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"title": "Reporter chased onto highway after trying to interview New Jersey funeral director",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-chased-onto-highway-after-trying-to-interview-new-jersey-funeral-director/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-21T19:39:38.308806Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-10-21T19:39:38.308806Z",
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"date": "2018-02-07",
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"city": "Hackettstown",
"longitude": -74.82906,
"latitude": 40.85399,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>NJ Advance Media reporter Stephen Stirling and photographer Andrew Mills were chased onto a highway and threatened by a man they were covering for a story in Hackettstown, New Jersey, on Feb. 7, 2018.</p><p>That day, Stirling and Mills visited the neighborhood of funeral director Joseph Fantasia. His company, which contracted with government agencies to transport the dead, had been accused of mishandling bodies for over two years. In June, the Office of the State Medical Examiner severed its ties with Fantasia’s company, but it still holds contracts with other agencies. Stirling told Freedom of the Press Foundation the news team wanted to photograph Fantasia and determine whether he was still working in the funeral industry.</p><p>“We wanted to photograph him, and see if he was still working in the funeral industry, or going into a funeral home,” Stirling told FPF.</p><p>The journalists waited in their car outside of Fantasia’s house for several hours before he emerged. Once Fantasia exited the house, Stirling said, he “got into his car and drove at us.”</p><p>Stirling said that Fantasia drove his black Cadillac Escalade down the road, pulled up next to the journalists’ car window, and began yelling obscenities.</p><p>Stirling said that after he identified himself as a reporter and made several attempts to interview Fantasia, Mills made the decision to leave out of concern for their safety. Mills declined to comment.</p><p>“Joe [Fantasia] has a history of violent threats—that’s part of what we documented,” Stirling said.</p><p>Stirling said that Fantasia chased them around the neighborhood and then a second black SUV, driven by Fantasia’s neighbor, joined the chase. Both SUVs followed Stirling and Mills onto nearby Route 46.</p><p>“At this point, we were on the phone with 911,” Stirling said. “Joe’s car pulled up alongside and got in front of us, and the other car got behind us, so we were boxed in.”</p><p>Stirling said that the second SUV then moved to the side of their car and slowed down. Stirling said this gave them no choice but to stop, blocking the flow of traffic across the entire highway.</p><p>A police report of the incident obtained by FPF reads, “At this time the driver of the Escalade later identified as Joseph Fantasia exited his vehicle, began to approach the Nissan Altima and was telling in there direction.”</p><p>“They were moving at us aggressively, but thankfully, we didn't have the chance to see what could have happened next — but it wouldn’t have been good,” Stirling said.</p><p>Luckily, Stirling said, one of the cars behind them held two off duty police officers. The officers pulled up alongside the cars, identified themselves, and ordered all three cars to pull over down the road.</p><p>“They put their car in between ours and both of theirs, and they made sure on-duty police officers were on their way,” Stirling said.</p><p>“They stayed until they arrived. I don’t know what would have happened if they weren’t there. They made the best out of what was a bad, scary situation.”</p><p>The altercation was written up as a road rage incident, but neither Fantasia nor his neighbor were arrested or charged for the incident.</p><p>“If there's anything that bothers me as a citizen about this, that’s it,” Stirling said. “Two off duty police officers saw what happened. It’s disappointing that not even a reckless driving citation was issued — it’s hard for me to feel like that doesn’t send a bad message.”</p><p>On March 5, Stirling’s article about Fantasia was published.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Photographer chased onto highway after trying to interview New Jersey funeral director",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-and-photographer-chased-highway-after-trying-interview-new-jersey-funeral-director/",
"first_published_at": "2018-03-27T17:59:53.043349Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-15T19:02:25.677296Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-15T19:02:25.583906Z",
"date": "2018-02-07",
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"city": "Hackettstown",
"longitude": -74.82906,
"latitude": 40.85399,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nr2j1\">NJ Advance Media photographer Andrew Mills and reporter Stephen Stirling were chased onto a highway and threatened by a man they were covering for a story in Hackettstown, New Jersey, on Feb. 7, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"yeq7y\">That day, Mills and Stirling visited the neighborhood of funeral director Joseph Fantasia. His company, which contracted with government agencies to transport the dead, had been accused of mishandling bodies for over two years. In June, the Office of the State Medical Examiner severed its ties with Fantasia’s company, but it still holds contracts with other agencies. Stirling told Freedom of the Press Foundation the news team wanted to photograph Fantasia and determine whether he was still working in the funeral industry.</p><p data-block-key=\"q02lz\">The journalists waited in their car outside of Fantasia’s house for several hours before he emerged. Once Fantasia exited the house, Stirling told FPF, he “got into his car and drove at us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xxv4z\">Stirling said that Fantasia drove his black Cadillac Escalade down the road, pulled up next to the journalists’ car window, and began yelling obscenities.</p><p data-block-key=\"btm0m\">Stirling said that after he identified himself as a reporter and made several attempts to interview Fantasia, Mills made the decision to leave out of concern for their safety. Mills declined to comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"ac8xq\">Stirling said that Fantasia chased them around the neighborhood and then a second black SUV, driven by Fantasia’s neighbor, joined the chase. Both SUVs followed Stirling and Mills onto nearby Route 46.</p><p data-block-key=\"k9esu\">“At this point, we were on the phone with 911,” Stirling said. “Joe’s car pulled up alongside and got in front of us, and the other car got behind us, so we were boxed in.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ywi2d\">Stirling said that Fantasia’s neighbor’s SUV then moved to the side of their car and slowed down. Stirling said this gave them no choice but to stop, blocking the flow of traffic across the entire highway.</p><p data-block-key=\"fnx0j\">A police report of the incident obtained by FPF reads, “At this time the driver of the Escalade later identified as Joseph Fantasia exited his vehicle, began to approach the Nissan Altima and was yelling in their direction.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1pa7g\">“They were moving at us aggressively, but thankfully, we didn’t have the chance to see what could have happened next — but it wouldn’t have been good,” Stirling said.</p><p data-block-key=\"zc4zn\">Luckily, Stirling said, one of the cars behind them held two off duty police officers. The officers pulled up alongside the cars, identified themselves, and ordered all three cars to pull over down the road.</p><p data-block-key=\"y6351\">“They put their car in between ours and both of theirs, and they made sure on-duty police officers were on their way,” Stirling said. “They stayed until they arrived. I don’t know what would have happened if they weren’t there. They made the best out of what was a bad, scary situation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hefir\">The altercation was written up as a road rage incident, but <a href=\"https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/nj-com-highway-chase-story.php\">neither Fantasia nor his neighbor were arrested or charged for the incident</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"v2yao\">“If there’s anything that bothers me as a citizen about this, that’s it,” Stirling said. “Two off duty police officers saw what happened. It’s disappointing that not even a reckless driving citation was issued — it’s hard for me to feel like that doesn’t send a bad message.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v7kua\">On March 5, Stirling’s <a href=\"https://www.nj.com/news/2018/03/inside_njs_dirty_business_of_moving_the_dead.html\">article about Fantasia</a> was published.</p></div>",
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"name": "New Jersey",
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{
"title": "PIX11 photographer John Frasse attacked with bat during interview",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pix11-photographer-attacked-man-baseball-bat-new-york-city/",
"first_published_at": "2018-02-14T22:00:38.218924Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-16T16:03:49.987078Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-14T17:58:52.997845Z",
"date": "2018-02-06",
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"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3nu84\">PIX11 photographer John Frasse was <a href=\"http://pix11.com/2018/02/06/help-me-howard-and-pix11-photographer-attacked-by-man-with-baseball-bat/\">attacked</a> by a man wielding a metal baseball bat on Feb. 6, 2018, as his colleague Howard Thompson tried to interview the man.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3dc3\">Thompson is the host of "Help Me Howard," a news segment on PIX11 that aids individuals accused of unscrupulous behavior.</p><p data-block-key=\"ahk0p\">On Jan. 25, Thompson made his first attempt to interview Jose Lebron-Pimentel, the owner of an auto repair shop in the Bronx. Thompson wanted to ask Lebron-Pimentel about allegations that he had refused to honor a court-ordered $2,000 judgement. Thompson left after failing to find Lebron-Pimentel.</p><p data-block-key=\"8a1zl\">On Feb. 6, Thompson and Frasse visited the auto repair shop again. They quickly found Lebron-Pimentel inside the garage, armed with a metal bat. Frasse continued rolling throughout the altercation.</p><p data-block-key=\"icazk\">"Jose? All right, no bats! No bats!" Thompson says as Lebron-Pimentel runs out of the garage with the bat.</p><p data-block-key=\"bvus2\">Lebron-Pimentel chases Thompson and Frass into the street, swinging the bat in their direction and striking Thompson in the arm and Frasse in the hip.</p><p data-block-key=\"4pkzf\">Thompson later said on PIX11 that he called the police immediately after the attack, and officers quickly arrived on the scene and arrested Lebron-Pimentel.</p><p data-block-key=\"i38n1\">The New York City Police Department said that Thompson and Frasse were attacked around noon on East 180th Street, in the Bronx. Lebron-Pimentel was arrested on charges of assault and held on $5,000 bail.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"84r6x\">A man prepares to attack PIX11 photographer John Frasse and reporter Howard Thompson with a metal baseball bat.</p>",
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"name": "New York",
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"(2019-11-26 00:00:00+00:00) Man sentenced after attacking New York cameraman"
],
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{
"title": "PIX11 reporter Howard Thompson attacked with bat during interview",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pix11-reporter-attacked-man-baseball-bat-new-york-city/",
"first_published_at": "2018-02-14T21:54:25.839961Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-16T16:03:27.535914Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"k6lhl\">As PIX11 reporter Howard Thompson tried to conduct an on-camera interview with a mechanic in New York on Feb. 6, 2018, the man <a href=\"http://pix11.com/2018/02/06/help-me-howard-and-pix11-photographer-attacked-by-man-with-baseball-bat/\">attacked</a> Thompson and his cameraman with a metal baseball bat.</p><p data-block-key=\"1vjc7\">Thompson is the host of "Help Me Howard," a news segment on PIX11 that confronts individuals accused of unscrupulous behavior.</p><p data-block-key=\"njn01\">On Jan. 25, Thompson made his first attempt to interview Jose Lebron-Pimentel, the owner of an auto repair shop in the Bronx. Thompson wanted to ask Lebron-Pimentel about allegations that he had refused to honor a court-ordered $2,000 judgement. Thompson left after failing to find Lebron-Pimentel.</p><p data-block-key=\"6la8o\">On Feb. 6, Thompson and a PIX11 photographer, John Frasse, visited the auto repair shop again. They quickly found Lebron-Pimentel inside the garage, armed with a metal bat. PIX11 caught the entire altercation on tape.</p><p data-block-key=\"7h7n5\">"Jose? All right, no bats! No bats!" Thompson says as Lebron-Pimentel runs out of the garage with the bat.</p><p data-block-key=\"lzbzr\">Lebron-Pimentel chases Thompson and Frasse into the street, swinging the bat in their direction and striking Thompson in the arm and Frasse in the hip.</p><p data-block-key=\"67waf\">Thompson later said on PIX11 that he called the police immediately after the attack, and officers quickly arrived on the scene and arrested Lebron-Pimentel.</p><p data-block-key=\"mk2wt\">The New York City Police Department said that Thompson and Frasse were attacked around noon on East 180th Street, in the Bronx. Lebron-Pimentel was arrested on charges of assault and held on $5,000 bail.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"13th5\">PIX11 reporter Howard Thompson sits in an ambulance after being attacked by a man whom he was trying to interview.</p>",
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"name": "New York",
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"(2019-11-26 00:00:00+00:00) Man sentenced after attacking New York TV reporter on camera"
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{
"title": "Health care reporter kicked off press call following critical coverage of federal agency",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/health-care-reporter-kicked-press-call-following-critical-coverage-federal-agency/",
"first_published_at": "2018-03-06T23:58:35.593385Z",
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"city": "Washington",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6klzq\">Virgil Dickinson, the Washington bureau chief for trade publication Modern Healthcare, was kicked off a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services services press call on Feb. 1, 2018. The denial of access came just a week after a spokesman for CMS threatened to cut off Modern Healthcare’s press access to CMS in retaliation for its coverage. </p><p data-block-key=\"07pem\">On Jan. 23, Modern Healthcare published a story by Dickson about the resignation of an official at the agency. According to the Association of Health Care Journalists, a spokesman representing CMS then emailed both Dickson and his editor, Matthew Weinstock, demanding that part of the article be removed. The spokesman, Brett O’Donnell, is a Republican consultant who was working on behalf of CMS but was not employed by the agency.</p><p data-block-key=\"l5uw6\">“Short of fully correcting the piece we will not be able to include your outlet in further press calls with CMS,” O’Donnell <a href=\"https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2018/02/cms-threatens-to-bar-modern-healthcare-from-press-calls-after-reporter-refuses-to-alter-story/\">reportedly wrote</a> in the email to Weinstock.</p><p data-block-key=\"fhrsj\">On Feb. 1, Dickson was kicked off a CMS press call.</p><p data-block-key=\"ekk07\">Following a public outcry, CMS <a href=\"https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2018/02/cms-makes-amends-with-modern-healthcare-but-questions-remain/\">apologized</a> to Dickson and Modern Healthcare.</p><p data-block-key=\"75dhd\">Aurora Aguilar, the editor-in-chief of Modern Healthcare, told ACHJ that a representative of CMS called her on February 6 and promised that its reporters will continue to have access to press calls.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "New Hampshire prosecutor demands newspaper hand over unpublished interview",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-hampshire-prosecutor-demands-newspaper-hand-over-unpublished-interview/",
"first_published_at": "2018-03-12T21:30:46.785065Z",
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"date": "2018-01-29",
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"city": "Dover",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"c9gbk\">On Jan. 29, 2018, the Strafford County Attorney’s Office filed a motion to compel the Foster’s Daily Democrat newspaper to turn over an <a href=\"http://www.fosters.com/news/20180307/state-seeks-unpublished-jailhouse-interview-in-sexual-assault-trial\">unpublished jailhouse interview</a> that one of its reporters, Brian Early, had conducted with Joshua Flynn, who is on trial for sexual assault.</p><p data-block-key=\"dh2g5\">The “Motion to Compel Non-Confidential Work Product” asks the Strafford County Superior Court to order Foster’s to turn over “all recordings, notes, memoranda, drafts, documents, and any material memorizing its interview with the defendant, Joshua Flynn.”</p><p data-block-key=\"oa1ju\">According to Foster’s, Early conducted an interview with Flynn at the Strafford County House of Corrections on June 15, 2017, but the paper never published the interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"oqg6h\">New Hampshire’s state constitution includes a “shield law,” a provision that protects journalists from being forced to testify about or disclose certain information related to their reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"qyppp\">In the <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4406145-Strafford-County-Attorney-s-Office-Motion-to.html\">motion to compel</a>, Assistant County Attorney Joachim Barth argues that the shield law does not apply to Early’s interview with Flynn, because the law is intended to allow reporters to protect the identities of their confidential sources and Flynn’s identity is already public.</p><p data-block-key=\"k3n2z\">“At the outset, under the facts here, Mr. Flynn is not a confidential source,” Barth writes in the motion. “He disclosed his intention to conduct an interview with Foster’s both on recorded telephone conversations and in monitored emails; and, Foster’s reporter Brian Early disclosed to undersigned counsel both his intention to conduct an interview with Mr. Flynn, and then confirmed afterwards that he had done so. Moreover, both parties disclosed that the interview concerned the sexual assaults at issue.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7uyh5\">Barth wrote in the motion that the prosecution wants Early to turn over material related to the unpublished interview with Flynn so that it can learn in advance what Flynn plans to say at the trial.</p><p data-block-key=\"bbh4b\">“While Mr. Flynn has previously confessed to the sexual assaults, his telephone and email conversations concerning the Foster’s interview indicate that he now attempts to advance a new, exculpatory account of events," Barth writes, adding that "there is a reasonable possibility that obtaining the defendant's factual claims of a defense will afford the State an opportunity to prepare and offer evidence showing such claims to be demonstrably false.”</p><p data-block-key=\"m1mbg\">On Feb. 7, 2018, Greg Sullivan, the attorney representing Foster’s, filed an <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4406146-Seacoast-Media-Group-Opposition-to-Motion-to.html\">opposition</a> to the prosecution’s motion to compel. Sullivan argues that New Hampshire's shield law protects journalists from being forced to reveal any unpublished information, not just the identities of their confidential sources, in court.</p><p data-block-key=\"1201w\">“Courts have long recognized that a government that requires the press to produce to it unpublished materials degrades the autonomy and independence needed by the press to fulfill its role in educating and informing the citizenry,” Sullivan writes in the opposition.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Daily Herald subpoenaed in Laquan McDonald murder case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/daily-herald-subpoenaed-laquan-mcdonald-murder-case/",
"first_published_at": "2018-02-09T05:22:31.460969Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e0906\">Attorneys representing Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke subpoenaed the Daily Herald and two other Chicago-area papers on Jan. 29, 2018, ordering the papers to produce copies of all stories about Van Dyke’s fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald in 2014.</p><p data-block-key=\"gnbsm\">Van Dyke has been charged with murder in connection with the fatal 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager. His trial is scheduled to begin later this year.</p><p data-block-key=\"0b3qi\">Anne Kavanagh, the media spokesperson for Van Dyke’s attorney Daniel Herbert, said that Van Dyke’s defense team subpoenaed <a href=\"https://www.chicagotribune.com/2018/02/01/lawyers-for-cop-charged-in-laquan-mcdonald-shooting-subpoena-newspapers/\">three newspapers</a> — the Daily Herald, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Sun-Times — to support a motion for a <a href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/2018/2/1/18362649/van-dyke-attorney-subpoenas-news-outlets-in-support-of-change-of-venue\">change of venue</a>. Kavanagh declined to comment further, citing a gag order issued by Judge Gaughan.</p><p data-block-key=\"jqgdq\">Van Dyke’s legal team apparently plans to argue that extensive coverage of the Laquan McDonald shooting in Chicago-area newspapers has rendered a fair trial for Van Dyke impossible. Van Dyke’s attorneys plan to petition the court to move the trial out of Cook County, Illinois. The Daily Herald is based in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago that is part of Cook County.</p><p data-block-key=\"eevgb\">The Daily Herald told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that it was served a subpoena on Feb. 7, 2018. The Chicago Sun-Times declined to comment on the subpoena, and the Tribune said that it was served a subpoena on Feb. 5 and planned to contest it.</p><p data-block-key=\"pwfrv\">A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/documents/4/The_People_of_the_State_of_Illinois_v._Jason_Van_Dyke.pdf\">copy of the subpoena</a> to the Tribune, obtained by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, orders the paper to bring “any and all articles and/or publications in the electronic archive containing the name ‘Laquan McDonald’ and/or ‘Jason Van Dyke’” to a hearing before Judge Vincent Gaughan on Feb. 1 at 9 a.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"cp71j\">The articles that Van Dyke’s attorneys are interested in are already publicly available, and it is unclear why they subpoenaed Daily Herald, the Tribune, and the Sun-Times for the articles instead of just searching through the newspapers' archives themselves.</p><p data-block-key=\"w51cx\">This are not the first media subpoena in the Van Dyke case. In 2017, Van Dyke's attorneys tried to subpoena Jamie Kalven, an independent journalist who reported extensively on the Laquan McDonald murder and the Chicago police department's alleged attempts to cover it up. Judge Gaughan quashed that subpoena.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Chicago Sun-Times subpoenaed in Laquan McDonald murder case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/chicago-sun-times-subpoenaed-laquan-mcdonald-murder-case/",
"first_published_at": "2018-02-09T05:20:08.124741Z",
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"city": "Chicago",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"k4kjr\">Attorneys representing Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke subpoenaed the Chicago Sun-Times and two other Chicago-area papers on Jan. 29, 2018, ordering the papers to produce copies of all stories about Van Dyke’s fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald in 2014.</p><p data-block-key=\"s8bvp\">Van Dyke has been charged with murder in connection with the fatal 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager. His trial is scheduled to begin later this year.</p><p data-block-key=\"ao28f\">On Feb. 1, the Sun-Times <a href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/2018/2/1/18362649/van-dyke-attorney-subpoenas-news-outlets-in-support-of-change-of-venue\">reported</a> that Van Dyke’s attorney had subpoenaed the Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Daily Herald.</p><p data-block-key=\"uziv4\">Sun-Times editor-in-chief Chris Fusco declined to comment when asked about the subpoena. However, the Tribune <a href=\"https://www.chicagotribune.com/2018/02/01/lawyers-for-cop-charged-in-laquan-mcdonald-shooting-subpoena-newspapers/\">confirmed</a> that it was served a subpoena on Feb. 5 and the Daily Herald confirmed that it was served a subpoena on Feb. 7.</p><p data-block-key=\"0v8qu\">The Freedom of the Press Foundation obtained a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/documents/4/The_People_of_the_State_of_Illinois_v._Jason_Van_Dyke.pdf\">copy of the subpoena</a> served on the Tribune. The subpoena, dated Jan. 29, orders the paper to bring “any and all articles and/or publications in the electronic archive containing the name ‘Laquan McDonald’ and/or ‘Jason Van Dyke’” to a pre-trial hearing before judge Vincent Gaughan on Feb. 1 at 9 a.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"udedi\">The articles that Van Dyke’s attorneys are interested in are already publicly available, and it is unclear why they subpoenaed the Tribune, the Sun-Times, and the Daily Herald for the articles instead of just searching through the newspapers' archives themselves.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ghts\">Van Dyke’s legal team apparently plans to argue that extensive coverage of the Laquan McDonald shooting in Chicago-area newspapers has rendered a fair trial for Van Dyke impossible. Van Dyke’s attorneys plan to petition the court to move the trial out of Cook County, Illinois.</p><p data-block-key=\"qdmz4\">Anne Kavanagh, the media spokesperson for Van Dyke’s attorney Daniel Herbert, said that Van Dyke’s defense team subpoenaed the papers to support its motion for a change of venue. Kavanagh declined to comment further, citing a gag order issued by judge Gaughan.</p><p data-block-key=\"j1569\">This are not the first media subpoena in the Van Dyke case. In 2017, Van Dyke’s attorneys tried to subpoena Jamie Kalven, an independent journalist who reported extensively on the Laquan McDonald murder and the Chicago police department's alleged attempts to cover it up. Judge Gaughan quashed that subpoena.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"xnj6z\">Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke during a December 2017 hearing in the case against him for murdering teenager Laquan McDonald. His attorneys later subpoenaed the Chicago Sun-Times, ordering it to produce copies of all stories about the killing.</p>",
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"(2024-04-22 00:00:00+00:00) Attorneys in Chicago murder case drop Sun-Times subpoena"
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{
"title": "Chicago Tribune subpoenaed in Laquan McDonald murder case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/chicago-tribune-subpoenaed-laquan-mcdonald-murder-case/",
"first_published_at": "2018-02-09T05:19:01.324692Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ny8im\">Attorneys representing Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke subpoenaed the Chicago Tribune and two other Chicago-area papers on Jan. 29, 2018, ordering the papers to produce copies of all stories about Van Dyke’s fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald in 2014.</p><p data-block-key=\"elcnb\">Van Dyke has been charged with murder in connection with the fatal 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager. His trial is scheduled to begin later this year.</p><p data-block-key=\"btpty\">A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/documents/4/The_People_of_the_State_of_Illinois_v._Jason_Van_Dyke.pdf\">copy of the subpoena</a> to the Tribune, obtained by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, orders the paper to bring “any and all articles and/or publications in the electronic archive containing the name ‘Laquan McDonald’ and/or ‘Jason Van Dyke’” to a hearing before Judge Vincent Gaughan on Feb. 1 at 9 a.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"xuf8q\">The articles that Van Dyke’s attorneys are interested in are already publicly available, and it is unclear why they subpoenaed the Tribune for the articles instead of just searching through the Tribune’s archives themselves.</p><p data-block-key=\"8skp7\">On Feb. 1, both the <a href=\"https://www.chicagotribune.com/2018/02/01/lawyers-for-cop-charged-in-laquan-mcdonald-shooting-subpoena-newspapers/\">Tribune</a> and the <a href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/2018/2/1/18362649/van-dyke-attorney-subpoenas-news-outlets-in-support-of-change-of-venue\">Sun-Times</a> reported that Van Dyke’s attorney had subpoenaed the Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Daily Herald.</p><p data-block-key=\"k0sut\">On Feb. 6, Tribune attorney Karen Flax told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that the Tribune had been served the subpoena and planned to contest it. The Sun-Times declined to comment and the Daily Herald did not respond to multiple requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ta2m\">Van Dyke’s legal team apparently plans to argue that extensive coverage of the Laquan McDonald shooting in Chicago-area newspapers has rendered a fair trial for Van Dyke impossible. Van Dyke’s attorneys plan to petition the court to move the trial out of Cook County, Illinois.</p><p data-block-key=\"ssjmx\">Anne Kavanagh, the media spokesperson for Van Dyke’s attorney Daniel Herbert, said that Van Dyke’s defense team subpoenaed the papers to support its motion for a change of venue. Kavanagh declined to comment further, citing a gag order issued by Judge Gaughan.</p><p data-block-key=\"ngc4o\">This are not the first media subpoena in the Van Dyke case. In 2017, Van Dyke's attorneys tried to subpoena Jamie Kalven, an independent journalist who reported extensively on the Laquan McDonald murder and the Chicago police department's alleged attempts to cover it up. Judge Gaughan quashed that subpoena.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Man arrested after threatening to kill CNN staffers",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-arrested-after-threatening-kill-cnn-staffers/",
"first_published_at": "2018-01-23T04:51:53.385272Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-15T19:15:03.065759Z",
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"city": "Atlanta",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jvmqz\">A man in Michigan was arrested by the FBI and accused of threatening to murder CNN employees, Atlanta news station WGCL-TV reported on Jan. 22, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"400jl\">The man allegedly made 22 threatening calls to CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia on Jan. 9 and 10, according to an unsealed <a href=\"https://www.scribd.com/document/369707813/Metro-Detroit-man-threatens-CNN-multiple-times\">criminal complaint</a>. </p><p data-block-key=\"yrpr9\">“Fake news. I’m coming to gun you down,” the man allegedly said during one call.</p><p data-block-key=\"38zxx\">“I have a gun and I am coming to Georgia right now to go to the CNN headquarters to fucking gun every single last one of you,” he allegedly said during another call. “I have a team of people. It’s going to be great, man ... You gotta get prepared for this one, buddy.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hrsww\">The FBI arrested Brian Griesemer, and he was <a href=\"https://www.thedailybeast.com/feds-man-threatened-to-kill-cnn-employees-over-fake-news\">charged</a> in connection with the threats against CNN employees. He was also accused of making threats against a mosque in Ann Arbor, Michigan.</p><p data-block-key=\"phmpc\">“We take any threats to CNN employees or workplaces, around the world, extremely seriously,” CNN said in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/955649229308997632\">statement</a>. “This one is no exception. We have been in touch with local and federal law enforcement throughout, and have taken all necessary measures to ensure the safety of our people.”</p><p data-block-key=\"duzmm\">President Donald Trump has repeatedly targeted CNN, referring to the network and its journalists as “fake news” and even re-tweeting memes that made light of threats of violence against CNN reporters.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "California Highway Patrol officer stops local radio host, seizes his press pass",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/california-highway-patrol-officer-stops-local-radio-host-seizes-his-press-pass/",
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"date": "2018-01-20",
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"city": "Montecito",
"longitude": -119.63208,
"latitude": 34.43666,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"58ngu\">On Jan. 20, 2018, a California Highway Patrol officer stopped local radio host Marcus Victor, who was reporting on mudslides in the area, and seized his press pass. Victor and two of his colleagues were briefly detained and threatened with arrest for attempting to enter a “public exclusion zone.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qfctw\">Victor, a program host for KZAA 96.5 FM, told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he was driving to Montecito, California, where he planned to interview a local resident about the mudslides in the area, when his car was stopped by a CHP officer. Victor said that there were three other people in the car with him — two KZAA colleagues, who each had a press pass, and a local resident who knew the person that Victor planned to interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"c2hkz\">Victor said that he and his colleagues showed their press passes to the CHP officer, whom he identified as “T. Adrianse,” but the officer did not believe that the press passes were authentic.</p><p data-block-key=\"pwhf5\">Victor said that CHP officer Adrianse photographed him, as well as his drivers license and license plate, and then threatened to arrest him for being in an exclusionary zone and for possession of (what the officer believed to be) a fraudulent press pass.</p><p data-block-key=\"v3s2g\">Victor was released without being arrested, but he was unable to complete the interview (since he couldn’t get access to the exclusion zone) and his press pass was never returned to him.</p><p data-block-key=\"tqx4r\">On Jan. 10, Santa Barbara County <a href=\"https://www.edhat.com/news/montecito-declared-public-safety-zone\">declared</a> a “public safety exclusion zone” near Montecito, California, due to dangerous mudslides. Under <a href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=409.5\">California law</a>, authorities can prevent members of the public from accessing exclusion zones, but they are supposed to allow any “duly authorized representative of any news service, newspaper, or radio or television station” to enter the area.</p><p data-block-key=\"bfvzr\">The Santa Barbara California Highway Patrol told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that it has had issues in the past with non-journalists attempting to access exclusion zones.</p><p data-block-key=\"g0fbs\">“I will let you know we have an issue with people posing as press employees to gain access to the evacuation zone,” Santa Barbara CHP officer Jonathan Gutierrez said. “Every time there is a disaster there is always an issue of looters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5eysg\">Gutierrez said that Adrianse, the officer who stopped Victor, believed that the press pass looked to be homemade and therefore fraudulent.</p><p data-block-key=\"2v300\">“The press passes looked to be fake and could have easily been home made on a basic printer,” he said. “The officer obtained the alleged press pass and called the sergeant on duty, he took a picture and forwarded it to the sergeant who also agreed the passes looked to be fake.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dzso9\">Gutierrez also said that officer Adrianse had other reasons to suspect that Victor was not a legitimate journalist covering the mudslides. He said that Adrianse had tried to verify that Victor was a real journalist by using his mobile phone to search online for KZAA’s coverage of the mudslides. When he found KZAA’s Facebook page and saw that it had not posted or shared any stories about the mudslides, he concluded that Victor was not really a journalist on assignment.</p><p data-block-key=\"chxm6\">“The officer believed Mr. Lopez was not doing a story about the Montecito mudslide but abusing his position as an employee at a local radio station to travel freely in and out the Montecito Evacuation zone,” Gutierrez said.</p><p data-block-key=\"vr0kq\">Gutierrez added that Victor and other journalists seeking to access the exclusion zone should apply for official press passes from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.</p><p data-block-key=\"8szm7\">Victor told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that the KZAA press passes were of “poor quality,” but he was still surprised to be stopped because CHP officers had previously accepted the passes.</p><p data-block-key=\"zw3g6\">“In this zone, there were several roadblocks/checkpoints which we got through, but this officer decided our passes were fraudulent,” he said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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{
"title": "Documentary journalist Nora Donaghy subpoenaed to testify before grand jury",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/documentary-journalist-nora-donaghy-subpoenaed-testify-grand-jury/",
"first_published_at": "2018-02-02T06:29:17.861944Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-05-21T19:04:22.484692Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uogqx\">Nora Donaghy, a journalist and producer working on a documentary series about controversial record producer Marion “Suge” Knight, had her phone seized and searched by two police officers on Jan. 18, 2018, according to a sealed declaration filed in court and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. She has also been subpoenaed to testify in front of a grand jury about her interview with Knight.</p><p data-block-key=\"f35ii\">That morning, two police officers visited Donaghy at her home in Los Angeles and presented her with a search warrant, according to a declaration that she filed with the court. The declaration was filed under seal but <a href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/two-tv-journalists-fight-grand-jury-subpoena-interviewing-suge-knight-prison-1077357/\">obtained by THR</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dtbd3\">"One of the officers told me that I was required by the warrant to hand over my cellphone,” Donaghy wrote in the declaration. “They also asked me for my passcode and asked me to type the passcode into the phone in their presence to make sure it worked. Believing I had no alternative and frightened by the unexpected arrival of two homicide officers at my home, early in the morning, I gave them my iPhone and the passcode and showed them it worked.”</p><p data-block-key=\"q56rg\">In the declaration, Donaghy stated that her phone contained “highly sensitive” information, including unpublished work and communications about sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"deiq7\">THR reports that Donaghy and a colleague, William Erb, are documentary filmmakers working on a six-part series about Death Row Records, the rap label that Knight co-founded. The two interviewed Knight in prison for the documentary series, which is being produced by eOne and will air later this year on the BET network.</p><p data-block-key=\"pffur\">In 2015, Knight was arrested and charged with murder after a fatal hit-and-run collision on a movie set that killed his friend Terry Carter. Knight has also been suspected of involvement in the unsolved 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur, who was signed to his label, and the 1997 murder of rapper Biggie Smalls. THR reports that Donaghy and Erb interviewed Knight about the Tupac murder for the upcoming BET series.</p><p data-block-key=\"ybm61\">According to THR, Donaghy and Erb have been subpoenaed to testify in front of a grand jury about the interview with Knight, and attorneys representing the filmmakers have filed a motion to quash the subpoena, arguing that California’s shield law prevents the state from forcing journalists to testify about their work.</p><p data-block-key=\"tqgji\">“This is the kind of gross overreaching that California’s shield law and related provisions have been designed to prevent,” the motion to quash the subpoena states, according to THR.</p><p data-block-key=\"cwdcp\">On Jan. 26, THR reporter Eriq Gardner reported on Twitter that the judge overseeing the case ruled on the motion to quash, but the judge's ruling was not made public.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A quick update on this. There has been a ruling, but the judge has ordered the entire thing under seal so unclear the result. Will update further when I know more. <a href=\"https://t.co/mtTXxljQgb\">https://t.co/mtTXxljQgb</a></p>— Eriq Gardner ✍️ (@eriqgardner) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/eriqgardner/status/956895832724398080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"mo445\">Rap mogul Suge Knight appears in court for an arraignment hearing in his murder trial in Los Angeles, California, on April 30, 2015.</p>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
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}
],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"(2018-01-26 00:00:00+00:00) Court quashes subpoena of producer who interviewed Suge Knight"
],
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"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
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"Nora Donaghy (Entertainment One)"
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"unknown"
],
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},
{
"title": "Documentary journalist William Erb subpoenaed to testify before grand jury",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/documentary-journalist-william-erb-subpoenaed-testify-grand-jury/",
"first_published_at": "2018-02-02T06:39:42.720508Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-05-21T19:04:49.988773Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-05-21T19:04:49.789327Z",
"date": "2018-01-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yw3f7\">William Erb, a journalist and producer working on a documentary series about controversial record producer Marion “Suge” Knight, was subpoenaed on Jan. 17, 2018, to testify before a grand jury, according to a sealed declaration filed in court and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"g02gm\">THR reports that Erb and a colleague, Nora Donaghy, are documentary filmmakers working on a six-part series about Death Row Records, the rap label that Knight co-founded. The two interviewed Knight in prison for the documentary series, which is being produced by eOne and will air later this year on the BET network.</p><p data-block-key=\"q1jeu\">In 2015, Knight was arrested and charged with murder after a fatal hit-and-run collision on a movie set that killed his friend Terry Carter. Knight has also been suspected of involvement in the unsolved 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur, who was signed to his label, and the 1997 murder of rapper Biggie Smalls. THR reports that Erb and Donaghy interviewed Knight about the Tupac murder for the upcoming BET series.</p><p data-block-key=\"jwh5i\">In a sealed court filing <a href=\"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/two-tv-journalists-fight-grand-jury-subpoena-interviewing-suge-knight-prison-1077357/\">obtained by THR</a>, Erb stated that he received a call from a police investigator last year who told him that he had broken the law by interviewing Knight in prison. Erb also said in the declaration that two detectives visited him at his home on Jan. 17, 2018, and served him a grand jury subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"kcmra\">Attorneys for Erb and Donaghy have filed a motion to quash the subpoena, arguing that California’s shield law prevents the state from forcing journalists to testify about their work.</p><p data-block-key=\"e1luz\">“This is the kind of gross overreaching that California’s shield law and related provisions have been designed to prevent,” the motion to quash the subpoena states, according to THR.</p><p data-block-key=\"4d2i6\">On Jan. 26, THR reporter Eriq Gardner reported on Twitter that the judge overseeing the case ruled on the motion to quash, but the judge’s ruling was not made public.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A quick update on this. There has been a ruling, but the judge has ordered the entire thing under seal so unclear the result. Will update further when I know more. <a href=\"https://t.co/mtTXxljQgb\">https://t.co/mtTXxljQgb</a></p>— Eriq Gardner ✍️ (@eriqgardner) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/eriqgardner/status/956895832724398080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"z2xs8\">Rap mogul Suge Knight appears in court for an arraignment hearing in his murder trial in Los Angeles, California, on April 30, 2015.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"(2018-01-26 00:00:00+00:00) Court quashes subpoena of journalist who interviewed Suge Knight"
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"William Erb (Entertainment One)"
],
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],
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},
{
"title": "Subpoena for WCAX-TV footage of police shooting quashed; decision unsealed more than a year later",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-for-wcax-tv-footage-of-police-shooting-quashed-decision-unsealed-more-than-a-year-later/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-08T17:38:25.567865Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-03-08T17:38:25.567865Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-03-08T17:38:25.516614Z",
"date": "2018-01-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Burlington",
"longitude": -73.21207,
"latitude": 44.47588,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>CBS-affiliate station WCAX-TV in Burlington, Vermont, was subpoenaed by the Washington County State’s Attorney in Vermont on Jan. 17, 2018, for video footage of a fatal police shooting of a suspect at Montpelier High School the day before. The subpoena was issued as part of an inquest — a closed-door investigative proceeding overseen by the court — after the State’s Attorney learned that the station had a 38-minute video recording, including the shooting of the suspect by the police.<br/><br/>According to <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/cases/vermont/supreme-court/2019/2018-392.html\">court records</a>, a suspected armed robber fled to the grounds of Montpelier High School where police shot and killed him after he refused to surrender his gun. The Washington County State’s Attorney convened an inquest a day after the shooting to determine whether police had acted lawfully after it was found that the suspect was armed with a BB gun.<br/><br/> On Jan. 26, WCAX-TV filed a motion to quash the subpoena, citing the state shield law that protects journalists from compelled disclosure of information and sources. The court granted the station’s motion to quash, making it the first under the state’s media shield law, which was enacted in 2017. The ruling, however, remained sealed as the state’s investigation of the shooting continued.<br/><br/> In April 2018, the inquest was completed and the state decided that it would not bring any charges against the police officers involved in the shooting. WCAX-TV then moved to unseal the trial court’s decision to quash the subpoena. The trial court denied the motion, stating that the order was confidential because it concerned an inquest.<br/><br/> The station appealed the trial court’s decision, arguing the court’s order should be made accessible to the public under the Vermont Rules for Public Access to Court Records. The station also argued that making the decision public was important because of the media shield law precedent.</p><p>The Vermont Supreme Court granted the appeal; the trial court’s decision was reversed on July 19, 2019, and its decision to quash the subpoena was unsealed. In that decision, the court noted that the state prosecutors failed to establish that the information in the video recording could not be sought through alternative sources.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Vermont",
"abbreviation": "VT"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"WCAX-TV"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
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"quashed"
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},
{
"title": "White House aides shout down CNN’s Jim Acosta as he questions President Trump",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-aides-shout-down-jim-acosta-he-questions-president-trump/",
"first_published_at": "2018-01-24T17:24:41.187402Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-07T17:57:14.981427Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-07T17:57:14.878952Z",
"date": "2018-01-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2jz8z\">CNN chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta said that White House aides shouted at him as he tried to ask questions of President Trump in the Oval Office on Jan. 16, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"yhvr0\">Acosta, along with other members of the press, covered a meeting at the White House between Trump and President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan. During the meeting, Acosta asked Trump, “Did you say you want more people to come into the country from Norway, Mr. President?”</p><p data-block-key=\"9bs4y\">Trump responded, “I want them to come in from everywhere … everywhere. Thank you very much, everybody.” </p><p data-block-key=\"1nab7\">Acosta later tweeted that White House aides shouted in his face and drowned him out as he continued to ask the president questions.</p><p data-block-key=\"fsyoi\">At a photo opportunity in the Oval Office, Acosta again asked Trump if he preferred that only white immigrants come to the United States. </p><p data-block-key=\"6rpds\">In response, Acosta said, Trump pointed at him and told him, “Out.” </p><p data-block-key=\"22nb9\">On Jan. 17, Acosta participated in a panel discussion on press freedom at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. During the panel discussion, Acosta said that he considers being kicked out of the Oval Office for asking the president if he was a racist to be a badge of honor. </p><p data-block-key=\"nu5wb\">Acosta is an outspoken critic of the Trump administration, and particularly its treatment of the press. Trump frequently criticizes Acosta on Twitter, often labeling both him and CNN as "fake news."</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In Oval Office pool spray, I asked why Trump wants more people to come in from Norway. He said he wants people to come in from everywhere. Verbatim coming.</p>— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/953316336834371586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 16, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As I attempted to ask questions in Roosevelt Room of Trump, WH press aides shouted in my face to drown out my questions. I have never encountered that before.</p>— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/953323562835890177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 16, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">When I tried to follow up on this in the Oval Office, Trump told me to get "out." We then went to the Roosevelt Room where WH aides obstructed us from asking questions. <a href=\"https://t.co/vuEIv1jvso\">https://t.co/vuEIv1jvso</a></p>— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/953334039670394881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 16, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">CNN’s <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Acosta?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Acosta</a> was kicked out of the Oval Office for asking the president if he was a racist - “and I consider that a badge of honor” <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/USPressFreedom?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#USPressFreedom</a></p>— Newseum (@Newseum) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Newseum/status/953788971649290241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 18, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"tf0z1\">White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer waits for CNN correspondent Jim Acosta to finish speaking on camera before he starts the daily press briefing at the White House, on March 9, 2017.</p>",
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"tags": [
"Donald Trump",
"immigration"
],
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"Federal government: White House"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jim Acosta (CNN)"
],
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"Other"
]
},
{
"title": "Trump vows to take a ‘strong look’ at libel laws",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-vows-take-strong-look-libel-laws/",
"first_published_at": "2018-01-11T18:29:16.598294Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-15T19:22:19.821849Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-15T19:22:19.718376Z",
"date": "2018-01-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fyedm\">President Donald Trump said during a Cabinet meeting on Jan. 10, 2018 that he wanted to “a strong look” at changing libel laws.</p><p data-block-key=\"rs11q\">“We are going to take a strong look at our country’s libel laws,” he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/grynbaum/status/951147516694802432\">said</a>. “So that when somebody says something that is false and defamatory about someone, that person will have meaningful recourse in our courts. If somebody says something that is totally false, and knowingly false, that the person that has been abused, defamed, libeled, will have meaningful recourse. Our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace and do not represent American values or American fairness. So we’re going to take a strong look at that. We want fairness. Can’t say things that are false, knowingly false, and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account. We are going to take a very, very strong look at that, and I think what the American people want to see is fairness.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ayfgv\">There is no federal libel law, but <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/business/media/can-libel-laws-be-changed-under-trump.html\">state-level libel laws</a> already give plaintiffs the opportunity for “meaningful recourse” in the courts. Under the current standard for defamation and libel, which is based on landmark Supreme Court rulings like New York Times v. Sullivan, a publication can be held liable for printing a statement that it knows to be false and that harms a subject’s reputation.</p><p data-block-key=\"tuaqy\">Trump has long advocated for changing libel laws. During his 2016 presidential election campaign, he <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2016/12/transition-to-trump-first-amendment-attorney-floyd/\">said</a> that he wanted to “<a href=\"https://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/02/donald-trump-libel-laws-219866\">open up</a>” libel laws, and in March 2017 he suggested that The New York Times should be sued under broadened libel laws.</p><p data-block-key=\"vf76v\">Despite Trump’s threats, the president cannot unilaterally change libel laws, according to First Amendment scholars. </p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"e330x\">President Donald Trump, flanked by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, holds a cabinet meeting at the White House, on January 10, 2018.</p>",
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{
"title": "President Trump tries to stop release of journalist’s book ‘Fire and Fury’",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/president-trump-tries-stop-release-journalists-book-fire-and-fury/",
"first_published_at": "2018-01-04T21:44:37.076709Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-02T18:51:21.133154Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-02T18:51:21.002213Z",
"date": "2018-01-04",
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"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"elqwx\">On Jan. 4, 2018, President Donald Trump’s attorney sent a <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000160-c1d4-dcd4-a96b-f5fd89f70001\">cease and desist letter</a> to journalist Michael Wolff, the author of an upcoming book critical of the Trump administration, and to the president of Henry Holt & Co., the book’s publisher.</p><p data-block-key=\"ncaxr\">The book, titled “Fire and Fury: Inside the White House,” offers a close-up account of the chaos of the Trump administration, and was originally scheduled to be released on Jan. 9. Copies of the book have already shipped to bookstores and news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"ywv40\">After the Guardian obtained a copy of the book and reported on its contents, and New York magazine published an extended excerpt of the book, the publication date was moved up to Jan. 5.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3vn6\">The cease and desist letter was <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/04/trump-cease-and-desist-michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-book-324023\">sent</a> by attorney Charles Harder, who previously represented Melania Trump in a defamation lawsuit against the Daily Mail and a Maryland blogger. Harder has represented a number of high-profile public figures in lawsuits against media organizations, most notably serving as one of Hulk Hogan’s attorneys in the wrestler’s invasion of privacy lawsuit against Gawker Media.</p><p data-block-key=\"ix154\">“Mr. Trump hereby demands that you immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the Book, the Article, or any excerpts or summaries of either of them, to any person or entity, and that you issue a full and complete retraction and apology to my client as to all statements made about him in the Book and Article that lack competent evidentiary support,” the cease and desist letter reads.</p><p data-block-key=\"fiox2\">The letter <a href=\"http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/04/media/president-trump-legal-threat-michael-wolff/index.html\">warns</a> that Wolff and Henry Holt & Co. could be liable for “defamation by libel” if they go ahead and publish the book.</p><p data-block-key=\"5rg0y\">“We see ‘Fire and Fury’ as an extraordinary contribution to our national discourse, and are proceeding with the publication of the book,” Henry Holt & Co. said in a statement.</p><p data-block-key=\"jq7yv\">On Jan. 3, Harder <a href=\"http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/04/media/president-trump-legal-threat-michael-wolff/index.html\">sent</a> a similar cease and desist letter to Stephen Bannon, the former White House senior strategist who is quoted in the book.</p><p data-block-key=\"fiwgj\">Throughout his presidential campaign and presidency, Trump has threatened to sue numerous journalists and news organizations for defamation, but he has never followed through on these threats.</p></div>",
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"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"Henry Holt & Company"
],
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"Donald Trump"
],
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"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Michael Wolff (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist stopped for secondary screening at CBP preclearance in Canada",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-stopped-secondary-screening-cbp-preclearance-canada/",
"first_published_at": "2019-11-21T16:54:27.917446Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-06T17:46:57.608966Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-06T17:46:57.520990Z",
"date": "2017-12-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Vancouver",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"29sis\">Photojournalist John Rudoff was stopped for secondary screening at U.S. Customs and Border Protection preclearance in Vancouver, Canada, on Dec. 28, 2017, while en route from Bangladesh.</p><p data-block-key=\"do3c2\">Rudoff told the Committee to Protect Journalists that ever since he took multiple trips to Greece following the refugee crisis and traveled to Cuba, he has been stopped for secondary screening when reentering the U.S. He said the screenings happen whether he is traveling alone or with family.</p><p data-block-key=\"phx8d\">Rudoff said he was traveling light in December 2017, but was carrying all of his photography gear with him. After passing through preclearance screening, Rudoff was taken aside to a waiting area to wait for his name to be called. Rudoff said he seemed to be the only U.S. citizen directed there.</p><p data-block-key=\"l88m5\">When his turn came up, officers went through his bags and patted him down. Rudoff told CPJ that the pat down was not irregular, as his hip replacement sets of alarms on many airport security systems.</p><p data-block-key=\"smvrn\">Rudoff said that the officer searching his bags did not go through his cellphone or laptop, which he keeps encrypted and powered down when he travels. Officers did ask him to turn his two cameras on and off, Rudoff added, but did not ask him to go through the photos and did not go through the photos themselves.</p><p data-block-key=\"c5gjv\">The screenings, Rudoff said, were frequent enough that he learned to plan ahead for them. “And it’s obviously targeted, but it’s so predictable that I just factor it in.”</p><p data-block-key=\"soy1i\">Rudoff told CPJ that none of the CBP officers who have searched him in secondary screening have offered an explanation as to why he is so often flagged for additional searches. “I have no choice, at least so far,” Rudoff said.</p><p data-block-key=\"l3r6h\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker includes incidents only from 2017 forward.</p></div>",
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"name": "Canada",
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},
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],
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"Border Stop"
],
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"John Rudoff (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Berkeleyside reporter Emilie Raguso subpoenaed to testify in criminal trial",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/berkeleyside-reporter-emilie-raguso-subpoenaed-testify-criminal-trial/",
"first_published_at": "2018-01-12T17:48:33.609454Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-15T19:28:42.706988Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-15T19:28:42.611529Z",
"date": "2017-12-15",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Berkeley",
"longitude": -122.27275,
"latitude": 37.87159,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8fczi\">Emilie Raguso, senior reporter for Berkeleyside, was subpoenaed in December 2017 to testify in a criminal trial about statements made by one of her sources. Raguso fought the subpoena, and it was dropped on Jan. 2, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"ifwrw\">Raguso had been reporting on a man named William Turner, who had a string of arrests for crimes involving children, including public indecency and harassing a child. </p><p data-block-key=\"yxvzf\">Raguso told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that an investigator with the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office contacted her, both through email and Facebook, to ask her about statements that one of Raguso's victims had made. Raguso had used the victim’s statements in her reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"4xwvc\">In mid-December 2017, she said, the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office investigator showed up at her apartment and issued her a subpoena to testify in Turner’s criminal trial. Raguso had been covering the case for months but, as a result of the subpoena, was unable to hear and report on the testimony of the main victim in the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"ywhmy\">“It will impact and limit how I am able to cover the story, which does not serve the community,” she said of the subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"nnp5w\">Raguso wrote in a Dec. 26 declaration that as a journalist, she must remain objective and detached from active participation in stories that she covers. </p><p data-block-key=\"md4ba\">“My participation as a witness will also compromise my ability and effectiveness in covering future stories about Defendant Turner — whom I have been covering for some time now — thereby further affecting my ability to do my job in the future.”</p><p data-block-key=\"t3d50\">Her attorneys filed a motion to quash the subpoena on Dec. 27, arguing that California’s “press shield law” protected Raguso from being compelled to testify about unpublished information.</p><p data-block-key=\"mt346\">“The subpoena that was issued by the public defender in this case to Emilie was not in any way limited to just published material,” Zachary Colbeth, Raguso’s attorney, told the Freedom of the Press Foundation in an email. “We also believe that had Emilie been compelled to testify, both the public defender and the prosecution would have inevitably wandered, or been tempted to wander, into seeking testimony about unpublished materials.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gs3wa\">The subpoena was <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/2018/01/victory-facs-subpoena-defense-initiative/\">dropped</a> on Jan. 2, 2018. According to Colbeth, the public defender's office withdrew the subpoena after questioning the alleged victim in the case, making the motion to quash the subpoena moot.</p><p data-block-key=\"t9vlc\">“It was disturbing to me how aggressive they were in trying to get me to testify,” Raguso said. “To bring me in as a third party seemed like an inappropriate role for a journalist to have.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
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"Emilie Raguso (Berkeleyside)"
],
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"dropped"
],
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},
{
"title": "Citizen journalist arrested for publishing information before local police",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/citizen-journalist-arrested-after-publishing-information-local-police/",
"first_published_at": "2018-01-16T11:18:12.499836Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-10T19:38:54.249631Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-10T19:38:54.018475Z",
"date": "2017-12-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Laredo",
"longitude": -99.50754,
"latitude": 27.50641,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5u5sd\">Citizen journalist Priscilla Villarreal was arrested by the Laredo Police Department and charged with two felony counts of “misuse of official information” on Dec. 13, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"v0llr\">Villarreal — an independent journalist based in Laredo, Texas, who is often known by her nickname “La Gordiloca” — published the name of a Border Patrol agent who died by suicide on her Facebook page in April, before the Laredo Police Department’s official release about the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"e10la\">The Laredo Morning Times <a href=\"http://www.lmtonline.com/local/crime/article/Cop-eyed-in-La-Gordiloca-case-12433615.php\">reported</a> on Dec. 15 that a veteran patrol officer, Barbara J. Goodman, provided the name of the agent to Villarreal, but the journalist denies Goodman was her source. Investigators obtained subpoenas for the phone records of both Villarreal and Goodman.</p><p data-block-key=\"gfeyp\">“Misuse of official information” charges in Texas require that a person obtain nonpublic information from a public official and disseminate it with the intention of benefiting or harming another entity. Authorities argued in the criminal complaint filed against Villarreal that she benefited from publishing the agent’s name by gaining Facebook followers.</p><p data-block-key=\"3wtcu\">Texas Monthly <a href=\"https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/lagordilocas-arrest-laredo/\">reported</a> that the complaint reads, “Villarreal’s access to this information and releasing it on ‘Lagordiloca News Laredo Tx,’ before the official release by the Laredo Police Department Public Information Officer placed her ‘Facebook’ page ahead of the local official news media which in turn gained her popularity in Facebook.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pd2a2\"><a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/12/22/popular-texas-blogger-scooped-police-on-a-story-so-they-charged-her-with-2-felonies/?utm_term=.35272202a4c9\">According to The Washington Post</a>, Villarreal turned herself in voluntarily after a warrant was issued for her arrest, but believes she is innocent of wrongdoing and that the police are attempting to silence her reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"cthz0\">Villarreal and her legal representation were not immediately available for comment.</p></div>",
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"case_number": "5:19-cv-00048",
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
"updates": [
"(2018-03-28 13:51:00+00:00) Charges dismissed",
"(2024-01-23 11:56:00+00:00) Divided federal appeals court won’t revive Texas journalist’s lawsuit",
"(2021-11-01 00:00:00+00:00) Court of Appeals overturns ruling dismissing citizen journalist’s lawsuit",
"(2024-10-15 17:10:00+00:00) Supreme Court revives Texas journalist’s arrest-related lawsuit",
"(2019-04-08 14:41:00+00:00) Citizen journalist sues for damages following alleged unlawful 2017 arrest",
"(2025-04-08 00:00:00+00:00) Appeals court again dismisses Texas journalist’s arrest-related lawsuit"
],
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"dismissed"
],
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"tags": [],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Priscilla Villarreal (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Roy Moore campaign bans Washington Post reporters from election watch party",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/roy-moore-campaign-bans-washington-post-reporters-election-watch-party/",
"first_published_at": "2017-12-13T19:43:19.102438Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-15T19:38:29.549560Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-15T19:38:29.450570Z",
"date": "2017-12-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Montgomery",
"longitude": -86.29997,
"latitude": 32.36681,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9yzum\">Reporters for the Washington Post were barred from entering an election-night party for Republican senate candidate Roy Moore in Montgomery, Alabama, on Dec. 12, 2017.</p><p data-block-key=\"21tkj\">“We were denied credentials and when our reporters asked to enter they were told no,” the paper said in a statement.</p><p data-block-key=\"3c7dl\">Hannah Ford, a spokeswoman for the Moore campaign, confirmed to The Associated Press that the Moore campaign had deliberately denied the Post's request for press credentials to cover the Moore election-night party.</p><p data-block-key=\"ss1ri\">Ford <a href=\"https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/364560-washington-post-press-credentials-revoked-at-moore-event/\">told The Hill</a> that a Post reporter who “didn’t get the memo” about the press credentials being denied tried to enter the Moore party and was denied entry.</p><p data-block-key=\"tg1w3\">Asked by The Hill why the campaign revoked the Post’s press credentials, Ford replied, “No comment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gqseh\">The Washington Post was the first news outlet to report on allegations of sexual misconduct against Roy Moore, on Nov. 8. After that report was published, Moore criticized the Washington Post and even threatened to sue the paper and other news organizations that reported on the allegations.</p><p data-block-key=\"6t097\">The election-night party was not the only Moore campaign event that Washington Post reporters were banned from.</p><p data-block-key=\"ii5a8\">Ford <a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/politics/washington-post-reporters-barred-from-roy-moore-election-night-party\">told Fox News</a> that Washington Post reporters were asked to leave a rally in Midland City, Alabama, on Dec. 11.</p><p data-block-key=\"vjfyh\">On Dec. 12, Moore narrowly lost the special election to Democrat Doug Jones.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Iowa judge orders Des Moines Register not to publish article about attorney",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/iowa-judge-orders-des-moines-register-not-publish-article-about-attorney/",
"first_published_at": "2018-01-02T20:48:36.329233Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-07T14:23:43.385191Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-07T14:23:43.256101Z",
"date": "2017-12-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Des Moines",
"longitude": -93.60911,
"latitude": 41.60054,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0iikb\">On Dec. 11, 2017, Iowa Supreme Court Judge David Wiggins issued an order prohibiting The Des Moines Register and reporter Clark Kauffman from publishing information obtained legally through court records. On Dec. 19, Wiggins lifted the stay.</p><p data-block-key=\"r9hqx\">The temporary stay issued by Justice David Wiggins <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/legal-us-otc-priorrestraint/can-privacy-trump-first-amendment-in-iowa-supreme-court-case-v-des-moines-register-idUSKBN1EC2TG/\">blocked</a> the newspaper from <a href=\"https://apnews.com/general-news-national-national-4b3ea9382f604eaeb1b9499d8de26bf1\">publishing information</a> about Des Moines attorney Jaysen McCleary obtained from <a href=\"https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2017/12/15/iowa-supreme-court-justice-blocks-registers-use-court-records/952852001/\">private medical records</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"jpozg\">“A temporary stay is imposed until the supreme court rules on McCleary's combined applications,” Wiggins wrote in the order. “Pending further order from this court, the defendants shall not disclose or share (other than with legal counsel) any information in the defendants’ possession that was obtained exclusively from the reports.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xz1z0\">The records in question were first made public in July 2017, when they were filed by McCleary’s attorney as part of a personal injury suit that he brought against the city of Des Moines (<i>Jaysen McCleary v. City of Des Moine</i>s). The records probably should have been filed under seal, but they were not, which meant that any member of the public could (theoretically) access them.</p><p data-block-key=\"8m0iu\">McCleary told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that the records containing his private information were mistakenly attached to expert reports that were filed publicly by his attorney. </p><p data-block-key=\"v2efu\">In November, Des Moines Register reporter Clark Kauffman obtained a copy of the private records and asked McCleary for comment about them. Soon after, McCleary settled with the city of Des Moines and asked for <i>McCleary v. City of Des Moines</i> to be dismissed.</p><p data-block-key=\"973if\">On Nov. 16, McCleary filed a motion in <i>McCleary v. City of Des Moine</i>s, asking the District Court to seal the expert reports containing his private records. District Court judge Jeffrey Farrell granted the motion and issued a protective order. The protective order prohibits the parties in <i>McCleary v. City of Des Moines</i> — i.e., McCleary, the city of Des Moines, and their attorneys — from disseminating the sealed records to the public. The order also requires that any “third parties” in possession of the sealed records destroy them. </p><p data-block-key=\"znvi2\">On Nov. 27, McCleary sued Kauffman and the Register in District Court (<i>McCleary v. Kauffman</i>), claiming that Kauffman conspired with the city of Des Moines to defame him and damage his reputation.</p><p data-block-key=\"hlhd2\">McCleary then filed a motion in <i>McCleary v. Kauffman</i> asking for a temporary injunction. McCleary asked the court to order the Register not to publish any articles including information gleaned from his medical records. He also argued that the paper had violated the protective order issued in <i>McCleary v. City of Des Moines</i>, which instructed “third parties” in possession of the records to destroy them.</p><p data-block-key=\"l46oq\">On Dec. 7, District Court judge Eliza Ovrom denied the motion for a temporary injunction, ruling that the Register was not subject to the protective order.</p><p data-block-key=\"adx3m\">“Mr. McCleary alleges that Clark Kauffman obtained copies of said reports during the period they were part of the public court file,” Ovrom wrote in her order. “Even if true, this court cannot enjoin publication of the reports, as such an injunction would violate the First Amendment and Article I, Section 7. Moreover, the defendants in this case were not parties to [<i>McCleary v. City of Des Moines</i>], and are not bound by orders in that case.”</p><p data-block-key=\"umblk\">On Dec. 8, McCleary filed an application to show cause in <i>McCleary v. City of Des Moines</i>, essentially asking District Court judge Farrell to hold the Register in contempt of court for violating the protective order.</p><p data-block-key=\"zjkfm\">Farrell denied the motion on the grounds that the Register was not subject to the protective order.</p><p data-block-key=\"rgw4s\">“The application must be denied for the same reasons noted by Judge Ovrom,” Farrell wrote. “Neither Mr. Kauffman nor the Register are parties to this case, and thus, neither are subject to the protective order. As a result, the application is denied.”</p><p data-block-key=\"thuo7\">McCleary appealed both District Court decisions to the <a href=\"https://static.reuters.com/resources/media/editorial/20171219/mcclearyvregister--registerbrief12.15.17.pdf#page=39\">Iowa Supreme Court</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"hrv88\">On Dec. 11, Wiggins ordered that the Register not publish the records until court had ruled on McCleary’s appeal. </p><p data-block-key=\"l2tsb\">Wiggins may have seen the order as a typical procedural ruling, intended to ensure that the Iowa Supreme Court had a chance to consider the merits of McCleary’s appeal before the Register published the records.</p><p data-block-key=\"v426d\">But whatever his intention, Wiggins’ order had serious First Amendment implications. The Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly ruled that the First Amendment prohibits the government from preventing a newspaper from publishing information, barring extraordinary circumstances in which national security is at stake.</p><p data-block-key=\"j8m55\">On Dec. 19, after the Register had filed a response to McCleary's appeal and McCleary had filed a reply to the response, Wiggins <a href=\"https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2017/12/19/iowa-supreme-court-justice-lifts-prior-restraint-order-against-des-moines-register/965110001/\">lifted</a> the stay and <a href=\"https://apnews.com/general-news-c8229b0118234499a006f30ed24c8cd9\">issued an order</a> denying McCleary’s appeal. </p><p data-block-key=\"32oxd\">Wiggins defended his decision to issue the temporary stay.</p><p data-block-key=\"8td6m\">“The stay was strictly temporary in nature, its duration limited to the time necessary for the filing of the defendants’ response, the plaintiff’s reply, and this court’s entry of a ruling on the plaintiff’s combined applications,” he wrote in the order.</p><p data-block-key=\"cfkd8\">McCleary then asked a three-judge panel to review Wiggins’ decision, but the panel affirmed Wiggins’ ruling and denied McCleary’s appeal.</p><p data-block-key=\"4aswh\">McCleary told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he now plans to appeal his case to the U.S. Supreme Court.</p><p data-block-key=\"3qjst\">On Dec. 20, the Register published an <a href=\"https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2017/12/20/lawyer-mental-disabilities-tried-stop-register-publishing-story-him-and-seal-recordsprior-restraint/965918001/\">article</a> about McCleary that included information obtained from his medical records.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Donald Trump says Washington Post should fire reporter Dave Weigel",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/donald-trump-says-washington-post-should-fire-reporter-dave-weigel/",
"first_published_at": "2017-12-10T23:56:16.947979Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-15T19:59:55.475284Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-15T19:59:55.391427Z",
"date": "2017-12-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f56z3\">On Dec. 9, 2017, President Trump tweeted that Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel “should be fired” for tweeting a misleading photo of a Trump rally in Florida.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/daveweigel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@daveweigel</a> of the Washington Post just admitted that his picture was a FAKE (fraud?) showing an almost empty arena last night for my speech in Pensacola when, in fact, he knew the arena was packed (as shown also on T.V.). FAKE NEWS, he should be fired.</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/939634404267380736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 9, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"o529n\">The controversy began on the morning of Dec. 9, when Trump thanked his supporters for attending a rally the previous night in Pensacola, Florida. Trump tweeted that the “arena was packed to the rafters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3prly\">Weigel then tweeted a screenshot of the president’s tweet, alongside photos showing a largely empty arena, implying that the president had exaggerated the size of the crowd at the Pensacola rally.</p><p data-block-key=\"6mhdn\">The photos were misleading, though, having been taken before the president’s speech began. Trump later tweeted photos of the speech, taken during his speech, that showed a much larger crowd in the arena.</p><p data-block-key=\"sub2z\">Weigel deleted the tweet once he realized his mistake, and he later apologized for the misleading tweet.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">GREAT EVENING last night in Pensacola, Florida. Arena was packed to the rafters, the crowd was loud, loving and really smart. They definitely get what’s going on. Thank you Pensacola!</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/939475127552618496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 9, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/daveweigel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@DaveWeigel</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/washingtonpost?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WashingtonPost</a> put out a phony photo of an empty arena hours before I arrived @ the venue, w/ thousands of people outside, on their way in. Real photos now shown as I spoke. Packed house, many people unable to get in. Demand apology & retraction from FAKE NEWS WaPo! <a href=\"https://t.co/XAblFGh1ob\">pic.twitter.com/XAblFGh1ob</a></p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/939616077356642304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 9, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sure thing: I apologize. I deleted the photo after <a href=\"https://twitter.com/dmartosko?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@dmartosko</a> told me I'd gotten it wrong. Was confused by the image of you walking in the bottom right corner. <a href=\"https://t.co/fQY7GMNSaD\">https://t.co/fQY7GMNSaD</a></p>— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/939616810684514304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 9, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yh9tj\">“Dave Weigel relied on an inaccurate image in tweeting about President Trump’s rally in Pensacola,” the Washington Post’s V.P. of communications <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/president-trump-calls-for-washington-post-reporter-who-apologized-for-inaccurate-tweet-to-be-fired/2017/12/09/2fb467de-dd4b-11e7-b1a8-62589434a581_story.html\">said</a> in a statement. “When others pointed out the mistake to Weigel, he quickly deleted the tweet. And when he was later addressed by the president on Twitter, he promptly apologized for it.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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{
"title": "President Trump says ABC News reporter Brian Ross should be fired",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/president-trump-says-abc-news-reporter-brian-ross-should-be-fired/",
"first_published_at": "2017-12-10T23:28:42.778484Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-15T20:04:23.043006Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-15T20:04:22.965871Z",
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"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6aamp\">On Dec. 9, 2017, President Trump tweeted that ABC News investigative reporter Brian Ross “should be immediately fired.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Fake News CNN made a vicious and purposeful mistake yesterday. They were caught red handed, just like lonely Brian Ross at ABC News (who should be immediately fired for his “mistake”). Watch to see if <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CNN</a> fires those responsible, or was it just gross incompetence?</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/939480342779580416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 9, 2017</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"s5nie\">In the tweet, Trump criticized both Ross and CNN for misreporting news stories related to the ongoing Russia investigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"3z3q1\">On Dec. 1, Ross incorrectly reported that Trump, while a presidential candidate in 2016, had directed campaign adviser Michael Flynn to reach out to the Russian government. ABC News later acknowledged that the story as reported was inaccurate, because Trump had already won the election — making him president-elect, not just a presidential candidate — at the time when he directed Flynn to contact the Russians. </p><p data-block-key=\"n5fg7\">After correcting the story, ABC News <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/12/03/abc-news-apologizes-for-serious-error-in-trump-report-suspends-brian-ross-for-four-weeks/\">suspended</a> Ross for four weeks and <a href=\"https://money.cnn.com/2017/12/04/media/abc-news-president-brian-ross-flynn-correction/index.html\">announced</a> that he would no longer report on stories related to Trump.</p><p data-block-key=\"0uiwc\">On Dec. 8, CNN reported that Donald Trump, Jr. had <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/08/politics/email-effort-give-trump-campaign-wikileaks-documents/index.html\">received</a> an email that included a link to documents that were publicly released by WikiLeaks on Sept. 14, 2016. CNN initially reported that the email had been sent on Sept. 4 — suggesting that the Trump campaign had received access to the documents nine days before the documents were made public. The story was inaccurate, and CNN later corrected it to say that the email was actually sent to Trump, Jr. the same day the documents were released to the public.</p><p data-block-key=\"k3i3j\">In a statement, CNN said that its reporters had followed editorial guidelines and would not be disciplined.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Mexican reporter Emilio Gutiérrez Soto detained by ICE while appealing denial of asylum",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/mexican-reporter-emilio-gutierrez-detained-ice-while-appealing-denial-asylum/",
"first_published_at": "2018-01-16T09:23:06.443374Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-18T20:11:12.040754Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-18T20:11:11.940438Z",
"date": "2017-12-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Las Cruces",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"soi0g\">Emilio Gutiérrez Soto, a Mexican journalist who fled to the United States seeking asylum in 2008, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Dec. 7, 2017, in El Paso, Texas.</p><p data-block-key=\"251su\">Gutiérrez worked for approximately 25 years as a correspondent in Mexico. He said in May 2008 that approximately 50 armed soldiers entered his home without a permit, claiming they were searching for “weapons or drugs,” but left after finding no evidence of unlawful activity. At the time, he was writing for the Chihuahua-based El Diario del Noroeste.</p><p data-block-key=\"9o791\">In June 2008, he said, a source informed him that he was on a “hit list” due to his reporting on the military, and he fled Mexico with his then-15-year-old son, Oscar.</p><p data-block-key=\"bl81f\">Eduardo Beckett, Gutiérrez’s attorney, told the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) that Gutiérrez was offered physical protection by the Mexican government but declined it because he doubted the government’s ability to effectively protect him.</p><p data-block-key=\"2mu8a\">In 2008, Gutiérrez claimed political asylum at a border checkpoint in Columbus, New Mexico, and he and his son were taken to separate detention facilities in El Paso, Texas. His son was released to family in the United States in August 2008, and Gutiérrez was<a href=\"https://rsf.org/en/after-freeing-mexican-journalist-us-authorities-urged-grant-his-asylum-request\"> released</a> in January 2009.</p><p data-block-key=\"48m8i\">While awaiting an asylum decision, Gutiérrez and his son settled in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and regularly completed their required check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.</p><p data-block-key=\"5g9ot\">On July 19, 2017, nearly a decade after Gutiérrez’s original application for asylum, El Paso immigration judge Robert Hough denied his asylum request, ruling that Gutiérrez’s testimony was not credible, he had not sufficiently established fear of torture, and he had failed to show that the Mexican government could not protect him.</p><p data-block-key=\"dha71\">Beckett, Gutiérrez’s lawyer, believes that the judge underestimated the risks that Mexican journalists face. He said that, although Gutiérrez has not received specific threats from the Mexican military since entering the United States, the reporter still<a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/17/us/mexican-journalist-detained/index.html\"> believes he would be killed</a> if he returned to Mexico.</p><p data-block-key=\"9n6nq\">“The threat is still viable, and military people have long memories,” Beckett said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6irt6\">Outside of war zones, Mexico is the most dangerous country in the world for journalists.<a href=\"https://cpj.org/americas/mexico/\"> According to the Committee to Protect Journalists,</a> at least 42 journalists and media workers were killed there in 2017 alone.</p><p data-block-key=\"2a3ma\">On Nov. 20, 2017, Gutiérrez’s attorney filed an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals, asking that the board reopen Gutiérrez's asylum case and grant Gutiérrez a temporary stay of removal, which would prevent ICE from deporting him while the board considered his appeal.</p><p data-block-key=\"28jr1\">On Dec. 7, Gutiérrez and his son attended a routine check-in with ICE but were unexpectedly detained, according to Beckett. ICE agents served Gutiérrez and his son with deportation papers, and walked them back towards the port of entry. When Beckett acquired an emergency stay of deportation, Gutiérrez and his son were taken to an ICE facility instead of being immediately deported.</p><p data-block-key=\"4hldg\">Beckett said that it was technically legal for ICE to deport his client, since an immigration judge had previously denied Gutiérrez's asylum request. But he said that the detention and attempted deportation was still very unexpected and unusual, since Gutiérrez had an appeal pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals and there were irregularities in the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"7g1gm\">On Dec. 22, the Board of Immigration Appeals <a href=\"https://www.press.org/newsroom/bureau-immigration-appeals-agrees-reconsider-asylum-request-jailed-mexican-journalist\">agreed to reconsider</a> Gutiérrez's deportation order. Gutiérrez and his son remain detained in ICE custody.</p><p data-block-key=\"49c4o\">Asked for comment, ICE public affairs officer Leticia Zamarripa would only confirm that “Emilio and Oscar Gutierrez, citizens of Mexico, remain in ICE custody pending disposition of their immigration cases.”</p><p data-block-key=\"beouq\">Beckett believes that by granting his client asylum, the United States would be promoting democracy.</p><p data-block-key=\"ak8mu\">“We’re in a time right now where journalists around the world are being threatened,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"78t4c\">In October 2017, the National Press Club awarded Gutiérrez the Aubuchon Press Freedom Award, which honors journalists who demonstrate the principles of press freedom and transparency in governments through their work.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"v6v5d\">Journalist Emilio Gutiérrez Soto talks during an interview with Reuters at his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on July 13, 2011.</p>",
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"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": "2018-07-26",
"detention_date": "2017-12-07",
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New Mexico",
"abbreviation": "NM"
},
"updates": [
"(2018-07-10 14:40:00+00:00) Judge schedules hearing in habeas case",
"(2019-02-28 09:17:00+00:00) Judge again denies asylum to Mexican investigative journalist",
"(2023-09-05 11:14:00+00:00) Mexican journalist wins asylum in the US",
"(2018-07-26 22:00:00+00:00) Gutiérrez released from ICE detention"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"ICE"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Emilio Gutiérrez Soto (El Diario Noroeste [Mexico])"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
}
]
