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{
"title": "Senators criticize VOA editorial guidelines on Israel-Gaza war, call for firings",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/senators-criticize-voa-editorial-guidelines-on-israel-gaza-war-call-for-firings/",
"first_published_at": "2023-12-12T19:26:16.848177Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-14T16:19:24.732779Z",
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"date": "2023-11-07",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4kopv\">Seven Republican senators on Nov. 7, 2023, criticized Voice of America’s editorial guidelines for covering the Israel-Gaza war and called for the firing of two staffers at the government-funded, editorially independent outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"dm4db\">The senators, in a <a href=\"https://www.hagerty.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NOV20231107-FINAL-BH-Letter-to-USAGM-on-Hamas.pdf\">letter</a> to Amanda Bennett, chief executive officer of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, or USAGM — which oversees VOA — expressed “grave concern” about an Oct. 10 internal email sent by Carol Guensburg, the outlet’s associate editor for news standards.</p><p data-block-key=\"8bdq\">In the internal email, which came in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent <a href=\"https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war\">declaration of war</a>, and bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, Guensburg advised VOA reporters and editors not to refer to members of Hamas as “terrorists” in reporting, except when quoting others. The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2023/11/29/voice-of-america-hamas-israel-terrorist-militant-hagerty/\">reported</a> that Guensburg said Hamas’ attack on Israel could be referred to as “terrorist acts” or “acts of terror.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7o0np\">According to a <a href=\"https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/10/voice-of-america-staff-ordered-not-to-call-hamas-terrorists/\">report</a> by The National Review, Guensburg’s email explained that, “This practice conforms with the VOA News Standards and Best Practices guide and current usage by the wires and major U.S. news organizations, bearing in mind that the language including terrorism is often used to demonize individuals and groups with whom the speaker disagrees. Useful alternatives are <i>militant group</i> or <i>militants</i> or <i>fighters</i>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"96rm3\">The senators called on Bennett to terminate Guensburg and Patsy Widakuswara, VOA’s White House bureau chief, who suggested in a reply to Guensburg that VOA stories include the context that “the militant group’s attack was done in retaliation for Israel’s decades-long occupation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fj6cv\">The letter was led by Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty and joined by Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Pete Ricketts and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, and John Barrasso of Wyoming. All sit on the Senate foreign relations or appropriations committees, which have <a href=\"https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/oversight/congressional-committees/\">oversight</a> over USAGM’s policies and funding.</p><p data-block-key=\"c4o2g\">While VOA’s <a href=\"https://www.usagm.gov/our-work/strategy-and-results/strategic-priorities/budget-submissions/\">budget</a> comes from a congressional appropriation, the outlet’s independence from government interference is enshrined in USAGM’s authorizing legislation, the <a href=\"https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/oversight/legislation/international-broadcasting-act/\">International Broadcasting Act</a>. The act established a “<a href=\"https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/firewall/\">firewall</a>” that guarantees all USAGM outlets, which also include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, full editorial autonomy in order to maintain their “professional independence and integrity.”</p><p data-block-key=\"brhga\">In their letter, however, the senators stated that, “As members of the Senate committees with jurisdiction over the policies and funding of [USAGM], we believe that VOA’s editorial policy against the use of the term ‘terrorist’ contradicts VOA’s principle of providing ‘accurate, objective, and comprehensive’ news. Indeed, we seriously question how VOA’s editorial policy advances the interests of the American taxpayers who generously fund this news organization every year.”</p><p data-block-key=\"90m98\">The senators noted that Hamas has been designated a “foreign terrorist organization” by the State Department, and that President Joe Biden had <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/11/16/remarks-by-president-biden-in-a-press-conference-woodside-ca/\">referred to Hamas</a> as “terrorists.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8lt3r\">Major news organizations have set <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2023/10/20/israel-gaza-strike-hospital-blast/\">varying</a> policies and standards with respect to terminology for covering the Israel-Gaza war, with some — such as <a href=\"https://www.apstylebook.com/topical_most_recent\">The Associated Press</a> and the <a href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-67076341\">BBC</a> — only using the word “terrorist” with attribution. AP’s guidelines explained, “The terms terrorism and terrorist have become politicized, and often are applied inconsistently.” BBC guidelines note that “our responsibility is to remain objective and report in ways that enable our audiences to make their own assessments about who is doing what to whom."</p><p data-block-key=\"9iiob\">But the senators argued that VOA uses the term “terrorist” to refer to other groups, and alleged that “VOA has created an editorial double standard in which it appears to accept the description of the Islamic State, Al-Qaida, and other officially designated terrorists groups as terrorists, but not Iran-backed Hamas, which explicitly seeks to destroy Israel and kill Jews.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4u2l\">The senators called on Bennett to review the directive and “hold accountable VOA leadership who issued this guidance for editorial double standards … including the immediate termination of Carol Guensburg and Patsy Widakuswara.”</p><p data-block-key=\"brnat\">In a Nov. 27 response to the senators, which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker reviewed, Bennett clarified that VOA and other USAGM organizations do not prohibit the use of the words “terror,” “terrorism,” or “terrorist.” She added that each of the entities’ best practices policy guidelines “counsels care and attention in the use of the words but do not place any restrictions on the appropriate use” of those words.</p><p data-block-key=\"6sct1\">Bennett also said that all USAGM news entities “are reviewing their policies as well as training and implementation of these policies. USAGM has retained an outside expert to review all practices and to make recommendations regarding future training or possible policy changes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"28a2s\">Sen. James Risch of Idaho, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Nov. 9 sent a separate letter to Bennett. In the letter, which was reviewed by the Tracker, Risch expressed “concern” about VOA’s editorial guidelines and sought “clarification” on the outlet’s policy. He asserted that Hamas’ attack “fit perfectly within the VOA style guide’s definition of both terrorist and terrorism,” adding that he looked forward to the outlet “accurately describing Hamas and its members as terrorists” in the future.</p><p data-block-key=\"efl8s\">In a related incident, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, a Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a <a href=\"https://www.nationalreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/11.3.23-Issa-VOA-Terrorist-Editorialization-Letter.pdf\">letter</a> to VOA acting Director John Lippman on Nov. 3 criticizing VOA editorial guidelines and asking for a copy of Guensberg’s email, as well as “a copy of any attached guidance, along with all replies to the email and attachments” by Nov. 9.</p><p data-block-key=\"1s6h4\">In response to an emailed request for comment about the policy, a VOA spokesperson told the Tracker that “VOA has never banned the use of the word ‘terror’ or ‘terrorism.’ It has been used many times without quotes. Nothing has changed.” Hagerty’s press assistant did not respond to an emailed request about any next steps to follow up on the senators’ letter.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zk2mk\">A view of Voice of America headquarters in Washington, D.C. Seven GOP senators on Nov. 7 called for the firing of VOA staffers over the outlet’s Israel-Gaza war editorial guidelines.</p>",
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{
"title": "Subpoena quashed for reporter’s communications as part of Title IX lawsuit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-quashed-for-reporters-communications-as-part-of-title-ix-lawsuit/",
"first_published_at": "2024-01-05T17:54:29.647594Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-05T17:54:29.647594Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-04T19:58:11.577125Z",
"date": "2023-10-31",
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"city": "Sacramento",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r75fk\">California-based USA Today reporter Kenneth “Kenny” Jacoby was subpoenaed for source communications and other documents on Oct. 31, 2023, as part of a separate, ongoing lawsuit against multiple Louisiana universities. The subpoena was ultimately quashed on Dec. 21.</p><p data-block-key=\"7g4u4\">In a May 2021 <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2021/05/26/louisiana-officials-skirted-law-meant-curb-campus-sex-crimes/7048845002/\">article,</a> Jacoby reported that various Louisiana schools and police forces failed to share relevant information with each other after multiple women reported the same college student for sexual misconduct.</p><p data-block-key=\"4uhj7\">One of the women cited in Jacoby’s reporting filed a lawsuit against two university systems and a local government in May 2022, alleging negligence and violations of her rights under Title IX. According to the <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.lamd.60517/gov.uscourts.lamd.60517.1.0.pdf\">complaint</a>, the woman — identified only as Jane Doe to protect her identity — learned from Jacoby’s article that the universities had been aware of her assailant’s history of sexual misconduct before the attack against her.</p><p data-block-key=\"1qpk6\">The board of supervisors of the University of Louisiana System initially issued Jacoby a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.caed.437229/gov.uscourts.caed.437229.4.0.pdf\">sweeping subpoena</a>, which listed 28 requests for his communications, reporting materials and unpublished work product around the article.</p><p data-block-key=\"19v1\">After Jacoby filed a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.caed.437229/gov.uscourts.caed.437229.1.0.pdf\">motion to quash</a> the subpoena on Nov. 13, the university system agreed to limit the request to just his texts with Doe and notes from their conversations, as well as an affidavit authenticating and contextualizing them. The university system argued that the communications would prove that Doe had learned the material facts underlying her allegations earlier than she claimed and had missed the statute of limitations to file the lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"6g8r5\">Jacoby <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.caed.437229/gov.uscourts.caed.437229.11.1.pdf\">provided an affidavit</a> confirming that, as records already turned over by Doe had shown, his first contact with her was in December 2020. According to <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.caed.437229/gov.uscourts.caed.437229.11.0.pdf\">court records</a> reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, the universities felt the affidavit was insufficient, while Jacoby maintained his objections to even the narrowed subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"aaf4e\">“As a journalist, I have ethical obligations to my sources. It is an essential aspect of my job to build trust with sources, even more so for highly sensitive subject matter like sexual assault,” Jacoby wrote in his affidavit. “I would not be able to do my job as an investigative reporter if sources did not believe that I would honor my confidentiality agreements. To me, this is both a legal matter and a matter of principle.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ds5rb\">A U.S. District Court judge <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.caed.437229/gov.uscourts.caed.437229.17.0_1.pdf\">granted</a> Jacoby’s motion to quash the subpoena on Dec. 21, finding that the university system had failed to meet the necessary standards to justify impinging on journalistic protections.</p><p data-block-key=\"48iv5\">“It is not enough that [the University of Louisiana System] hopes or even has a hunch that Jacoby’s documents will contradict Doe’s testimony and the other available evidence,” Magistrate Judge Allison Claire wrote in her decision.</p><p data-block-key=\"2jfi6\">When contacted by the Tracker, Jacoby declined to comment further because a second subpoena against him in the case is still pending.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"otvc0\">A portion of the subpoena issued to USA Today reporter Kenneth “Kenny” Jacoby on Oct. 31, 2023, ordering him to produce source communications, documents and unpublished work product in connection with a lawsuit against the University of Louisiana System.</p>",
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{
"title": "Apparent cyberattack hits AP news website, causes brief outage",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/apparent-cyberattack-hits-ap-news-website-causes-brief-outage/",
"first_published_at": "2023-11-16T16:15:15.250913Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-16T16:22:01.279646Z",
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"date": "2023-10-31",
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"city": "New York",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tjprj\">The news website of The Associated Press was hit by an apparent denial-of-service attack on Oct. 31, 2023, causing a partial outage on the site.</p><p data-block-key=\"6lm07\">According to <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ap-news-site-disrupted-1da6a411ce5022555929e204bf5dc3c0\">the AP</a>, visitors to its apnews.com site on the afternoon of Oct. 31 were able to load the home page, but specific stories were either blank pages or error messages. The AP said the outage “appeared to be consistent with a denial-of-service attack.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ccqsj\">The AP said the issue was resolved by the morning of Nov. 1, and that the outage did not affect delivery systems to customers and its mobile apps.</p><p data-block-key=\"3f5h3\">A denial-of-service attack involves using a single connection to overwhelm a network server with data in order to disrupt its normal functioning and knock it offline. (A related type of attack, known as distributed denial of service, utilizes multiple sources to overwhelm the target server.) Both attacks are <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/criminal/file/442156/download\">federal crimes</a> under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.</p><p data-block-key=\"7316t\">The news agency’s report quoted Nicole Meir, an AP media relations manager, as saying, “We’ve experienced periodic surges in traffic but we’re still looking into the cause.” Meir added that the engineers would take care of one source of traffic, only to have it surge from another location.</p><p data-block-key=\"5i9th\">An account holder identifying themselves as the spokesperson for the hacking group Anonymous Sudan <a href=\"https://t.me/Crush_sd/9\">said</a> on Telegram Oct. 28 that the group would target Western news outlets in connection with their reporting on the Israel-Hamas war.</p><p data-block-key=\"3oc1e\">Anonymous Sudan posted <a href=\"https://t.me/xAnonymousSudan/204\">multiple</a> <a href=\"https://t.me/xAnonymousSudan/189\">screenshots</a> on its Telegram channel showing error messages from the AP news site on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. Beginning Oct. 27, the group also posted screenshots of error messages from news outlets including <a href=\"https://t.me/xAnonymousSudan/180\">CNN</a>, <a href=\"https://t.me/xAnonymousSudan/186\">The Washington Post</a>, the <a href=\"https://t.me/xAnonymousSudan/185\">New York Post</a> and Britain’s <a href=\"https://t.me/xAnonymousSudan/188\">Daily Mail</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"4po8h\">The AP said that it had not been able to verify whether Anonymous Sudan was responsible for the attack. The news service did not immediately reply to an emailed request for updates on the incident.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"akbjw\">A man stands outside the New York headquarters of The Associated Press. The news agency was hit with an apparent denial-of-service attack on Oct. 31, 2023.</p>",
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{
"title": "Chicago-area reporter cited for seeking comment from local officials",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/chicago-area-reporter-cited-for-seeking-comment-from-local-officials/",
"first_published_at": "2023-11-06T16:57:39.126922Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-06T22:01:25.078802Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-06T22:02:38.595967Z",
"date": "2023-10-30",
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"city": "Calumet City",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"n5d7i\">Officials in Calumet City, Illinois, allege that a local reporter violated municipal ordinances by asking them questions about the city’s upkeep of stormwater infrastructure prior to massive flooding from heavy rains in the Chicago suburb in September 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"6m7na\">Daily Southtown reporter Hank Sanders, <a href=\"https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/ct-sta-calumet-city-water-pumps-before-flooding-st-1020-20231019-5zpcem4ea5a65bbij5nafmql6i-story.html\">who reported on Oct. 19</a> that Calumet City officials were informed last year by a consultant that the municipality’s stormwater facilities are in poor condition, is accused of “interference/hampering of city employees” by contacting them for follow-up coverage, <a href=\"https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-calumet-city-tribune-reporter-citations-20231102-ts6ugr2t6vdahap72yw2s7gkoi-story.html\">according to the Chicago Tribune</a>, whose parent company publishes both papers.</p><p data-block-key=\"v5rv\">Three citations issued to Sanders <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/06/us/chicago-reporter-officals-calumet-citation.html\">on Oct. 30</a> listed as complainants Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones, who is also an Illinois state representative; Jerico Thomas, the city’s public works commissioner; and city employee Megan Wilson, the Tribune added.</p><p data-block-key=\"925kh\">According to the paper, the notice referencing Wilson states that between Oct. 4-12, Sanders sent 14 emails and a Freedom of Information Act request to the Calumet City government regarding flooding. The notice referencing Jones noted that Sanders had called the city’s Department of Public Works “several times” since Sept. 17.</p><p data-block-key=\"5m387\">City attorneys asked Sanders to cease contacting city employees about the matter while the records request is pending, but said despite the requests, “Hank Sanders continues to do so.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v8bc\">A U.S. Press Freedom Tracker request for comment from Calumet City officials did not immediately receive a response.</p><p data-block-key=\"a3fbh\">On his TikTok account, Sanders posted about the citations, calling them “<a href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@chicagotrib/video/7297544753120349483\">ridiculous</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1jr2m\">Daily Southtown’s Executive Editor Mitch Pugh, in a statement published in the Tribune, called the citations “outrageous” and likened them to the Oct. 27 <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/alabama-publisher-charged-over-report-on-grand-jury-investigation/\">arrest of an Alabama reporter</a> and publisher for reporting on a local grand jury investigation <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/newsroom-personal-equipment-seized-in-kansas-raid/\">and the August police raid</a> on the Marion County Recorder and homes of the Kansas newspaper’s co-owners, executed while the Recorder was investigating Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody’s background.</p><p data-block-key=\"13h1o\">“They represent a continued assault on journalists who, like Hank, are guilty of nothing more than engaging in the practice of journalism. From places like Alabama to Kansas to Illinois, it appears public officials have become emboldened to take actions that our society once viewed as un-American,” Pugh said. “Unfortunately, in our current political climate, uneducated buffoonery has become a virtue, not a liability, but the Tribune will vigorously stand up for Hank’s right to do his job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6tveo\">Don Craven, president, chief executive and general counsel of the Illinois Press Association, <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/06/us/chicago-reporter-officals-calumet-citation.html\">told The New York Times</a> that he was optimistic that Calumet City would withdraw the citations. “We’re hopeful that our lawyer and their lawyer can have an adult conversation and understand that these are out of bounds and they’ll be withdrawn.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2023-11-06_165222.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"k6y8u\">A portion of one citation issued to Daily Southtown reporter Hank Sanders on Oct. 30, 2023, charging him with “interference/hampering of city employees” for allegedly harassing Calumet City, Illinois, officials when seeking comment for his reporting.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Calumet City Police Department",
"arrest_status": "charged without arrest",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-11-06 16:56:00+00:00) Citations against Chicago-area reporter dropped"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Hank Sanders (Daily Southtown)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Alabama publisher charged over report on grand jury investigation",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/alabama-publisher-charged-over-report-on-grand-jury-investigation/",
"first_published_at": "2023-11-01T18:17:04.716394Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-22T21:06:47.333106Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-22T21:06:47.133063Z",
"date": "2023-10-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Atmore",
"longitude": -87.49387,
"latitude": 31.02379,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3h8hh\">Atmore News co-owner and publisher Sherry Digmon was arrested in Atmore, Alabama, on Oct. 27, 2023, and charged with a felony for publishing an article on an ongoing grand jury investigation, the newspaper reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"437pe\">A reporter for the paper, <a href=\"/all-incidents/alabama-reporter-faces-felony-charge-for-article-on-grand-jury-investigation/\">Don Fletcher</a>, authored an <a href=\"https://atmorenews.com/2023/10/25/boe-investigations/\">article</a> on Oct. 25 concerning an Escambia County investigation into allegations of mismanagement of federal COVID relief funds by the county Board of Education. The article referenced statements made by District Attorney Steve Billy at an Oct. 12 school board meeting confirming that the superintendent would not be brought before a grand jury.</p><p data-block-key=\"cm6h4\">The article also reported that the outlet had obtained documents stating that Billy had issued a subpoena seeking copies of checks labeled as “COVID” payments or bonuses.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ktbt\">Atmore News <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/newsatmore/posts/pfbid02bk4ZCd6zP2vjx4fCVEhXW8RtNU2Cy1qaBAgVaEbWFVJctER8FbkfGhUJNybyUjkHl\">reported on Facebook</a> that both Digmon and Fletcher were arrested on Oct. 27, charged with <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/2009/Title12/Chapter16/Chapter16.html#:~:text=Section%2012%2D16%2D215%20Grand,juror's%20questions%2C%20considerations%2C%20etc.\">revealing, disclosing or divulging grand jury information</a>, a felony, and released about six hours later after paying $10,000 bonds.</p><p data-block-key=\"3mv5f\">Fletcher, who took a call to the newsroom from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, confirmed that he and Digmon had an initial hearing on Oct. 30 but directed all further inquiries to their attorney, Earnest White. White declined to comment when reached on Oct. 31.</p><p data-block-key=\"19nmn\">Veronica “Ashley” Fore, a bookkeeper for the county school system, was also arrested and is charged with providing grand jury information to the media, <a href=\"https://www.fox10tv.com/2023/10/28/school-board-member-journalist-arrested-atmore/\">according to WALA-TV</a>. It was not immediately clear how Fore obtained the information.</p><p data-block-key=\"9u2ti\">Neither District Attorney Billy nor the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AtmoreNews-Arrests-Fletcher-Digmo.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"5mx84\">Atmore News reporter Don Fletcher and publisher Sherry Digmon were arrested on Oct. 27, 2023, and charged with felonies for reporting on an ongoing grand jury investigation in Escambia County, Alabama.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Escambia County Sheriff’s Office",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2023-10-27",
"detention_date": "2023-10-27",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:24-cv-00425",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": "dropped",
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Alabama",
"abbreviation": "AL"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Alabama publisher files federal suit against DA and sheriff over arrest",
"(2024-04-19 00:00:00+00:00) Criminal charges dropped against Alabama publisher",
"(2023-10-30 13:04:00+00:00) Alabama publisher placed under prior restraint as condition of bail"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
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"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Prior Restraint"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sherry Digmon (Atmore News)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Alabama reporter faces felony charge for article on grand jury investigation",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/alabama-reporter-faces-felony-charge-for-article-on-grand-jury-investigation/",
"first_published_at": "2023-11-01T18:09:18.890354Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-22T21:06:59.823563Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-22T21:06:59.637247Z",
"date": "2023-10-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Atmore",
"longitude": -87.49387,
"latitude": 31.02379,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mm2px\">Atmore News reporter Don Fletcher was arrested in Atmore, Alabama, on Oct. 27, 2023, and charged with a felony for his reporting on an ongoing grand jury investigation, the newspaper reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"fmt6m\">Fletcher authored an <a href=\"https://atmorenews.com/2023/10/25/boe-investigations/\">article</a> on Oct. 25 concerning an Escambia County investigation into allegations of mismanagement of federal COVID relief funds by the county Board of Education. The article referenced statements made by District Attorney Steve Billy at an Oct. 12 school board meeting confirming that the superintendent would not be brought before a grand jury.</p><p data-block-key=\"4kr8c\">The article also reported that the outlet had obtained documents stating that Billy had issued a subpoena seeking copies of checks labeled as “COVID” payments or bonuses.</p><p data-block-key=\"bli4e\">Atmore News <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/newsatmore/posts/pfbid02bk4ZCd6zP2vjx4fCVEhXW8RtNU2Cy1qaBAgVaEbWFVJctER8FbkfGhUJNybyUjkHl\">reported on Facebook</a> that both Fletcher and the newspaper’s publisher and co-owner <a href=\"/all-incidents/alabama-publisher-charged-over-report-on-grand-jury-investigation/\">Sherry Digmon</a> were arrested on Oct. 27, charged with <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/2009/Title12/Chapter16/Chapter16.html#:~:text=Section%2012%2D16%2D215%20Grand,juror's%20questions%2C%20considerations%2C%20etc.\">revealing, disclosing or divulging grand jury information</a>, a felony, and released about six hours later after paying $10,000 bonds.</p><p data-block-key=\"fbanb\">When reached by phone, Fletcher confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the two had an initial hearing on Oct. 30 but directed all further inquiries to their attorney, Earnest White. White declined to comment when reached on Oct. 31.</p><p data-block-key=\"2f4vo\">Veronica “Ashley” Fore, a bookkeeper for the county school system, was also arrested and is charged with providing grand jury information to the media, <a href=\"https://www.fox10tv.com/2023/10/28/school-board-member-journalist-arrested-atmore/\">according to WALA-TV</a>. It was not immediately clear how Fore obtained the information.</p><p data-block-key=\"19fo3\">Neither District Attorney Billy nor the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AtmoreNews-Arrests-Fletcher-Digmo.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"djnz2\">Atmore News reporter Don Fletcher and publisher Sherry Digmon were arrested on Oct. 27, 2023, and charged with felonies for reporting on an ongoing grand jury investigation in Escambia County, Alabama.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Escambia County Sheriff’s Office",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2023-10-27",
"detention_date": "2023-10-27",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:24-cv-00425",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": "dropped",
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Alabama",
"abbreviation": "AL"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-10-30 13:02:00+00:00) Alabama reporter placed under prior restraint as condition of bail",
"(2024-04-19 00:00:00+00:00) Criminal charges dropped against Alabama reporter",
"(2024-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Alabama reporter files federal suit against DA and sheriff over arrest"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Prior Restraint"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Don Fletcher (Atmore News)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist says phone snatched at drag performance protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-says-phone-snatched-at-drag-performance-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2023-11-08T21:22:11.263920Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-08T21:22:11.263920Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-08T21:13:23.039249Z",
"date": "2023-10-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Fernando",
"longitude": -118.43897,
"latitude": 34.28195,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"p4d0y\">Independent photojournalist Kelly Stuart’s phone was allegedly stolen by a protest organizer while she was using it to record a demonstration at a library in San Fernando, California, on Oct. 25, 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"9tee6\">Approximately 50 people had gathered outside the San Fernando Library to protest a “Drag Queen Story Hour” with performer Pickle, The San Fernando Valley Sun <a href=\"https://sanfernandosun.com/2023/10/25/right-wing-protestors-prevent-drag-queen-storytime-at-san-fernando-public-library/\">reported</a>. The protesters blocked the entrances to the library and the event was ultimately canceled.</p><p data-block-key=\"8i2lv\">Stuart, who publishes her photos on her website and social media, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she has been reporting on the protest group Leave Our Kids Alone for the past year. She saw the group post a social media call to protest at the library and came to document the gathering.</p><p data-block-key=\"8k75j\">As police attempted to escort Pickle into the library, Stuart said the protesters crowded together shoulder to shoulder to prevent the performer’s entry. Stuart continued to document the scene, holding her cellphone aloft, when a man she identified as one of the organizers behind the protest group suddenly turned and grabbed the phone from her hands.</p><p data-block-key=\"66hbj\">“I tried to get it. I kind of jumped across his body and put one arm over his shoulder and I reached but he took the phone and put it down on his right side,” Stuart said.” I don’t know whether he threw it or passed it off to someone, but it was gone.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1kgl6\">Stuart told the Tracker that police witnessed the altercation and briefly detained both of them, took down their information and released them. She attempted to file a police report about the theft of her phone that day and ultimately was able to do so the following day.</p><p data-block-key=\"5e4al\">The San Fernando Police Department acknowledged via email the Tracker’s request for a copy of the report, but did not provide one as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"em7d2\">Stuart told the Tracker that the day her phone was taken, she “bricked” it, or rendered it unusable, because it contained reporting notes and source communications.</p><p data-block-key=\"24o9b\">“I’m lucky that I was given a phone [after the theft], because if I was not I wouldn’t be able to report right now,” Stuart said. “Even if I’m not uploading those videos, for my safety I usually mount my phone to my camera. I wouldn’t go out and shoot without a phone.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Stuart.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"lmtlz\">Protesters surround drag performer Pickle at the San Fernando Library in California on Oct. 25, 2023. Photojournalist Kelly Stuart, who captured this image, had her phone snatched from her hand shortly after, while filming the protest.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "private individual",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"LGBTQ+ rights",
"protest",
"robbery"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kelly Stuart (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
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},
{
"title": "Freelance photojournalist detained, cited at Reno rally",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-detained-cited-at-reno-rally/",
"first_published_at": "2023-10-27T15:20:45.073629Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-14T16:08:55.645032Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-14T16:08:55.542127Z",
"date": "2023-10-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Reno",
"longitude": -119.8138,
"latitude": 39.52963,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"q61to\">Freelance photojournalist Eric Marks was handcuffed and issued a citation while documenting a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Reno, Nevada, on Oct. 20, 2023, according to a news report.</p><p data-block-key=\"b9cq9\">This Is Reno <a href=\"https://thisisreno.com/2023/10/journalist-detained-and-threatened-with-arrest-by-reno-police-at-downtown-protest/\">reported</a> that Marks, whose <a href=\"http://ericmarksphotography.com/about-me/\">website</a> says he freelances for the digital news outlet as well as the Reno News & Review, was among multiple members of the press documenting the Reno Rally for Palestine in front of the Bruce R. Thompson Federal Building and Courthouse. The outlet published his <a href=\"https://thisisreno.com/2023/10/photos-locals-rally-to-support-palestinians-in-gaza/\">photo-essay</a> from the rally.</p><p data-block-key=\"52cib\">Marks told the outlet that while members of the press have often reported on protests from the median on Virginia Street, that day the police ordered them to walk across the street despite oncoming traffic. Marks said he refused.</p><p data-block-key=\"4q6cr\">A police spokesperson told This Is Reno that Marks was told to go to the east sidewalk, toward the courthouse, and was warned to avoid the median. Marks said he followed their directions, but that officers ordered them to walk into traffic twice, which This Is Reno confirmed in video from the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"9bii7\">An officer then grabbed Marks, twisted his arm behind his back and rushed him across the street before handcuffing and detaining him for 30 minutes in a nearby parking garage, according to the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"e1ckl\">Marks told This Is Reno that officers told him he was under arrest and ultimately gave him a citation for crossing a roadway outside of a marked crosswalk, the state’s jaywalking law.</p><p data-block-key=\"7qm5o\">Marks did not respond to requests for comment. The Reno Police Department did not immediately respond to a voicemail requesting additional information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Eric_Marks_being_detained_by_RPD_.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"j4r02\">Freelance photojournalist Eric Marks was detained and cited under Nevada’s jaywalking law while documenting a pro-Palestinian gathering in Reno on Oct. 20, 2023.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Reno Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2023-10-20",
"detention_date": "2023-10-20",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Nevada",
"abbreviation": "NV"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-10-25 12:35:00+00:00) Freelance photojournalist pays Reno rally jaywalking fine"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Eric Marks (This Is Reno)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "California journalist restored to district attorney’s media list",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/california-journalist-restored-to-district-attorneys-media-list/",
"first_published_at": "2023-12-13T22:29:27.018536Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-14T18:55:28.254595Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-14T18:55:28.158715Z",
"date": "2023-10-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Berkeley",
"longitude": -122.27275,
"latitude": 37.87159,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nljbo\">Journalist Emilie Raguso, who operates the crime and safety news site The Berkeley Scanner, was removed from the media list of the Alameda County, California, district attorney multiple times in 2023 in alleged retaliation for her coverage. Raguso was reinstated after the office came under <a href=\"https://www.berkeleyscanner.com/2023/12/01/editors-desk/pamela-price-alameda-county-das-office-first-amendment/\">public scrutiny</a> for barring her from a November press conference.</p><p data-block-key=\"5d29u\">Raguso told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that though she launched The Scanner in 2022, she has covered crime and courts for more than a decade. But since she published an article in January that included criticisms of DA Pamela Price’s administration, Raguso said Price has declined all of her requests for comment or interviews and otherwise attempted to obstruct her coverage.</p><p data-block-key=\"ecas\">“From then on, they were really uninterested in talking with me and were pretty antagonistic about some things,” Raguso said. “So I’ve continued to try to get interviews and include their perspective, but it’s been challenging.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8nbk1\">Raguso added that when she attended Price’s first press conference in March, she thought everything had proceeded normally. She said she later learned from multiple individuals that Price had wanted to remove her, but some of her employees were able to convince Price not to.</p><p data-block-key=\"1vq75\">In emails shared with the Tracker, an employee at the DA’s office told Raguso in June that her removal from the media list was a simple error, part of a general effort to remove out-of-date recipients, and that she had been added back. By October, however, Raguso realized that she had once again stopped receiving notice of upcoming press events.</p><p data-block-key=\"bbl1\">Raguso told the Tracker that she emailed the DA’s office on Oct. 20 to be readded to the mailing list and to clarify why she kept being removed. She received a response to her inquiry on Nov. 1, when Communications Director Haaziq Madyun wrote to her that the mailing list was “under review.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2arnv\">When Raguso attempted to attend Price’s Nov. 29 press conference, however, she was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/california-journalist-barred-from-district-attorneys-press-conference\">barred at the door</a> due to unspecified “safety issues.” Following public outcry — including a <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-11-30-DA-Price-re-Free-Press.pdf\">letter</a> penned by the First Amendment Coalition — Price’s office released a statement that Raguso would be added back to the media list and allowed to attend the DA’s press conferences.</p><p data-block-key=\"ekg25\">“During several transitions of the DAO communications staff over the summer, the DAO media list was modified and reduced to a limited number of news outlets,” the statement said. “Miss Raguso, among others, including the Bay City News Service, was not included in the updated media list, an oversight now being corrected.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fhn0d\">Bay City News Service Managing Editor Dan McMenamin told the Tracker that it was not aware it had stopped receiving emails from the DA’s office until Raguso was barred from the press conference. When contacted by the news outlet, the DA’s office initially said it had an incorrect — and nonexistent — email address for it on record, McMenamin said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1u02u\">The DA’s statement also noted that Price would be leading an effort to establish “clear and transparent media credentials guidelines that balance the need for public safety alongside accommodating today’s journalists. This critical work is long overdue.” Price’s office did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"b7gtm\">Raguso told the Tracker that apparent hostility from Price’s office and supporters has affected her reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"cljfo\">“I have worked hard to be professional and careful in all my dealings with the DA's office,” Raguso said, “and have taken pains to skip quite a few stories that were absolutely newsworthy — solely because of the complaints by her supporters that the coverage has been unfair or overly critical.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"42peo\">The office of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, who is pictured above, repeatedly removed journalist Emilie Raguso from its media list in 2023 in alleged retaliation for critical coverage.</p>",
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"Law enforcement: Prosecutor"
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{
"title": "Reporter assaulted by security for Ghanaian national soccer team",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-assaulted-by-security-for-ghanaian-national-soccer-team/",
"first_published_at": "2023-11-16T16:05:41.388157Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-16T16:05:41.388157Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-15T18:57:26.454165Z",
"date": "2023-10-14",
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"city": "Charlotte",
"longitude": -80.84313,
"latitude": 35.22709,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"anuvb\">Sports journalist Seidu Adamu was assaulted by a private security guard for the Black Stars, Ghana’s national soccer team, at a hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Oct. 14, 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"ck79m\">Adamu, a U.S.-based journalist for sports website 442 Ghana, <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02jCDH3sYbh7xwBs2qcvKdhsDhSEeR6JkoYzZ6taWNDTeNiEWAt4FfsBz44L8V6V9el&id=100094411999653\">wrote on</a> <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0MmqonC4JsVemohs1ceR5mrWMfyLX5Q8EdEaHbW7JVyXHxmSify9Y56uvuBte7CARl&id=100094411999653\">social media</a> that he was covering the team’s activities ahead of its match against Mexico that day. Shortly after he greeted the team’s manager and a FIFA employee, he wrote that one of the Black Stars’ security guards attacked him without warning in the lobby of the team’s hotel and attempted to strangle him.</p><p data-block-key=\"256fp\">“I did not sustain any major injury as a result of the attack, but I still feel some pain in my neck and arm and bruises around my ears,” Adamu wrote. “To have yourself strangled in the neck by a near 7-foot tall, 350-pound [man] is no Joke.”</p><p data-block-key=\"27c2u\">He did not respond to multiple requests for additional comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ns6v\">Adamu posted that he had filed a report with local police concerning the attack, and that he would no longer travel to Tennessee to cover the Black Stars’ match against the U.S. men’s national team on Oct. 17.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nc8l\">The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has listed the case as inactive, according to a copy of the incident report shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"4i8vr\">The Sports Writers Association of Ghana — of which Adamu is a member — condemned the attack in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/FelixRomark/status/1713935511222403121\">statement</a> and said that its president, Kwabena Yeboah, lodged a complaint with the Ghana Football Association.</p><p data-block-key=\"cg3kb\">“Mr. Yeboah also took the opportunity to emphasize the need for the [GFA] leadership to hold their errant official accountable, given that he had previously been implicated in similar acts of aggression towards journalists in the course of their duties,” the statement said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1uf8c\">During a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E63vrFAIQE\">radio show for CITI 97.3 FM</a>, a radio station that broadcasts from Ghana, multiple sports reporters criticized the GFA for <a href=\"https://3news.com/ghana-fa-criticised-for-silence-on-alleged-journalist-attack-in-black-stars-camp/\">not releasing a statement</a> condemning the attack and said that the SWAG statement was toothless.</p><p data-block-key=\"c5340\">“I think that statement is inadequate, I think that statement is lightweight and I think that statement does not in any way protect journalists from a future that involves these types of incidents,” show host Benjamin Nketsia said. “At this point we need to advise ourselves about attending GFA programs.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"nix86\">Ghana’s national soccer team takes the field in a friendly match against Mexico on Oct. 14, 2023. A security guard for the team allegedly assaulted sports journalist Seidu Adamu earlier that day at the team’s hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina<i>.</i></p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": {
"name": "North Carolina",
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"Assault"
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"Seidu Adamu (442 Ghana)"
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{
"title": "Subpoena for financial reporter’s documents in California suit quashed",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-for-financial-reporters-documents-in-california-suit-quashed/",
"first_published_at": "2025-01-29T22:23:00.601161Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-29T22:26:36.638169Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-29T22:26:36.560883Z",
"date": "2023-10-11",
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"city": "San Francisco",
"longitude": -122.41942,
"latitude": 37.77493,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"807x3\">Roddy Boyd, editor and founder of the investigative reporting outlet Foundation for Financial Journalism, was issued a subpoena on Oct. 11, 2023, for documents in connection with a California wiretap and defamation lawsuit, according to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"2rl6h\">He had first been served a wider-ranging legal order in August 2022. But after it was narrowed, a motion to compel Boyd to comply was set aside on Aug. 7, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"dv3df\">The underlying <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nced.207349/gov.uscourts.nced.207349.2.1.pdf\">lawsuit</a> was filed by investor Marc Cohodes in January 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Cohodes alleged in his complaint that the defendants used a private investigator to befriend him on false pretenses, then illegally record his phone calls and later disclose calls, emails and private conversations to damage his reputation.</p><p data-block-key=\"2874l\">Boyd had published an <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nced.207349/gov.uscourts.nced.207349.2.6.pdf\">article</a> in May 2021 that detailed the investigator’s recording of Cohodes’ calls. In his story, which is no longer available on the news outlet’s website, Boyd admits agreeing to a request by the investigator, who had falsely represented himself, to introduce him to Cohodes in 2016.</p><p data-block-key=\"9e7ge\">On <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/financial-reporter-subpoenaed-for-documents-in-california-lawsuit/\">Aug. 23, 2022</a>, Cohodes filed a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nced.207349/gov.uscourts.nced.207349.2.10.pdf\">subpoena</a> seeking all documents in Boyd’s possession, including communications, concerning the investigator, the other defendants and Cohodes.</p><p data-block-key=\"q5ac\">Boyd <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nced.207349/gov.uscourts.nced.207349.2.11.pdf\">objected</a> to that subpoena on Aug. 30, 2022, arguing that he is protected by the First Amendment and the <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/introduction-to-the-reporters-privilege-compendium/\">reporter’s privilege</a> from turning over the documents. He also objected that the subpoena was overly broad and vague, and that it sought to obtain materials available elsewhere.</p><p data-block-key=\"3i7ns\">A narrowed subpoena was <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nced.207349/gov.uscourts.nced.207349.2.12.pdf\">reissued</a> on Oct. 11, 2023, seeking communications between Boyd and the investigator, as well as Boyd’s documents related to the investigator’s recording of Cohodes’ communications and the May 2021 article.</p><p data-block-key=\"8tuuq\">Boyd filed another <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nced.207349/gov.uscourts.nced.207349.2.13.pdf\">objection</a> on Oct. 23, asserting that his activities are protected by the First Amendment, the reporter’s privilege and the <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/privilege-compendium/north-carolina/\">shield law</a> of North Carolina, where he is based. He also argued that the subpoena would impose undue time and expense burdens, and that the documents are available from other sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"fg3ut\">Cohodes filed a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nced.207349/gov.uscourts.nced.207349.2.0_2.pdf\">motion to compel</a> Boyd to comply with the subpoena on Jan. 16, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He argued that the materials related to the introduction of the investigator to Cohodes were not related to newsgathering, and that the remaining documents should be produced because there is a compelling need for them, they are relevant to the case and they cannot be obtained elsewhere.</p><p data-block-key=\"fbjni\">On Jan. 30, Boyd <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nced.207349/gov.uscourts.nced.207349.11.0.pdf\">asked</a> the court to deny that motion, which Magistrate Judge Kimberly Swank did <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nced.207349/gov.uscourts.nced.207349.14.0.pdf\">on Aug. 7, 2024</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"3loir\">Boyd welcomed the ruling in a social media <a href=\"https://x.com/FFJ_report/status/1828085741941055885\">post</a>. He did not respond to a request for further comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Boyd_Cohodes_10.11.23.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"uwxwv\">A portion of a subpoena issued to investigative reporter Roddy Boyd on Oct. 11, 2023, for documents and communications related to a wiretap and defamation suit in California. The subpoena was quashed on Aug. 7, 2024.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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"Roddy Boyd (Foundation for Financial Journalism)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Judge again bars media from publishing on expelled student or his lawsuit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-again-bars-media-from-publishing-on-expelled-student-or-his-lawsuit/",
"first_published_at": "2023-10-11T19:21:57.276749Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-01T21:45:51.368586Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-01T21:45:51.276995Z",
"date": "2023-10-10",
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"city": "Asheville",
"longitude": -82.55402,
"latitude": 35.60095,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8tdnl\">A U.S. district judge in Asheville, North Carolina, issued a second temporary restraining order on Oct. 10, 2023, barring members of the press from publishing about a former student who is suing the University of North Carolina System and multiple university administrators, <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ncwd.111064/gov.uscourts.ncwd.111064.57.0.pdf\">according to court records</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fkd94\">The plaintiff, who filed <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ncwd.111064/gov.uscourts.ncwd.111064.1.0.pdf\">the suit</a> on Feb. 15 under the pseudonym Jacob Doe, alleges that he was wrongfully expelled from UNC-Chapel Hill after being accused of sexual assault by four undergraduate women.</p><p data-block-key=\"b5jn6\">When filing the suit, Doe simultaneously filed the motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, requesting that no information be released by the defendants or published by the media. Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-bars-media-from-publishing-on-expelled-student-suing-unc-system/\">granted that temporary restraining order</a> on Feb. 22, citing possible irreparable harm to the plaintiff.</p><p data-block-key=\"hdhc\">Immediately after the restraint went into effect, however, the parties jointly <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ncwd.111064/gov.uscourts.ncwd.111064.15.0.pdf\">filed to withdraw</a> the motion and Reidinger dissolved the order on March 1.</p><p data-block-key=\"f7vg7\">Doe refiled his motion seven months later, after UNC informed him that it had received a public records request seeking to identify him, according to court records. On Oct. 10, District Judge Max Cogburn Jr. granted the motion.</p><p data-block-key=\"ag0vo\">As with the initial prior restraint, the university is barred from disclosing any information about the disciplinary proceedings at the heart of the lawsuit. UNC is also required to instruct news outlets that they are barred from publishing any information about Doe or his disciplinary proceedings that they may receive.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Asheville_prior_restraint2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"owxmn\">Students sit on library steps at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2018. As part of a 2023 lawsuit against UNC, a judge issued a new restraining order barring media from publishing information about a former student or his expulsion.</p>",
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"status_of_prior_restraint": "dropped",
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"state": {
"name": "North Carolina",
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},
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"(2023-11-28 10:45:00+00:00) Judge ends restraining order; allows press to publish on UNC suit"
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},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist harassed, press badge briefly stolen at pro-Israel rally",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-harassed-press-badge-briefly-stolen-at-pro-israel-rally/",
"first_published_at": "2023-10-16T18:51:15.422638Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-14T16:09:06.343488Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-14T16:09:06.236708Z",
"date": "2023-10-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8u36z\">Freelance journalist Talia Ben-Ora, who also publishes under the name Talia Jane, was assaulted, harassed and her press credentials briefly stolen while reporting on a pro-Israel rally in New York, New York, on Oct. 8, 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ogdi\">Ben-Ora told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was documenting two rallies in Manhattan. After filming and publishing excerpts from a pro-Palestinian rally, she said she headed to a rally in support of Israel rally that was scheduled for later in the day.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3236\">Within minutes of arriving at the demonstration, Ben-Ora said she was recognized by two men who began harassing her, calling her “bitch,” “cunt” and “terrorist.” One of the men also deliberately tripped her, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"fvh5j\">While some individuals tried to stop the harassment, the men drew supporters by claiming that Ben-Ora supports Hamas, the extremist organization that had launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, citing her coverage of the pro-Palestine rally earlier that day. Ben-Ora called the assertions “heinous slander,” and a deliberate attempt to provoke the crowd to violence.</p><p data-block-key=\"2m1er\">Ben-Ora said that New York Police Department officers intervened and ushered her toward the rally crowd, where she attempted to conduct interviews. The individuals harassing her followed, however, and officers told her that she needed to leave the area and escorted her up the block.</p><p data-block-key=\"e9ehc\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1711147630296707482/video/2\">footage</a> Ben-Ora captured while walking away from the demonstrations, multiple individuals can be seen shouting at her to leave as officers attempted to keep them away from her.</p><p data-block-key=\"15kas\">“I didn’t feel like the NYPD that had responded was successfully keeping anybody away from me,” Ben-Ora said. “So I was walking backward to make sure that no one ran up and tried to do anything.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eks9b\">Amid the chaos, a woman grabbed Ben-Ora’s press credentials out of her hand and walked away with them, but an officer was quickly able to retrieve them, she said. Ben-Ora continued to walk away from the demonstration, but shortly after she got on a nearby sidewalk, she was once again surrounded.</p><p data-block-key=\"3okao\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1711147630296707482/video/3\">In her footage</a>, the group can be seen shouting at and filming Ben-Ora and a woman appears to repeatedly smack her cellphone, attempting to rip a cord from it or knock it from Ben-Ora’s hands.</p><p data-block-key=\"4coeq\">A portable charger and its attached cord fell out of her pocket, Ben-Ora said, and when she attempted to retrieve them the individuals stomped and stood on them. She told the Tracker she was able to eventually pick up the items and leave the area after police officers intervened. The items still work, she said, but sections of the protective coating of the cord were scrapped off.</p><p data-block-key=\"aqik3\">“I was there to actually try and report on both sides of the story and I was prevented from doing that,” she said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hwy01\">Freelance journalist Talia Ben-Ora films New York Police Department officers interceding after she was harassed and assaulted while she reported on a pro-Israel demonstration in Manhattan on Oct. 8, 2023. Her press credentials were also briefly stolen.</p>",
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"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
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"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest",
"robbery"
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"Assault",
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{
"title": "Newspaper publisher shot after dispute over caricatures",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/newspaper-publisher-shot-after-dispute-over-caricatures/",
"first_published_at": "2023-11-02T19:35:00.220525Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-02T19:35:00.220525Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-02T19:35:00.130849Z",
"date": "2023-10-04",
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"city": "Hazleton",
"longitude": -75.97465,
"latitude": 40.95842,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bwzqo\">Journalist Bernardo Isaías Amaro Pérez, who publishes under Isaías Amaro, was shot in the arm Oct. 4, 2023, by a leader of a community organization in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, who had previously taken issue with his portrayal in Amaro’s publication.</p><p data-block-key=\"6d5rc\">Amaro, who was taken to a local hospital for treatment, is the publisher of the El Periodiquito, a Spanish-language newspaper that uses humor and caricature in its reporting, describing itself as “un periódico serio escrito en bromas” — a serious newspaper written in jokes.</p><p data-block-key=\"ai9bk\">In an interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Amaro said that he began reporting on Víctor Pérez Balbuena in June 2023. His articles included claims that Pérez was using his position as president of La Casa Dominicana de Hazleton to exploit community members. Pérez denied these allegations and <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doR7WgD-NwQ&t=28s\">accused Amaro of defamation</a> in a lengthy video.</p><p data-block-key=\"3pbg7\">Amaro later charged that, in response to the reporting, Pérez threatened him and local businesses distributing El Periodiquito with a gun; threatened to kill Amaro and a candidate for mayor while speaking on a radio show; and punctured Amaro’s car tires.</p><p data-block-key=\"bn3hg\">Pérez told law enforcement that he decided to confront Amaro over illustrations in El Periodiquito that featured him, his wife and his daughter, after Amaro attempted to distribute the newspaper where Pérez’s daughter works, <a href=\"https://local21news.com/news/local/hazleton-shooting-leaves-one-injured-suspect-in-custody\">according to WOLF-TV</a>. Pérez told police that Amaro exited his vehicle wielding a knife, and that he shot at the publisher to stop him from approaching.</p><p data-block-key=\"40big\">In his conversation with the Tracker, however, Amaro denied having any weapons and accused Pérez of cornering him at his art workshop and shooting at him multiple times while shouting that he would kill him. One of the rounds struck Amaro in the arm.</p><p data-block-key=\"bh8cg\">The Hazleton City Police Department said in a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=647274090842587&set=pcb.647274347509228\">press release</a> that Pérez fled the scene, but was arrested later that evening. He was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, including one with a deadly weapon, as well as reckless endangerment, according to court records reviewed by the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"adc1c\">Amaro said that he continues to be in fear for his life and has suffered sleeping problems since the shooting. He added that while he and his colleagues are working to publish the November edition of El Periodiquito, his injuries prevent him from drawing its characteristic illustrations.</p><p data-block-key=\"5nv62\"><i>Editor’s Note: Our interview with Isaías Amaro was translated from Spanish by Dagmar Thiel of Fundamedios, a partner of the Tracker.</i></p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"tgbpr\">Isaías Amaro, publisher of the satirical Spanish newspaper El Periodiquito, was shot by a leader of a community organization in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, when the man confronted him about his reporting on Oct. 4, 2023.</p>",
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"shot / shot at"
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"Bernardo Isaías Amaro Pérez (El Periodiquito)"
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{
"title": "New York reporter abruptly dropped from online forum",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-york-reporter-abruptly-dropped-from-online-forum/",
"first_published_at": "2023-10-25T20:01:48.037637Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-25T20:01:48.037637Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-25T19:55:50.132289Z",
"date": "2023-10-03",
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"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jfkwt\">Freelance reporter Emily Swanson was removed from a Zoom meeting hosted by the New York Police Department on Oct. 3, 2023, after identifying herself as a reporter, she told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"9dc7q\">Swanson had received an emailed invitation on Sept. 29 to a “Community CompStat Forum” from an NYPD community affairs officer for the 41st Precinct in the Bronx. The forum was one of a series of meetings at which the NYPD presents crime statistics from its publicly available <a href=\"https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/stats/crime-statistics/compstat.page\">CompStat</a> database, and was hosted by the Chief of Department Jeffrey B. Maddrey, the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed member.</p><p data-block-key=\"bg6jq\">The emailed invitation, reviewed by the Tracker, noted that “the purpose of the forum is for the NYPD to answer questions and address concerns the communities may have.” The NYPD also solicited questions from the public <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NYPDChiefOfDept/status/1708900586144387550\">on social media</a>. It was left unclear if the meeting was public or by invitation only.</p><p data-block-key=\"57u71\">Swanson said she had also attended other meetings held by the 41st Precinct, at which she had identified herself as a journalist in a sign-in book.</p><p data-block-key=\"7oaql\">When Swanson logged on to the Oct. 3 meeting, some attendees introduced themselves in the chat, so she posted her name and phone number and identified herself as a reporter from the Bronx Times, an outlet for which she freelances. She also asked the meeting’s host, whose username was “the chief of departments,” whether a recording of the meeting would be available to attendees later. She did not receive a response.</p><p data-block-key=\"5fe58\">After about 20 minutes, Swanson said, a notification popped up on her screen that she had been removed from the meeting by its host. “At first I thought it was some sort of glitch or technical thing,” she said. “It was pretty abrupt. It just seemed like they were kind of in the middle of presenting the data — nothing had been talked about that you couldn’t find on the website.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5462v\">When she clicked on the meeting link, she was unable to log back in to the meeting.</p><p data-block-key=\"5vcr9\">Swanson reached out to the NYPD’s Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information, or DCPI, to ask why she had been removed from the meeting, but did not receive a response. She later submitted a complaint to New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board.</p><p data-block-key=\"dfu42\">A DCPI spokesperson told the Tracker via email that the Bronx Zoom meeting was by invitation only. “A review of the guest list determined the individual was not invited to this zoom meeting and therefore was removed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"37isc\">Regarding the invitation that Swanson did receive, DCPI reiterated that “this individual was not on the NYPD confirmed invitee list.” Community Affairs Officer Melvin Payamps of the 41st Precinct, who sent the email invitation to Swanson, did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Florida daily newspaper said feud led sheriff to disinvite it from news conference",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/florida-daily-newspaper-said-feud-led-sheriff-to-disinvite-it-from-news-conference/",
"first_published_at": "2024-03-25T21:15:04.579057Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-26T15:37:47.386266Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-26T15:37:47.268879Z",
"date": "2023-10-02",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "DeLand",
"longitude": -81.30312,
"latitude": 29.02832,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e2dnr\">The Daytona Beach News-Journal was purposely not invited to a news conference held by Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood on Oct. 2, 2023, according to the Florida news outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"a4eik\">The press conference announced the arrest of a 17-year-old alleged to have sold a fatal dose of fentanyl to a minor. When News-Journal Executive Editor John Dunbar emailed Chitwood’s media staff about it, they explained the lack of invitation was deliberate.</p><p data-block-key=\"46nrq\">“No oversight, sorry,” Chitwood’s Director of Public Affairs Andrew Gant replied. “The Sheriff is no longer inviting the NJ to his news conference or commenting for stories.”</p><p data-block-key=\"31e8q\">According to an <a href=\"https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/opinion/columns/2023/10/03/sheriff-mike-chitwood-bans-news-journal-from-press-conferences/71041359007/\">article</a> by the News-Journal, a “contingent of media” was present at the conference.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ek04\">The News-Journal was later left off the invite list for another conference <a href=\"/all-incidents/florida-paper-says-sheriff-disinvited-it-from-news-conference-for-second-time/\">on Feb. 29, 2024</a>. The sheriff’s office had announced via social media that Chitwood would be holding a news conference the following day about a break in a 20-year-old missing persons investigation. But <a href=\"https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2024/03/05/sheriff-chitwood-doesnt-invite-news-journal-to-press-conference/72810435007/?utm_source=Poynter+Institute&utm_campaign=18e7519c4a-03062024+-+The+Poynter+Report&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-03a789e9c7-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D\">the newspaper said</a> Chitwood’s media staff did not send it an announcement with details about the briefing, nor did they reply to emails and texts from reporters.</p><p data-block-key=\"aspuq\">Two other Florida TV stations, WESH and WOFL, had news crews present at that briefing, but the paper said it was unclear how Chitwood communicated to them the time and place of the event.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1pv5\">The paper says the missing invitations are the result of a long-standing conflict between the daily paper and Chitwood that has also resulted in the Sheriff’s Office refusing to comment on any News-Journal stories.</p><p data-block-key=\"6i2js\">Chitwood, in a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/profile/100044203642856/search/?q=news-journal\">series of Facebook posts</a> going back to September, has been highly critical of News-Journal coverage of several high-profile criminal investigations.</p><p data-block-key=\"9pb0p\">In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sheriffchitwood/posts/pfbid0xTg2xH8jFYSMwHKBAhEBYPmaDWE6g15e1XEMrrytKqTZTup2aQVKrPyVoTh915WSl\">Sept. 21 post</a>, Chitwood wrote, “I don’t take Frank Fernandez’s calls or give him quotes for his BS stories anymore,” then added on <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sheriffchitwood/posts/pfbid0mNY8oGZDV9TKcAHrXksh5kfsqfrVHVUSU3wGrHUSP6EpVDoHbZ2G2kca5bw5oVkpl\">Sept. 26</a>, “This is nothing personal, strictly business, but the only real recourse I have is to unsubscribe from the News-Journal and quit commenting in it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3beht\">News-Journal Executive Editor John Dunbar, in an opinion piece after the Sept. 21 Chitwood post, <a href=\"https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/opinion/columns/2023/09/25/chitwood-feeds-reporter-to-the-social-media-wolves-for-doing-his-job/70953403007/\">wrote</a>, “The sheriff’s reaction is disturbing for a number of reasons. First, he’s falsely accusing an enormously dedicated and hard-working reporter of being one-sided and unprofessional. Nothing could be further from the truth. Second, his bullying behavior can lead to a chilling effect on anyone who dares to write something he doesn’t like. And third, he’s creating a scapegoat and invoking his followers to tell him ‘what they think.’ What happens if they respond with more than words?”</p><p data-block-key=\"84h2q\">Chitwood’s derogatory comments continued, however. In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sheriffchitwood/posts/pfbid0J6r6Co6C53CWSdBhvgbnueyNdeLKJ13AN8gwmhAfKE9FAVuMm6yoX8AZ3HwWJ4dzl\">March 5 post regarding</a> the Feb. 29 news conference, the sheriff wrote, “The Irrelevant Daytona Beach News-Journal smears my deputies, insults the law enforcement community, misleads the 5 readers it has left, and then cries foul when I quit responding. The News-Journal knew exactly when and where this press conference was, and they chose not to show up. If they did, I’d exercise my right to ignore their BS questions.”</p><p data-block-key=\"atnlt\">The same day, <a href=\"https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2024/03/05/sheriff-chitwood-doesnt-invite-news-journal-to-press-conference/72810435007/?utm_source=Poynter+Institute&utm_campaign=18e7519c4a-03062024+-+The+Poynter+Report&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-03a789e9c7-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D\">Fernandez reported</a> that Chitwood opted not to include The News-Journal in the news conference even though Gant <a href=\"https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/10/11/editorial-sheriffs-screed-against-reporter-hurts-everyone-including-himself/\">told the Orlando Sentinel</a> that if a News-Journal reporter shows up to a news event, they won’t be turned away. “The News-Journal has the same access to that as anybody else,” Gant said. “They just don’t have exclusive access.”</p><p data-block-key=\"a4tkt\">The sheriff’s office did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"630bb\">Grace Nezkwesi, legal fellow at the First Amendment Foundation, was reported as saying she did not believe that Chitwood could exclude one media outlet while allowing others to attend the briefings. “It does sound like a chilling effect and a restraint on your organization’s First Amendment Rights,” <a href=\"https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2024/03/05/sheriff-chitwood-doesnt-invite-news-journal-to-press-conference/72810435007/?utm_source=Poynter+Institute&utm_campaign=18e7519c4a-03062024+-+The+Poynter+Report&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-03a789e9c7-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D\">she told the News-Journal</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fo8vs\">“It’s a form of intimidation. I mean, he’s the sheriff. He’s a very powerful man and very popular in the county,” Dunbar told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"9mr2k\">Dunbar added that he was concerned that the decision could impact the News-Journal’s access to information regarding the upcoming hurricane season. “This is really an issue of public safety because we’re the newspaper of record,” Dunbar said. “We can’t be at odds.”</p><p data-block-key=\"66kd5\"><i>Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include a comment from News-Journal Executive Editor John Dunbar.</i></p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6m1ro\">Sheriff Mike Chitwood of Volusia County, Florida, during an Oct. 2, 2023, news conference. The Daytona Beach News-Journal said it was purposefully not invited to the event.</p>",
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},
{
"title": "IRS consultant charged with leaking tax returns to two news outlets",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/irs-consultant-charged-with-leaking-tax-returns-to-two-news-outlets/",
"first_published_at": "2023-09-29T21:24:17.217907Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-29T22:10:12.552044Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-29T22:10:12.352061Z",
"date": "2023-09-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r1l0r\">Charles Littlejohn, a contractor for the Internal Revenue Service, was charged on Sept. 29, 2023, with disclosing tax returns without authorization, leaking the information to two news organizations.</p><p data-block-key=\"f3ill\">A U.S. Department of Justice <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/irs-consultant-charged-disclosing-tax-return-information-news-organizations\">press release</a> announcing the charges alleged that Littlejohn stole the tax return information associated with an unnamed “high-ranking government official” and disclosed it to an unidentified news organization. ABC News <a href=\"https://abcnews.go.com/US/doj-charges-irs-consultant-allegedly-leaking-trump-wealthy/story?id=103610795\">reported</a> that an individual familiar with the matter confirmed that the government official was former President Donald Trump. Trump’s tax returns extending over more than two decades were <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/27/us/trump-taxes-takeaways.html\">leaked to The New York Times</a> in 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"eao8i\">The DOJ also alleged that Littlejohn stole tax return information for thousands of the country’s wealthiest individuals and shared it with a second unnamed news organization. Several news accounts reported that the unnamed news organization appeared to be ProPublica. That outlet published a series titled “<a href=\"https://www.propublica.org/series/the-secret-irs-files\">The Secret IRS Files</a>” in June 2021, which relied on what it called “a vast cache” of tax documents.</p><p data-block-key=\"5tlt3\">ProPublica and five of its journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2023-08-22&date_upper=2023-08-22&targeted_institutions=ProPublica&categories=Subpoena%2FLegal+Order\">were each served subpoenas</a> on Aug. 22 in connection with an ongoing lawsuit against the IRS by hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin.</p><p data-block-key=\"ditvv\">Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, D.C., is charged with one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax returns and return information, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted, the DOJ said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8vc4p\">IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel <a href=\"https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4230744-irs-consultant-accused-leaking-tax-returns-wealthiest-individuals/\">told The Hill in a statement</a> that any disclosure of taxpayer information is unacceptable, but declined to comment on the charges against Littlejohn.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"2jgc3\">An IRS consultant was charged on Sept. 29, 2023, with leaking the tax returns of a high-ranking government official and those of thousands of the country’s wealthiest individuals to two news outlets.</p>",
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"(2024-01-29 00:00:00+00:00) IRS consultant gets five years for leaking tax returns to media"
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"The New York Times"
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{
"title": "Reporter assaulted at Tennessee mayoral forum",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-assaulted-at-tennessee-mayoral-forum/",
"first_published_at": "2023-10-10T17:02:23.036560Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-10T17:02:23.036560Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-10T16:47:23.244189Z",
"date": "2023-09-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Franklin",
"longitude": -86.86889,
"latitude": 35.92506,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rvp6x\">WTVF-TV chief investigative reporter Phil Williams was assaulted while attempting to cover a mayoral forum in Franklin, Tennessee, on Sept. 27, 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"9v483\">Williams said in a <a href=\"https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/chaos-erupts-at-franklin-mayoral-forum-as-gabrielle-hanson-supporters-to-block-nc5-from-event\">broadcast for the station</a> that he and a photographer had been invited by the organizer of the forum in the upscale community of Westhaven, where incumbent Mayor Ken Moore and candidate Gabrielle Hanson were speaking with residents.</p><p data-block-key=\"d248j\">As the journalists waited to enter the room alongside attendees, Williams reported that some of Hanson’s supporters attempted to block them from entering the room, standing shoulder to shoulder to try to keep their camera out.</p><p data-block-key=\"c54s2\">“One of them got a little testy with me,” Williams added.</p><p data-block-key=\"9b0po\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/nc5philwilliams/status/1707192446927491526\">footage</a> he captured and posted on social media, Williams confirms that a woman standing in front of him had struck his arm. Minutes later, she can be heard telling him, “Get your camera out of my face!” She then reaches out to grab his cellphone or knock it from his hands.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We were invited to a Franklin mayoral forum at Westhaven, but Gabrielle <a href=\"https://twitter.com/HansonforMayor?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@HansonforMayor</a> supporters became quite agitated and attempted to keep us from entering the room. One kept backing into me and then accused me of assaulting him. <a href=\"https://t.co/Y9blWj7qwY\">pic.twitter.com/Y9blWj7qwY</a></p>— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NC5PhilWilliams/status/1707192446927491526?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 28, 2023</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=\"rvp6x\">A Franklin Police Department officer immediately intervenes and tells the woman to “Stop touching him or you’re going to jail.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fkb68\">Other Westhaven residents standing near the woman can later be heard saying, “Nobody wants you here” and “He’s the only liberal hack here,” while pointing at Williams.</p><p data-block-key=\"as0md\">Neither mayoral candidate responded to requests for comment or to confirm whether they had agreed to the attendance of the WTVF news crew.</p><p data-block-key=\"16h25\">Williams <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NC5PhilWilliams/status/1707193645894430759\">wrote</a> in a subsequent post that in order to diffuse the situation he agreed to remain outside the room while his photographer filmed from inside, noting that it did make it difficult to continue reporting in real time.</p><p data-block-key=\"eod7q\">Williams did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"2xy81\">A police officer in Franklin, Tennessee, intervenes on behalf of WTVF-TV chief investigative reporter Phil Williams after a woman attending a mayoral forum repeatedly attempted to grab or knock the phone from his hands on Sept. 27, 2023.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"name": "Tennessee",
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"election"
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"Assault"
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"Phil Williams (WTVF)"
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},
{
"title": "Police union sues Las Vegas Review-Journal over jail video",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-union-sues-las-vegas-review-journal-over-jail-video/",
"first_published_at": "2024-04-04T15:32:15.158549Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-03-03T19:45:18.215411Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-03-03T19:45:18.063521Z",
"date": "2023-09-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Las Vegas",
"longitude": -115.13722,
"latitude": 36.17497,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5jgo0\">A Nevada police union filed a lawsuit against the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Sept. 27, 2023, seeking an injunction requiring the newspaper to unpublish or censor footage and photos from inside the Henderson Detention Center, according to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"f0860\">The Review-Journal <a href=\"https://www.reviewjournal.com/investigations/henderson-jailers-get-millions-in-overtime-but-still-make-critical-mistakes-2907703/\">published a story</a> on Sept. 20 about millions of dollars paid in overtime and mistakes made by overworked corrections officers. Two days later, the Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers — a union representing Henderson officers, among others — sent a letter to the Review-Journal and Henderson city officials demanding that pictures and video obtained and published by the newspaper be edited to blur the officers’ faces, according to court filings. The union also called on the city to investigate the source of the leaked footage.</p><p data-block-key=\"51mu2\">“Frankly, it is quite distressing that both the newspaper and City have not already taken the steps outlined above,” NAPSO Executive Director Andrew Regenbaum wrote. “The officers who protect Henderson, indeed all peace officers throughout Nevada, should not have to worry that their safety and privacy would wantonly be jeopardized by the dissemination and cavalier use of their personal identities for ‘sensational’ motives.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cnqr7\">The newspaper declined to alter or replace its published work, defending its reporting as being in the public interest. NAPSO filed its lawsuit a few days later, asserting that the Review-Journal broke a <a href=\"https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-289.html#NRS289Sec025\">state law</a> dictating that images of officers in the possession of a law enforcement agency are confidential and “may be released” if the officer authorizes it or if the officer has been arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9qo8\">Benjamin Lipman, the newspaper’s chief legal officer, <a href=\"https://www.reviewjournal.com/investigations/police-union-sues-review-journal-over-henderson-jail-video-2913167/\">told the outlet</a> that the lawsuit is baseless. “The statute that the union is suing under does not put any restrictions on the public, and if it were to apply to the public, it would violate the protections provided by the First Amendment,” Lipman said.</p><p data-block-key=\"23a0m\">On Oct. 2, District Judge Mark Denton ruled against issuing a temporary restraining order, finding that the union had not proven that its members face irreparable harm or injury.</p><p data-block-key=\"f4e2p\">Two weeks later, Denton denied NAPSO’s request for an injunction that would have required the Review-Journal to take down or alter its video or photos. Executive Editor Glenn Cook commended the Oct. 16 decision in a <a href=\"https://www.reviewjournal.com/investigations/judge-sides-with-rj-in-legal-battle-over-police-video-2922862/\">statement to the newspaper</a>, saying, “Today’s ruling was affirmation that press freedoms are enshrined in the First Amendment for an important reason: The government and public employees can’t tell the media what to publish and not publish.”</p><p data-block-key=\"frd2n\">After joining NAPSO as a plaintiff in early October, the City of Henderson <a href=\"https://www.reviewjournal.com/investigations/henderson-to-pay-review-journal-20k-in-legal-battle-over-police-video-2965015/\">settled its claims</a> against the Review-Journal on Dec. 13, agreeing to pay the newspaper $20,000 in legal fees.</p><p data-block-key=\"2q08m\">On Dec. 21, Denton denied the newspaper’s motion to dismiss the case under the state’s <a href=\"https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-041.html#NRS041Sec660\">anti-SLAPP law</a>, which argued that the case was filed in an attempt to chill the Review-Journal’s First Amendment rights.</p><p data-block-key=\"1r7s7\">William Schuller, an attorney representing the union, told the Tracker that they are no longer seeking an injunction and are only pursuing a decision from the court on whether the law enforcement confidentiality statute applies to third parties, such as the Review-Journal.</p><p data-block-key=\"ebsb6\">“Either the media has an absolute right to publish anything it wants at any time in any manner with no restraints or it doesn’t,” Schuller said. “And our position, obviously, is that it doesn’t.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5i4dr\">The Review-Journal appealed Denton’s ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court on Feb. 8, 2024. Attorney Lipman told the Tracker that if upheld, Denton’s decision could create a large loophole in the state’s anti-SLAPP law, but he is hopeful that the Supreme Court will reverse the denial.</p><p data-block-key=\"coog6\">“I think our arguments are very strong and with that I have high hopes that we will prevail,” Lipman said. “It’s a shame that all of this time and money is being wasted on a case that is simply seeking to shut down the ability of the press and the public to discuss issues of public concern.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"jl341\">A portion of the lawsuit filed by a Nevada police union against the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Sept. 27, 2023, which sought an injunction requiring the newspaper to take down published footage from inside the Henderson Detention Center.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"name": "Nevada",
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"(2025-02-26 00:00:00+00:00) Court says suit against Las Vegas Review-Journal could be retaliatory"
],
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"Las Vegas Review-Journal"
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"Chilling Statement"
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{
"title": "New Hampshire reporter subpoenaed over defamation suit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-hampshire-reporter-subpoenaed-over-defamation-suit/",
"first_published_at": "2023-11-06T21:32:54.456250Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-06T21:32:54.456250Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-06T21:32:54.373378Z",
"date": "2023-09-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Concord",
"longitude": -71.53757,
"latitude": 43.20814,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jj9yz\">New Hampshire reporter Robert Blechl and a family-owned New England newspaper he works for were subpoenaed on Sept. 25, 2023, over Blechl’s coverage of a civil suit involving a local activist and an interstate waste management company, according to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"6pj3u\">The subpoenas, served to Blechl and the Caledonian Record, a daily covering northeastern Vermont and northern New Hampshire, were withdrawn on Oct. 6, the attorney representing them, Gregory Sullivan, told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ffn9\">According to an account by <a href=\"https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2023-10-13/nh-reporter-subpoenaed-in-ongoing-legal-battle-between-waste-company-and-activist?mibextid=S66gvF\">New Hampshire Public Radio</a>, lawyers for Casella Waste Systems Inc. claimed that a <a href=\"https://www.caledonianrecord.com/news/local/casella-drops-defamation-lawsuit-against-dalton-landfill-opponent/article_763dc91b-54c8-5171-8e11-91909345872a.html\">May 18 article</a> by Blechl misrepresented the settlement of its defamation suit against Jon Swan, who had been fighting a proposed landfill in New Hampshire. A review of court documents indicates the firm was seeking testimony and all of Blechl’s notes and communications with Swan related to the litigation and his May 18 report.</p><p data-block-key=\"19aui\">In a Sept. 29 affidavit describing his newsgathering, however, Blechl said that Swan had refused to speak to him about the litigation, so Blechl had relied strictly on public records.</p><p data-block-key=\"88o1d\">Sullivan told the Tracker that in his Sept. 29 motion to quash the subpoenas, he argued that New Hampshire law protects the news media from having to share sources and that neither Blechl nor the Record possessed any of the information that Casella was seeking.</p><p data-block-key=\"ad6g1\">“It is well-settled law that requiring reporters and publishers to respond to subpoenas and to appear for depositions has a chilling effect on the news gathering and publishing processes,” Sullivan wrote in his motion. “When, as in this case, no valid basis for the subpoenas exists, the First Amendment and … the New Hampshire Constitution mandate the quashing of the issued subpoenas.”</p><p data-block-key=\"15sea\">According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, while New Hampshire does not have<a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/privilege-compendium/new-hampshire/\"> a shield law</a>, the New Hampshire Supreme Court has recognized a qualified constitutional privilege to protect the identity of confidential news sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"a6n9n\">Although the subpoenas were dropped after they were issued, Sullivan said the fact that they were instigated in the first place creates a chilling effect on the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"4rnkc\">“Anytime a news media organization, or one of its reporters, is subpoenaed, and it’s not a necessary subpoena, it is an unfortunate situation, certainly for the paper,” he told the Tracker. “It's a significant amount of money for a small newspaper to incur based upon what we felt were frivolous attempts to get information.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"dqsnk\">Screenshot of the subpoena served on Caledonian Record reporter Robert Blechl on Sept. 25, 2023.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "New Hampshire",
"abbreviation": "NH"
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},
{
"title": "New England newspaper subpoenaed over defamation suit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-england-newspaper-subpoenaed-over-defamation-suit/",
"first_published_at": "2023-11-06T21:24:41.674421Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-06T21:24:41.674421Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-06T21:24:41.576793Z",
"date": "2023-09-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Concord",
"longitude": -71.53757,
"latitude": 43.20814,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2j55o\">A family-owned New England newspaper and its New Hampshire reporter Robert Blechl were subpoenaed on Sept. 25, 2023, over Blechl’s coverage of a civil suit involving a local activist and an interstate waste management company, according to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"cbkjv\">The subpoenas, served to Blechl and the Caledonian Record, a daily covering northeastern Vermont and northern New Hampshire, were withdrawn on Oct. 6, the attorney representing them, Gregory Sullivan, told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"erqkg\">According to an account by <a href=\"https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2023-10-13/nh-reporter-subpoenaed-in-ongoing-legal-battle-between-waste-company-and-activist?mibextid=S66gvF\">New Hampshire Public Radio</a>, lawyers for Casella Waste Systems Inc. claimed that a <a href=\"https://www.caledonianrecord.com/news/local/casella-drops-defamation-lawsuit-against-dalton-landfill-opponent/article_763dc91b-54c8-5171-8e11-91909345872a.html\">May 18 article</a> by Blechl misrepresented the settlement of its defamation suit against Jon Swan, who had been fighting a proposed landfill in New Hampshire. A review of court documents indicates the firm was seeking testimony and all of Blechl’s notes and communications with Swan related to the litigation and his May 18 report.</p><p data-block-key=\"dvpcm\">In a Sept. 29 affidavit describing his newsgathering, however, Blechl said that Swan had refused to speak to him about the litigation, so he had relied strictly on public records.</p><p data-block-key=\"3asc1\">Sullivan told the Tracker that in his Sept. 29 motion to quash the subpoenas, he argued that New Hampshire law protects the news media from having to share sources and that neither Blechl nor the Record possessed any of the information that Casella was seeking.</p><p data-block-key=\"d152o\">“It is well-settled law that requiring reporters and publishers to respond to subpoenas and to appear for depositions has a chilling effect on the news gathering and publishing processes,” Sullivan wrote in his motion. “When, as in this case, no valid basis for the subpoenas exists, the First Amendment and … the New Hampshire Constitution mandate the quashing of the issued subpoenas.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9rlff\">According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, while New Hampshire does not have<a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/privilege-compendium/new-hampshire/\"> a shield law</a>, the New Hampshire Supreme Court has recognized a qualified constitutional privilege to protect the identity of confidential news sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"1q2nb\">Although the subpoenas were dropped after they were issued, Sullivan said the fact that they were instigated in the first place creates a chilling effect on the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"fp7h1\">“Anytime a news media organization, or one of its reporters, is subpoenaed, and it's not a necessary subpoena, it is an unfortunate situation, certainly for the paper,” he told the Tracker. “It's a significant amount of money for a small newspaper to incur based upon what we felt were frivolous attempts to get information.”</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qvedn\">Screenshot of the subpoena served on the Caledonian Record on Sept. 25, 2023.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "New Hampshire",
"abbreviation": "NH"
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Caledonian Record"
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{
"title": "Man leaves fake bomb outside Ohio newspaper offices",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-leaves-fake-bomb-outside-ohio-newspaper-offices/",
"first_published_at": "2023-10-20T14:31:21.344529Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-23T15:27:54.580975Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-23T15:27:54.477728Z",
"date": "2023-09-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Elyria",
"longitude": -82.10765,
"latitude": 41.36838,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f37p2\">An Ohio man left a mailbox, lighter fluid and a note that said, “Bomb Don’t Touch,” outside the entrance to offices of The Chronicle-Telegram in the metro Cleveland area city of Elyria, Ohio, on Sept. 24, 2023, the newspaper <a href=\"https://chroniclet.com/news/366844/elyria-twp-man-charged-with-felony-in-threat-at-chronicle-telegram-sunday/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"egcjo\">Elyria police and firefighters, along with the Lorain County bomb squad, investigated the items and did not find any explosives.</p><p data-block-key=\"fqn8d\">The next day, local resident Robert S. Reynolds Jr. turned himself in at the Lorain County Sheriff's Office and admitted to leaving the items, the newspaper reported. He was charged by the Lorain County prosecutor with inducing panic, a felony, and taken into custody and held without bond.</p><p data-block-key=\"cht8s\">A detective told the paper that Reynolds threatened the publication because he “was upset about coverage of his family earlier this year in the Chronicle.” Reynolds’ father owns a drive-through restaurant in the adjacent Elyria Township; the paper has reported on several complaints by the restaurant’s customers about racist remarks allegedly made by both Reynolds and his father.</p><p data-block-key=\"5rsf0\">“He was mad about our work,” the Chronicle-Telegram’s managing editor, Julie Wallace, told the Tracker via email. She added that the paper has not made any changes to safety protocols since the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"e9gbn\">“Our building was remodeled and added onto in about 2008 and many safety precautions were added at that time,” Wallace said. “We are safe.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "Ohio",
"abbreviation": "OH"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"The Chronicle-Telegram"
],
"tags": [
"bomb / bomb threat"
],
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"Other Incident"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist assaulted filming Iranian delegation's New York visit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-assaulted-filming-iranian-delegations-new-york-visit/",
"first_published_at": "2023-10-06T19:54:12.193869Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-06T19:54:12.193869Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-06T19:54:05.817304Z",
"date": "2023-09-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j69c7\">A correspondent for Iran International was assaulted on Sept. 20, 2023, in New York City by an official from the delegation of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, according to the London-based, Persian-language TV news service.</p><p data-block-key=\"c19a7\">Iran International <a href=\"https://www.iranintl.com/en/202309217257\">reports</a> that a protocol officer from Raisi’s entourage attempted to wrest correspondent Kian Amani’s cellphone from his hands as the journalist filmed the Iranian president departing a midtown Manhattan hotel. Raisi was in New York City that week for the U.N. General Assembly.</p><p data-block-key=\"bmort\">Iran International <a href=\"https://x.com/IranIntl_En/status/1704698596128403521?s=20\">posted a video</a> of the encounter with footage from Amani’s phone and from another person, who recorded it from a different angle.</p><p data-block-key=\"caqss\">In Amani’s video, a man from Raisi’s delegation is seen approaching him while asking in Farsi why he is taking the video and demanding that he show his press credentials, according to a <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/22/middleeast/iran-international-journalist-attack-new-york-intl-hnk/index.html\">CNN account</a>. Amani tells the man in English not to touch him and identifies himself as a journalist before a scuffle ensues.</p><p data-block-key=\"5pq3l\">In the other video, the assailant is seen attempting to pry Amani’s phone from his hands before a number of people, identified as hotel staff by Iran International, begin to intervene.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ivc2\">“Don’t touch him!” a woman said repeatedly to the man struggling physically with Amani. The scuffle ceased and the assailant departed from the scene.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BREAKING</a> An Iranian official from President Raisi's delegation attacked Iran International's correspondent, Kian Amani, outside the Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza Hotel on Wednesday. Amani was capturing footage of them exiting the hotel. The security team finally… <a href=\"https://t.co/WH65JRb11P\">pic.twitter.com/WH65JRb11P</a></p>— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/IranIntl_En/status/1704698596128403521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 21, 2023</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=\"jg9vr\">The next day, Abram Paley, the U.S. State Department’s deputy special envoy for Iran, <a href=\"https://x.com/USEnvoyIran/status/1704989989149233200?s=20\">posted a statement</a> condemning “the apparent harassment and intimidation of several journalists on US soil.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9p3jk\">A State Department official also <a href=\"https://www.iranintl.com/en/202309228107\">told Iran International</a> that they "have seen reports of threats, and assault on, an Iran International journalist by a member of the Iranian delegation. The behavior seen in the video footage is unacceptable."</p><p data-block-key=\"3ve21\">A representative from Iran International contacted by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker did not say if the incident was reported to police. The New York City Police Department also did not confirm if a report was filed. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"azrro\">A journalist for Iran International, third from left, had his phone grabbed at by an Iranian official in New York on Sept. 20, during a visit by Iran’s president.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
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"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kian Amani (Iran International)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
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},
{
"title": "Judge orders journalist to turn over source communications",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-orders-journalist-to-turn-over-source-communications/",
"first_published_at": "2023-10-24T18:29:45.173635Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-05T16:46:20.253039Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-05T16:02:54.899567Z",
"date": "2023-09-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Pittsburgh",
"longitude": -79.99589,
"latitude": 40.44062,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6phy9\">A Pennsylvania judge granted a motion on Sept. 14, 2023, to compel journalist Mike Elk to disclose his correspondence with former sources, according to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"f6gkv\">The motion by the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America and union officials Jon Schleuss, Fatima Hussein and Steve Cook was made as part of Elk’s defamation suit against the NewsGuild, the Pittsburgh NewsGuild and four individual defendants.</p><p data-block-key=\"74agq\">Elk subsequently objected to the NewsGuild’s requests on Oct. 16, so a ruling by the judge now awaits, Poynter <a href=\"https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2023/newsguild-seeks-a-reporters-confidential-sources-as-it-faces-defamation-suit/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"af3hm\">Elk, senior labor reporter and founder of the news site <a href=\"https://paydayreport.com/\">Payday Report</a>, had <a href=\"https://paydayreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Final-Complaint.pdf\">sued</a> the NewsGuild, the country’s largest journalists’ union, and other defendants in June 2021. He made claims against the NewsGuild for defamation, breach of contract, fraud and assault, alleging that the union mishandled its response to his investigation into sexual harassment allegations against then-president of the Pittsburgh NewsGuild Michael Fuoco. The NewsGuild and other defendants have denied Elk’s claims.</p><p data-block-key=\"8en1b\">In September 2022, the NewsGuild sought information on Elk’s investigation methods, as well as for the names of and his communications with the sources who told him about the harassment allegations.</p><p data-block-key=\"54bf0\">Elk was also asked to identify “every individual associated with the New York Times that you have communicated with regarding the lawsuit and the allegations” within his complaint (former New York Times columnist Ben Smith <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/06/business/media/pittsburgh-post-gazette-news-guild.html\">wrote</a> about Elk’s investigation in December 2020).</p><p data-block-key=\"ci54m\">After Elk refused to comply, the NewsGuild filed a <a href=\"https://www.poynter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Motion-to-Compel.pdf\">motion to compel discovery responses</a> from him, which the judge granted.</p><p data-block-key=\"6h138\">Elk argues in his responses to the NewsGuild that these communications are protected by the First Amendment and <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/privilege-compendium/pennsylvania/#a-shield-law-statute\">Pennsylvania Shield Law</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3arf\">In an emailed response to the Tracker’s request for comment, Schleuss, president of the NewsGuild, said: “We have no inherent interest in obtaining Elk’s communications regarding the New York Times reporting, other than to defend against Elk’s baseless legal claims. We have not sought, and will not seek any discovery from the New York Times or from any of its current or former reporters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e9hrr\">Elk told the Tracker he is scheduled to be deposed by the NewsGuild on Nov. 13.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-12-01 00:00:00+00:00) Journalist settles NewsGuild suit; No longer required to turn over source communications"
],
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"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mike Elk (Payday Report)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
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},
{
"title": "Miami mayor tries to grab phone from reporter’s hands",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/miami-mayor-tries-to-grab-phone-from-reporters-hands/",
"first_published_at": "2023-09-21T20:33:05.960893Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-09-22T14:07:18.545970Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-09-22T14:07:18.432166Z",
"date": "2023-09-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Miami",
"longitude": -80.19366,
"latitude": 25.77427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"26wsy\">Miami Mayor Francis Suarez attempted to “snatch” the phone from Miami Herald investigative reporter Sarah Blaskey’s hands at City Hall on Sept. 9, 2023, after she asked him about a complaint being investigated by the state ethics commission.</p><p data-block-key=\"97g6q\">The Herald <a href=\"https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article279367734.html\">reported</a> that Blaskey approached Suarez in a hallway outside a city budget hearing and asked him about his multiday appearance at the Formula One Miami Grand Prix using tickets provided by a hedge fund executive. Suarez initially told Blaskey that once she made an appointment with his assistant he’d be happy to speak with her.</p><p data-block-key=\"ftp5b\">In <a href=\"https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article279370389.html\">footage of the interaction</a>, Blaskey then appeared to tilt her phone up in order to capture Suarez’s face, at which point the mayor noticed that he was being filmed and attempted to grab the device from her hands. A sergeant-at-arms who serves as his bodyguard intervened and acknowledged Blaskey’s right to record, according to the Herald.</p><p data-block-key=\"2u9a3\">Blaskey seemed visibly shaken by the interaction in her footage, but persisted in asking Suarez about whether he had been approached by federal investigators and how much he paid back for the tickets.</p><p data-block-key=\"f0105\">Following the incident, the mayor’s office <a href=\"https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/miami-mayor-francis-suarez-responds-to-video-of-heated-exchange-with-miami-herald-reporter/3113652/\">released this statement</a>: "Mayor Francis Suarez has repeatedly answered questions from the local newspaper about the Formula One (F1) event. Last Saturday, after having answered several questions on the subject, without prior notice and unnecessarily, the reporter placed her cell phone inches from the mayor's personal space, who was surprised and, as any human being would react, moved the device away from his face.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3uct3\">The mayor’s office did not respond to an emailed request for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"fb6ro\">In a <a href=\"https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/from-the-editor/article279469484.html\">column for the newspaper</a>, Herald Executive Editor Alex Mena condemned Suarez’s attempt to grab the phone from Blaskey, stating that, “Any kind of physical interaction with our reporters is not acceptable.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eveqv\">Mena also criticized the mayor’s response to the incident, noting that more than half of the outlet’s 55 requests for comment from the mayor have gone unanswered.</p><p data-block-key=\"7obe6\">“The mayor has since misrepresented to other news outlets his willingness to speak with our reporters, with his office issuing a statement saying the mayor has ‘repeatedly responded’ to the Miami Herald’s questions and that Saturday’s confrontation occurred after he answered ‘several questions on the topic,’” Mena wrote. “In fact, Suarez answered none of our questions that day — until our reporters confronted him with a camera rolling.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f4tgp\">Senior Managing Editor Dana Banker told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Suarez has not apologized to Blaskey, but agreed to meet with leadership from the Herald on Sept. 22.</p><p data-block-key=\"8bq3h\">“[Blaskey] was shaken up and understandably so,” Banker said. “We want to get with the mayor and talk this through tomorrow. ... It was 100% unacceptable and we’re going to make that clear.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fve6v\">Banker added: “At the end of the day we’re just going to keep digging and we’re going to let our reporting speak for itself. But it definitely is not going to chill anything we’re doing here at the Herald.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3a5ut\"><i>Editor's Note: This article has been updated to clarify that two ethics complaints were filed against Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. One of the complaints, before the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics & Public Trust, was dismissed after it was found to be legally insufficient. A second complaint is under investigation by the Florida Commission on Ethics.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"q7yce\">Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, pictured here speaking at an event in February 2023, attempted to ‘snatch’ the phone from Miami Herald investigative reporter Sarah Blaskey when she asked him a question outside a budget hearing on Sept. 9, 2023.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "politician",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
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"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sarah Blaskey (Miami Herald)"
],
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}
]
