. Joas wrote in her post that the woman began smashing the station’s camera against the ground shortly before 5 a.m. and that it was unclear why she was doing it.</p><p data-block-key=\"1outo\">In the video, the woman can be seen throwing the camera to the ground multiple times, walking away, then returning, picking up the camera and throwing it at the window of the news vehicle, continuing to do so as the crew drives out of the parking lot.</p><p data-block-key=\"5bjg9\">Joas later wrote on Facebook that the woman’s blows dented the vehicle, though they did not break the windows. She also wrote that “police have the video & screen shots.”</p><p data-block-key=\"u16m\">“The past few years have been difficult as journalists,” Joas wrote on Facebook. “This is the third time in two months that a person has become agitated for unknown reasons & prevented me from doing my job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4b84t\">Joas did not respond to emailed requests for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. But she wrote on Facebook that she and the photographer had “gone through extensive training & have been told no matter what — leave the gear behind. So we had to leave it to protect ourselves. But it's so difficult seeing our camera being used as a weapon against us.”<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"34m53\">A spokesperson for the Hartford Police Department told the Tracker by email that the department was unable to identify or locate a suspect for the incident.</p></div>",
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"actor": "private individual",
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"links": [],
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "vehicle"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Connecticut",
"abbreviation": "CT"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"WVIT-TV"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
],
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},
{
"title": "San Antonio TV reporter shot at while covering suspicious fire",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-antonio-reporter-shot-at-while-covering-suspicious-fire/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-19T15:47:42.829120Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-09T22:29:51.173840Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-09T22:29:51.107547Z",
"date": "2021-07-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Antonio",
"longitude": -98.49363,
"latitude": 29.42412,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mfux3\">Reporter Dillon Collier was shot at from close range by a man with two handguns as he covered a story about a house fire in San Antonio, Texas, on July 5, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"9aun2\">Collier, who is an investigative reporter for KSAT News 12 in San Antonio, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and video journalist Joshua Saunders were assigned to cover a fire that took place overnight Sunday into Monday, after shell casings had been found at the scene and arson investigators were looking into whether someone had shot into the home or started the fire intentionally. Saunders' <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-antonio-tv-video-journalist-shot-at-while-covering-suspicious-house-fire/\">assault is documented here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1hsv1\">Collier and Saunders arrived to find people standing around the fire-damaged home. As Saunders gathered footage, Collier — who said he was wearing a shirt emblazoned with the station logo — interviewed the owner of the house.</p><p data-block-key=\"6rwie\">“She was very emotional, said she had grown up there, but had lost track of who had been staying there in recent years, after her father had gotten sick and had been forced to move in with a sibling.” After the interview ended they moved closer to the home to shoot additional footage.</p><p data-block-key=\"vupqz\">Collier, a two-time Houston Press Club Journalist of the Year, said a female family member came running toward them as Saunders set up his camera, screaming that a relative had a gun and was going to kill them. The journalists quickly moved behind an SUV.</p><p data-block-key=\"s94ss\">“The man then emerged from the home holding two large handguns, one in each hand. He said something to the effect of us not asking his permission to be there,” Collier told the Tracker. Collier ran away down a sidewalk as the man fired toward Saunders, who had run in the opposition direction.</p><p data-block-key=\"14pih\">“I remember him firing two shots at us from very close range, less than 10 feet away,” Collier said. “I then ran to my left and headed east from the home along a sidewalk as the man fired shots in the opposite direction from me, toward where Josh was running.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rtxyt\">An SUV containing family members overtook Saunders. A second car carrying more people associated with the home pulled up to Collier after he had run a few blocks and offered to drive him to safety. Both Collier and Saunders called 911 to report the shooting.</p><p data-block-key=\"qazav\">As Collier’s group found Saunders near a parked vehicle, the gunman rode in front of them on bicycle and ditched it on the sidewalk. He then jumped a metal gate and entered a home a block from the burned home.</p><p data-block-key=\"vwvgy\">San Antonio police officers then arrived and set up a perimeter, Collier said. A homicide detective interviewed everyone targeted by the gunman, <a href=\"https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/07/05/investigators-working-to-determine-cause-of-house-fire-on-west-side/\">as a standoff lasting several hours took place.</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DEVELOPING In the 200-300 block of Noria for a barricaded man. He fired a handgun at our photographer, me and his own family then took off on a bike and entered another home. Authorities had been here overnight for a suspicious fire <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/KSATnews?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#KSATnews</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/eqc0fcKRwX\">pic.twitter.com/eqc0fcKRwX</a></p>— Dillon Collier (@dilloncollier) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/dilloncollier/status/1412092512530059269?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 5, 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=\"34381\">“A few hours later the San Antonio police chief showed up and informed the media that the gunman had been killed by officers after firing at them in the backyard of the home he went into,” Collier said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7vmo8\">The San Antonio Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"k3snu\">Collier said he believed he and Saunders had been targeted because they were members of the media. He said KSAT management had repeatedly asked whether they were OK, and had offered them counseling.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "",
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Dillon Collier (KSAT-TV)"
],
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},
{
"title": "San Antonio TV video journalist shot at while covering suspicious house fire",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-antonio-tv-video-journalist-shot-at-while-covering-suspicious-house-fire/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-19T15:52:51.636865Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-09T22:30:13.556149Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-09T22:30:13.490534Z",
"date": "2021-07-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Antonio",
"longitude": -98.49363,
"latitude": 29.42412,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5n0jy\">Television video journalist Joshua Saunders was shot at while he covered<a href=\"https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/07/05/investigators-working-to-determine-cause-of-house-fire-on-west-side/\"> a story about a house fire in San Antonio, Texas</a>, on July 5, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"6lh74\">A man with two handguns fired on Saunders and reporter Dillon Collier from less than 10 feet away as they spoke to the owner of the fire-damaged home. Saunders, an Emmy Award winner, and Collier work for KSAT News 12 in San Antonio. Collier’s <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-antonio-reporter-shot-at-while-covering-suspicious-fire/\">assault is documented here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0xjkr\">Collier told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and Saunders were assigned to cover the fire after shell casings had been found at the scene and arson investigators were looking into whether someone had shot into the home or started the fire intentionally.</p><p data-block-key=\"tshxu\">After an interview with the owner of the home ended they moved closer to the scene to shoot additional footage. Collier said that after Saunders — who didn’t reply to a request for a comment — had set up the camera, one of the female family members came running out screaming that her relative had a gun and was going to kill them. The journalists moved behind an SUV.</p><p data-block-key=\"uv9r0\">“The man then emerged from the home holding two large handguns, one in each hand. He said something to the effect of us not asking his permission to be there,” Collier said. “I remember him firing two shots at us from very close range, less than 10 feet away. I then ran to my left and headed east from the home along a sidewalk as the man fired shots in the opposite direction from me, toward where Josh was running.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b2wjr\">An SUV containing family members overtook Saunders, who was later rejoined by Collier. Both journalists called 911 to report the shooting.</p><p data-block-key=\"t8gmj\">San Antonio police officers then arrived and set up a perimeter, Collier said. A homicide detective interviewed everyone targeted by the gunman, as a standoff lasting several hours took place.</p><p data-block-key=\"mzw7u\">“A few hours later the San Antonio police chief showed up and informed the media that the gunman had been killed by officers after firing at them in the backyard of the home he went into,” Collier said.</p><p data-block-key=\"m99ja\">The San Antonio Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"uxzww\">Collier said KSAT management had repeatedly asked whether they were OK, and had offered them counseling.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
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},
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"tags": [
"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "Independent videographer shoved with baton during protest at LA’s Wi Spa",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-shoved-with-baton-during-protest-at-las-wi-spa/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-05T16:18:06.701738Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-21T22:53:58.903571Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-21T22:53:58.847678Z",
"date": "2021-07-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2iyxr\">Vishal Singh, a videographer who works on Netflix documentaries and has been covering demonstrations in Los Angeles since May 2020, said he was shoved with a baton and aimed at with a crowd-control weapon by a police officer while covering demonstrations outside a spa in Los Angeles, California, on July 3, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"9s0o9\">Wi Spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate<a href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/07/wi-spa-la-transphobic-protest.html\"> reported</a>. A loose coalition of LGBTQ, antifa and leftist demonstrators had assembled outside the spa shortly before 10 a.m. in support of transgender individuals’ rights.</p><p data-block-key=\"mkfro\">Singh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was covering the confrontations between the anti-transgender demonstrators and pro-LGBTQ counterprotesters outside the spa, which included the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/documentarian-struck-over-the-head-with-baton-by-man-at-la-demonstration/\">assault of documentarian Rocky Romano</a> and the stabbings of at least two demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"mboie\">“After all of that went down, the LAPD came in and declared an unlawful assembly and tried to divide the sides, but not very well,” Singh said.</p><p data-block-key=\"e8u3z\">“At some point I was just walking by the police line and an officer just stepped out of line to push me, and I said, ‘What was that for?’ and they started shoving me and shoving a bunch of other people with batons,” Singh said. He also said that later in the day an officer deliberately aimed a less-lethal weapon at him from only a few feet away.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Me: “Put your gun down!”<br>LAPD: *raises gun at me* <a href=\"https://t.co/uccqvsuht0\">pic.twitter.com/uccqvsuht0</a></p>— Vishal P. Singh (They/He) (@VPS_Reports) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1411456071730753536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 3, 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=\"4dd5h\">Singh said he was wearing his full collection of protective gear — including a helmet and flak jacket labeled with “PRESS” — in addition to his press badge. Singh can be seen in a photo from that day <a href=\"https://twitter.com/xashgiggles/status/1411517945163894788/photo/1\">posted to Twitter</a> by independent photojournalist Ashley Balderrama.</p><p data-block-key=\"aq2k7\">The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to an email requesting comment.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"LGBTQ+ rights",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Vishal Singh (Independent)"
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{
"title": "Man fleeing authorities steals TV station’s car in North Carolina",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-fleeing-authorities-steals-tv-stations-car-in-north-carolina/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-19T17:58:03.512195Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-01T14:24:37.683547Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-01T14:24:37.594364Z",
"date": "2021-07-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Raleigh",
"longitude": -78.63861,
"latitude": 35.7721,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zc0zm\">A man fleeing from the North Carolina State Highway Patrol stole a car from TV station WRAL reporter Keenan Willard and photographer Lucas Nelson just after they finished a live report to the 11 p.m. newscast on July 3, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"kiwjz\">According to <a href=\"https://www.wral.com/four-arrested-from-chatham-county-chase-after-one-steals-wral-news-car-to-escape-authorities/19756118/\">a report on WRAL</a>, the Raleigh, North Carolina NBC affiliate, a man had approached the journalist and photographer and offered them cash to drive him to a gas station in the station’s car. When they refused, he jumped into WRAL’s car and drove down U.S. Highway 64.</p><p data-block-key=\"9mzuk\">A State Highway Patrol trooper saw the incident and pursued the man, who shortly after crashed head-on into a trooper’s car and was taken into custody, WRAL reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"4e7pv\">Willard, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, wrote on Twitter just after the incident that the journalist were shaken up.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">First off, I’m okay.<br><br>One of the two suspects in the Chatham County manhunt just stole my car and crashed it head-on into a State Trooper after a short chase.<br><br>We’re shaken up, but we’re coming back live on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WRAL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WRAL</a> in a few minutes. <a href=\"https://t.co/kkao3EpfTP\">pic.twitter.com/kkao3EpfTP</a></p>— Keenan Willard (@KeenanWRAL) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KeenanWRAL/status/1411526180973514759?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 4, 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=\"lzg56\">WRAL posted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KeenanWRAL/status/1411526180973514759?s=20\">video</a> of the incident as it unfolded, adding it wouldn’t make any further statement about the theft of the car.</p><p data-block-key=\"sxnto\">Four people were later taken into custody, according to the report.</p><p data-block-key=\"smrfo\">The NCSHP didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "vehicle"
}
],
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"name": "North Carolina",
"abbreviation": "NC"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"WRAL-TV"
],
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"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
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{
"title": "Documentarian struck over the head with baton by man at LA demonstration",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/documentarian-struck-over-the-head-with-baton-by-man-at-la-demonstration/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-19T16:56:48.162106Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-13T19:57:34.936467Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-13T19:57:34.749915Z",
"date": "2021-07-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5e892\">Documentary writer, director and producer Rocky Romano was struck over the head with a baton while he was documenting protests outside a spa in Los Angeles, California, on July 3, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"e2xzx\">Wi Spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate <a href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/07/wi-spa-la-transphobic-protest.html\">reported</a>. Romano told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via email that a loose coalition of LGBTQ, antifa and leftist demonstrators had assembled outside the spa shortly before 10 a.m. in support of transgender individuals’ rights.</p><p data-block-key=\"ybnra\">Romano said he and his team at Winters Rock Entertainment are working on a feature-length documentary on the civil rights movement in LA since the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Romano said he and his team discussed the potential dangers when they arrived in the area, as had become routine with their coverage of dozens of protests over the past year.</p><p data-block-key=\"desfw\">“We knew that there had been threats issued by far right extremists and, as always, we came prepared with our limited protective gear, which thankfully included my helmet,” Romano said. “What we did not know was the extent of the danger we would be facing.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bzmji\">Shortly after the documentarians arrived, several more groups Romano described as QAnon believers, Trump supporters and religious zealots arrived at the spa. Animosity between the groups of protesters and counterprotesters escalated.</p><p data-block-key=\"tq9dh\">“As tensions rose, fights began to break out and I ended up being hit with a cloud of mace as I filmed,” Romano said. “As the acts of violence began to escalate even more, I began to try and de-escalate certain situations where violence could reach the point of major bodily harm or death.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c1bnd\">“Just as I stepped in to allow a far-right protester to get to his feet after falling to the ground after a confrontation, I was hit from behind by some sort of blunt instrument,” Romano said.</p><p data-block-key=\"odr5j\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg/status/1411770220683792385\">footage</a> captured by independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg, an individual in a plaid shirt can be seen advancing down the street toward a crowd of scuffling protesters. Approximately 15 seconds into the clip, the individual appears to deliberately approach Romano, who is wearing a flak jacket labeled with “PRESS” and a helmet while filming, and strike him across the head with what appears to be a club.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">More footage from yesterday's WiSpa anti trans demonstration. An anti trans agitator approaches a man wearing a press flack jacket from behind and hits him with a pipe on the back of his head <a href=\"https://t.co/IRoLQYGHNu\">pic.twitter.com/IRoLQYGHNu</a></p>— Lefty-Desiree McLefty Face, Milkshake Whisperer (@TinaDesireeBerg) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg/status/1411770220683792385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 4, 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=\"7oz6h\">The individual can then be seen running back down the street, and appears to taunt Romano and the crowd before turning down a side street and getting into a vehicle parked nearby.</p><p data-block-key=\"qur0t\">Romano said that the individual dropped the club as he fled and that someone was able to recover it. Romano subsequently identified the weapon as a “<a href=\"https://www.bigrigdefense.com/products/tire-thumper?_pos=1&_psq=tire&_ss=e&_v=1.0\">Tire Thumper</a>” — a hickory wood baton weighted with three inches of iron rivet embedded inside — which qualifies as a “generally prohibited weapon” under the <a href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=16590.\">state’s penal code</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/IMG_9858.width-828.jpg\" width=\"828\" height=\"1749\" alt=\"Courtesy of Rocky Romano\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"1w1yv\">After hitting journalist Rocky Romano in the head with this club, identified as a 'tire thumper,' the assailant dropped it while fleeing.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — Courtesy of Rocky Romano\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zsu7p\">Following the assault, Romano told the Tracker he didn’t seek medical attention but followed best practices for someone suffering from a concussion. Later that night, Romano said, he could feel that his scalp had split slightly because of the force of the impact.</p><p data-block-key=\"28n4u\">Romano said he has been in contact with the Los Angeles Police Department and is consulting with Winters Rock Entertainment’s legal counsel about the best way to move forward.</p><p data-block-key=\"f80he\">The LAPD didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"vr5z5\">Winters Rock Entertainment documentarians, Miranda Winters, left, and Rocky Romano film at a protest in L.A. in November 2020. Romano was hit over the head with a baton while filming another protest on July 3, 2021.</p>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-09-14 09:19:00+00:00) Man charged with assault after documentarian struck over the head with baton at LA demonstration",
"(2022-02-03 09:46:00+00:00) Man sentenced to probation after striking documentarian over the head with baton at LA demonstration"
],
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]
