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{
"title": "Woman hits New Jersey reporter covering court hearing",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/woman-hits-new-jersey-reporter-covering-court-hearing/",
"first_published_at": "2018-08-27T16:35:00.310889Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-21T18:17:25.761523Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-21T18:17:25.557843Z",
"date": "2018-08-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New Brunswick",
"longitude": -74.45182,
"latitude": 40.48622,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ze9nk\">Taylor Tiamoyo Harris, a reporter for New Jersey newspaper chain NJ Advance Media, was covering courtroom proceedings on Aug. 3, 2018, when a woman struck her in the face.</p><p data-block-key=\"xfyxk\">Harris was covering the sentencing hearing for Tejay Johnson, a former Rutgers University football player who had been found guilty of committing a string of home invasion robberies in 2015. Harris had received permission from the judge to take pictures during the courtroom proceedings.</p><p data-block-key=\"7g7ma\">As Johnson was being taken away in handcuffs, Harris said she was sitting and facing forward when she was <a href=\"https://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2018/08/woman_charged_with_assaulting_njcom_reporter.html\">attacked</a> from behind.</p><p data-block-key=\"emx8w\">“[The attacker] pulled my hair and hit my face,” she told Freedom of the Press Foundation. “There was a red mark, which went away, but it was scary for me, because I didn’t see it happen and couldn’t defend myself.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0nsee\">Harris said that immediately after she was attacked, officers surrounded her and took her to another room, where she filled out a statement about the assault. She said that her company, NJ Advance Media, walked her through what she should do.</p><p data-block-key=\"vi983\">According to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, a woman named Trudy Smith, faces a municipal charge of simple assault in connection with the attack on Harris.</p><p data-block-key=\"stxvz\">Harris believes that she was assaulted because she took pictures during the court proceedings. </p><p data-block-key=\"cje2g\">“She attacked me because she saw me taking pictures, because I was a reporter, and this took me a while to process,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"q2akx\">Days later, Harris tweeted about the incident.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yes, on Friday while covering a court sentencing, a woman who I had never met or even saw decided to assault me from behind while I was sitting face forward in the courtroom because she saw that I was a reporter.</p>— Taylor Harris (@ladytiamoyo) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ladytiamoyo/status/1027020335399485440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 8, 2018</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=\"yglu3\">Harris said that this is the first time that she’s been assaulted while reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ibmr\">“I’ve been out on assignments, courtrooms, at murder scenes… Nothing like this has happened to me before,” she said. </p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "New Jersey",
"abbreviation": "NJ"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-03-17 00:00:00+00:00) Woman who attacked reporter in New Jersey courtroom gets probation, fines"
],
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"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Taylor Tiamoyo Harris (NJ Advance Media)"
],
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{
"title": "Local TV reporter attacked in Detroit by man wielding a metal baton",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/local-tv-reporter-attacked-in-detroit-by-man-wielding-a-metal-baton/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-22T13:41:12.847040Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-08-28T16:51:05.723518Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-08-28T16:51:05.510892Z",
"date": "2018-08-02",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Detroit",
"longitude": -83.04575,
"latitude": 42.33143,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nmia4\">On Aug. 2, 2018, reporter Nia Harden and photojournalist Mike Krotche of Detroit TV station WXYZ were attacked by a man wielding a metal baton. Neither Harden nor Krotche were injured in the attack.</p><p data-block-key=\"mgr2l\">Harden and Krotche were filming a live shot about a fatal car crash on Detroit's West Side when the man first approached them.</p><p data-block-key=\"968bj\">"While we were doing our live shot, towards the end of it, a man with a beer bottle and a baton-looking type of piece came over here, started interrupting us," Harden later said in a Facebook Live video about the incident. "I didn't think anything of it because he was kind of walking away after that."</p><p data-block-key=\"i7i4b\">When the live shot finished, Harden and Krotche returned to their WXYZ news truck. As Harden sat in the passenger seat of the truck, Krotche stood outside and waited for the truck's "mast" — the communications array on top of the news truck — to be lowered.</p><p data-block-key=\"s98cx\">"When the mast is up, it's unsafe, you can't just drive away," Harden explained to her Facebook Live viewers. "You have to wait for the mast to go down. So as he was waiting for the mast to go down, he [stayed] outside of the truck, to make sure nobody was going to touch it or touch the vehicle, because it can be very dangerous."</p><p data-block-key=\"68k82\">While Krotche waited outside the truck, the man with the metal baton started to smash a nearby car, which<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/radio-reporter-mike-campbell-attacked-detroit/\"> WWJ radio reporter Mike Campbell</a> was sitting in. Then he turned his attention to the WXYZ truck.</p><p data-block-key=\"zgiya\">"He turns around very quickly, very quickly, and he runs — he looks at me, dead in the eyes — he looks at me, and he runs over to the car, runs over to the live truck, and he does this right here," she said in the Facebook Live video, showing cracks in the truck's windshield. "He starts hitting the front windshield where I'm sitting."</p><p data-block-key=\"5189k\">Krotche quickly jumped into the back of the news truck as the man smashed the WXYZ news truck's windshield and driver-side mirror.</p><p data-block-key=\"y1e6s\">Police later arrested the man.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-09-16 09:54:00+00:00) Detroit man sentenced in attack on reporters, news vehicles"
],
"case_statuses": [],
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"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Nia Harden (WXYZ-TV)"
],
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},
{
"title": "TV photojournalist attacked by man wielding a metal baton, news vehicle damaged",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tv-photojournalist-attacked-by-man-wielding-a-metal-baton-news-vehicle-damaged/",
"first_published_at": "2018-08-02T21:42:08.401234Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-27T21:14:33.614070Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-27T21:14:33.497385Z",
"date": "2018-08-02",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Detroit",
"longitude": -83.04575,
"latitude": 42.33143,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"32284\">On Aug. 2, 2018, photojournalist Mike Krotche and reporter Nia Harden of Detroit TV station WXYZ were <a href=\"https://www.wxyz.com/news/7-action-news-crew-attacked-while-covering-story\">attacked</a> by a man wielding a metal baton. Neither Harden nor Krotche were injured in the attack.</p><p data-block-key=\"8mft4\">Harden and Krotche were <a href=\"https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2018/08/02/detroit-journalists-wxyz-wwj/887565002/\">filming</a> a live shot about a fatal car crash on Detroit's West Side when the man first approached them.</p><p data-block-key=\"twc00\">"While we were doing our live shot, towards the end of it, a man with a beer bottle and a baton-looking type of piece came over here, started interrupting us," Harden later said in <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/wxyzdetroit/videos/10155544559231135/\">a Facebook Live video</a> about the incident. "I didn't think anything of it because he was kind of walking away after that."</p><p data-block-key=\"wij47\">When the live shot finished, Harden and Krotche returned to their WXYZ news truck. As Harden sat in the passenger seat of the truck, Krotche stood outside and waited for the truck's "mast" — the communications array on top of the news truck — to be lowered.</p><p data-block-key=\"tnsoo\">"When the mast is up, it's unsafe, you can't just drive away," Harden explained to her Facebook Live viewers. "You have to wait for the mast to go down. So as he was waiting for the mast to go down, he [stayed] outside of the truck, to make sure nobody was going to touch it or touch the vehicle, because it can be very dangerous."</p><p data-block-key=\"jdj3b\">While Krotche waited outside the truck, the man with the metal baton started to smash a nearby car, which<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/radio-reporter-mike-campbell-attacked-detroit/\"> WWJ radio reporter Mike Campbell</a> was sitting in. Then he turned his attention to the WXYZ truck.</p><p data-block-key=\"iw85l\">"He turns around very quickly, very quickly, and he runs — he looks at me, dead in the eyes — he looks at me, and he runs over to the car, runs over to the live truck, and he does this right here," she said in the Facebook Live video, showing cracks in the truck's windshield. "He starts hitting the front windshield where I'm sitting."</p><p data-block-key=\"tdz9y\">Krotche quickly jumped into the back of the news truck as the man smashed the WXYZ news truck's windshield and driver-side mirror.</p><p data-block-key=\"25kzn\">Police later arrested the man.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/WXYZ_truck_attack.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"3el8p\">A man uses a metal baton to smash the windshield of a local TV station's news truck, on Aug. 2, 2018, in Detroit, Michigan.</p>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
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}
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"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
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"(2019-09-16 09:57:00+00:00) Detroit man sentenced in attack on reporters, news vehicles"
],
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"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
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"Mike Krotche (WXYZ-TV)"
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{
"title": "Radio reporter Mike Campbell attacked in Detroit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/radio-reporter-mike-campbell-attacked-detroit/",
"first_published_at": "2018-08-02T21:54:11.579824Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-27T21:12:32.107552Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-27T21:12:31.995809Z",
"date": "2018-08-02",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Detroit",
"longitude": -83.04575,
"latitude": 42.33143,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5xvjz\">On Aug. 2, 2018, reporter Mike Campbell of Detroit radio station WWJ-AM was reporting from the scene of a fatal car crash when he was <a href=\"https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2018/08/02/detroit-journalists-wxyz-wwj/887565002/\">attacked</a> by a man wielding a metal baton-like object.</p><p data-block-key=\"tzc6g\">Campbell <a href=\"https://wwjnewsradio.radio.com/articles/wwj-reporters-windshield-smashed-pipe-wielding-man-while-covering-fatal-crash-detroit\">told</a> WWJ that he was sitting inside his parked car, delivering a report on the crash live on air, when an unknown man carrying a metal baton approached the car and began yelling obscenities and racial insults.</p><p data-block-key=\"djfor\">"I had put the windows up because I had started my report and I saw the man, but he seemed to be just walking by in front of the truck," Campbell later told WWJ. "He was saying stuff but I put the windows up because I didn't want our listeners to hear his foul words and then he apparently, just, something angered him, he turned around and attacked the news truck."</p><p data-block-key=\"2f46h\">While Campbell was in the middle of his live report, the man struck his car's windshield, hood and driver-side window.</p><p data-block-key=\"gn7k3\">"My truck just got hit with a bat, I'm sorry guys, I've got to go," Campbell told WWJ listeners before abruptly ending the live report.</p><p data-block-key=\"ku673\">After the man stopped smashing Campbell's car, Campbell got out of his car.</p><p data-block-key=\"ani8m\">Video recorded by Nia Harden, a reporter at local TV station WXYZ, shows Campbell holding up his phone to try to photograph the man. After taking some photos, Campbell got back into his car and drove away from the man.</p><p data-block-key=\"4aaw3\">The man then ran toward Harden, who was sitting in a WXYZ news truck, and began smashing the truck's windshield.</p><p data-block-key=\"fh52n\">Police later arrived on the scene and arrested the man.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On-air report of fatal hit-and-run at Dexter-Davison interrupted by man with lead pipe (?) smashing the WWJ News truck windshield, hood, driver’s side window, then hits a TV news truck, nearby parked vehicles. Police arrest the man; still looking for hit-and-run driver. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WWJ950?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WWJ950</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/MBup1HDCSR\">pic.twitter.com/MBup1HDCSR</a></p>— Mike Campbell (@reportermikec) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/reportermikec/status/1024977908736118784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 2, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">WWJ’s Mike Campbell has a scare covering a fatal hit and run in Detroit. Dexter and Davison. While Mike was on the air LIVE- a guy starts smashing Mike’s vehicle. He’s not physically hurt. <a href=\"https://t.co/GXxZ0EKR6H\">pic.twitter.com/GXxZ0EKR6H</a></p>— Roberta Jasina (@Robertanews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Robertanews/status/1024991922438459392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 2, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/WWJ_windshield_damage.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"40iaq\">The windshield of a car belonging to local radio station WWJ-AM was damaged after a man struck it with a metal baton, on Aug. 2, 2018, in Detroit, Michigan.</p>",
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}
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"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
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"(2019-09-16 09:51:00+00:00) Detroit man sentenced in attack on reporters, news vehicles"
],
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"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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"Mike Campbell (WWJ-AM)"
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{
"title": "White House bans CNN reporter from event for ‘inappropriate’ questions",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-bans-cnn-reporter-event-asking-inappropriate-questions/",
"first_published_at": "2018-07-26T00:11:11.047325Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T19:41:39.085012Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T19:41:39.012351Z",
"date": "2018-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"oasuq\">On July 25, 2018, the White House press office told CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins that she was not allowed to attend an event in the Rose Garden that was otherwise open to the press, CNN <a href=\"https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/25/media/white-house-kaitlan-collins-press-pool/index.html\">reports</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"s1js7\">Collins said that Bill Shine, the White House deputy chief of staff for communications, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, told her that she had been banned from the event in retaliation for trying to ask President Trump a question during a photo-op.</p><p data-block-key=\"54oec\">Earlier in the day, President Trump and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker had sat for a so-called "pool spray" — a photo opportunity attended by a small subset of the White House press corps. Collins was the designated TV pool reporter, which meant that she was responsible for reporting on what happened during the pool spray and then relaying that information to her colleagues in the White House press corps.</p><p data-block-key=\"f4r18\">During the pool spray, Collins tried to ask Trump if he had any comment on two major news stories — the revelation that Trump's lawyer had secretly taped some of his phone conversations, and Trump's invitation to Russian president Vladimir Putin to have a meeting in Washington, D.C.</p><p data-block-key=\"v07dt\">Trump ignored both questions.</p><p data-block-key=\"4fbpa\">It is standard practice for pool reporters like Collins to shout out questions to the president during photo opportunities. Trump often mostly ignores such questions, but occasionally provides off-the-cuff answers, which instantly make news.</p><p data-block-key=\"2engy\">"It wasn't anything different from any other pool spray," Collins told CNN.</p><p data-block-key=\"1i25n\">But the White House press office, which in the past has criticized pool reporters for asking questions during pool sprays, decided to make an example out of Collins.</p><p data-block-key=\"m357y\">Later in the day, Trump and Juncker announced a surprise press conference in the Rose Garden. The event was open to all members of the press — at least, all members of the press except for Kaitlan Collins.</p><p data-block-key=\"r17ze\">Shortly before the Rose Garden press conference began, Shine and Sanders pulled Collins aside and told her that she was not allowed to attend.</p><p data-block-key=\"dkq0h\">"They said 'You are dis-invited from the press availability in the Rose Garden today,'" Collins recalled in an interview with CNN. "They said that the questions I asked were inappropriate for that venue. And they said I was shouting."</p><p data-block-key=\"zwk1y\">"We're not banning your network," Collins recalled Shine and Sanders telling her. "Your photographers can still come. Your producers can still come. But you are not invited to the Rose Garden today."</p><p data-block-key=\"u2qa2\">In response, Collins said, she told Shine and Sanders, "You're banning me from an event because you didn't like the questions I asked."</p><p data-block-key=\"92jip\">CNN was quick to defend Collins.</p><p data-block-key=\"zj9dw\">"Just because the White House is uncomfortable with a question regarding the news of day doesn't mean the question isn't relevant and shouldn't be asked," CNN said in a statement. "This decision to bar a member of the press is retaliatory in nature and not indicative of an open and free press. We demand better."</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"y5wsi\">Bill Shine, newly hired as Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications, talks with White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and counselor Kellyanne Conway, in the East Room of the White House, on July 9, 2018.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Federal government: White House"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kaitlan Collins (CNN)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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"Government event"
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},
{
"title": "The Nation reporter forcibly removed from Trump–Putin press conference",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nation-reporter-forcibly-removed-trumpputin-press-conference/",
"first_published_at": "2018-07-16T21:30:21.825251Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-21T17:15:18.680733Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T17:15:18.582720Z",
"date": "2018-07-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Helsinki",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tmf9k\">Sam Husseini, an op-ed reporter for The Nation, was forcibly removed from a press briefing between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"p9wfl\">Husseini is the communications director of the nonprofit Institute for Public Accuracy, which connects reporters with progressive experts as alternative sources. He was attending the presser as an accredited member of the press, reporting on behalf of The Nation magazine.</p><p data-block-key=\"5koqz\">NBC <a href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/video/journalist-forcibly-removed-from-trump-putin-press-conference-room-1278431811937\">reports</a> that two men approached Husseini just before the press conference began and asked him to leave the press room. He later returned to the press room to collect his things.</p><p data-block-key=\"1xiay\"><a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-putin-helsinki#h_cbdf49cd130befa5fb12acb6c5cc1659\">According to CNN</a>, when Husseini returned to the press room, journalists asked him what had happened, and he said that he had been taken for questioning because he was carrying a piece of paper on which he’d written the words, “Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty” — an issue he planned to ask about during the press conference. The Russian authorities considered the sign a “malicious item.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7dext\">“I want to ask a question,” Husseini said, holding up the sign so other reporters could see it.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We have an incident. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/TrumpPutinSummit?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#TrumpPutinSummit</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Helsinki2018?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Helsinki2018</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/ftOMfGipzH\">pic.twitter.com/ftOMfGipzH</a></p>— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/W7VOA/status/1018874933764677634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 16, 2018</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=\"7oypd\">As Husseini showed off the sign, a security official tried to grab it out of his hand. When Husseini did not hand the sign over, more security officers grabbed him and forcibly escorted him out of the press room. One security official removed his glasses, and others grabbed and forcibly removed him.</p><p data-block-key=\"ax5yq\">The Nation condemned Husseini’s removal from the press conference.</p><p data-block-key=\"xztxk\">“At a time when this administration consistently denigrates the media, we’re troubled by reports that he was forcibly removed from the press conference before the two leaders began to take questions,” Caitlin Graf, The Nation’s vice president of communications, <a href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/16/reporter-from-the-nation-forcibly-removed-from-trump-putin-presser.html\">said</a> in a statement.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Journalistic solidarity needed more than ever to confront a WH that considers media the enemy of the people, and relentlessly attacks accountability media in order to delegitimize checks on its abuses, corruption.</p>— Katrina vandenHeuvel (@KatrinaNation) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KatrinaNation/status/1018886127460274176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 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\">Just got out of detention. I was held for a time by Finnish authorities at Presidential Palace and then manhandled and cuffed on hands and legs to detention facility. They wouldn’t call my family to tell them I was unharmed. Thanks for well wishes from many good folks. More soon. <a href=\"https://t.co/bEke39ZVb4\">https://t.co/bEke39ZVb4</a></p>— Sam Husseini (@samhusseini) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/samhusseini/status/1018963480035119105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 16, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Finland",
"abbreviation": null
},
"updates": [
"(2019-03-26 15:49:00+00:00) Letter sent to Husseini"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Federal government: White House"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sam Husseini (The Nation)"
],
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"Government event"
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},
{
"title": "Chicago Sun-Times reporter assaulted by police while covering protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sun-times-reporter-assaulted-police-while-covering-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2018-07-31T23:19:31.279145Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-27T22:32:09.886247Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-27T22:32:09.763696Z",
"date": "2018-07-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xtudt\">Chicago Sun-Times reporter Nader Issa was attacked by Chicago Police Department officers while covering a protest in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood, on July 14, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"07gey\">In the aftermath of a <a href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/2018/7/14/18420647/authorities-identify-man-fatally-shot-by-cpd-officer-in-south-shore\">fatal police shooting of Harith Augustus</a>, an unarmed black man, in the neighborhood, protesters gathered around the crime scene. Issa covered the demonstration for the Sun Times and posted regular updates from the scene on his Twitter account. He later wrote a Sun Times article about the shooting and resulting protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"4uu4g\">Issa reported that the scene got increasingly tense throughout the evening, and police hit at least six protesters with batons in their effort to push them back from the scene.</p><p data-block-key=\"1xoor\">Just after 7 p.m. local time, Issa <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NaderDIssa/status/1018284580250488832\">tweeted</a> that a large crowd was gathering at the intersection of 71st Street and Chappel Avenue.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A very large crowd is gathering at 71st/Chappel, where Chicago Police say they shot and killed a person this evening. It's hard to put in words how tense the scene is. Witnesses say a female officer shot the man in the back while he was running away. He was a local barber. <a href=\"https://t.co/aaV6smY07V\">pic.twitter.com/aaV6smY07V</a></p>— Nader Issa (@NaderDIssa) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NaderDIssa/status/1018284580250488832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 15, 2018</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=\"fuiut\">Around 9:30 pm, Issa tweeted that two CPD officers had shoved him to the ground and smacked his phone out of his hand. Issa said that he was wearing his press badge at the time and had identified himself as a reporter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Internet is bad so it's taking a minute for this video to upload, but Chicago Police just rushed the parking lot and started hitting people. I have my press badge on and identified myself as a reporter but I got shoved to the ground by two cops who smacked my phone out of my hand</p>— Nader Issa (@NaderDIssa) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NaderDIssa/status/1018323892761513984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 15, 2018</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=\"019k6\">Two hours later, Issa tweeted a video of the altercation with the officers. In the video, Issa approaches a group of officers involved in an altercation with a civilian. Two of the officers push him back, and then Issa's phone appears to be smacked sideways.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I had my press badge held up in one hand and my phone in the other while I was saying "I'm a reporter." Two Chicago Police officers repeatedly pushed me, then smacked my phone out of my hand and threw me back. I lost my balance but can't remember if I hit the ground or not. <a href=\"https://t.co/vhi4gjlNla\">pic.twitter.com/vhi4gjlNla</a></p>— Nader Issa (@NaderDIssa) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NaderDIssa/status/1018352613203546113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 15, 2018</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2018-07-31_at_7.15.26.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"j2jjq\">A screengrab from a video recorded by Sun-Times journalist Nader Issa shows a Chicago Police Department officer reaching out to grab Issa's phone.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Nader Issa (Chicago Sun-Times)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Judge orders Los Angeles Times to delete published article about plea deal",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-orders-los-angeles-times-remove-certain-facts-published-article/",
"first_published_at": "2018-07-16T17:51:57.132788Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-21T20:21:45.241614Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T20:21:45.097461Z",
"date": "2018-07-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"iopmy\">On July 14, 2018, a federal judge in California ordered the Los Angeles Times to remove certain information from an article that the paper had published about a corrupt police officer accepting a plea deal. The newspaper had published details of the plea deal after a document spelling out the deal was inadvertently made publicly available, rather than being filed under seal.</p><p data-block-key=\"knuzg\">On the morning of July 14, the Times <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20180714180330/http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-glendale-detective-guilty-plea-20180714-story.html\">reported</a> that John Balian, a narcotics detective accused of working with the Mexican Mafia, had accepted a plea deal and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. The article was based on a copy of the sealed plea agreement — which had been inadvertently made available to the public through the online court records database PACER — and included specific details included in the plea agreement: </p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20180714180330/http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-glendale-detective-guilty-plea-20180714-story.html\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"ffngd\">According to the plea agreement, Balian accepted $2,000 to help locate someone believed to have broken into his associate’s office and stolen $100,000 worth of property.</p><p data-block-key=\"icyb9\">In March 2017, the agreement said, Balian gave information to the U.S. Marshals Services stationed at the Glendale Police Department, causing law enforcement resources to be used in an attempt to find the alleged thief.</p><p data-block-key=\"bw95n\">In June 2015, Balian overheard Glendale police officers discussing a plan to search and arrest about 22 people in a federal racketeering case targeting the Frogtown gang, which is loyal to the Mexican Mafia, the agreement said.</p><p data-block-key=\"esljz\">Balian then tipped off his associates within the Mexican Mafia, saying authorities planned to arrest Jorge Grey, a Frogtown “shotcaller” who was a top target.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20180714180330/http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-glendale-detective-guilty-plea-20180714-story.html\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"9rhdn\">Archived version of "Glendale detective pleads guilty to obstruction, lying to feds about ties to organized crime" (Los Angeles Times)</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"wg9mq\">Shortly after the article was published, Balian's attorney filed an emergency motion, asking the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to issue a <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4600189-Temporary-Restraining-Order-on-Los-Angeles-Times.html\">temporary restraining order</a> to prohibit the Times from publishing details from the plea agreement. District court judge John Walter, the federal judge overseeing Balian's criminal case, quickly <a href=\"http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-legal-dispute-20180714-story.html\">granted</a> the temporary restraining order. Judge Walter's order also <a href=\"https://www.popehat.com/2018/07/16/federal-judge-issues-illegitimate-prior-restraint-order-against-los-angeles-times-in-federal-criminal-case/\">directed</a> the Times to remove any articles about the plea agreement that it had already published.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4600189-Temporary-Restraining-Order-on-Los-Angeles-Times.html\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"p4y99\">IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Los Angeles Times and each of its parent companies, subsidiaries, or affiliates (collectively “the Los Angeles Times”), directly or indirectly, whether alone or in concert with others, including any officer, agent, employee, or representative of the Los Angeles Times, be and hereby are enjoined from: </p><p data-block-key=\"sf61w\"><b>Disclosing the under seal plea agreement in this case, in whole or in part, or publishing any article, piece, post, or other document whether in print or electronic format that quotes, describes, summarizes, references, relies on, or is derived in any way from the under seal plea agreement in this case and that it return forthwith any and all copies of such plea agreement in its possession to the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.</b></p><p data-block-key=\"nxq7u\">...</p><p data-block-key=\"ty958\">IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that defendant shall serve the Los Angeles Times with a copy of this order but not the <i>Ex Parte</i> Application forthwith. To the extent any article is published prior to the issuance of this order, it shall be deleted and removed forthwith.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4600189-Temporary-Restraining-Order-on-Los-Angeles-Times.html\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"zhuzj\">Temporary Restraining Order issued on July 14, 2018</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5tax1\">At 5:15 p.m. on July 14, the Times edited its earlier article to remove certain details about the plea deal, and added a note to the bottom of <a href=\"http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-glendale-detective-guilty-plea-20180714-story.html\">the story</a>: "This story has been updated to remove references from the filed plea agreement, which was ordered sealed by a judge but publicly available Friday on the federal court’s online document database. The changes were made to comply with an order issued Saturday by a U.S. federal judge. The Times plans to challenge the order."</p><p data-block-key=\"78t36\">Times publisher Norm Pearlstine defended the Times' decision to report on the plea deal. </p><p data-block-key=\"qdtyh\">“We believe that once material is in the public record, it is proper and appropriate to publish it if it is newsworthy,” Times publisher Norm Pearlstine said in an interview with the paper.</p><p data-block-key=\"6l99l\">The temporary restraining order will remain in effect until Walter rules on whether or not to grant Balian a preliminary injunction — which is similar to a temporary restraining order, but more permanent — against the Times.</p><p data-block-key=\"k446f\">On July 16, the Times filed <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4600188-Notice-of-Los-Angeles-Times-appeal-of-TRO.html\">an emergency petition</a> for a writ of mandamus with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over federal district courts in California. The petition, which was filed under seal, essentially asks the appeals court to step in and order the district court to immediately rescind the temporary restraining order.</p><p data-block-key=\"m2dqh\">A coalition of 60 news and press freedom organizations, led by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of Press, submitted <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/sites/default/files/docs/20180716_213407_proposed_amici_letter_in_support_of_la_times_communications.pdf\">a letter</a> to the Ninth Circuit in support of the Times' petition.</p><p data-block-key=\"zk0cj\">"It appears that the district court may have entered the temporary restraining order in an attempt to correct the mistaken public filing of the plea agreement, which was meant to be kept under seal," the letter states. "The district court's desire to correct this <i>administrative</i> error, however, cannot justify the imposition of a prior restraint, which has now created a <i>constitutional</i> harm. Although courts have the power to enter sealing orders when common law and constitutional standards are met ... once information is made public, nearly 90 years of constitutional law stand in the way of using prior restraints to prevent a newspaper from communicating the information to its readers."</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"status_of_prior_restraint": "dropped",
"mistakenly_released_materials": true,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2018-07-17 12:51:00+00:00) Judge vacates order"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Los Angeles Times"
],
"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Prior Restraint"
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},
{
"title": "Movie set crew member steals notes from Daily Beast journalist, rips them up",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/movie-set-crew-member-steals-notes-daily-beast-journalist-rips-them/",
"first_published_at": "2018-07-12T21:34:47.905491Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T18:56:39.771023Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T18:56:39.678172Z",
"date": "2018-07-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ciue7\">While sitting near the set of a controversial anti-abortion movie filming in Washington, D.C., on July 12, 2018, Daily Beast reporter Will Sommer had his notes stolen and then ripped apart by a member of the movie’s crew.</p><p data-block-key=\"56lyu\">On July 6, the Daily Beast published <a href=\"https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-roe-v-wade-a-disturbing-anti-abortion-film-featuring-milo-yiannopoulos-and-tomi-lahren\">an article</a> about the controversy over the movie “Roe v. Wade,” an extreme anti-abortion film. On July 12, “Roe v. Wade” was filming in Washington, D.C. and Sommer was sitting nearby taking notes, when he was approached by a crewmember.</p><p data-block-key=\"qfvqg\">“But as the cameras rolled, a man later identified by police as a member of the crew came over to where I was sitting in public space with a group of tourists and grabbed my notepad out of my hand by force,” Sommer wrote in <a href=\"https://www.thedailybeast.com/roe-v-wade-movies-crew-member-assaulted-reporter\">a Daily Beast article about the incident</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dg7pl\">The man then hid Sommer’s notes in his pocket and began walking away, refusing to return the notepad. After Sommer followed him, the man ripped out some of the pages and crumpled them, before returning the rest of the notepad to Sommer.</p><p data-block-key=\"anzmf\">Sommer called the police, and the man handed over the crumpled notes when police searched him. But police declined to arrest the man.</p><p data-block-key=\"m6oc0\">“The officer declined to stop the man, reveal his name, file an incident report, or talk to other members of the crew, insisting that the problem had already been solved,” Sommer wrote in the Daily Beast article.</p><p data-block-key=\"1x9np\">One of the actors on the "Roe v. Wade" set told Sommer that the theft of his notes was a response to critical media coverage of the film.</p><p data-block-key=\"zix4w\">"The movie’s been under great attack," Sommer recalled the actor telling him. “Sometimes we grab, sometimes we talk to you."</p><p data-block-key=\"hf4pt\">Sommer told Freedom of the Press Foundation that his notepad had included notes about multiple stories, some of which were not related to the “Roe v. Wade” movie.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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{
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"reproductive rights"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"Will Sommer (The Daily Beast)"
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},
{
"title": "Massachusetts reporter arrested for threatening Walpole Times reporter",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/massachusetts-reporter-arrested-threatening-walpole-times-reporter/",
"first_published_at": "2019-01-29T14:47:20.083276Z",
"last_published_at": "2019-11-25T19:33:06.529163Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2019-11-25T19:33:06.453080Z",
"date": "2018-07-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Walpole",
"longitude": -71.2495,
"latitude": 42.14177,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Reporter Amy Zuckerman was arrested at her home in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, on July 7, 2018, on a warrant charging her with making terroristic threats in emails to a reporter at the Walpole Times the day before.</p><p>The Walpole Times, based in Walpole, Massachusetts, is owned by GateHouse Media. Its reporter, who was unnamed, had asked Zuckerman to remove him from a mailing list multiple times.</p><p>“The specific threats were mentioned shooting a firearm through the window of the Walpole Times while people were there,” Walpole Police Chief John Carmichael <a href=\"https://boston.cbslocal.com/2018/07/09/woman-threat-shooting-walpole-times-journalist/\">told WBZ-TV CBS Boston</a> in July. “We figure that we had to give some credibility to it, especially in light of what just happened in Maryland, we took it seriously, the people at Walpole Times took it seriously.”</p><p>Zuckerman’s arrest came one week after Jarrod Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-upset-newspaper-coverage-shoots-and-kills-multiple-journalists-capital-gazette-newsroom/\">for the shooting deaths of Capital Gazette employees</a> in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 28.</p><p>Anne Brennan, Regional Director of News and Operations for GateHouse Media New England’s West Unit, explained her concern in a statement to the paper:</p><p>“The email contained what we believe to be a very serious threat of physical harm. The nature of the threat was very specific. Oftentimes as a journalist you receive threats, people get angry at you, but they’re not specific about what they’re going to do to you, sometimes they say they will cancel their subscription or something of that nature. This was a very specific threat of physical harm that not only put the journalist who received it in jeopardy, but the other people in that office as well, which is why we’re taking it very seriously.”</p><p>The same day of the Walpole Times incident, the Daily Hampshire Gazette filed trespassing charges against Zuckerman after she was asked to leave due to her behavior, <a href=\"https://www.amherstbulletin.com/Amy-Zuckerman-held-until-dangerousness-hearing-Wednesday-18756684\">according to the Amherst Bulletin</a>. Afterward, Zuckerman sent an email to the Gazette, which referenced the Capital Gazette shooting and was also threatening, <a href=\"https://www.telegram.com/news/20180717/shutesbury-woman-accused-of-threatening-to-shoot-walpole-reporter-is-ruled-dangerous\">according to MetroWest Daily News</a>.</p><p>Zuckerman, 64, pleaded not guilty to the Walpole Times incident during a July District Court arraignment hearing. She was found to be a danger to the public and ordered to be held without bail, WHDH 7 News, <a href=\"https://whdh.com/news/no-bail-for-ex-journalist-charged-with-threatening-violent-attack-on-walpole-times/\">a Boston television station, reported</a>. On Aug. 6, Zuckerman was released, then arrested the following day after violating conditions of that release.</p><p>During a hearing at the Norfolk Superior Court on Aug. 13, the charges against Zuckerman <a href=\"https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/20180813/charges-reduced-against-woman-in-journalist-threat-case\">were downgraded</a> from making terroristic threats, a felony, to threatening to commit a crime, a misdemeanor.</p><p>In December, Zuckerman turned herself into Belchertown District Court after a warrant was issued for her arrest following a second probation violation. On Jan. 3, 2019, Zuckerman was arrested for her third probation violation, attempting to contact members of the media. She was released without bail.</p><p>A spokesperson for GateHouse Media originally said the Walpole reporters and editors would return following the incident with heightened security, but MetroWest Daily News <a href=\"https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/20190102/newspaper-threats-suspect-under-investigation-for-violation\">later reported that the office has since closed</a>, and the reporter who was allegedly threatened has left the company.</p><p>The threat case is ongoing. MetroWest Daily News <a href=\"https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/20190116/amy-zuckerman-undergoing-competency-evaluation\">reported that Zuckerman is currently undergoing evaluation</a> after her lawyer filed a motion for an assessment of her competency to stand trial. Zuckerman is scheduled to appear in court for a status hearing this week.</p></div>",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Massachusetts",
"abbreviation": "MA"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-10-01 14:22:00+00:00) Charges dropped in case of threat toward Walpole Times reporter"
],
"case_statuses": null,
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Unidentified reporter 3 (GateHouse Media)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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},
{
"title": "Ohio newspapers receive threatening letters containing unknown substances",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ohio-newspapers-receive-threatening-letters-containing-unknown-substances/",
"first_published_at": "2018-08-27T17:32:21.243059Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-27T22:44:41.347859Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-27T22:44:41.238739Z",
"date": "2018-07-06",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Columbus",
"longitude": -82.99879,
"latitude": 39.96118,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2bnsg\">Two newspapers in Ohio — the Circleville Herald and the Columbus Dispatch — received threatening letters containing unknown substances in early July 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"qo2ze\">On July 5, the Circleville Herald newspaper received <a href=\"https://www.circlevilleherald.com/spotlight/police-investigating-threatening-letter-sent-to-herald/article_024ea9f3-0484-5240-a397-db612a2c09fd.html\">a threatening letter</a>. The letter contained an unknown substance, which the letter claimed was the powerful opioid drug Fentanyl.</p><p data-block-key=\"nwfxm\">The next day, Herald managing editor wrote about the incident:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://www.circlevilleherald.com/spotlight/police-investigating-threatening-letter-sent-to-herald/article_024ea9f3-0484-5240-a397-db612a2c09fd.html\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"whf8r\">On Thursday afternoon, a Herald employee opened a nondescript business envelope addressed to “Circleville Herald.” The letter threatened to physically harm the staff and said that the envelope contained the narcotic Fentanyl. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid often found in powder form that can penetrate the skin and cause death in high doses. The staff member stopped reading and dropped the letter when they noticed an unknown substance in the envelope.</p><p data-block-key=\"fqbtt\">The staff member immediately washed their hands while another staff member called Circleville Police. On arrival, CPD officers donned protective gear and collected the letter, as well as any residual substance that came out of the envelope.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://www.circlevilleherald.com/spotlight/police-investigating-threatening-letter-sent-to-herald/article_024ea9f3-0484-5240-a397-db612a2c09fd.html\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"97ot7\">Police investigating threatening letter sent to Herald (Circleville Herald)</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8p7q4\">In <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CirclevillePolice/photos/a.1858214087789975/2102961896648525/\">a statement published on Facebook</a>, the Circleville Police Department said that a hazmat team had been called in to bring the unknown substance to the Pickaway County Emergency Medical Authority for testing. The police have not yet publicly identified the substance.</p><p data-block-key=\"5eli6\">In a July 6 tweet, Bahney said that the paper’s response to the threatening letter was to “put out a damn paper” — a reference to what had happened a week earlier at the Capital Gazette, when staff rallied to publish a newspaper following a deadly mass shooting at the newspaper’s offices.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You know what we did after we received a "Fentanyl-laced" death threat in the mail Thursday? "We put out a damn paper," just like our brothers and sisters <a href=\"https://twitter.com/capitalgazette?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@capitalgazette</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/FirstAmendment?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FirstAmendment</a></p>— Jennifer Bahney (@JBBahney) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JBBahney/status/1015340790917279745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 6, 2018</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=\"4zy7v\">On July 11, the Columbus Dispatch newspaper <a href=\"https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2018/07/11/columbus-dispatch-receives-letter-laced/11538064007/\">received a letter</a> containing an unknown white powder. The letter was stamped as inmate mail from the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.</p><p data-block-key=\"l0tsc\">After the Dispatch’s security manager opened the letter and noticed the white powder, a hazmat team from the Columbus fire department and the FBI’s joint terrorism task force went to the Dispatch’s offices to test the unknown powder. </p><p data-block-key=\"7phbv\">Fairfield County sheriff Dave Phalen later told the Lancaster Eagle that the powder “was harmless and caused no injuries.” </p><p data-block-key=\"xc2yf\"><a href=\"https://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/story/news/crime/2018/07/11/suspicious-letter-white-powder-received-fairfield-county-judge-may-linked-other-reports/776186002/\">According to the Eagle</a>, local police and federal authorities are investigating whether the cases are connected.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Columbus_hazmat.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hurbo\">The Circleville Herald and the Columbus Dispatch received threatening letters containing unknown substances in early July 2018.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Ohio",
"abbreviation": "OH"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Circleville Herald",
"The Columbus Dispatch"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Denver police officers arrest journalist for taking photos",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/denver-police-officers-arrest-journalist-taking-photos/",
"first_published_at": "2018-08-29T23:08:59.122892Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-27T22:47:54.710347Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-27T22:47:54.543455Z",
"date": "2018-07-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Denver",
"longitude": -104.9847,
"latitude": 39.73915,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qjvir\">Susan Greene, the editor of the Colorado Independent, was handcuffed and detained after photographing a police interaction on July 5, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"oh67l\">Greene told Freedom of the Press Foundation in an email that she was driving in downtown Denver when she saw a group of Denver police officers standing around a naked man seated on the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"z6nao\">“I stopped to check out the scene because of a history of Denver uniformed safety officers hurting African American men in their custody and not offering medical help,” she said. “I was taking a few photos of the scene when an officer told me to stop. I told him I had a right to take photographs. He said I didn't because HIPAA.”</p><p data-block-key=\"h09fj\">Greene said that one of the officers, whom she identified as James Brooks, tried to intimidate her physically and stood close in front of her in an attempt to block her camera. When she then began taking photographs of Brooks, the officer responded with physical force.</p><p data-block-key=\"tgy8f\">Greene later wrote <a href=\"https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2018/07/06/greene-denver-police-handcuff-reporter-james-brooks/\">a first-person account</a> of what happened for the Independent:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2018/07/06/greene-denver-police-handcuff-reporter-james-brooks/\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"0o30i\">As it turns out, Officer Brooks didn’t like having his picture taken. After accusing me of blocking the door of an ambulance that had been called to the scene – toward which he had prodded me during our encounter – and saying something about me obstructing officers, he grabbed me and twisted my arm in ways that arms aren’t supposed to move. At some point in the blur, either he or Officer Adam Paulsen, badge No. 08049, locked one or maybe two pair of handcuffs on my wrists, tightly, and pushed me toward a nearby police car by grabbing my arms hard enough – and with a painful upward thrust – that I told them to stop hurting me. Their response: That I was hurting myself by resisting.</p><p data-block-key=\"67l8p\">But I wasn’t resisting. Not even close.</p><p data-block-key=\"xvj7d\">I had heard from my work reporting on several excessive force cases troublesome accounts of police injuring arrestees, yet claiming they injured themselves. But to hear it first-hand, uttered obviously for the benefit of whoever might some day review the body-camera footage, was infuriating.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2018/07/06/greene-denver-police-handcuff-reporter-james-brooks/\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"ssgyt\">Greene: That time a Denver cop made up excuses to handcuff a reporter (Colorado Independent)</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t3swl\">Greene wrote that the officers detained her in a police car for about 10 minutes before releasing her, “apparently at the urging of someone on the other end of [Brooks’] cellphone.”</p><p data-block-key=\"18sxg\">The Denver Police Department opened an internal investigation into the incident. On Aug. 23, Greene <a href=\"https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2018/08/23/greene-no-charges-denver-cop-handcuffing/\">reported</a> that she received a call from Denver district attorney Beth McGann, who told Greene that her office could not bring charges against officer Brooks for either assault or false imprisonment.</p><p data-block-key=\"tx8cl\">On Aug. 28, the Denver Police Department finally released <a href=\"https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2018/08/28/denver-police-editor-handcuff-first-amendment/\">video footage</a> of the incident taken from the body cameras worn by officers Paulsen and Brooks.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/q2Ih5abBptg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n \n <p data-block-key=\"stig4\">Footage from a body camera worn by Denver police officer Adam Paulsen shows him and officer James Brooks telling Colorado Independent editor Susan Greene to "act like a lady" as they handcuff and detain her on July 5, 2018.</p>\n \n \n <p>Colorado Independent</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/BlO8PXtwzOw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n \n <p data-block-key=\"95twy\">Footage from a body camera worn by Denver police officer James Brooks shows him and officer Adam Paulsen handcuffing and detaining Susan Greene, editor of the Colorado Independent, for taking photos on a public sidewalk on July 5, 2018.</p>\n \n \n <p>Colorado Independent</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"l94od\">“This is protected by HIPAA,” Paulsen tells Greene in the video. “You can’t record.”</p><p data-block-key=\"yneml\">“There’s also a First Amendment,” Greene responds. “Have you heard of it?”</p><p data-block-key=\"zii9b\">“That doesn’t supersede HIPAA,” Paulsen says. “Step away, or you’ll be arrested for interference."</p><p data-block-key=\"raisw\">Brooks then grabs Greene and twists her arm behind her back, and Paulsen hands him handcuffs.</p><p data-block-key=\"as87m\">“Stand up straight, let’s act like a lady,” Paulsen tells Greene as he handcuffs her.</p><p data-block-key=\"hasam\">“Are you fucking kidding me?” Greene asks. “Act like a lady?”</p><p data-block-key=\"vcqyy\">“Nope,” Brooks says, as Paulsen finishes locking the cuffs. “There you go. Now you can go to jail.”</p><p data-block-key=\"np2kd\">“Stop, you’re hurting me!” Greene yells as the officers forcibly escort her to a police car.</p><p data-block-key=\"00c33\">“No, we’re not,” one of the officers says. “Then walk, walk normal, stop resisting.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/greenedetain.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"72s1g\">Footage from a Denver police officer's body camera shows officers handcuffing Colorado Independent editor Susan Greene.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Denver Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Colorado",
"abbreviation": "CO"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-09-30 08:38:00+00:00) Denver City Council approves terms of settlement",
"(2019-09-10 16:01:00+00:00) Denver police department settles unlawful arrest of journalist for $50,000, must partake in First Amendment and sensitivity trainings"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Susan Greene (The Colorado Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Independent journalist Matt Lee forcibly removed from UN, stripped of press credentials",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-matt-lee-forcibly-removed-un-stripped-press-credentials/",
"first_published_at": "2018-08-20T22:30:24.218608Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-16T21:56:25.199445Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-16T21:56:25.060771Z",
"date": "2018-07-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i5m14\">Matt Lee — an independent journalist who covers the United Nations — was forcibly removed by security from the UN headquarters in New York City on July 3, 2018. The UN’s Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit later withdrew his press credentials, denying him access to the UN building.</p><p data-block-key=\"k7mc8\">Lee extensively and aggressively covers the United Nations on his website, Inner City Press.</p><p data-block-key=\"qauku\">Until 2016, he was accredited as a “resident correspondent” at the UN, with his own office in the building. As a resident correspondent, he was allowed to stay in the building after-hours and on weekends and was not required to undergo a security check every time he entered the UN headquarters building.</p><p data-block-key=\"hvv8g\">But on Feb. 19, 2016, Lee’s press accreditation was <a href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hayesbrown/this-journalist-has-kicked-off-a-shitstorm-of-drama-inside-t\">downgraded</a> from “resident correspondent” to “non-resident correspondent” after he livestreamed a private meeting of the United Nations Correspondents Association. There is no love lost between Lee and UNCA. Lee joined UNCA shortly after he began covering the UN in 2005, but left the association on bad terms in 2012 after reporting on a potential conflict of interest involving UNCA’s then-president.</p><p data-block-key=\"ihyo2\">The UNCA meeting was held on Jan. 29, 2016, in the UN media briefing room, which is open to all accredited journalists at the United Nations. Although UNCA wanted to use the briefing room to hold a members-only meeting, Lee insisted that he had the right to stay in the briefing room and even to livestream the meeting. UNCA complained to UN staff, who eventually cajoled Lee to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"s7vrb\">In the aftermath of that incident, the UN stripped Lee of his “resident correspondent” status, making him a non-resident correspondent. Lee lost his office and his carte blanche access to the UN headquarters building.</p><p data-block-key=\"1pplk\">According to the <a href=\"http://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/guidelines.shtml\">United Nations Media Guidelines</a>, non-resident correspondents are generally not allowed to be in the UN building after 7 p.m.:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/guidelines.shtml\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"qgm61\">Non-Resident Correspondents can access UNHQ through the Visitors' Entrance on 46th Street and 1st Avenue between 0800–1900 hours from Monday through Friday. Non-resident Correspondents only have access to UNHQ on weekends or after hours accompanied by a resident correspondent or when a meeting is advised as taking place. Entry will be allowed two hours prior to the start of the meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, the non-Resident correspondent must exit the premises within an hour, unless accompanied by a resident correspondent.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/guidelines.shtml\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"9dyc2\">UN Media Guidelines</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"skq1p\">On July 3, 2018, Lee was in the UN building after 7 p.m., having stayed past curfew to cover an all-day UN budget meeting that continued late into the night. The meeting was not open to the public or press, so Lee had “staked out” the meeting, waiting outside of the room to speak with attendees as they entered or exited the meeting room. Around 10 p.m., he conducted a brief interview with Tommo Monthé, a Cameroonian diplomat who chairs the budget committee, and then headed over to a café area to type up his interview notes.</p><p data-block-key=\"5pwg0\">According to Lee, he was typing up his interview notes in the café when two UN security guards approached him and <a href=\"http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/07/05/un-roughs-up-ejects-bans-reporter-from-headquarters-caught-on-tape.html\">grabbed</a> him, ordering him to leave the premises. Lee refused, insisting that he had the right to be in the building because he was a journalist covering a meeting. The <a href=\"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/matthew-lee-un-attacks-reporter-journalist-inner-city-press-a8445081.html\">altercation</a> with the guards left Lee with a ripped shirt and an injured arm.</p><p data-block-key=\"vrfba\">As Lee was being escorted outside, he spoke to Christian Saunders, an assistant secretary general. Lee livestreamed his conversation with Saunders and later uploaded portions of it to YouTube.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media right\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/9wGTrc24YKE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n \n <p data-block-key=\"idi04\">Independent journalist Matt Lee of Inner City Press briefly speaks with Cameroonian diplomat Tommo Monthé. He later complains to UN assistant secretary general Christian Saunders after being accosted by UN security guards and ordered to leave the building.</p>\n \n \n <p>Inner City Press/Matt Lee</p>\n \n </figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"y8cnn\">“I’m a journalist covering a six billion dollar budget, and these guys tore my shirt, tore my pass right in front of you,” Lee says to Saunders in the video. “You’re an assistant secretary general. Is that OK with you?”</p><p data-block-key=\"59ki0\">“The budget hearings are the propriety of member states, and it’s a closed budget hearing,” Saunders says.</p><p data-block-key=\"lim27\">Lee refuses to leave, arguing that he has the right as a journalist to stand outside of the budget meeting and interview diplomats, while Saunders repeatedly tells Lee that he needs to obey the security guards’ orders to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"bmg33\">Lee, who appears to be very shaken up by the altercation, repeatedly refers to the security guards as “thugs” and criticizes them for using physical force against him.</p><p data-block-key=\"6lpsd\">“Seriously! I was sitting there typing,” he says to one of the security guards as they escort him out of the building. “You really have to push my neck, right? Something is wrong with you. You should be fired. If you were in the NYPD, you would be fired right now because I’m not resisting. You had no right to touch my computer. You had no right to tear my shirt!”</p><p data-block-key=\"9ufiq\">On July 4, the day after Lee was removed from the building, he filed a police report against the UN for assault.</p><p data-block-key=\"rkj2f\">On July 5, the UN suspended his press credentials, pending the conclusion of an investigation into his behavior. Without UN press credentials, Lee was not allowed entrance into the UN headquarters building. Instead, he had to cover the UN from a bus stop across the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"mx7y6\">Although the investigation initially focused on the July 3 incident, but it soon expanded into a more general review of Lee’s behavior and professionalism. The review considered numerous complaints made about Lee’s behavior by UN member states, UN staff, and Lee’s fellow UN correspondents. Lee was not given any opportunity to respond to any of the complaints against him.</p><p data-block-key=\"zr42q\">On Aug. 17, the UN notified Lee in a <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4776012-Lee-M-17-Aug-18.html\">letter</a> that it had concluded its review and decided to withdraw his press accreditation.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4776012-Lee-M-17-Aug-18.html\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"v8dze\">This review has indicated repeated breaches of the [UN Media] Guidelines, including the following recorded breaches of the specific provisions of the Guidelines stated above:</p><p data-block-key=\"eu4cy\">(i) presence on United Nations premises outside authorized time periods as stipulated in the Guidelines;</p><p data-block-key=\"22ekb\">(ii) presence in locations of the United Nations premises not authorized by the Guidelines;</p><p data-block-key=\"2mji1\">(iii) conduct towards Member State diplomats and United Nations staff, including recording and live broadcasting without consent or [Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit] approval and without due regard to privacy, in breach of the Guidelines; and</p><p data-block-key=\"hi6tm\">(iv) conduct on United Nations premises towards other accredited United Nations correspondents and media outlets, including videos/live broadcasts using profanities and derogatory assertions towards them without due regard to their dignity, privacy and integrity, in breach of the Guidelines.</p><p data-block-key=\"45n3d\">In addition, following several of the breaches of the Guidelines referenced above, you refused to comply with directions issued by United Nations security officers.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4776012-Lee-M-17-Aug-18.html\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"vol1k\">Letter to Matt Lee withdrawing press accreditation</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j82fy\">Lee <a href=\"http://www.innercitypress.com/unguterres1smalebansicp081718.html\">believes</a> that the UN leadership is <a href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hayesbrown/inner-city-press-ban-united-nations-matthew-lee\">retaliating</a> against him because he has reported on their apparent conflicts of interest and corruption. The UN, for its part, says that it objects only to Lee’s behavior, not his reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"kgbqa\">“Just like the White House, access is not a right, it’s a privilege,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric <a href=\"https://www.cjr.org/the_profile/reporter-expelled-un.php\">told</a> the Columbia Journalism Review. “None of this is happening now because of what he writes. … He creates an atmosphere of incivility within our working environment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wod30\">But it is difficult to separate Lee’s behavior from his reporting. He is an aggressive reporter, in every sense of the word. He is dedicated to exposing the corruption and conflicts of interest that he believes permeate the UN, and he has little patience for those who refuse to talk to him. Although his breathless posts on Inner City Press and his commentary-filled livestreams may often seem hyperbolic and conspiratorial, Lee has done important investigative journalism on some of the unsavory influence-peddling that underlies diplomacy at the UN.</p><p data-block-key=\"d66u4\">In particular, he has reported on the UN’s close relationships with unsavory regimes in places like Cameroon, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.</p><p data-block-key=\"agprj\">Recently, Lee has reported that the UN leadership has soft-pedaled criticism of Cameroon’s human rights abuses at the same time that it has tried to win budgetary concessions from the Cameroonian diplomat who chairs the UN budget committee. That is the reason that he was covering the budget meeting late at night on July 3, which led to him being forcibly escorted out of the building.</p><p data-block-key=\"tv4z2\">Lee has suggested that the UN roughed him up and expelled him from the UN building on July 3 as part of a conspiracy to stop him from reporting on the UN’s relationship with Cameroon. It’s more likely that Lee was ordered to leave the building because it was after 7 p.m. and he was a non-resident correspondent. Still, whether intentional or not, the UN's actions have had the effect of making it more difficult for Lee to report on conflicts of interest at the UN.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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"Matt Lee (Independent)"
],
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{
"title": "Journalist stopped at the border multiple times, told passport is flagged",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-border-told-passport-flagged/",
"first_published_at": "2019-08-02T18:39:00.491988Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-06T19:51:49.786264Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-06T19:51:49.703289Z",
"date": "2018-07-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uwht4\">Freelance multimedia reporter Brooke Binkowski was stopped a second time by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in July 2018 as she was re-entering the United States at the San Ysidro port of entry.</p><p data-block-key=\"w1jfs\">As with her <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?categories=5&targets=382\">other stops</a>, Binkowski told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was directed to a secondary screening area to have both her person and her vehicle searched. Binkowski told the Tracker that she had been in Mexico, in part, “hunting down documents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gr6w5\">Officers questioned her about where she had been in Tijuana, Binkowski said, and when she told them she was a journalist, she was questioned about her reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"d3hrm\">Binkowski, a U.S. citizen, told the Tracker that she felt her treatment by the CBP officers was unusual and unacceptable.</p><p data-block-key=\"mg9je\">“They would go through my stuff and then they would put their hands near their guns or where their guns are supposed to be, they would get in my face,” Binkowski said. She also noted that the exclusively male officers treated her, “a small, 5-foot-3 skinny woman,” as though she was a physical threat.</p><p data-block-key=\"rsg4p\">“For them to be treating me as though I was physically intimidating for them to the point where they would shout things like, ‘Back away, ma’am, you’re going to have to back away! Get back!’ or ‘Don’t give me that attitude,’ it was not acceptable,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bh68n\">Binkowski told the Tracker she asked to speak to a supervising officer about her treatment. The officer informed her that there was a flag on her passport but that he could not provide any information on what it was for because he did not have access to the details.</p><p data-block-key=\"ud8sd\">He advised her to file a Freedom of Information Act request on her own name, which she did in May 2019. Binkowski told the Tracker that she put off filing the request as other issues took priority and she was uncertain whether she truly wanted to know the answer.</p><p data-block-key=\"2y62p\">In a letter dated July 11 that Binkowski shared with the Tracker, CBP acknowledged its receipt of her request and advised her that “due to the increasing number of FOIA requests received by this office, we may encounter some delay in processing your request.” It further stated that “the average time to process a FOIA request related to ‘travel/border incidents’ is a minimum of 3-6 months.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Binkowski4_2975IFst.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"8xycx\">Freelance multimedia reporter Brooke Binkowski, shown here in 2015, was stopped multiple times while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": true,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Brooke Binkowski (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Freelance multimedia reporter stopped at San Ysidro border crossing, questioned about reporting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-multimedia-reporter-stopped-san-ysidro-border-crossing-questioned-about-reporting/",
"first_published_at": "2019-08-02T18:38:20.530807Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-09T16:29:58.268624Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-09T16:29:58.189861Z",
"date": "2018-07-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8dquo\">Beginning in 2017, freelance multimedia reporter Brooke Binkowski noticed she was sent to secondary screening whenever she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.</p><p data-block-key=\"1fn4o\">“The first few times it was a cursory inspection so I chalked it up to increased security and border agents flexing their muscles more or less because they could,” Binkowski, a U.S. citizen, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"nuzz2\">She said she then became concerned about her treatment in July 2018, when she was pulled into secondary screening as she re-entered via the San Ysidro port of entry. Binkowski told the Tracker that she had been in Mexico, in part, “hunting down documents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"yzxbj\">While she can’t remember the exact date of the incident, Binkowski told the Tracker that her mid-afternoon crossing in July 2018 was unusual, and struck her as “security theater.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qbwaz\">“I was yelled at, intimidated by men with guns on their hips,” she said. “One man got right in my face and screamed that my attitude was fucking shit.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nwakq\">After she was directed to secondary, Binkowski said she was given a cursory inspection and asked to empty her pockets, but U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers did not ask her to unlock any electronic devices for search.</p><p data-block-key=\"9w2q5\">Officers did question her about where she had been in Tijuana, Binkowski said. When she told them she was a journalist, she was questioned about her reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"ude6w\">Binkowski told the Tracker that her car was searched twice before she was permitted to leave. She estimated that she was prevented from crossing the border for approximately an hour and a half before being permitted to enter the U.S.</p><p data-block-key=\"a6ylw\">Binkowski would be stopped each time she crossed the border for the remainder of the year. Read <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?categories=5&targets=382\">those incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Binkowski3_J3b2G8zP.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ojv16\">Brooke Binkowski, a freelance multimedia reporter, realized in 2017 that she was being pulled into secondary screening each time she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.</p>",
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"actor": null,
"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": true,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
"Border Stop"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"Brooke Binkowski (Freelance)"
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist Liam Cohen pepper-sprayed by police while covering Patriot Prayer rally",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-liam-cohen-pepper-sprayed-police-while-covering-patriot-prayer-rally/",
"first_published_at": "2018-07-11T18:10:40.585627Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-25T19:54:08.526337Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-25T19:54:08.433097Z",
"date": "2018-06-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"viv1l\">Freelance photojournalist Liam Cohen was tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed by police officers while covering a far-right rally in Portland, Oregon, on June 30, 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"z3ppq\">Cohen was documenting the rally for the Willamette Week, a Portland alt-weekly, when he got caught in between members of the far-right Patriot Prayer group and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"nin3g\">“Tear gas got shot in the middle to try to break the groups up,” Cohen told Freedom of the Press Foundation.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just got seriously tear gassed and severely battered. Can’t post photos at the moment but will as soon as I can. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/patriotprayer?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#patriotprayer</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/protest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#protest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/riot?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#riot</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/antifa?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#antifa</a></p>— PDX Photojournalist (@pdxjourno) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/pdxjourno/status/1013225164786491392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 1, 2018</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=\"emq9z\">Cohen said he then was pushed around the corner heading north on 2nd St, where police officers in riot gear shot streams of pepper spray into the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"0au4f\">“They shot right at me,” he said. “It seemed like they were going for a broad ‘let’s hit everybody.’ I think they were targeting anyone who was near that skirmish.”</p><p data-block-key=\"69bct\">He resumed documenting the protest shortly after being tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed.</p><p data-block-key=\"djolk\">“I’ve been pepper sprayed before, so in a weird way, I’m used to it,” Cohen said. “Everything was burning at first, but this passed after a few minutes. I waited until I got my bearings, threw water into my eyes from my water bottle, and just continued following the protest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"omwys\">Cohen said that at the time he was pepper-sprayed, he was carrying a large camera and wore both press credentials and a press patch.</p><p data-block-key=\"42pz8\">“The way that Portland police handle this...they don’t discriminate against hitting journalists," he said. "If they saw me and knew that I was press, they didn’t care. That’s the way it goes out there, they don’t care if you’re press or not.”</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
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"tags": [
"protest"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"Liam Cohen (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter injured while hiding from Capital Gazette newsroom gunman",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-injured-while-hiding-from-capital-gazette-newsroom-gunman/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-15T19:57:12.522808Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:58:58.101078Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:58:57.971971Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jqofw\"><i>Editor’s Note: In January 2023, families of victims and some of the survivors of the 2018 Capital Gazette newsroom shooting dismissed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit after reaching a settlement agreement. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is updating its Assault category documentation to include the five journalists who were plaintiffs in the suit and present during the attack.</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\"><i>Four journalists</i></a><i> and one newsroom employee were killed.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"3s2ld\">Reporter Rachael Pacella was working in the Capital Gazette offices on June 28, 2018, when a man armed with a shotgun entered the newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, and shot multiple newspaper employees.</p><p data-block-key=\"7usor\">The shooter entered the offices just after 2:30 p.m., shooting through the glass doors leading into the newsroom. Pacella <a href=\"https://writeoncapgaz.wordpress.com/2018/07/06/stitches-and-the-ugly-watercolor-duckling/\">wrote in a blog post</a> after the incident that she ran to escape through the back door but hit her head against it when she discovered that it had been barricaded, causing a gash between her eyebrows. She then hid between two filing cabinets with a clipboard cutting into her leg, <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/jarrod-ramos-sentence-capital-gazette-shooting/2021/09/27/50aad956-1d6f-11ec-bcb8-0cb135811007_story.html\">according to The Washington Post</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hrcj\">The gunman called police at 2:38 p.m., saying that he was done shooting and that he would surrender, <a href=\"https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/07/08/prosecution-begins-making-case-for-prison-sentence-for-capital-gazette-shooter/\">according to Maryland Matters</a>. Officers entered the Capital Gazette offices at 2:44 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"25s7c\">“After a little bit, I heard some yelling, and it was clear that it was police,” Pacella later <a href=\"https://www.wypr.org/wypr-news/2021-07-09/i-thought-i-was-going-to-die-capital-gazette-witnesses-testify\">testified</a>. “And eventually an officer came into my field of view. It said ‘police’ on the back, and they told us to get out.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bvr6q\">Pacella said she had left her shoes at her desk and had to be carried out by an officer to avoid cutting herself on glass from the shattered front door. The Baltimore Sun <a href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/anne-arundel/bs-md-capital-gazette-shooting-20180629-story.html\">reported</a> that she was taken to the hospital where received three stitches and was told she had a concussion.</p><p data-block-key=\"3o3oe\">In her blog, Pacella wrote that during the five hours she was in the hospital, she asked for paper and a pen and started reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"glm8\">“I had no information, so I gathered my own. The name of the doctor treating me, the first name and last initial of the officer in the room. My immediate recollections post-shooting. ‘Dried blood on right arm looked like veins outside of my skin.’ ‘The office smelled like gunpowder,’” Pacella <a href=\"https://writeoncapgaz.wordpress.com/2018/07/15/a-trip-to-the-newseum-and-isolation-in-the-aftermath/\">wrote</a>. “I am proud of that first notebook. I am proud of my instinct to write down and record everything that was going on around me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"89jh8\">Of the 11 Capital Gazette employees in the newsroom during the shooting, five were killed and two injured. All journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette\">killed in or present for the attack</a> are documented in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s Assault category.</p><p data-block-key=\"5g402\">The ground-floor newsroom of the Capital Gazette was home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the deadliest single attack on journalists in United States history, <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2018/06/alleged-killer-of-capital-gazette-employees-had-ma/\">according to the Committee to Protect Journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"259ln\">The gunman was convicted on 23 counts in July 2021, the Capital Gazette <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/crime/ac-cn-capital-gazette-shooting-trial-day-12-20210715-jyvoqd2czve63ar3pgo7ub7qim-story.html\">reported</a>. He was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2021, to six life sentences — five without the possibility of parole — plus 345 years in prison, all to be served consecutively.</p><p data-block-key=\"7i9tb\">In announcing the sentence, Judge Michael Wachs said the defendant was getting what he deserved. “To say the defendant showed a callous and cruel disregard for the sanctity of human life is simply an understatement,” Wachs said.</p><p data-block-key=\"aoqfm\">Pacella <a href=\"https://www.marylandmatters.org/2019/10/28/capital-gazette-shooter-pleads-guilty/\">told Maryland Matters</a> that she was relieved when the verdict was handed down. “I’m happy because I feel like today brought some closure,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"53m5j\">In June 2021, the families of victims and five of the six survivors filed lawsuits against the Sun and Tribune Publishing, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/legal-proceedings-crime-lawsuits-annapolis-shootings-642be45d73aa5b6701feb73c9c3ab942\">reported</a>. (The Capital was purchased by Baltimore Sun Media, a subsidiary of Tribune Publishing, in 2014.)</p><p data-block-key=\"ehka\">The suits — one for wrongful death, the other for negligence — both argued that the shooting was preventable. The negligence lawsuit said that if “reasonable steps” had been taken, the gunman “would have been detected and stopped prior to entering The Capital’s newsroom, and he may never have attempted the assault at all.” The cases were consolidated in early 2022, according to the AP.</p><p data-block-key=\"ff72m\">The parties reached a settlement agreement and filed a joint motion for dismissal on Jan. 3, 2023. Pacella confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the details of the settlement are confidential.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS1UHNB.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"nvz5k\">Staffers of the Capital Gazette attend a vigil on June 29, 2018, the day after five people were killed at the newspaper’s offices in Annapolis, Maryland. Survivor Rachael Pacella, on the far right in green, was injured when she hid during the shooting.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"state": {
"name": "Maryland",
"abbreviation": "MD"
},
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],
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"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
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],
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"Rachael Pacella (Capital Gazette)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Sports reporter killed in Capital Gazette newsroom shooting by man upset with newspaper coverage",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sports-reporter-killed-in-capital-gazette-newsroom-shooting-by-man-upset-with-newspaper-coverage/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-21T20:45:58.827623Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:57:24.356472Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:57:24.207850Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uefy6\">On June 28, 2018, a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, and shot multiple journalists and other media workers, the Baltimore Sun <a href=\"http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html\">reported</a>. Five people, including four journalists, were killed in the attack, and two others were injured. Police later identified the suspected shooter as Jarrod Ramos, who had previously sued the Capital Gazette for defamation.</p><p data-block-key=\"h7kuf\">Community news and sports reporter <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/maryland/annapolis/bs-md-john-mcnamara-20180628-story.html\">John McNamara</a>, who had worked for the Capital Gazette for 24 years, was among those killed. Anne Arundel County police said that other Capital Gazette employees killed in the attack were:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"2c7ww\">Rob Hiaasen, columnist and assistant editor</li><li data-block-key=\"p59rx\">Gerald Fischman, editorial page editor</li><li data-block-key=\"8wwez\">Wendi Winters, community news reporter and columnist</li><li data-block-key=\"cf89n\">Rebecca Smith, advertising sales assistant</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"jmnyz\">Two other Capital Gazette employees, whose names were not released, were injured in the attack. Find the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s documentation of all the journalists killed in the attack <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9t1q6\">The shooting occurred on June 28 inside the Capital Gazette newsroom, which is located on the ground floor of an office building in Annapolis, Maryland. The newsroom is home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the most deadly attack on journalists in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"rmyf5\">Phil Davis, a crime reporter for The Capital who was inside the newsroom during the shooting, told the Sun that he saw multiple colleagues shot. He said the scene inside the newsroom "was like a war zone." In a series of powerful tweets, he described what he witnessed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421008597364742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can't say much more and don't want to declare anyone dead, but it's bad.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421862402527232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012422058972676097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qhevl\">Jarrod Ramos, the suspect in the shooting, had threatened and harassed Capital Gazette staffers for years, <a href=\"http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ramos-search-20180628-story.html\">according to the Sun</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"sf8ch\">It began in July 2011, when Capital columnist Eric Hartley wrote about how Ramos was charged with harassment after stalking and threatening a high school classmate online. In response to Hartley's column, Ramos waged a one-man war against him and the paper, <a href=\"https://pilotonline.com/news/local/crime/article_56a204e6-7b39-11e8-8586-c75874de25c7.html\">according to The Virginian-Pilot</a>, where Hartley now works.</p><p data-block-key=\"8zwsv\">In July 2012, he filed a defamation lawsuit against Hartley, Capital Gazette Communications, and The Capital editor and publisher Tom Marquardt. Ramos represented himself in the suit, which was filed in Prince George's County, Maryland. At a March 2013 court hearing, a judge dismissed Ramos' complaint with prejudice and tried to explain to Ramos why the article was not defamatory:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"i9dnb\">You know, I understand exactly how you feel. I think people who are the subject of newspaper articles, whoever they may be, feel that there is a requirement that they be placed in the best light, or they have an opportunity to have the story reported to their satisfaction, or have the opportunity to have however much input they believe is appropriate.</p><p data-block-key=\"k9kp6\">But that's simply not true. There is nothing in those complaints that prove that anything that was published about you is, in fact, false. It all came from a public record. It was of the result of a criminal conviction. And it cannot give rise to a defamation suit.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"lhspw\">Transcript of March 29, 2013 motion hearing</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tx0qw\">Ramos appealed the judge's decision. The Maryland Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's dismissal of the case and ordered Ramos to pay Capital Gazette's legal fees. In an unpublished opinion, one of the appellate court judges wrote that "a discussion of defamation law would be an exercise in futility, because the appellant [Ramos] fails to come close to alleging a case of defamation," and sharply criticized Ramos for bringing the lawsuit:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"ureai\">The appellant is pro se. A lawyer would almost certainly have told him not to proceed with this case. It reveals a fundamental failure to understand what defamation law is and, more particularly, what defamation law is not. The appellant is aggrieved because the newspaper story about his guilty plea assumed that he was guilty and that the guilty plea was, therefore, properly accepted. He is aggrieved because the story was sympathetic toward the harassment victim and was not equally understanding of the harassment perpetrator. The appellant wanted equal coverage of his side of the story. He wanted a chance to put the victim in a bad light, in order to justify and explain why he did what he did. That, however, is not the function of defamation law.</p><p data-block-key=\"wzjsf\">The appellant was charged with a criminal act. The appellant perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant plead guilty to having perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant was punished for his criminal act. He is not entitled to equal sympathy with his victim and may not blithely dismiss her as a "bipolar drunkard." He does not appear to have learned his lesson.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"rhd2y\">Unpublished appellate opinion</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"79bqu\">Ramos then tried to appeal to the state's highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals, which declined to hear his case.</p><p data-block-key=\"zhqn6\">Ramos also harassed The Capital and its reporters outside of the courtroom.</p><p data-block-key=\"skfl2\">According to the Sun, a Twitter account in Ramos' name tweeted threats against The Capital. The account, which has since been suspended, included photographs of Hartley and Marquardt, and alluded to the mass shooting of journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"mrq86\">Marquardt, who served as The Capital's editor and publisher until 2012, told the Sun that he had been concerned about Ramos' obsessive hatred of the paper and whether it could escalate into violence.</p><p data-block-key=\"3kexr\">"I was seriously concerned he would threaten us with physical violence,” he told the Sun. “I even told my wife, 'We have to be concerned. This guy could really hurt us.' … I remember telling our attorneys, 'This is a guy who is going to come in and shoot us.'"</p><p data-block-key=\"6py3c\">Marquardt told the Los Angeles Times that when he notified the Anne Arundel County police about Ramos' harassment back in 2013, the police said they could not arrest him for his behavior toward the newspaper. Marquardt said that the paper considered getting a restraining order against Ramos but worried about how Ramos would react.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0uy2\">"The theory back then was, 'Let’s not infuriate him more than I have to.… The more you agitate this guy, the worse it’s gonna get,'" he told the Los Angeles Times.</p><p data-block-key=\"h7ybk\">William Shirley, an attorney who helped defend Capital Gazette against Ramos' defamation suit, told the New York Daily News that Ramos threatened during a court hearing to assault Capital journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"s7s6v\">"I remember at one point he was talking in a motion and somehow worked in how he wanted to smash Hartley’s face into the concrete," Shirley said. "We were concerned at the time. He was not stable."</p><p data-block-key=\"etcte\">On June 29, the day after the shooting, Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder.</p><p data-block-key=\"guao8\">In the aftermath of the attack, Capital Gazette journalists worked with colleagues at the Sun to ensure that the next day's paper would still be published.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow. <a href=\"https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R\">https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R</a></p>— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/capgaznews/status/1012549266492067840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dpyyc\">The June 29 edition of The Capital includes a front-page story about the shooting, bylined by 10 Capital reporters, and obituaries for all five of the people killed in the shooting. The opinion page of the paper is empty, except for a single message: "Today, we are speechless … Tomorrow this page will return to its steady purpose of offering our readers informed opinions about the world around them, that they might be better citizens."</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "Community news and sports reporter John McNamara, who had worked for the Capital Gazette for 24 years, was among those killed when a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 28, 2018.",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS1UEPS.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"enuev\">Anne Arundel county executive Steve Schuh holds a copy of The Capital newspaper during an interview the day after a gunman killed five people and injured several others at the newspaper's offices in Annapolis, Maryland.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"case_number": "C-02-CV-21-000820",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Maryland",
"abbreviation": "MD"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-07-15 00:00:00+00:00) Maryland man found criminally responsible for deaths of five in newsroom shooting",
"(2023-01-03 15:12:00+00:00) Survivors, families of slain journalists settle lawsuit against Capital Gazette’s parent company",
"(2021-09-28 00:00:00+00:00) Gunman who killed Capital Gazette journalists and staffer sentenced to multiple consecutive life sentences",
"(2019-10-28 00:00:00+00:00) The Maryland man accused of massacring five staff members at the Capital Gazette newsroom last year enters guilty plea"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing",
"settled"
],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"killed",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"John McNamara (Capital Gazette)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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},
{
"title": "Sports intern hid from Capital Gazette newsroom gunman",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sports-intern-hid-from-capital-gazette-newsroom-gunman/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-15T20:02:41.134313Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:59:33.678506Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:59:33.590891Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i6l2r\"><i>Editor’s Note: In January 2023, families of victims and some of the survivors of the 2018 Capital Gazette newsroom shooting dismissed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit after reaching a settlement agreement. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is updating its Assault category documentation to include the five journalists who were plaintiffs in the suit and present during the attack.</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\"><i>Four journalists</i></a><i> and one newsroom employee were killed.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"62apj\">Anthony Messenger was four weeks into his internship as a sports reporter for the Capital Gazette when a man armed with a shotgun entered the newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 28, 2018, and shot multiple newspaper employees.</p><p data-block-key=\"8s4g2\">Messenger, who did not respond to requests for comment in early 2023, <a href=\"https://www.today.com/news/capital-gazette-intern-anthony-messenger-shooting-newspaper-i-thought-i-t132192\">told TODAY</a> the day after the shooting that when he heard the first pop just after 2:30 p.m. he thought it was fireworks.</p><p data-block-key=\"4hj10\">“I turned and looked over my shoulder toward the front of the room, toward the entrance, and I saw some faces that looked concerned,” he said. “I saw that the glass doors that open into our office were blown out.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6kq75\">When he heard a second pop, he said he grabbed his keys and ran toward the back exit of the office alongside <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-hid-from-capital-gazette-newsroom-gunman/\">reporter Selene San Felice</a>. The door had been barricaded from the outside.</p><p data-block-key=\"5i5f5\">“I quickly recognized, oh, this is a malicious situation, he’s here to do harm to us,” Messenger said. “And we immediately ran and got under one of the desks in the far back corner of the office and we just huddled as close as we could to each other and tried to stay out of sight.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e9ok2\">Messenger told TODAY that he called 911 as soon as they got under the desk and texted a friend asking him to call as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"eg5j9\">“In that moment, I thought I was going to die, I thought we were going to die,” Messenger said. “The only solace in that moment was, ‘Here, Selene, you can have my phone: Text whoever you need to text, contact whoever you need to contact.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"d28di\">After reaching out to her family, San Felice tweeted the building’s location on Messenger’s account with a plea for help.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Active shooter 888 Bestgate please help us</p>— Anthony Messenger (@anthonydmess) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/anthonydmess/status/1012406073704239105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i6l2r\">The gunman called police at 2:38 p.m., saying that he was done shooting and that he would surrender, <a href=\"https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/07/08/prosecution-begins-making-case-for-prison-sentence-for-capital-gazette-shooter/\">according to Maryland Matters</a>. Officers entered the Capital Gazette offices at 2:44 p.m. Messenger said he and San Felice were able to identify themselves and leave the office.</p><p data-block-key=\"5v8hb\">Of the 11 Capital Gazette employees in the newsroom during the shooting, five were killed and two injured. All journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette\">killed in or present for the attack</a> are documented in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s Assault category.</p><p data-block-key=\"6pbci\">The ground-floor newsroom of the Capital Gazette was home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the deadliest single attack on journalists in United States history, <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2018/06/alleged-killer-of-capital-gazette-employees-had-ma/\">according to the Committee to Protect Journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"d6gtr\">The gunman was convicted on 23 counts in July 2021, the Capital Gazette <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/crime/ac-cn-capital-gazette-shooting-trial-day-12-20210715-jyvoqd2czve63ar3pgo7ub7qim-story.html\">reported</a>. He was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2021, to six life sentences — five without the possibility of parole — plus 345 years in prison, all to be served consecutively.</p><p data-block-key=\"cstur\">In announcing the sentence, Judge Michael Wachs said the defendant was getting what he deserved. “To say the defendant showed a callous and cruel disregard for the sanctity of human life is simply an understatement,” Wachs said.</p><p data-block-key=\"2k72b\">In June 2021, the families of victims and five of the six survivors filed lawsuits against the Sun and Tribune Publishing, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/legal-proceedings-crime-lawsuits-annapolis-shootings-642be45d73aa5b6701feb73c9c3ab942\">reported</a>. (The Capital was purchased by Baltimore Sun Media, a subsidiary of Tribune Publishing, in 2014.)</p><p data-block-key=\"5ahdm\">The suits — one for wrongful death, the other for negligence — both argued that the shooting was preventable. The negligence lawsuit said that if “reasonable steps” had been taken, the gunman “would have been detected and stopped prior to entering The Capital’s newsroom, and he may never have attempted the assault at all.” The cases were consolidated in early 2022, according to the AP.</p><p data-block-key=\"5gq76\">The parties reached a settlement agreement and filed a joint motion for dismissal on Jan. 3, 2023. An attorney for some of the plaintiffs told the AP that the details of the settlement are confidential.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"4nq1h\">Staffers of the Capital Gazette attend a candlelight vigil on June 29, 2018, the day after five people were killed at the newspaper’s offices in Annapolis, Maryland.</p>",
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{
"title": "Capital Gazette doors shattered by armed gunman",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/capital-gazette-doors-shattered-by-armed-gunman/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-02T21:56:49.794605Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-27T21:16:41.881556Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-27T21:16:41.788068Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
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"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"c8p9u\">A gunman shot his way into the Capital Gazette newsroom on June 28, 2018, ultimately killing five and injuring two in addition to damaging the offices.</p><p data-block-key=\"95qpf\">Shortly after 2:30 p.m., a man armed with a shotgun appeared at the double-glass doors to the newsroom, The Baltimore Sun <a href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/anne-arundel/bs-md-capital-gazette-shooting-20180629-story.html\">reported</a>. He pulled on the doors twice and, finding them locked, shot out the right-hand glass.</p><p data-block-key=\"4s1su\">Anthony Messenger, a reporting intern at the time, <a href=\"https://www.today.com/news/capital-gazette-intern-anthony-messenger-shooting-newspaper-i-thought-i-t132192\">told TODAY</a> that when he heard the first pop he thought it was fireworks.</p><p data-block-key=\"b6c8o\">“I turned and looked over my shoulder toward the front of the room, toward the entrance, and I saw some faces that looked concerned,” he said. “I saw that the glass doors that open into our office were blown out.”</p><p data-block-key=\"17gmq\">NPR <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/03/01/972597324/the-capital-gazette-what-the-newsroom-looks-like-2-years-after-shooting\">reported</a> that the shooter methodically moved through the reception area and down the main hallway dividing the office, firing again and again.</p><p data-block-key=\"2pl9t\">The gunman called police at 2:38 p.m., saying that he was done shooting and that he would surrender, <a href=\"https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/07/08/prosecution-begins-making-case-for-prison-sentence-for-capital-gazette-shooter/\">according to Maryland Matters</a>. Officers entered the Capital Gazette offices at 2:44 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qu2l\">The Baltimore Sun <a href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html\">reported</a> that of the journalists and media workers in the Capital Gazette offices that day, five were killed and two were injured. The five killed:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"altug\">Rob Hiaasen, columnist and assistant editor</li><li data-block-key=\"8eii3\">Gerald Fischman, editorial page editor</li><li data-block-key=\"6ihgf\">John McNamara, community news and sports reporter</li><li data-block-key=\"bevao\">Rebecca Smith, advertising sales assistant</li><li data-block-key=\"5trka\">Wendi Winters, community news reporter and columnist</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"325ot\">All journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette\">killed in or present for the attack</a> on the Capital Gazette newsroom are documented in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s Assault category.</p><p data-block-key=\"4coi0\">Messenger told TODAY that when they were leaving the offices it was in “shambles.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7gp5s\">The ground-floor newsroom of the Capital Gazette was home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the deadliest single attack on journalists in United States history, <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2018/06/alleged-killer-of-capital-gazette-employees-had-ma/\">according to the Committee to Protect Journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9vap\">The gunman was convicted on 23 counts in July 2021, the Capital Gazette <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/crime/ac-cn-capital-gazette-shooting-trial-day-12-20210715-jyvoqd2czve63ar3pgo7ub7qim-story.html\">reported</a>. He was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2021, to six life sentences — five without the possibility of parole — plus 345 years in prison, all to be served consecutively.</p><p data-block-key=\"338he\">In announcing the sentence, Judge Michael Wachs said the defendant was getting what he deserved. “To say the defendant showed a callous and cruel disregard for the sanctity of human life is simply an understatement,” Wachs said.</p><p data-block-key=\"a1fhs\">The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/14/capital-gazette-survivors/\">reported</a> that following the attack, the Capital Gazette was temporarily moved to a former opera house at the University of Maryland. In July 2019, the newsroom relocated to a building with enhanced security and bulletproof walls, but the stay was short-lived. The offices shuttered in early 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and permanently closed that August.</p><p data-block-key=\"fejqh\"><i>Editor’s Note: In January 2023 details around two lawsuits became public, at which point the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker updated its documentation of the events to include the newsroom damage and the journalists present during the newsroom shooting as well as those killed.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1oq9f\">A police car blocks the road in front of the Capital Gazette newsroom on June 29, 2018, a day after a gunman opened fire at the newspaper, killing five people and injuring several others in Annapolis, Maryland.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "building"
}
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"state": {
"name": "Maryland",
"abbreviation": "MD"
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"Capital Gazette"
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{
"title": "Crime reporter hid from Capital Gazette newsroom gunman",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/crime-reporter-hid-from-capital-gazette-newsroom-gunman/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-15T19:53:19.645145Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:58:44.446528Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:58:44.360616Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dqy10\"><i>Editor’s Note: In January 2023, families of victims and some of the survivors of the 2018 Capital Gazette newsroom shooting dismissed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit after reaching a settlement agreement. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is updating its Assault category documentation to include the five journalists who were plaintiffs in the suit and present during the attack.</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\"><i>Four journalists</i></a><i> and one newsroom employee were killed.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"1efpp\">Crime reporter Phil Davis was working in the Capital Gazette offices on June 28, 2018, when a man armed with a shotgun entered the newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, and shot multiple newspaper employees.</p><p data-block-key=\"bavtg\">Davis <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421862402527232\">wrote on Twitter</a> just over an hour after the shooting that a single gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on employees while he and others hid under their desks.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can't say much more and don't want to declare anyone dead, but it's bad.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421862402527232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dqy10\">“There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload,” Davis <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012422058972676097\">wrote</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ff4vf\">Davis testified that he texted a police sergeant — one of his sources — asking for help and that there was a shooting in the newsroom, <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/14/capital-gazette-survivors/\">according to The Washington Post</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9du2l\">He <a href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html\">told The Baltimore Sun</a> that the newsroom was like a war zone.</p><p data-block-key=\"2g5e4\">“I’m a police reporter. I write about this stuff — not necessarily to this extent, but shootings and death — all the time,” Davis said. “But as much as I’m going to try to articulate how traumatizing it is to be hiding under your desk, you don’t know until you’re there and you feel helpless.”</p><p data-block-key=\"et60j\">The gunman called police at 2:38 p.m., saying that he was done shooting and that he would surrender, <a href=\"https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/07/08/prosecution-begins-making-case-for-prison-sentence-for-capital-gazette-shooter/\">according to Maryland Matters</a>. Officers entered the Capital Gazette offices at 2:44 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"2k71m\">Of the 11 Capital Gazette employees in the newsroom during the shooting, five were killed and two injured. All journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette\">killed in or present for the attack</a> are documented in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s Assault category.</p><p data-block-key=\"91kt4\">The ground-floor newsroom of the Capital Gazette was home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the deadliest single attack on journalists in United States history, <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2018/06/alleged-killer-of-capital-gazette-employees-had-ma/\">according to the Committee to Protect Journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9j0ub\">The gunman was convicted on 23 counts in July 2021, the Capital Gazette <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/crime/ac-cn-capital-gazette-shooting-trial-day-12-20210715-jyvoqd2czve63ar3pgo7ub7qim-story.html\">reported</a>. He was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2021, to six life sentences — five without the possibility of parole — plus 345 years in prison, all to be served consecutively.</p><p data-block-key=\"bv6id\">In announcing the sentence, Judge Michael Wachs said the defendant was getting what he deserved. “To say the defendant showed a callous and cruel disregard for the sanctity of human life is simply an understatement,” Wachs said.</p><p data-block-key=\"coslo\">In June 2021, the families of victims and five of the six survivors filed lawsuits against the Sun and Tribune Publishing, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/legal-proceedings-crime-lawsuits-annapolis-shootings-642be45d73aa5b6701feb73c9c3ab942\">reported</a>. (The Capital was purchased by Baltimore Sun Media, a subsidiary of Tribune Publishing, in 2014.)</p><p data-block-key=\"5dlao\">The suits — one for wrongful death, the other for negligence — both argued that the shooting was preventable. The negligence lawsuit said that if “reasonable steps” had been taken, the gunman “would have been detected and stopped prior to entering The Capital’s newsroom, and he may never have attempted the assault at all.” The cases were consolidated in early 2022, according to the AP.</p><p data-block-key=\"dgsd0\">The parties reached a settlement agreement and filed a joint motion for dismissal on Jan. 3, 2023. Davis confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the details of the settlement are confidential. He said he discourages the idea that the end of the lawsuit equals closure.</p><p data-block-key=\"1s7vi\">“Everyone wants closure, because closure is what makes everything easier to understand. It gives people a way to endnote things,” Davis said. “I hope people realize that it doesn’t create a new chapter for anyone.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"0liu8\">Staffers of the Capital Gazette attend a vigil on June 29, 2018, the day after five people were killed at the newspaper’s offices in Annapolis, Maryland. Phil Davis, fifth from left in gray, testified he hid under his desk to survive the shooting.</p>",
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{
"title": "Reporter hid from Capital Gazette newsroom gunman",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-hid-from-capital-gazette-newsroom-gunman/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-15T20:00:14.679788Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-17T19:02:52.715172Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-17T19:02:52.591673Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"160bl\"><i>Editor’s Note: In January 2023, families of victims and some of the survivors of the 2018 Capital Gazette newsroom shooting dismissed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit after reaching a settlement agreement. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is updating its Assault category documentation to include the five journalists who were plaintiffs in the suit and present during the attack.</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\"><i>Four journalists</i></a><i> and one newsroom employee were killed.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"7s4b5\">Reporter Selene San Felice was working in the Capital Gazette offices on June 28, 2018, when a man armed with a shotgun entered the newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, and shot multiple newspaper employees.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0qdd\">San Felice, who declined to comment when contacted in early 2023, <a href=\"https://www.wypr.org/wypr-news/2021-07-09/i-thought-i-was-going-to-die-capital-gazette-witnesses-testify\">testified in 2021</a> that when the shooting first began, she thought a vase had broken. She then realized the glass doors to the office had been shattered by a shotgun blast. The shooter entered the offices just after 2:30 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"8p50\">She and <a href=\"/all-incidents/sports-intern-hid-from-capital-gazette-newsroom-gunman/\">sports intern Anthony Messenger</a> ran toward the back exit of the office, but found that the door had been barricaded from the outside. The pair then hid under a desk in the back corner of the office, Messenger told <a href=\"https://www.today.com/news/capital-gazette-intern-anthony-messenger-shooting-newspaper-i-thought-i-t132192\">TODAY</a> in an interview a day after the attack.</p><p data-block-key=\"7fo9b\">Messenger called 911 and texted a friend before passing the phone to San Felice so she could reach out to her family.</p><p data-block-key=\"4gh6f\">San Felice testified that she texted her family that there was an active shooter in the newsroom and that she loved them. She said she was careful to not tell them she was going to be OK.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ajgk\">San Felice also posted the building’s location on Messenger's Twitter account with a plea for help.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Active shooter 888 Bestgate please help us</p>— Anthony Messenger (@anthonydmess) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/anthonydmess/status/1012406073704239105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"160bl\">The gunman called police at 2:38 p.m., saying that he was done shooting and that he would surrender, <a href=\"https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/07/08/prosecution-begins-making-case-for-prison-sentence-for-capital-gazette-shooter/\">according to Maryland Matters</a>. Officers entered the Capital Gazette offices at 2:44 p.m. Messenger said he and San Felice were able to identify themselves and leave the office.</p><p data-block-key=\"1lbul\">Of the 11 Capital Gazette employees in the newsroom during the shooting, five were killed and two injured. All journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2018-06-28&date_upper=2018-06-28&targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette\">killed in or present for the attack</a> are documented in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s Assault category.</p><p data-block-key=\"vem7\">The ground-floor newsroom of the Capital Gazette was home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the deadliest single attack on journalists in United States history, <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2018/06/alleged-killer-of-capital-gazette-employees-had-ma/\">according to the Committee to Protect Journalists</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"216vf\">San Felice <a href=\"https://www.tampabay.com/education/newsroom-shooting-survivor-still-rejects-thoughts-and-prayers-unless-action-comes-with-them-20190325/\">told the Tampa Bay Times</a> in a 2019 interview that when editor Rick Hutzell asked if she wanted to work the day after the shooting, she never considered saying no. “If I didn’t go, the shooter would win,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"d0hn4\">The gunman was convicted on 23 counts in July 2021, the Capital Gazette <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/crime/ac-cn-capital-gazette-shooting-trial-day-12-20210715-jyvoqd2czve63ar3pgo7ub7qim-story.html\">reported</a>. He was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2021, to six life sentences — five without the possibility of parole — plus 345 years in prison, all to be served consecutively.</p><p data-block-key=\"5of3f\">In announcing the sentence, Judge Michael Wachs said the defendant was getting what he deserved. “To say the defendant showed a callous and cruel disregard for the sanctity of human life is simply an understatement,” Wachs said.</p><p data-block-key=\"43ue\">San Felice <a href=\"https://www.wbaltv.com/article/jarrod-ramos-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-without-the-possibility-of-parole/37764491\">told reporters</a> outside the courthouse that it was a relief to see authorities take Ramos away.</p><p data-block-key=\"fgd66\">“It felt really good to be able to look the judge in the eye and also to be able to look the shooter in the eye,” San Felice said. “It meant a lot to me to be able to tell him to his face that he failed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"743kh\">In June 2021, the families of victims and the five journalists who survived filed lawsuits against The Baltimore Sun and Tribune Publishing, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/legal-proceedings-crime-lawsuits-annapolis-shootings-642be45d73aa5b6701feb73c9c3ab942\">reported</a>. (The Capital was purchased by Baltimore Sun Media, a subsidiary of Tribune Publishing, in 2014.)</p><p data-block-key=\"521gf\">The suits — one for wrongful death, the other for negligence — both argued that the shooting was preventable. The negligence lawsuit said that if “reasonable steps” had been taken, the gunman “would have been detected and stopped prior to entering The Capital’s newsroom, and he may never have attempted the assault at all.” The cases were consolidated in early 2022, according to the AP.</p><p data-block-key=\"4do21\">The parties reached a settlement agreement and filed a joint motion for dismissal on Jan. 3, 2023. An attorney for some of the plaintiffs told the AP that the details of the settlement are confidential.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS1UHNB.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"nds1n\">Staffers of the Capital Gazette attend a vigil on June 29, 2018, the day after five people were killed at the newspaper’s offices in Annapolis, Maryland. Survivor Selene San Felice, fourth from left in black, hid with a colleague during the shooting.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "C-02-CV-21-000820",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"actor": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Maryland",
"abbreviation": "MD"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Selene San Felice (Capital Gazette)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Oregon cameraman attacked while covering ICE protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/oregon-cameraman-attacked-while-covering-ice-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2019-06-04T17:20:11.644529Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-21T22:08:08.510207Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-21T22:08:08.387516Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f5ipv\">KATU cameraman Carter Maynard was harassed and assaulted while covering a protest on June 28, 2018, outside the offices of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Portland, Oregon.</p><p data-block-key=\"xs6he\">Prosecutors pursued charges against a 33-year-old woman for the attack, alleging that she slammed a wooden gate into Maynard’s head, and that her motivation was due to hostility toward the press. She was acquitted by a Multnomah County jury in May 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"qp1r7\"><a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/05/jury-acquits-ice-protester-accused-of-assaulting-portland-news-cameraman.html\">The Oregonian reported</a> that the medical professionals who examined Maynard diagnosed him with a concussion. A doctor hired by the defense, who did not personally examine him, disputed this.</p><p data-block-key=\"t7z0i\"><a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/05/jury-acquits-ice-protester-accused-of-assaulting-portland-news-cameraman.html\">According to The Oregonian</a>, the woman accused of attacking Maynard testified that she had her hand on the wooden gate but did not slam it into the reporter; rather she let it go and it closed on him. She also testified that she thought the KATU reporter broadcasting images of protesters in attendance would endanger their lives.</p><p data-block-key=\"yry7i\">Maynard, who no longer works for KATU, could not be reached for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Carter Maynard (KATU)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Editor killed in Capital Gazette newsroom shooting by man upset with newspaper coverage",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-upset-newspaper-coverage-shoots-and-kills-multiple-journalists-capital-gazette-newsroom/",
"first_published_at": "2018-06-29T17:55:14.259753Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-12T19:25:16.432340Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-12T19:25:16.298025Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"y136k\">On June 28, 2018, a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, and shot multiple journalists and other media workers, the Baltimore Sun <a href=\"http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html\">reported</a>. Five people, including four journalists, were killed in the attack, and two others were injured. Police later identified the suspected shooter as Jarrod Ramos, who had previously sued the Capital Gazette for defamation.</p><p data-block-key=\"cwc6r\">Editorial page editor <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/2018/06/28/capital-gazette-shooting-victim-gerald-fischman-clever-and-quirky-voice-of-a-community-newspaper/\">Gerald Fischman</a>, who had worked for the Capital Gazette for more than 25 years, was among those killed. Anne Arundel County police said that the other Capital Gazette employees killed in the attack were:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"29gs1\"><a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/2018/06/28/capital-gazette-shooting-victim-rob-hiaasen-a-joyful-stylist-a-generous-mentor/\">Rob Hiaasen</a>, columnist and assistant editor</li><li data-block-key=\"op9jm\"><a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/2018/06/28/capital-gazette-shooting-victim-john-mcnamara-sports-reporting-was-his-dream-job/\">John McNamara</a>, community news and sports reporter</li><li data-block-key=\"ntqry\"><a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/2018/06/29/capital-gazette-shooting-victim-wendi-winters-a-prolific-writer-who-chronicled-her-community/\">Wendi Winters</a>, community news reporter and columnist</li><li data-block-key=\"z2z2g\"><a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/2018/06/28/capital-gazette-shooting-victim-rebecca-smith-recent-hire-loved-spending-time-with-family/\">Rebecca Smith</a>, advertising sales assistant</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"q6875\">Two other Capital Gazette employees, whose names were not released, were injured in the attack. Find the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s documentation of all the journalists killed in the attack <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fmrrz\">The shooting occurred on June 28 inside the Capital Gazette newsroom, which is located on the ground floor of an office building in Annapolis, Maryland. The newsroom is home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the most deadly attack on journalists in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"fb5ti\">Phil Davis, a crime reporter for The Capital who was inside the newsroom during the shooting, told the Sun that he saw multiple colleagues shot. He said the scene inside the newsroom “was like a war zone.” In a series of powerful tweets, he described what he witnessed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421008597364742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can't say much more and don't want to declare anyone dead, but it's bad.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421862402527232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012422058972676097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ol3gk\">Jarrod Ramos, the suspect in the shooting, had threatened and harassed Capital Gazette staffers for years, <a href=\"https://www.baltimoresun.com/2018/06/29/five-dead-in-targeted-attack-at-capital-gazette-newspaper-in-annapolis-police-say-laurel-man-charged-with-murder/\">according to the Sun</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"yn9f3\">It began in July 2011, when Capital columnist Eric Hartley wrote about how Ramos was charged with harassment after stalking and threatening a high school classmate online. In response to Hartley’s column, Ramos waged a one-man war against him and the paper, <a href=\"https://www.pilotonline.com/2018/06/28/annapolis-newspaper-shooting-suspect-harassed-virginian-pilot-editor-for-years-2/\">according to The Virginian-Pilot</a>, where Hartley now works.</p><p data-block-key=\"s0852\">In July 2012, he filed a defamation lawsuit against Hartley, Capital Gazette Communications, and The Capital editor and publisher Tom Marquardt. Ramos represented himself in the suit, which was filed in Prince George’s County, Maryland. At a March 2013 court hearing, a judge dismissed Ramos’ complaint with prejudice and tried to explain to Ramos why the article was not defamatory:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"uswi1\">You know, I understand exactly how you feel. I think people who are the subject of newspaper articles, whoever they may be, feel that there is a requirement that they be placed in the best light, or they have an opportunity to have the story reported to their satisfaction, or have the opportunity to have however much input they believe is appropriate.</p><p data-block-key=\"jiqa5\">But that’s simply not true. There is nothing in those complaints that prove that anything that was published about you is, in fact, false. It all came from a public record. It was of the result of a criminal conviction. And it cannot give rise to a defamation suit.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"69csq\">Transcript of March 29, 2013 motion hearing</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j5s8l\">Ramos appealed the judge’s decision. The Maryland Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's dismissal of the case and ordered Ramos to pay Capital Gazette’s legal fees. In an unpublished opinion, one of the appellate court judges wrote that “a discussion of defamation law would be an exercise in futility, because the appellant [Ramos] fails to come close to alleging a case of defamation,” and sharply criticized Ramos for bringing the lawsuit:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"vqr6n\">The appellant is pro se. A lawyer would almost certainly have told him not to proceed with this case. It reveals a fundamental failure to understand what defamation law is and, more particularly, what defamation law is not. The appellant is aggrieved because the newspaper story about his guilty plea assumed that he was guilty and that the guilty plea was, therefore, properly accepted. He is aggrieved because the story was sympathetic toward the harassment victim and was not equally understanding of the harassment perpetrator. The appellant wanted equal coverage of his side of the story. He wanted a chance to put the victim in a bad light, in order to justify and explain why he did what he did. That, however, is not the function of defamation law.</p><p data-block-key=\"d1x3l\">The appellant was charged with a criminal act. The appellant perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant plead guilty to having perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant was punished for his criminal act. He is not entitled to equal sympathy with his victim and may not blithely dismiss her as a “bipolar drunkard.” He does not appear to have learned his lesson.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"kd9re\">Unpublished appellate opinion</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"z7frz\">Ramos then tried to appeal to the state’s highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals, which declined to hear his case.</p><p data-block-key=\"ak9iw\">Ramos also harassed The Capital and its reporters outside of the courtroom.</p><p data-block-key=\"9u8op\">According to the Sun, a Twitter account in Ramos’ name (which has since been suspended) tweeted threats against The Capital. The account, which has since been suspended, included photographs of Hartley and Marquardt, and alluded to the mass shooting of journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"vb4bc\">Marquardt, who served as The Capital’s editor and publisher until 2012, told the Sun that he had been concerned about Ramos’ obsessive hatred of the paper and whether it could escalate into violence.</p><p data-block-key=\"4d2zn\">“I was seriously concerned he would threaten us with physical violence,” he told the Sun. “I even told my wife, ‘We have to be concerned. This guy could really hurt us.’ ... I remember telling our attorneys, ‘This is a guy who is going to come in and shoot us.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"crha4\">Marquardt <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-newspaper-shooting-20180628-story.html\">told</a> the Los Angeles Times that when he notified the Anne Arundel County police about Ramos’ harassment back in 2013, the police said they could not arrest him for his behavior toward the newspaper. Marquardt said that the paper considered getting a restraining order against Ramos but worried about how Ramos would react.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rl8d\">“The theory back then was, ‘Let’s not infuriate him more than I have to.… The more you agitate this guy, the worse it’s gonna get,’” he told the Los Angeles Times.</p><p data-block-key=\"ln3xf\">William Shirley, an attorney who helped defend Capital Gazette against Ramos’ defamation suit, <a href=\"https://www.nydailynews.com/2018/06/28/jarrod-ramos-full-of-simmering-anger-says-lawyer-who-defended-capital-gazette-in-defamation-suit/\">told</a> the New York Daily News that Ramos threatened during a court hearing to assault Capital journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"61ia1\">“I remember at one point he was talking in a motion and somehow worked in how he wanted to smash Hartley’s face into the concrete,” Shirley said. “We were concerned at the time. He was not stable.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wjkw4\">On June 29, the day after the shooting, Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder.</p><p data-block-key=\"7w6ef\">In the aftermath of the attack, Capital Gazette journalists worked with colleagues at the Sun to ensure that the next day’s paper would still be published.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow. <a href=\"https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R\">https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R</a></p>— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/capgaznews/status/1012549266492067840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"u9c7z\">The June 29 edition of The Capital includes a <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/2018/06/28/we-are-putting-out-a-damn-paper-tomorrow-capital-gazette-journalists-report-on-shooting-in-their-own-newsroom/\">front-page story</a> about the shooting, bylined by 10 Capital reporters, and obituaries for all five of the people killed in the shooting. The opinion page of the paper is empty, except for a single message: “Today, we are speechless ... Tomorrow this page will return to its steady purpose of offering our readers informed opinion about the world around them, that they might be better citizens.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "Editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, who had worked for the Capital Gazette for more than 25 years, was among those killed when a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 28, 2018.",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"5oekf\">Anne Arundel county executive Steve Schuh holds a copy of The Capital newspaper as he is interviewed the day after a gunman killed five people and injured several others at the newspaper’s offices in Annapolis, Maryland.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"(2019-10-28 16:30:00+00:00) The Maryland man accused of massacring five staff members at the Capital Gazette newsroom last year enters guilty plea",
"(2021-07-15 15:30:00+00:00) Maryland man found criminally responsible for deaths of five in newsroom shooting",
"(2023-01-03 15:10:00+00:00) Survivors, families of slain journalists settle lawsuit against Capital Gazette’s parent company",
"(2021-09-28 11:09:00+00:00) Gunman who killed Capital Gazette journalists and staffer sentenced to multiple consecutive life sentences"
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{
"title": "Columnist killed in Capital Gazette newsroom shooting by man upset with newspaper coverage",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/columnist-killed-in-capital-gazette-newsroom-shooting-by-man-upset-with-newspaper-coverage/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-21T20:54:52.734284Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:57:42.858351Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:57:42.731547Z",
"date": "2018-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Annapolis",
"longitude": -76.49184,
"latitude": 38.97859,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"sktyr\">On June 28, 2018, a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, and shot multiple journalists and other media workers, the Baltimore Sun <a href=\"http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-gazette-shooting-20180628-story.html\">reported</a>. Five people, including four journalists, were killed in the attack, and two others were injured. Police later identified the suspected shooter as Jarrod Ramos, who had previously sued the Capital Gazette for defamation.</p><p data-block-key=\"sstqa\">Columnist and assistant editor <a href=\"https://www.capitalgazette.com/maryland/annapolis/bs-md-rob-hiaasen-20180628-story.html\">Rob Hiaasen</a>, who had worked for the Capital Gazette since 2010, was among those killed. Anne Arundel County police said that other Capital Gazette employees killed in the attack were:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"v964j\">Gerald Fischman, editorial page editor</li><li data-block-key=\"lpkud\">John McNamara, community news and sports reporter</li><li data-block-key=\"q4t7f\">Wendi Winters, community news reporter and columnist</li><li data-block-key=\"bohex\">Rebecca Smith, advertising sales assistant</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"doe86\">Two other Capital Gazette employees, whose names were not released, were injured in the attack. Find the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s documentation of all the journalists killed in the attack <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_institutions=Capital+Gazette&tags=killed\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"y7v3i\">The shooting occurred on June 28 inside the Capital Gazette newsroom, which is located on the ground floor of an office building in Annapolis, Maryland. The newsroom is home to reporters for both The Capital, a daily newspaper covering Annapolis, and The Maryland Gazette, a twice-weekly paper focused on state news. The shooting was the most deadly attack on journalists in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"1of7s\">Phil Davis, a crime reporter for The Capital who was inside the newsroom during the shooting, told the Sun that he saw multiple colleagues shot. He said the scene inside the newsroom "was like a war zone." In a series of powerful tweets, he described what he witnessed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421008597364742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can't say much more and don't want to declare anyone dead, but it's bad.</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012421862402527232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload</p>— Phil Davis (@PDavis_LLC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDavis_LLC/status/1012422058972676097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mwoln\">Jarrod Ramos, the suspect in the shooting, had threatened and harassed Capital Gazette staffers for years, <a href=\"http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ramos-search-20180628-story.html\">according to the Sun</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"tdmfq\">It began in July 2011, when Capital columnist Eric Hartley wrote about how Ramos was charged with harassment after stalking and threatening a high school classmate online. In response to Hartley's column, Ramos waged a one-man war against him and the paper, <a href=\"https://pilotonline.com/news/local/crime/article_56a204e6-7b39-11e8-8586-c75874de25c7.html\">according to The Virginian-Pilot</a>, where Hartley now works.</p><p data-block-key=\"3e22q\">In July 2012, he filed a defamation lawsuit against Hartley, Capital Gazette Communications, and The Capital editor and publisher Tom Marquardt. Ramos represented himself in the suit, which was filed in Prince George's County, Maryland. At a March 2013 court hearing, a judge dismissed Ramos' complaint with prejudice and tried to explain to Ramos why the article was not defamatory:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"kzkwo\">You know, I understand exactly how you feel. I think people who are the subject of newspaper articles, whoever they may be, feel that there is a requirement that they be placed in the best light, or they have an opportunity to have the story reported to their satisfaction, or have the opportunity to have however much input they believe is appropriate.</p><p data-block-key=\"ntm5q\">But that's simply not true. There is nothing in those complaints that prove that anything that was published about you is, in fact, false. It all came from a public record. It was of the result of a criminal conviction. And it cannot give rise to a defamation suit.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf#page=7\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"1vfmj\">Transcript of March 29, 2013 motion hearing</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dx8ib\">Ramos appealed the judge's decision. The Maryland Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's dismissal of the case and ordered Ramos to pay Capital Gazette's legal fees. In an unpublished opinion, one of the appellate court judges wrote that "a discussion of defamation law would be an exercise in futility, because the appellant [Ramos] fails to come close to alleging a case of defamation," and sharply criticized Ramos for bringing the lawsuit:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" cite=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"ttdnx\">The appellant is pro se. A lawyer would almost certainly have told him not to proceed with this case. It reveals a fundamental failure to understand what defamation law is and, more particularly, what defamation law is not. The appellant is aggrieved because the newspaper story about his guilty plea assumed that he was guilty and that the guilty plea was, therefore, properly accepted. He is aggrieved because the story was sympathetic toward the harassment victim and was not equally understanding of the harassment perpetrator. The appellant wanted equal coverage of his side of the story. He wanted a chance to put the victim in a bad light, in order to justify and explain why he did what he did. That, however, is not the function of defamation law.</p><p data-block-key=\"j341q\">The appellant was charged with a criminal act. The appellant perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant plead guilty to having perpetrated a criminal act. The appellant was punished for his criminal act. He is not entitled to equal sympathy with his victim and may not blithely dismiss her as a "bipolar drunkard." He does not appear to have learned his lesson.</p></div>\n\t\n\t\t<cite class=\"blockquote__citation\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"blockquote__link text-link\" href=\"http://170.99.108.1/appellate/unreportedopinions/2015/2281s13.pdf\">\n\t\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"pdrec\">Unpublished appellate opinion</p>\n\t\t\t</a>\n\t\t</cite>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3wujs\">Ramos then tried to appeal to the state's highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals, which declined to hear his case.</p><p data-block-key=\"4j774\">Ramos also harassed The Capital and its reporters outside of the courtroom.</p><p data-block-key=\"8no7b\">According to the Sun, a Twitter account in Ramos' name tweeted threats against The Capital. The account, which has since been suspended, included photographs of Hartley and Marquardt, and alluded to the mass shooting of journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"0f111\">Marquardt, who served as The Capital's editor and publisher until 2012, told the Sun that he had been concerned about Ramos' obsessive hatred of the paper and whether it could escalate into violence.</p><p data-block-key=\"98gx4\">"I was seriously concerned he would threaten us with physical violence,” he told the Sun. “I even told my wife, 'We have to be concerned. This guy could really hurt us.' … I remember telling our attorneys, 'This is a guy who is going to come in and shoot us.'"</p><p data-block-key=\"vymev\">Marquardt told the Los Angeles Times that when he notified the Anne Arundel County police about Ramos' harassment back in 2013, the police said they could not arrest him for his behavior toward the newspaper. Marquardt said that the paper considered getting a restraining order against Ramos but worried about how Ramos would react.</p><p data-block-key=\"fwx2n\">"The theory back then was, 'Let’s not infuriate him more than I have to.… The more you agitate this guy, the worse it’s gonna get,'" he told the Los Angeles Times.</p><p data-block-key=\"y2kbf\">William Shirley, an attorney who helped defend Capital Gazette against Ramos' defamation suit, told the New York Daily News that Ramos threatened during a court hearing to assault Capital journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"f7mck\">"I remember at one point he was talking in a motion and somehow worked in how he wanted to smash Hartley’s face into the concrete," Shirley said. "We were concerned at the time. He was not stable."</p><p data-block-key=\"gnsuy\">On June 29, the day after the shooting, Ramos was charged with five counts of first-degree murder.</p><p data-block-key=\"g1d5e\">In the aftermath of the attack, Capital Gazette journalists worked with colleagues at the Sun to ensure that the next day's paper would still be published.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow. <a href=\"https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R\">https://t.co/ScNvIK1A4R</a></p>— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/capgaznews/status/1012549266492067840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 2018</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"p7xg0\">The June 29 edition of The Capital includes a front-page story about the shooting, bylined by 10 Capital reporters, and obituaries for all five of the people killed in the shooting. The opinion page of the paper is empty, except for a single message: "Today, we are speechless … Tomorrow this page will return to its steady purpose of offering our readers informed opinions about the world around them, that they might be better citizens."</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "Columnist and assistant editor Rob Hiaasen, who had worked for the Capital Gazette since 2010, was among those killed when a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 28, 2018.",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS1UEPS.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"eyb3p\">Anne Arundel county executive Steve Schuh holds a copy of The Capital newspaper during an interview the day after a gunman killed five people and injured several others at the newspaper's offices in Annapolis, Maryland.</p>",
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"name": "Maryland",
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"(2021-07-15 00:00:00+00:00) Maryland man found criminally responsible for deaths of five in newsroom shooting",
"(2023-01-03 15:14:00+00:00) Survivors, families of slain journalists settle lawsuit against Capital Gazette’s parent company",
"(2021-09-28 00:00:00+00:00) Gunman who killed Capital Gazette journalists and staffer sentenced to multiple consecutive life sentences",
"(2019-10-28 00:00:00+00:00) The Maryland man accused of massacring five staff members at the Capital Gazette newsroom last year enters guilty plea"
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"Assault"
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"Rob Hiaasen (Capital Gazette)"
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]
