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{
"title": "Journalist subpoenaed for reporting materials by Jason Miller, Trump’s former adviser",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-subpoenaed-reporting-materials-jason-miller-trumps-former-adviser/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-26T15:21:46.934752Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-11T17:43:43.358279Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-11T17:43:43.251273Z",
"date": "2019-02-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Miami",
"longitude": -80.19366,
"latitude": 25.77427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4yb6u\">As part of a defamation lawsuit against Gizmodo Media Group, journalist J. Arthur Bloom has received a subpoena for his communications — including Facebook messages and emails — from legal counsel for a former Trump adviser, Jason Miller. Bloom is pushing back on the subpoena, claiming that reporter’s privilege protects him from disclosure of unpublished materials.</p><p data-block-key=\"atwfw\">The subpoena, dated Feb. 4, 2019, orders Bloom to produce numerous reporting materials, communications, and documents by Feb. 22.</p><p data-block-key=\"7rt2c\">The subpoena was issued as part of a <a href=\"https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-trump-aide-jason-miller-hires-hulk-hogans-lawyers-to-sue-gizmodo-over-abortion-pill-story\">$100 million lawsuit filed</a> by Miller against Gizmodo Media Group and its reporter Katherine Krueger over <a href=\"https://splinternews.com/court-docs-allege-ex-trump-staffer-drugged-woman-he-got-1829233105\">an article Kruger authored</a> for Splinter News. The article cites court documents filed by A.J. Delgado, another former Trump adviser who was in a relationship with Miller, alleging that Miller had gotten another woman pregnant and drugged her. Later, Chapo Trap House podcast co-host Will Menaker was added to the lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"718li\">The subpoena orders Bloom to produce communications he may have had with Krueger or Delgado. It also demanded any of Bloom’s reporting materials on investigations into Miller’s sexual relationships, including notes, memos, or records created during his research.</p><p data-block-key=\"7mvim\">Bloom was served the subpoena at his home on the evening of Feb. 5. He responded to the subpoena with an objection letter, writing that any subpoenas requiring the disclosure of privileged or otherwise protected material should be quashed.</p><p data-block-key=\"a22i4\">“Any information I may have relating to the material requested in Exhibit A would have been developed in my capacity as a professional journalist (as defined by Section 90.5015 of the Florida Statutes) at the time, investigating a story I did not run with,” his objection reads.</p><p data-block-key=\"seqlo\">Miller’s attorney Shane B. Vogt of Bajo Cuva Cohen & Turkel PA did not respond to request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"hzj42\">In an interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Bloom took particular issue with the subpoena’s demand for relevant social media posts, including tweets. He noted that Miller had blocked Bloom on Twitter, so if Miller wanted copies of his tweets, he could simply unblock him and view the posts.</p><p data-block-key=\"jly9x\">When a process server called him, Bloom said he was asked if he knew where to find reporter Yashar Ali, indicating that he would also receive a subpoena.</p><p data-block-key=\"1hide\">Ali did not immediately respond to requests for comment and questions as to whether he was also served a subpoena by Miller’s legal team.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Bloom.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"mv9wq\">A portion of the subpoena issued to journalist J. Arthur Bloom for his work product and social media communications. Shared by the journalist to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker; edited in 2023 to remove identifying information.</p>",
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-04-18 11:00:00+00:00) Defamation suit dismissed",
"(2019-08-27 14:02:00+00:00) Judge dismisses defamation lawsuit against Splinter, its managing editor and parent company"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"J. Arthur Bloom (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"ignored"
],
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},
{
"title": "Illinois County judge orders watchdog publication not to publish school records released by lawyer",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/illinois-county-judge-orders-watchdog-publication-not-publish-school-records-released-lawyer/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-12T17:14:24.658675Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T17:43:29.259058Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T17:43:29.186025Z",
"date": "2019-02-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ozjrm\">A Cook County judge ordered the the Better Government Association, an Illinois investigative government watchdog, not to publish records released by Chicago Public School lawyers during a lawsuit brought by the BGA. BGA detailed the context of this order in an <a href=\"https://www.bettergov.org/news/cook-judge-bars-publication-of-documents-about-student-drowning-raising-free-press-concerns\">article</a> published on Feb. 7, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"uev30\">The article reported that a CPS lawyer supplied BGA with requested investigative files and internal records on Jan. 24. Four days later, the school’s lawyers asked for their return and the destruction of any copies that had been made, claiming that their release had been a mistake.</p><p data-block-key=\"hk0yn\">The lawsuit and files pertained to a 2017 BGA and Chicago Sun-Times <a href=\"https://www.bettergov.org/news/autistic-teens-death-in-cps-pool-heightens-questions-of-special-ed-care\">investigation</a> which revealed that a 14-year-old boy with autism was permitted to enter a school pool with neither direct supervision nor a life vest. They reported that the boy drowned within minutes.</p><p data-block-key=\"9o5xs\">When BGA refused to return the released files, CPS attorney Mara Warman asked Circuit Court Judge Peter Flynn during a hearing on Feb. 4 to “claw back” the records. Flynn ruled in their favor, ordering that BGA delay publishing the records until at least Feb. 20. Following an emergency request from BGA to vacate that order, Flynn reaffirmed his ruling on Feb 6.</p><p data-block-key=\"4s9cc\">“Just hold your horses,” Flynn said during the second hearing, BGA reported. “There is no emergency here in any meaningful way… I don’t think it’s a prior restraint. I think it’s efficient management of a case.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6dxvs\">BGA attorney Matt Topic disagreed. “You have the press, which has a highly relevant, important document that they obtained through nothing illegal and you are restraining them from publishing that document where they have an ethical and professional obligation,” Topic said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1e24i\">Bob Secter, senior editor for BGA, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Topic reached out to the deceased child’s parents to have them sign a paper authorizing the release of the materials. Based on that release, Flynn vacated his order to delay publication. Some of the documents did have the names of child witnesses to the incident redacted, as well as their social security numbers and other private information.</p><p data-block-key=\"fj9kh\">BGA published an <a href=\"https://www.bettergov.org/news/chicago-public-schools-to-pay-4m-in-special-ed-teens-drowning\">article</a> on Feb. 8 about the judge vacating the original order and what was in the documents.</p><p data-block-key=\"sy5uh\">“This started as a simple FOIA case,” Secter told the Tracker about BGA’s use of the Freedom of Information Act. “We wrote a story with the Chicago Sun-Times reconstructing that incident and how it came about and who might have been responsible and who made mistakes. As part of the reporting on that, we issued a FOIA… As the Chicago Public School does, they basically blanket deny everything, so we filed a lawsuit, and they fought us for well over a year.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5p6t0\">The child’s parents had also sued CPS for wrongful death, reaching a $4 million settlement which was approved by the Illinois Board of Education the day before the documents requested in the FOIA were released to BGA.</p><p data-block-key=\"9zyxn\">“[The prior restraint] was entirely out of the ordinary. Outside of national security cases this doesn’t happen, and, not to minimize what we did, but it was an everyday case about a tragic accident and the subsequent legal case,” Secter said.</p><p data-block-key=\"zj4v1\">U.S. Supreme Court precedent has held that prior restraint—in which government officials seek to block information from becoming public—is <a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/prior_restraint\">unconstitutional</a> in all but the most extreme circumstances.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2_Kennedy_high_school_chicago_dro.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"sv78j\">Details around the Chicago public school pool drowning death of 14-year-old Rosario Israel Gomez were at the heart of documents sought by the Better Government Association and the Chicago Sun-Times.<br/></p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": "dropped",
"mistakenly_released_materials": true,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Better Government Association"
],
"tags": [],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Prior Restraint"
],
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},
{
"title": "BuzzFeed News reporter aggressively questioned about reporting at passport checkpoint",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/buzzfeed-news-reporter-aggressively-questioned-about-reporting-passport-checkpoint/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-06T16:13:52.349565Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-08-22T19:56:17.118528Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-08-22T19:56:17.062971Z",
"date": "2019-02-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fj8cw\">A Customs and Border Protection agent aggressively questioned Australian BuzzFeed News reporter David Mack about his work at a passport checkpoint in New York City on Feb. 3, 2019. Days later, a CBP official apologized for the “inappropriate remarks made to him.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c77h9\">Mack arrived at JFK airport from the United Kingdom, where he was renewing his U.S. work visa. <a href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/customs-border-patrol-apology-buzzfeed-reporter-trump\">According to BuzzFeed</a>, Mack said the CBP agent at passport control saw BuzzFeed listed as his employer on his visa, and began to ask him questions.</p><p data-block-key=\"2yno9\">That evening, Mack tweeted a thread about the incident:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">the immigration agent at JFK just saw that i work for buzzfeed and just grilled me for 10 minutes about the cohen story which was fun given he gets to decide whether to let me back into the country</p>— David Mack (@davidmackau) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/davidmackau/status/1092241845420208128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 4, 2019</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=\"kxevn\">The line of aggressive questioning focused mostly on BuzzFeed’s reporting on Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections with Russia, and in particular, a <a href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/trump-russia-cohen-moscow-tower-mueller-investigation\">Jan. 17 article about Attorney Michael Cohen</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"wcdwc\"><a href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/customs-border-patrol-apology-buzzfeed-reporter-trump\">BuzzFeed reported</a> that CBP Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs, Andrew Meehan, apologized to Mack directly in a telephone call on Feb. 5, and stated that “The officer’s comments do not reflect CBP’s commitment to integrity and professionalism of its workforce. In response to this incident, CBP immediately reviewed the event and has initiated the appropriate personnel inquiry and action."</p><p data-block-key=\"2xzon\">Mack did not respond to request for comment, but according to BuzzFeed, Mack was <a href=\"https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/customs-border-patrol-apology-buzzfeed-reporter-trump\">grateful for the apology</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8cija\">BuzzFeed News spokesperson Matt Mittenthal said: "We appreciate the government's prompt response and apology for this unfortunate incident... Customs agents do not get to weaponize their political opinions against residents legally entering the United States."</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"xeoto\">BuzzFeed's company headquarters in New York (file).<br/></p>",
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"actor": null,
"border_point": "John F. Kennedy International Airport",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. permanent resident (green card)",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"target_nationality": [
"Australian"
],
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"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"David Mack (BuzzFeed News)"
],
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},
{
"title": "South Carolina Housing Authority arrests two reporters",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/south-carolina-housing-authority-arrests-two-reporters/",
"first_published_at": "2020-03-11T16:08:56.540711Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:56:07.809716Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:56:07.726421Z",
"date": "2019-01-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Columbia",
"longitude": -81.03481,
"latitude": 34.00071,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2y2t9\">Two reporters for ABC affiliate WLTX were arrested while leaving a public housing complex in Columbia, South Carolina, on Jan. 29, 2019. Susan Ardis and Jenna Kurzyna were at the complex to gather public documents about a carbon monoxide gas leak there that killed two people earlier in the month.</p><p data-block-key=\"339kt\">WLTX reported that Ardis and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wltx-reporters-arrested-columbia-sc/\">Kurzyna</a> had knocked on the door to the office where documents released by the Columbia Housing Authority are kept. When there was no response, the two reporters returned to their car to leave the property.</p><p data-block-key=\"hl7hu\">As they left, Ardis <a href=\"https://www.wltx.com/video/news/local/raw-wltx-reporters-arrested-while-requesting-public-documents/101-0844d252-215f-4d85-b81d-5c00b33bf10e\">recorded video</a> as a pair of private security officers blocked the exit from the parking lot and approached the journalists’ vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"8tnbk\">In the video, an officer can be heard saying, “You are being charged with trespassing after you’ve been asked to leave off the premises several times.”</p><p data-block-key=\"i5lxd\">Kurzyna responded to the officer, “We were in the process of leaving, though.”</p><p data-block-key=\"x9d1z\">Both reporters stepped out of the car as directed and were handcuffed and detained, despite clearly identifying themselves as reporters, WLTX President and General Manager Rich O’Dell told <a href=\"https://www.thestate.com/news/local/article225230455.html\">The State</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"739qh\">Kurzyna and Ardis were released from custody shortly after 11 a.m. that same day.</p><p data-block-key=\"1u9c2\">O’Dell told The State that to his knowledge, neither of the journalists were charged nor given a trespass warning.</p><p data-block-key=\"v590f\">Bob Coble, Columbia Housing Authority attorney and former city of Columbia mayor, told The State, “I couldn’t imagine why a reporter was arrested if they identified as a reporter.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kq5k7\">Later that day, the CHA released a public statement, saying, “We, at the Columbia Housing Authority, apologize for the unfortunate incident that occurred earlier today with WLTX reporters, Jenna Kurzyna and Susan Ardis.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8lcpb\">The Housing Authority also stated that they would be holding a meeting with all security personnel later that day to review the incident, and that procedures were being put in place to prevent the incident from happening again.</p><p data-block-key=\"943ci\">In accepting the apology, WLTX said it was looking forward to working with the Housing Authority to review the public documents.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Private security",
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"state": {
"name": "South Carolina",
"abbreviation": "SC"
},
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Susan Ardis (WLTX)"
],
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},
{
"title": "California Attorney General threatens reporters with legal action over public record",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/california-attorney-general-threatens-reporters-legal-action-over-public-record/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-28T19:15:11.074648Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-08T16:40:28.951461Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-08T16:40:28.845701Z",
"date": "2019-01-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Berkeley",
"longitude": -122.27275,
"latitude": 37.87159,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"974j0\">California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office and the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST, sent letters to two Berkeley-based reporters threatening them with legal action — including criminal charges — if they did not destroy a document obtained through a public records request.</p><p data-block-key=\"p6vh1\">Reporters Jason Paladino and Robert Lewis, both affiliated with UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program, <a href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/02/26/california-keeps-a-secret-list-of-criminal-cops-but-says-you-cant-have-it/\">received a list</a> on Jan. 8, 2019, in response to California Public Records Act requests to POST, filed December 2018. The list included 12,000 names of current and former California police officers, as well as police applicants, who were convicted of crimes.</p><p data-block-key=\"7m8yt\">On Jan. 29, Becerra’s office and POST sent Paladino and Lewis very similar letters only hours apart. The letters said the list they received was “confidential” and disclosed “inadvertently”. It also stated that the possession of the spreadsheet was a misdemeanor, and demanded that the records be destroyed.</p><p data-block-key=\"gjnvn\">“If you do not intend to comply with our request, the Department can take legal action to ensure that the spreadsheets are properly deleted and not disseminated,” <a href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/02/26/california-keeps-a-secret-list-of-criminal-cops-but-says-you-cant-have-it/\">reads the letter</a> from Becerra’s office.</p><p data-block-key=\"vcmw9\">Both Lewis and Paladino confirmed to Freedom of the Press Foundation that they have no intention of destroying the list.</p><p data-block-key=\"z5hm7\">David Snyder, an attorney at the First Amendment Coalition, noted the presence of two distinct legal threats in the letter: criminal charges for possessing the list, and a court order, such as an injunction, to prevent publication of it.</p><p data-block-key=\"jr9iv\">“As for the first, which says that it’s a misdemeanor to possess the list, the Supreme Court has made clear that if a journalist or anyone else lawfully receives information, they are protected from civil liability for publishing it,” Snyder said.</p><p data-block-key=\"hu7w6\">In a statement provided to Freedom of the Press Foundation, a spokesperson for the California Department of Justice repeated that the information Paladino and Lewis obtained is confidential and was released only inadvertently.</p><p data-block-key=\"bx9ry\">“It’s not like someone clicked ‘send’ on the wrong thing! They did that the first time!” Paladino told Freedom of the Press Foundation, noting that POST released an unrelated document to the reporters before correcting the mistake and sending the responsive record.</p><p data-block-key=\"pdg5j\">Paladino and Lewis have not published the list itself, though a report in the East Times Bay about the legal threat used several examples of California police officers convicted of crimes.</p><p data-block-key=\"wmry7\">“Part of the reason we haven’t published is to do due diligence,” Lewis said.</p><p data-block-key=\"tpe71\">Freedom of the Press Foundation followed up with the attorney general’s office to clarify whether it recognized any of the serious First Amendment concerns with the letter, and received a statement through a spokesperson from Attorney General Becerra. His response included no reference to the First Amendment:</p><p data-block-key=\"a85v6\">“We always strive to balance the public’s right to know, the need to be transparent and an individual’s right to privacy. In this case, information from a database that’s required by law to be confidential was released erroneously, jeopardizing personal data of individuals across our state. No one wants to shield criminal behavior; we’re subject to the rule of law.”</p></div>",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX6DQSC.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"26w6o\">The office of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, shown in an August 2018 file photo, has threatened two reporters with legal action for possessing a document obtained through a public records request.</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": 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": 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": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"public records"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jason Paladino (UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program; Investigative Studios)",
"Robert Lewis (UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program; Investigative Studios)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Federal judge orders Chicago Sun-Times not to publish information",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/federal-judge-orders-chicago-sun-times-not-publish-information/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-07T20:16:39.079622Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T18:30:06.493878Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T18:30:06.395409Z",
"date": "2019-01-29",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tfeo0\">A federal judge reportedly ordered the Chicago Sun-Times not to publish the details of a court document, which the newsroom downloaded when it was mistakenly made public. The Sun-Times used this information in a story published on Jan. 29, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"zwl97\"><a href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/michael-madigan-fbi-recording-law-firm-danny-solis-chinatown-hotel/\">The Sun-Times article</a> revealed that the FBI had secretly recorded Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan pitching the use of his own private law firm’s services to a developer, in a questionable practice of merging personal and political business. The meeting was arranged by Alderman Danny Solis, who chairs the Chicago City Council Zoning Committee.</p><p data-block-key=\"vu93i\">The story cites a federal court affidavit: “The details of the allegations against Solis are contained in a 2016 search warrant application filed by federal prosecutors seeking to search Solis’ City Hall office, campaign and ward office, homes and a North Side massage parlor where Solis allegedly received free sex acts.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kdvqh\">A week after the Sun-Times article, the business news site Chicago Business <a href=\"https://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg-hinz-politics/story-behind-solis-revelations-rocked-chicago\">published a story behind the story</a>. Citing anonymous sources, Chicago Business outlines how the affidavit was filed as part of an FBI request for a search warrant on Solis, a request that should have been sealed. Instead, it was mistakenly posted on PACER, a site through which the public can access federal court records. While it was temporarily available, the Sun-Times seemingly downloaded the document after it was published on PACER.</p><p data-block-key=\"o79t5\">Chicago Business reports that Magistrate Judge Young Kim ordered the Sun-Times not to publish the details of the document, “presumably on grounds that premature publicity could undermine what appears to be an extremely wide-ranging federal probe into City Hall that has been underway for four years or longer.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tgnwk\">The Sun-Times reportedly defied this court order, and published the information contained in the document anyway. The Sun-Times declined to comment on the Chicago Business report.</p><p data-block-key=\"t7gan\">Chicago Business added that “whether [Magistrate Judge] Kim will take further action” in response to the Sun-Times publishing the details of the affidavit is not known.</p><p data-block-key=\"tfurw\">Courts have generally found cases of prior restraint — in which government officials seek to block information from becoming public — to be <a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/prior_restraint\">unconstitutional</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX302YB.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qhs03\">The secret recording of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, here in a 2017 file photo, was included in an unsealed court document — the details of which the Chicago Sun-Times was ordered not to publish.</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": 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": 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": "ignored",
"mistakenly_released_materials": true,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Chicago Sun-Times"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Prior Restraint"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Portland man arrested for stalking, harassing Oregon editor",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/portland-man-arrested-stalking-harassing-oregon-editor/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-05T20:58:22.490987Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-11T17:00:01.014176Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-11T17:00:00.912423Z",
"date": "2019-01-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"eq68a\">Therese Bottomly, editor of The Oregonian/OregonLive, was stalked, harassed, and threatened by a Portland man who repeatedly stated Bottomly had published false information.</p><p data-block-key=\"dm0tm\">Kevin Michael Purfield was arrested and indicted on charges that he stalked and harassed Bottomly on Jan. 29, 2019, <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/01/man-charged-with-stalking-the-oregonianoregonlive-editor.html\">according to OregonLive</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"3r35k\">Purfield reportedly sent numerous emails and phone calls to the newsroom alleging that Bottomly had published false information — including about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting.</p><p data-block-key=\"tlg50\">Purfield, who repeatedly called the newsroom to say that various mass shootings had never occurred, sent Bottomly “her home address and ‘symbols of death’” after the editor told him to stop calling, <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/01/man-charged-with-stalking-the-oregonianoregonlive-editor.html\">OregonLive reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"x3ewb\">Purfield had previously pleaded guilty in 2013 to making hoax bomb threats to the Multnomah County Probation Office and the downtown jail building. He is being held at the Multnomah County Detention Center and bail has been set at $2 million, <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/01/man-charged-with-stalking-the-oregonianoregonlive-editor.html\">according to OregonLive</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"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": 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": 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": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"The Oregonian"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "WLTX reporters arrested in Columbia, S.C.",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wltx-reporters-arrested-columbia-sc/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-01T16:25:54.245305Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:59:37.495850Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:59:37.409300Z",
"date": "2019-01-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Columbia",
"longitude": -81.03481,
"latitude": 34.00071,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3lk1y\">Jenna Kurzyna and Susan Ardis, reporters for local ABC affiliate WLTX, were arrested at a public housing complex in Columbia, South Carolina. The reporters were attempting to receive additional public records concerning a carbon monoxide gas leak in the complex that killed two in mid-January.</p><p data-block-key=\"9h3g8\">On the morning of Jan. 29, 2020, Kurzyna and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/south-carolina-housing-authority-arrests-two-reporters/\">Ardis</a> knocked on the door to the office where public documents released by the Columbia Housing Authority are kept, seeking additional information about the ongoing gas issues at the CHA facility, WLTX reported. When there was no response and the office appeared to be closed, the two reporters returned to their car, intending to leave the property.</p><p data-block-key=\"788fd\">However, <a href=\"https://www.wltx.com/video/news/local/raw-wltx-reporters-arrested-while-requesting-public-documents/101-0844d252-215f-4d85-b81d-5c00b33bf10e\">according to a video recorded by Ardis</a> during the incident, a pair of private security officers blocked the exit from the parking lot and approached the journalists’ vehicle.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"s8n8u\">In the video, an officer can be heard saying, “You are being charged with trespassing after you’ve been asked to leave off the premises several times.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5gjk4\">Kurzyna responded to the officer, “We were in the process of leaving, though.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aries\">Both reporters stepped out of the car as directed and were handcuffed and detained on the premises, despite clearly identifying themselves as reporters, WLTX President and General Manager Rich O’Dell told The State.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ogi7\">A third WLTX reporter seen in the video said that the officers were unhappy that she was filming the incident. The unidentified reporter also recounted that officers informed her that if she crossed onto the housing complex property she, too, would be detained.</p><p data-block-key=\"tl3uc\">Kurzyna and Ardis were released from custody the same day, shortly after 11 a.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"5il54\">Bob Coble, Columbia Housing Authority attorney and former city of Columbia mayor, told The State, “I couldn’t imagine why a reporter was arrested if they identified as a reporter.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vmuk6\">Later that day, the CHA released a public statement, saying, “We, at the Columbia Housing Authority, apologize for the unfortunate incident that occurred earlier today with WLTX reporters, Jenna Kurzyna and Susan Ardis.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8nlvu\">The Housing Authority also stated that they would be holding a meeting with all security personnel later that day to review the incident. “Procedures are being put in place immediately to ensure that this does not happen again.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5f8ad\">WLTX accepted the apology that afternoon, and said, “We are looking forward to working together with the Housing Authority to immediately go through all the public records for the benefit of the residents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"obxoo\">Kurzyna and Ardis returned to work, and WLTX reported that their Deep Dive team is continuing to review other CHA documents.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We have been sifting through hundreds of maintenance request here at Allen Benedict Court all day today - more on what we found tonight <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WLTX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WLTX</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/deepdive?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#deepdive</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/ivNInD3n5D\">pic.twitter.com/ivNInD3n5D</a></p>— Jenna Kurzyna (@JkurzynaTV) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JkurzynaTV/status/1088543486142541824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 24, 2019</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=\"8hleu\">O’Dell told The State that, to his knowledge, neither of the journalists were charged nor given a trespass warning.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2019-01-31_19.25.34.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ca846\">Private security officers block the exit as South Carolina WLTX reporters Jenna Kurzyna and Susan Ardis attempt to leave a public housing complex.<br/></p>",
"arresting_authority": "Private security",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"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": 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": 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": "South Carolina",
"abbreviation": "SC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jenna Kurzyna (WLTX)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Reporter hit in face, has phone stolen while interviewing voters in Los Angeles",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-hit-face-has-phone-stolen-while-interviewing-voters-los-angeles/",
"first_published_at": "2019-04-10T18:28:07.290262Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-10-27T21:35:10.754012Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-10-27T21:35:10.649588Z",
"date": "2019-01-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uundw\">On Jan. 26, 2019, reporter Tina-Desiree Berg was interviewing people outside of a regional meeting of the California Democratic Party when a woman upset by her questions stole her phone and hit her.</p><p data-block-key=\"m6eog\">Berg is the West Coast correspondent for Washington Babylon, an investigative journalism site founded by veteran reporter Ken Silverstein in 2016.</p><p data-block-key=\"su8s4\">Berg had gone to East LA Rising, a community center in east Los Angeles, where Democrats from the state’s 51st Assembly District were voting to elect a slate of delegates to represent them at the California Democratic Party’s state convention.</p><p data-block-key=\"0wxzw\">Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she interviewed some of the delegate candidates and then began talking to voters outside East LA Rising. Tensions increased after a woman leading a group of voters into East LA Rising instructed them not to talk to Berg. One of the voters told Berg that they did not live in the district — leading Berg to suspect the possibility of voter fraud.</p><p data-block-key=\"4h2dx\">Berg said that she was asking what part of the district they were from and whether they supported the incumbent representative for the 51st District, when a woman stole her phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"lxnf5\">“This girl just literally comes out of nowhere and grabbed my phone and ran down the street,” Berg said. “Then she just punched me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f7hp5\">Berg said that she did not see whether the woman struck her with an open or closed fist, but that the attack left a bruise and later a blood blister on her face. The screen of her iPhone was also cracked.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ojdib\">Her phone continued to stream throughout the altercation, and she later <a href=\"https://washingtonbabylon.com/the-raucous-caucus-part-1/\">published an excerpt of the video</a> on Washington Babylon.</p><p data-block-key=\"d6rru\">“Hey, give me back my phone, lady!” Berg says in the video. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”</p><p data-block-key=\"yjbtz\">“I think you’re being a dick,” the woman says.</p><p data-block-key=\"00jm1\">“I don’t care, you don’t get to run away with my phone,” Berg says.</p><p data-block-key=\"gxyzz\">Berg then reaches for the phone and the woman strikes her.</p><p data-block-key=\"y0rpw\">“You don’t get to grab my hand like that!” the woman says.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ktlx\">“You don’t get to slap me and steal my phone!” Berg says.</p><p data-block-key=\"kl6bc\">Berg said that a bystander called the police, and she provided a statement to the officers but did not seek to press charges against the woman.</p><p data-block-key=\"pt5up\">Berg’s suspicions about voter fraud proved to be correct. A <a href=\"https://www.cadem.org/our-party/compliance-review-commission/body/CRC-ADEM-AD51-Decision-FINAL-032719.pdf\">subsequent investigation by the California Democratic Party’s Compliance Review Commission</a> found that nearly 100 votes had been cast by people who were either not registered as Democrats or not registered in the 51st Assembly District. On March 27, the California Democratic Party vacated results of the disputed Jan. 26 election and <a href=\"https://www.cadem.org/our-party/adem/ad51-new-election\">ordered that a new election be held</a> on April 27.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/berg_attack.a88a3d1e.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"b4t65\">Reporter Tina-Desiree Berg shows the blood blister left after a woman took Berg's iPhone and then hit her while she was interviewing at a regional meeting of the California Democratic Party.</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": "private individual",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"election",
"robbery"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Tina-Desiree Berg (Washington Babylon)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Journalist stopped at the border for the second time, camera searched",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-border-second-time-camera-searched/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-20T21:11:58.639501Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-29T17:03:52.517755Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-29T17:03:52.433957Z",
"date": "2019-01-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ofyi7\">Manuel Rapalo, a freelance journalist, was stopped and pulled aside for additional screening measures while entering the United States via Washington, D.C. on Jan. 26, 2019. During the screening, Rapalo was questioned about his reporting along the U.S.-Mexico border and had his notebooks and camera searched.</p><p data-block-key=\"otkq6\">Rapalo, an American citizen, <a href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/hundreds-honduran-migrants-journey-190116155026749.html\">covered the migrant caravan</a> from Mexico for Al-Jazeera. Every time he has re-entered the U.S. since then, he says, he has been pulled aside for a secondary screening. Rapalo believes that a flag or marker has been placed on his travel documents because border officials have consistently stopped him only after scanning his passport.</p><p data-block-key=\"rszr5\">The first time this happened, Rapalo said, was Jan. 5, when Customs and Border Protection <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-us-mexico-border-questioned-about-immigration-reporting/\">officials questioned him about his work and searched through his notebook</a>. When he returned from another reporting trip on the migrant caravan on Jan. 26, he was stopped again.</p><p data-block-key=\"o663l\">“It was more intensive [than the previous incident],” Rapalo said. “This time they went through everything in my bag, including through my camera.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gzxih\">Similar to the first incident, Rapalo said the secondary screening began with about 30 minutes of questioning, then he was held for 1-2 hours while his luggage was searched.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ods2\">Rapalo said that border authorities did not request that he delete photographs, but that he has changed his behavior due to concerns about protecting his sources and reporting materials. He now brings new memory cards for his equipment with him when he travels for work.</p><p data-block-key=\"eut22\">“I said that I felt really uncomfortable with [the border officials] going through my pictures,” Rapalo said of this incident. “I’m concerned with all of the names that I have in my notebooks of sources, and photographs of migrants, that [border officials] should not have.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aos04\">Rapalo said that U.S. authorities have screened him during other trips, including searching the photos on his camera and questioning him about public records requests he intends to file.</p><p data-block-key=\"cynjj\">CBP did not immediately respond to request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Image_from_iOS_2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"9t7tb\">A journalist captures the movement of migrants around the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 31, 2018.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
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"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
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"border_point": "Washington, D.C.",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": true,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "yes",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "equipment bag"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
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}
],
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"United States"
],
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"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Manuel Rapalo (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Colorado judge strikes down order preventing CBS4 from publishing",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/colorado-judge-strikes-down-order-preventing-cbs4-publishing/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-01T16:16:54.140541Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T00:42:47.810116Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T00:42:47.732007Z",
"date": "2019-01-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Denver",
"longitude": -104.9847,
"latitude": 39.73915,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bk3ut\">A Jefferson County, Colorado, sheriff and county attorney obtained an order prohibiting local CBS station, CBS4, from publishing a story on the grounds that an affidavit used in the report should not have been released.</p><p data-block-key=\"r3sdw\">A Jefferson County District Court Judge struck the order down on Jan. 27, 2019, finding it an unconstitutional case of prior restraint.</p><p data-block-key=\"afdij\"><a href=\"https://denver.cbslocal.com/2019/01/31/jefferson-county-sheriff-court-cbs4-case-myriah-lovato-justice-espinoza-illicit-relationship-deputy-inmate/\">According to its own report</a>, CBS4 requested a court file in the case of a sheriff’s deputy that had been charged for an alleged relationship with an inmate at a local jail. On Jan. 22, it received both the file and a copy of an affidavit.</p><p data-block-key=\"cie10\">The affidavit, according to the report, outlines how Myriah Lovato, a deputy working in the jail as part of the gang unit, had struck up a relationship an inmate, a “known gang member.”</p><p data-block-key=\"iwdrz\">On Jan. 23, a Jefferson county sheriff and the county attorney obtained a signed order from a judge that the affidavit had been disclosed inadvertently and should have been sealed.</p><p data-block-key=\"eoi61\">“The Sheriff is deeply concerned that the release of this information, as well as additional details contained in the affidavit but not yet released by CBS, will compromise related criminal investigations throughout the State of Colorado, the prosecution of Lovato’s case, and the safety of individuals involved in these investigations,” reads the order.</p><p data-block-key=\"6s6fx\">The newsroom initially complied with the order and removed the report while CBS attorneys fought to challenge it. It re-published following the judge’s order to vacate.</p><p data-block-key=\"v5xv5\">U.S. Supreme Court precedent has held that prior restraint — in which government officials seek to block information from becoming public — is <a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/prior_restraint\">unconstitutional</a> in all but the most extreme circumstances.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "Colorado",
"abbreviation": "CO"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"KCNC-TV"
],
"tags": [],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Prior Restraint"
],
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},
{
"title": "Subpoena issued for contents of Illinois government watchdog’s Dropbox account",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-issued-contents-illinois-government-watchdogs-dropbox-account/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-26T17:00:02.210369Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-03-31T23:11:58.188281Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-03-31T23:11:58.094890Z",
"date": "2019-01-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Algonquin Township",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"o0ba3\">A lawyer representing Algonquin Township, Illinois, subpoenaed Dropbox to compel the California-based tech company to produce information about an account belonging to the Edgar County Watchdogs, an Illinois-based government watchdog blog.</p><p data-block-key=\"qsyqr\">The subpoena, issued on Jan. 23, 2019, requested detailed information about a Dropbox folder belonging to the watchdog group titled “Algonquin Township,” including content, IP and email addresses of all users, payment information, and comments.</p><p data-block-key=\"gtsmo\">John Kraft, one of the co-founders of Edgar County Watchdogs, found the request alarming. “In our opinion they are trying to chill public speaking. If they were successful, sources would be reluctant to contact reporters or fear they should be outed with a subpoena,” Kraft told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"0cct0\">In their emergency motion to quash, the lawyer for Edgar County Watchdogs, Denise M. Ambroziak, wrote that the subpoena both “violates the reporter’s privilege” and “lacks relevance to the subject matter of the FOIA suit, is outside of the scope, and fails to comply with local rules.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rgs0w\">Edgar County Watchdogs is currently suing Algonquin Township for failing to provide records in response to 16 different public records requests, and the subpoena was issued in the context of that lawsuit. “Instead of just answering our FOIA requests they’re spending all this money to try and find out who is feeding us information,” Kraft said.</p><p data-block-key=\"uwobq\">Ambroziak argued in the motion that Algonquin Township had not met the threshold to divest reporter’s privilege. Under Illinois law, the party seeking to do so must prove such information being sought would be relevant to the proceeding, that such information is in the public interest, and that they have exhausted all other means of obtaining that information. “There is no public interest supported by disclosing the contents of the Plaintiff’s Dropbox Account other than to simply go on an improper fishing expedition for some undisclosed and unknown reason,” the motion continues.</p><p data-block-key=\"2jg9o\">Neither Kraft nor his attorney received a copy of the subpoena via electronic or postal mail, and did not become aware of its existence until a third party provided it to them on Feb. 8, according to the motion. Also on that day, James Kelly, the lawyer for Algonquin Township, wrote a letter to the lawyer for Edgar County Watchdogs stating that the subpoena was “rejected and cannot be served,” and so there was no need to file the emergency motion to quash the subpoena. They opted to file the motion anyway, and it was granted on Feb. 11, <a href=\"https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2019/02/mchenry-court-quashes-algonquin-townships-attack-on-media-and-first-amendment/\">according</a> to Kraft and an <a href=\"https://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/511776066-judge-quashes-algonquin-township-s-effort-to-subpoena-edgar-county-watchdogs-dropbox-records\">article</a> in the Cook County Record.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9ybd\">Kelly and Township Clerk Karen Lukasik did not return multiple requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"hbmmr\">Edgar County Watchdogs is a investigative blog based in southern Illinois that focuses on local government transparency. <a href=\"https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/01/government-accountability-local-watchdogs-citizen-action-makes-big-difference/\">According</a> to the National Review, the investigative work conducted by Kraft and co-founder Kirk Allen has resulted in "seven ongoing federal investigations."</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2019-02-26_at_11.44.1.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"btfi3\">A portion of the subpoena from Algonquin Township, Illinois, to Dropbox for access to the contents of a folder belonging to Edgar County Watchdogs.<br/></p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "State",
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Edgar County Watchdogs"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"quashed"
],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Trump stops regular press briefings, citing unfair media treatment",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-stops-regular-press-briefings-citing-unfair-media-treatment/",
"first_published_at": "2019-01-23T19:24:36.281975Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-26T17:59:06.103417Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-26T17:59:05.939717Z",
"date": "2019-01-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ul0sy\">President Trump revealed in a tweet on Jan. 22, 2019, that the lack of regular White House press briefings was the result of directions he gave to press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway!” the tweet reads. “Most will never cover us fairly & hence, the term, Fake News!”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the “podium” much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press. I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway! Most will never cover us fairly & hence, the term, Fake News!</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1087733867614781446?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 22, 2019</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=\"5lvll\">Press briefings have become increasingly rare over the past year, The Hill <a href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/426394-trump-i-told-sanders-to-stop-briefings-because-press-covers-her\">reported</a>, with only one each in November and December. With the last formal press briefing held by Sanders on Dec. 18, 2018, the National Journal <a href=\"https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/676115?unlock=ABWKQ8C00N8LTUKE\">reported</a> that this is not only the longest period without a briefing since Trump took office, but the longest since broadcasting of the briefings began in 1955. Trump’s tweet exposes the decline in briefings as a retaliatory measure for press covering Sanders and his administration “rudely” and “inaccurately.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ob001\">Though the press briefing has become a tradition, it is not mandated by law. However, White House Correspondents’ Association President Oliver Knox said in a statement, “While other avenues exist to obtain information, the robust, public back-and-forth we’ve come to expect in the James A. Brady briefing room helps highlight that no one in a healthy republic is above being questioned.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f98vd\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is following this case as reporting continues.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX6H1Z4.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"2j4qt\">White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a press briefing in October of 2018. The administration's last formal briefing was Dec. 18, 2018, marking a record lack of briefings since 1955.<br/></p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-04-23 13:19:00+00:00) Under Sanders' tenure, White House breaks record for longest stretch without press briefing"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"White House Press Corps"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Federal government: White House"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
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"type_of_denial": [
"Change in policy or practice"
]
},
{
"title": "N.D. legislature considers bill shielding pipeline projects from public records requests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nd-legislature-considers-bill-shielding-pipeline-projects-public-records-requests/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-15T10:25:20.924892Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-11T17:42:23.190870Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-11T17:42:23.102946Z",
"date": "2019-01-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Bismark",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pjth8\">On Jan. 22, 2019, the North Dakota state senate passed a bill that would amend its open records law to limit the release of information around protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The North Dakota state assembly is expected to vote on the bill, known as SB 2209.</p><p data-block-key=\"okv53\">The bill would amend a section of North Dakota’s open records act, making records related to pipeline projects exempt from disclosure, <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2019/02/11/north-dakota-public-records-pipeline-protest/\">The Intercept reports</a>. News organizations have relied on the state’s strong open records laws to obtain information about how state law enforcement agencies have aggressively responded to the anti-pipeline protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"gxcjn\">The current version of North Dakota’s open records act includes <a href=\"https://www.legis.nd.gov/cencode/t44c04.pdf#nameddest=44-04-24\">a relatively narrow exemption</a> (44-04-24) for any “security system plan” related to “critical infrastructure,” which the law defines as “public buildings, systems, including telecommunications centers and computers, power generation plants, dams, bridges, and similar key resources.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wwr9y\">SB 2209 proposes to <a href=\"https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/66-2019/documents/19-0791-01000.pdf\">amend that provision of the law</a>, most notably by expanding the definition of “critical infrastructure” to include “systems related to utility services, fuel supply, energy, hazardous liquid, natural gas, or coal.” This subtle tweak could allow the state to deny open records requests for information about law enforcement surveillance of pipeline protesters, on the grounds that oil pipeline projects are “critical infrastructure” and therefore largely exempt from the open records law.</p><p data-block-key=\"35qjz\">Jeffrey Haas, a civil rights attorney who has provided support to pipeline protesters, told The Intercept that SB 2209 seems designed to prevent the public from learning about law enforcement’s response to pipeline protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"v7wmf\">“I think this is clearly a response to what you learned through freedom of information requests,” he told The Intercept, which has <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2017/06/03/standing-rock-documents-expose-inner-workings-of-surveillance-industrial-complex/\">extensively reported</a> on law enforcement’s surveillance of protesters. “They did not like to have to disclose that information. This is an effort to prevent that in the future.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2ihkl\">SB 2209 is <a href=\"https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/66-2019/bill-actions/ba2209.html\">currently in committee in the North Dakota assembly</a>, which ends on May 2. The state assembly is also currently considering a similar bill, <a href=\"https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/66-2019/documents/19-0124-04000.pdf\">SB 2044</a>, that would make intentionally interfering with the construction of a “critical infrastructure facility,” such as a pipeline, a Class C felony.</p><p data-block-key=\"j7epp\">As Freedom of the Press Foundation <a href=\"https://freedom.press/news/how-new-state-legislation-making-reporting-pipeline-protests-felony/\">reported last year</a>, an increasing number of state legislatures around the country have passed or are considering bills that designate oil pipelines as “critical infrastructure,” which allows the state to bring felony charges against pipeline protesters and the journalists who cover them.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS12BIC.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"g57ix\">In March 2018, members of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and Indigenous leaders participated in a protest march and rally in opposition to the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines in Washington, D.C.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": {
"name": "North Dakota",
"abbreviation": "ND"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-04-09 12:00:00+00:00) N.D. governor signs SB 2209 into law"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [
"environmentalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist questioned by CBP in Detroit after being denied entry to Mexico",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-by-cbp-in-detroit-after-being-denied-entry-to-mexico/",
"first_published_at": "2022-01-14T14:40:32.348102Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-07T17:54:39.477299Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-07T17:54:39.239460Z",
"date": "2019-01-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Detroit",
"longitude": -83.04575,
"latitude": 42.33143,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"iob2n\">Freelance photojournalist Kitra Cahana was questioned about her journalistic work by U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorities in Detroit, Michigan, on Jan. 18, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"v06ra\">Cahana was one of many journalists covering the Central American migrant caravan’s arrival to Mexico. According to a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.441727/gov.uscourts.nyed.441727.1.0.pdf\">lawsuit</a> in which Cahana is a plaintiff, the photojournalist was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-denied-entry-mexico-found-governments-secret-database/\">flagged for secondary screening</a> by CBP at a preclearance location in Montreal while traveling from Canada to Mexico City via Detroit on Jan. 17. Cahana was ultimately denied entry to Mexico and put on a return flight to Detroit the following day.</p><p data-block-key=\"945mi\">According to the lawsuit, when Cahana landed and passed through customs the machine printed out a ticket with a picture of her face with a large “X” on it, indicating that she had been flagged for secondary screening.</p><p data-block-key=\"lui1n\">Two plainclothes officers questioned Cahana in a private room, asking about her denial of entry to Mexico and her interactions with the Mexican authorities. The officers also asked her to confirm details of an incident that took place the day after Christmas.</p><p data-block-key=\"4kfdd\">“This suggested to Ms. Cahana that the officers knew more about her and her journalism work in Mexico in December 2018 than Ms. Cahana had revealed during questioning by them,” the lawsuit states.</p><p data-block-key=\"u3lfn\">On March 6,<a href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Source-Leaked-Documents-Show-the-US-Government-Tracking-Journalists-and-Advocates-Through-a-Secret-Database-506783231.html\"> NBC 7 in San Diego broke the story</a> that Department of Homeland Security officials in San Diego had created a database of journalists, activists and attorneys who were involved in some way with the migrant caravan, including Cahana. The anonymous whistleblower who brought the documents to NBC 7 told the news outlet that the DHS had created dossiers on each individual in the database.</p><p data-block-key=\"neiok\">“We are a criminal investigation agency, we’re not an intelligence agency,” the anonymous source said. “We can’t create dossiers on people and they’re creating dossiers. This is an abuse of the Border Search Authority.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0nrrr\">DHS confirmed to NBC 7 that the seal on the documents indicates that “the documents are a product of the International Liaison Unit (ILU), which coordinates intelligence between Mexico and the United States.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kc35y\">“In the current state of journalism, it's really freelancers who are bringing so much news to the public,” Cahana told NBC 7. “And the uncertainty of having an alert placed on your passport and not knowing where and when that's going to prevent you from doing your work is really problematic.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1h0fr\">On Nov. 20, Cahana and four other photojournalists — <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?case_number=1:19-cv-06570\">all of whom were questioned</a> about their work covering the migrant caravan and documented in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — filed a lawsuit against the heads of DHS, CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.</p><p data-block-key=\"1dlur\">“This lawsuit challenges U.S. border officers’ questioning of journalists about their work documenting conditions at the U.S.-Mexico border,” the suit begins. “The border officers’ questioning aimed at uncovering Plaintiffs’ sources of information and their observations as journalists was unconstitutional.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dmo9t\">The suit seeks a ruling that such questioning violates the First Amendment and an injunction requiring the agencies to expunge any records or files about the photojournalists. The suit remains ongoing and discovery is underway.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"border_point": "Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport",
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"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
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"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kitra Cahana (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist denied entry into Mexico found on government’s secret database",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-denied-entry-mexico-found-governments-secret-database/",
"first_published_at": "2019-03-12T21:19:59.987587Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-07T17:55:01.100022Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-07T17:55:01.020218Z",
"date": "2019-01-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Montreal",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5347f\"></p><p data-block-key=\"qo2aq\">Freelance photojournalist Kitra Cahana had an alert placed on her passport and was entered into a database authorized by the U.S. government, which collected information about her and other journalists. Cahana was ultimately denied entry into Mexico multiple times.</p><p data-block-key=\"0miy5\">Cahana was one of many journalists covering the Central American migrant caravan’s arrival to Mexico. While traveling from Canada to Mexico City on Jan. 17, 2019, <a href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Source-Leaked-Documents-Show-the-US-Government-Tracking-Journalists-and-Advocates-Through-a-Secret-Database-506783231.html\">Cahana was pulled aside at U.S. Customs and Border Protection preclearance in Montreal</a> due to a “flag” on her passport, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"yng08\">According to a lawsuit in which Cahana is a plaintiff, officers questioned Cahana about her work, how it was funded, whether she was covering the caravan on assignment and how she obtained assignments. After approximately 10 minutes, she was allowed to board her flight, but upon arrival was pulled aside again due to the alert on her passport — this time, by Mexican authorities, who Cahana said separated her from her phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"cgahc\">According to the lawsuit, Cahana repeatedly asked the officers why she was being held and if it was because she is a journalist. An officer responded that she was being held because of a flag with Interpol by U.S. authorities.</p><p data-block-key=\"75ulz\">She was ultimately denied entry to Mexico and was forced to return to Detroit; upon landing, she was once again <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-by-cbp-in-detroit-after-being-denied-entry-to-mexico/\">flagged for secondary screening</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"iqzxx\">On March 6, <a href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Source-Leaked-Documents-Show-the-US-Government-Tracking-Journalists-and-Advocates-Through-a-Secret-Database-506783231.html\">NBC 7 in San Diego broke the story</a> that Department of Homeland Security officials in San Diego had created a database of journalists, activists and attorneys who were involved in some way with the migrant caravan. The anonymous whistleblower who brought the documents to NBC 7 told the news outlet that the DHS had created dossiers on each individual in the database.</p><p data-block-key=\"toryc\">“We are a criminal investigation agency, we’re not an intelligence agency,” the anonymous source said. “We can’t create dossiers on people and they’re creating dossiers. This is an abuse of the Border Search Authority.”</p><p data-block-key=\"o7vhr\">DHS confirmed to NBC 7 that the seal on the documents indicates that “the documents are a product of the International Liaison Unit (ILU), which coordinates intelligence between Mexico and the United States.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hdtzr\">“In the current state of journalism, it's really freelancers who are bringing so much news to the public,” Cahana told NBC 7. “And the uncertainty of having an alert placed on your passport and not knowing where and when that's going to prevent you from doing your work is really problematic.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3uqpx\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented other journalists covering the migrant caravan who were targeted by U.S. authorities for additional border screening measures. Some, including <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-photography-students-stopped-us-mexico-border-secondary-screening/\">Go Nakamura</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-us-mexico-border-second-time/\">Ariana Drehsler</a>, are <a href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/multimedia/PHOTOS-Leaked-Documents-to-NBC-7-Investigates-506782041.html\">listed in the database</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8db48\"><i>Editor's Note: This article has been updated with information detailed in a lawsuit Kitra Cahana filed in November 2019.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"case_number": "1:19-cv-06570",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "Montréal–Trudeau International Airport",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"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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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Canada",
"abbreviation": null
},
"updates": [
"(2019-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Journalist sues DHS, agencies after being found on government’s secret database"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kitra Cahana (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "American-born Iranian journalist arrested and held as material witness in grand jury case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/american-born-iranian-journalist-arrested-and-held-material-witness-grand-jury-case/",
"first_published_at": "2019-01-24T19:54:22.108635Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:04:49.999385Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:04:49.904661Z",
"date": "2019-01-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "St. Louis",
"longitude": -90.19789,
"latitude": 38.62727,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ob63q\">Marzieh Hashemi, the American-born journalist working for Iranian state TV, was released last night, after being arrested last week and held for 10 days by the U.S. Department of Justice.</p><p data-block-key=\"6x8k6\">As <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/01/23/688084690/iranian-journalist-marzieh-hashemi-released-by-officials-after-grand-jury-appear\">NPR reports</a>, Hashemi was held to testify in a grand jury case under the material witness statute, though no other details of the case have been released.</p><p data-block-key=\"3uq6m\">Hashemi was arrested on Jan. 13, 2019, and remained in jail for a week and a half, despite not being charged with a crime. The DOJ had previously refused to answer reporters questions about the details of Hashemi’s arrest and detainment. While the Justice Department contends federal law allows it to detain people as material witnesses who are a threat to flee the country, the constitutionality of the statute has been called into question by legal experts. As <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/melanie-franklin-marzieh-hashemi-us-iran-press-tv-anchor-arrest-material-witness/\">CBS News reported on Jan. 17</a>:</p><p data-block-key=\"lb6f0\">The constitutionality of the material witness law has "never been meaningfully tested," said Ricardo J. Bascuas, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law. "The government only relies on it when they need a reason to arrest somebody but they don't have one."</p><p data-block-key=\"pd0kk\">The uncertainty around her detainment, including whether or not it had to do with her work as a journalist from Iranian state television, had press freedom groups in the U.S. and abroad speaking out.</p><p data-block-key=\"bq26c\">In a statement earlier in the week, Reporters Without Borders condemned her detention without charge and the lack of transparency.</p><p data-block-key=\"gfk44\">“The opaqueness surrounding her detention is unacceptable,” Reza Moini, the head of RSF’s Iran desk, said. “Marzieh Hashemi’s fundamental rights must be guaranteed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hcotj\">The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed similar sentiments, <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2019/01/cpj-concerned-about-us-detention-of-iranian-tv-jou.php\">saying in a statement late last week</a>: "We are concerned by the arrest of a journalist for Iranian state TV, Marzieh Hashemi, and call on the U.S. Department of Justice to immediately disclose the basis for her detention.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v6by5\">Following Hashemi’s release, her family released a statement saying she would remain in Washington, D.C. for planned protests and that they still had grievances with her detention without charge.</p><p data-block-key=\"nf2yu\">We will update this post when more information becomes available, including whether or not Hashemi was explicitly targeted for her journalistic work, or whether it was unrelated.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Marzieh-Hashemi_3.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"rz1yo\">Journalist Marzieh Hashemi, in an undated photo provided by Press TV.<b><br/></b></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": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Missouri",
"abbreviation": "MO"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-01-24 20:00:00+00:00) Hashemi says she was held because of her work as a journalist, and as a \"warning\""
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Department of Justice"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Marzieh Hashemi (Press TV [Iran])"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist attacked during live broadcast at scene of California mass overdose",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-attacked-during-live-broadcast-scene-california-mass-overdose/",
"first_published_at": "2019-01-18T18:49:37.257000Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-08-12T19:03:33.905177Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-08-12T19:03:33.844905Z",
"date": "2019-01-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chico",
"longitude": -121.83748,
"latitude": 39.72849,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"31j6g\">Meaghan Mackey, a reporter for KRCR News Channel 7, was attacked while broadcasting a Facebook Live from the scene of a mass overdose in Chico, California, on Jan. 12, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"drv34\">The news station has removed the video from its Facebook page, though numerous outlets have posted it, either edited or in raw version, <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/butte.county.fires.accidents.crimes/videos/1033003966901797/\">such as here</a>. In it, Mackey can be seen describing the scene before lifting up the camera to move closer.</p><p data-block-key=\"xsunc\">While Mackey is out of view, a female voice can be heard.</p><p data-block-key=\"yvf8b\">“This is disrespectful, do you understand that,” the unidentified woman asks. “It’s dis-f---ing-respectful, b----. Get the f--- out of here!”</p><p data-block-key=\"tep7i\">Mackey screams and is apparently knocked to the ground as her attacker continues to shout obscenities at her. A male voice can be heard intervening in the attack just before the video cuts out.</p><p data-block-key=\"5v066\">The station released a statement on Twitter following the attack:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As many of you know, our reporter Meaghan Mackey was attacked while at the scene of a mass overdose in Chico tonight. Meaghan is very shaken up but is okay. We are thankful law enforcement was right there and handled the situation quickly. We appreciate all your kind words.</p>— KRCR News Channel 7 (@KRCR7) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KRCR7/status/1084305879103463424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 13, 2019</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=\"nuxja\">The following day, Mackey released an official statement on Twitter:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Official Statement: As many of you know, I was attacked and assaulted at the scene of a mass overdose in Chico, California last night. I was doing my job, reporting the facts on a major incident during a Facebook live for my news station <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KRCR7?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@KRCR7</a> (1/3)</p>— Meaghan Mackey (@KRCRMeaghan) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KRCRMeaghan/status/1084571098115526657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 13, 2019</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\">I am thankful for the quick response from law enforcement. I am also very appreciative of all the support I’ve received from colleagues, viewers, friends and family. I am still shaken up, but am doing okay. I stand with all journalists working in defense of the truth. (2/3)</p>— Meaghan Mackey (@KRCRMeaghan) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KRCRMeaghan/status/1084571295428206592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 13, 2019</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\">Thank you to anyone who has reached out or expressed their concerns. I appreciate your kind words of support. I will not live in fear of doing my job. I value the freedom of the press & will continue to report on the truth and inform the public, even during times of tragedy (3/3)</p>— Meaghan Mackey (@KRCRMeaghan) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KRCRMeaghan/status/1084571489267998720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 13, 2019</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=\"ptiyp\">According to the Chico Police Department, no arrests have been made at this time.</p><p data-block-key=\"3m85d\">Twelve people were hospitalized as a result of the mass overdose and one man was pronounced dead at the scene, according to <a href=\"https://www.apnews.com/e5ebc5a9894a4c2aa3b572e0d03cb782\">The Associated Press</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2019-01-18_at_1.32.42.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"edhsk\">Meaghan Mackey, in a screenshot from her Facebook Live for KRCR News Channel 7, was attacked while broadcasting from the scene of a mass overdose in Chico, California.<br/></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": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Meaghan Mackey (KRCR-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Court orders journalist to write blog, censor replies as part of sentencing",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/court-orders-journalist-to-write-blog-censor-replies-as-part-of-sentencing/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-03T14:42:27.562940Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-06-03T14:42:27.562940Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-06-03T14:42:27.512793Z",
"date": "2019-01-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Franklin",
"longitude": -83.38154,
"latitude": 35.18232,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>On Jan. 11, 2019, journalist Davin Eldridge was found guilty of criminal contempt; sentenced to a year-long probation; and required to write an essay about respect for the court, submit it for court approval, publish it online and censor negative comments.</p><p>Eldridge, publisher of the news site and Facebook page <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/trappreport/\">Trappalachia</a>, recorded and livestreamed a criminal proceeding in the Macon County Courthouse in Franklin, North Carolina, in November 2018 despite posted signs stating that recording was not permitted in the courtroom and a warning from a bailiff, the News & Observer <a href=\"https://www.newsobserver.com/article249893653.html\">reported</a>.</p><p>The presiding judge, William Coward, reiterated his rule against recording and, after viewing Eldridge’s Facebook posts, ordered the journalist to return to the courtroom later that day. Eldridge did not comply with that order.</p><p>Eldridge did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p>Eldridge was later <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nc-news-publisher-charged-with-criminal-contempt-of-court/\">charged with criminal contempt</a> by Coward, who ordered the journalist to appear for a hearing on Jan. 11, 2019. That day, Eldridge objected to Coward overseeing his case and asked for his recusal, which Coward denied.</p><p>Coward found Eldridge guilty of criminal contempt and sentenced him to 30 days in jail. The sentence was suspended, and the trial court placed Eldridge on probation for one year with certain conditions, which included writing a 2,000-to-3,000-word essay on the subject “Respect for the Court System is Essential to the Fair Administration of Justice” and not attending “any court session in Judicial District 30A unless and until his essay has been approved and posted.”</p><p>Eldridge immediately appealed the ruling, but in December 2019, the North Carolina Court of Appeals <a href=\"https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=2&pdf=38602\">upheld</a> the trial court’s decision. A dissenting opinion was entered by Judge Christopher Brook, who agreed that Coward had the right to restrict recording in the courtroom and find Eldridge guilty of contempt but found that the conditions of his probation had “deeply troubling constitutional problems.”</p><p>“Although we generally do not review constitutional questions that have not first been raised in the trial court … suffice it to say that the sentencing judge has not only compelled Defendant [Eldridge] to speak within the meaning of the First Amendment, he has compelled Defendant to then continue speaking by censoring the viewpoints of other expressed in response to speech compelled by the court,” Judge Brook wrote in his dissent. “This compelled speech silencing third-party viewpoints expressed in response to compelled speech raises serious First Amendment concerns.”</p><p>On March 12, 2021, the North Carolina Supreme Court <a href=\"https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=1&pdf=40135\">affirmed</a> the Appeals Court’s decision without any explanation.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "North Carolina",
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"categories": [
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},
{
"title": "Iowa blogger denied press access to Statehouse",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/iowa-blogger-denied-press-access-statehouse/",
"first_published_at": "2020-02-04T15:54:07.920420Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-07T14:25:43.669822Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-07T14:25:43.581555Z",
"date": "2019-01-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Des Moines",
"longitude": -93.60911,
"latitude": 41.60054,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"aakn6\">A political blogger in Iowa has been denied press access to the Iowa Legislature two years in a row, despite the lack of a clear policy that would disqualify her.</p><p data-block-key=\"zzj9s\">Laura Belin, who runs the independent news site Bleeding Heartland, covers Iowa politics and has been critical of the Republican-led House and Senate. Belin told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she first sought information about press credentials in the Iowa House of Representatives in early 2019. Since then, officials have denied her requests for credentials or access to press work areas multiple times, each time citing different reasons that did not align with written policies in place. Both the House and the Senate have also changed press qualification criteria since her first application.</p><p data-block-key=\"gnukd\">When Belin first sought credentials in the House, the clerk at the time, Carmine Boal, told her by email on Jan. 3, 2019, that credentials “are not issued to members of the public.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sburd\">Boal referenced Iowa House rules, which did not elaborate on qualifications for the press. She also told Belin the House consulted<a href=\"https://periodical.house.gov/accreditation/rules-and-regulations\"> U.S. congressional press gallery rules</a>, which would not appear to disqualify Belin. Boal never responded to multiple requests for further explanation from Belin.</p><p data-block-key=\"7od6r\">Boal stood by the denial of Belin’s credentials in a statement <a href=\"https://apnews.com/df3c7ecdcf90431daf729a1fb7ac7fe4\">to The Associated Press</a> but did not elaborate on why she did not meet the chamber’s rules that restricted access to the press box to “representatives of the press, radio, and television.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s232y\">After the Iowa Freedom of Information Council wrote to Boal expressing concerns about Belin’s rejection, Boal responded on Feb. 5 that House rules “do not offer a definition” of members of the media, and again pointed to congressional rules. In a copy of the response letter provided to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, she wrote that online outlets are not excluded and said that credentials are not denied based on content. However, she also said that the House has not “credentialed any ‘non-traditional media’ since 2015,” a policy that did not appear in writing.</p><p data-block-key=\"l1wya\">Belin also applied for access to desks reserved for members of the press in the Iowa Senate in January 2019. She was initially told that she could access vacant spaces on day passes. However, Belin said she was never issued a day pass, even when the desks were not in use.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ln99\">Both the House and the Senate updated their press policies after Belin’s initial inquiries, according to the <a href=\"https://apnews.com/64d897b25c9c8918d5be95f5e63797a8\">AP</a>. The House updated its<a href=\"https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/CCDOC/1050120.pdf\"> policy</a> in February 2019 to include requirements that credentialed press be “bona fide correspondents of repute” and a “paid correspondent.” Bleeding Heartland is editorially independent and a registered business. Belin, as its owner, is entitled to any proceeds.</p><p data-block-key=\"mugpm\">Belin applied for press credentials for the 2020 legislative session. She was denied credentials from the House on Jan. 10, 2020. House Clerk Meghan Nelson told her in an email that the House does not credential “outlets that are nontraditional/independent in nature.” This requirement is not included in the Iowa House press policy.</p><p data-block-key=\"9o0yb\">The Senate abolished media credentials and adopted a new <a href=\"https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/SSDOC/1126281.pdf\">reserved work space policy</a>, in place for the 2020 legislative session, which guides access to desks in the Senate chamber reserved for media and Senate staff.</p><p data-block-key=\"kej12\">On Jan. 10, Belin received an email from Secretary of the Senate Charlie Smithson notifying her that “it has been determined that you do not meet the criteria to be a ‘member of the media’” under the Senate’s work space policy. Correspondence provided by Belin shows that Smithson did not respond to her multiple requests for further explanation of what criteria she did not meet under the policy.</p><p data-block-key=\"9kfyy\">Belin told the Tracker that press freedom protections are not just for journalists pulling a full-time salary. She suspects she was denied access because her approach differs from the “traditional objectivity stance.”</p><p data-block-key=\"m7z5v\">“I don’t think it’s constitutional for them to exclude me because they don’t like the opinions on my website,” Belin said.</p><p data-block-key=\"998lm\">Iowa House and Senate officials did not respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/LauraBelinheadshot.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"rs9d8\">Political blogger Laura Belin has been repeatedly denied press access to the Iowa Statehouse. "I don’t think it’s constitutional for them to exclude me because they don’t like the opinions on my website,” Belin said.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "4:24-cv-00021",
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Iowa",
"abbreviation": "IA"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-01-19 00:00:00+00:00) Reporter sues Iowa House clerk after being denied press credentials",
"(2024-01-24 00:00:00+00:00) Iowa reporter wins press credentials after filing suit",
"(2024-04-02 11:26:00+00:00) Reporter reaches $49k settlement in lawsuit over press pass denial"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"State government: Legislature"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Laura Belin (Bleeding Heartland)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": [
"Change in policy or practice",
"Press credential or media list"
]
},
{
"title": "Judge quashes subpoena of New York Post reporter",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-quashes-subpoena-new-york-post-reporter/",
"first_published_at": "2019-11-22T20:05:22.458030Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-24T16:20:38.207669Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-24T16:20:38.082005Z",
"date": "2019-01-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qn9mq\">Veteran New York Post reporter Susan Edelman was subpoenaed on Jan. 7, 2019, in an ongoing lawsuit between a former New York firefighter and the department. A federal magistrate judge quashed the subpoena on Aug. 9, and a federal district court judge affirmed that decision on Nov. 12.</p><p data-block-key=\"5scg1\">Michael Johnson, the plaintiff, alleges in his civil lawsuit filed in November 2016 that he was discriminated against at FDNY due to his status as an African American “priority hire” who joined the department in 2014. He was hired following a court order to remedy historically discriminatory hiring practices at FDNY. Johnson alleges that he was the subject of strategic leaks to the media intended to portray him as a coward who refused to fight fires.</p><p data-block-key=\"1oq1r\">Edelman was the co-author of a May 2015 New York Post story titled “Firefighters fear colleague who routinely flees fires.” The piece began, “He's a firefighter in name only. Michael D. Johnson won’t fight fires. Instead, he stays on the sidelines as his Engine Company 257 colleagues rush into burning buildings, FDNY insiders told the Post.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1l6sn\">The 2019 subpoena was issued demanding Edelman appear at a Jan. 29 deposition at the New York office of one of Johnson’s attorneys. After negotiations with Johnson’s attorneys and several extensions granted by the court, Edelman’s attorneys filed a motion to quash the subpoena on June 4.</p><p data-block-key=\"ou15y\">Edelman penned an affidavit in support of the motion, in which she argues the importance of keeping the identities of her sources confidential. “My reporting for the Post includes investigating corruption, waste, and misconduct within government agencies in New York City,” she writes. “The municipal government sources who provide me information on these and other issues could be subject to serious professional discipline—or even lose their job—for speaking with me. It is therefore absolutely critical that my sources trust that I will maintain their confidentiality.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xds36\">Lawyers for Johnson argued in court filings that Edelman had waived her reporter’s privilege because she, in a 2015 phone call with one of Johnson’s attorneys, mentioned she was getting a call on another line from Jake Lemonda, a FDNY battalion chief. Edelman’s attorney, Robert Balin, disagreed, writing in a filing, “Ms. Edelman said nothing about the substance of any conversations she had with Mr. Lemonda, whether he provided her with any information, or if he did, whether any information he provided was used in—or even connected to—the Article.”</p><p data-block-key=\"y8wxc\">Vera M. Scanlon, a federal magistrate judge, granted the order quashing the subpoena on Aug. 9. The plaintiff’s counsel filed an objection to Scanlon’s order, writing that the judge “erred when she found that all of Edelman’s discussions with her sources were confidential” and that the “standard for non-confidentiality ought to apply.”</p><p data-block-key=\"75oog\">On Nov. 12, U.S. District Court Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto affirmed Scanlon’s order granting Edelman’s motion to quash the subpoena. “Judge Scanlon properly exercised her discretion when she held that Edelman's sources and other newsgathering information with respect to the Article were confidential and that plaintiff did not overcome his burden to compel disclosure of Edelman's information,” she found.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2019-11-22_at_7.39.10.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"c93iq\">A portion of the 2019 subpoena seeking information on confidential sources from New York Post reporter Susan Edelman.</p>",
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"subpoena_type": "testimony about confidential source",
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"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
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"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
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"Susan Edelman (New York Post)"
],
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"quashed"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent filmmaker stopped for second time while crossing U.S.-Mexico border, car and phone searched",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-filmmaker-stopped-second-time-while-crossing-us-mexico-border-car-and-phone-searched/",
"first_published_at": "2019-09-06T13:39:46.531989Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-29T17:03:21.128449Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-29T17:03:21.028544Z",
"date": "2019-01-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"65n42\">An independent documentary filmmaker was stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border twice by U.S. officials while following the migrant caravan for a film project. The second stop included a search of his equipment.</p><p data-block-key=\"9iij9\">The filmmaker, a foreign citizen who is based in the U.S., told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that in December 2018 he was crossing the San Ysidro border near San Diego, California, when <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-filmmaker-stopped-while-crossing-us-mexico-border/\">he was stopped and held</a> for several hours after being recognized for his work by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent.</p><p data-block-key=\"e0ja6\">Not quite a week later, he said, he was stopped at the same border point while re-entering Mexico to continue his work.</p><p data-block-key=\"ncdra\">About 1 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019, a CBP agent took the passports of the filmmaker and a friend with whom he was traveling.</p><p data-block-key=\"ztbhg\">Usually, the filmmaker said, a secondary screening has a specific protocol: The agent puts the passport in an orange slip and tucks the slip under a wiper on the front windshield. This time, he said, the protocol was very different.</p><p data-block-key=\"661om\">The agent kept the two passports, asked the filmmaker for his wallet and told him and his friend to leave the car. The filmmaker was then taken inside the CBP office, where he waited for 30-40 minutes.</p><p data-block-key=\"6gp0k\">Plainclothes officers began asking questions, he said, most notably about if he’d been in any face-off with officers or if he had any involvement in a specific New Year’s Eve incident. On Dec. 31, 2018, CBP agents <a href=\"https://www.newsweek.com/border-patrol-migrants-tear-gas-mexico-1276529\">fired tear gas across the border</a> near Tijuana, Mexico.</p><p data-block-key=\"yhxw6\">The filmmaker also said the agents asked if he “knew of any group or people who were agitators.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ebuvc\">The filmmaker said he answered the questions and then the agents asked him to unlock his phone. He did so, he said, because he didn’t want to escalate the situation and get into a confrontation with the agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"qofpc\">“By this time it’s almost 2 a.m.,” the filmmaker said, “And the whole situation is intimidating.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7hljc\">After about 15 minutes with his phone, the agents returned and asked him to unlock it again. They also asked for his email and phone number.</p><p data-block-key=\"l2swq\">“I don’t think anything was missing from my phone,” the filmmaker said, “But they had full access to everything — my contacts, my photos, my social media.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e1yuy\">All told, he said, he was held for about 2 hours. His friend’s car was searched and she was brought in and questioned as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"9y1bn\">The filmmaker said he has no plans to go back because he is done filming. He did ask that his name not be used for fear of reprisal.</p><p data-block-key=\"18tyv\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has detailed <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=migrant+caravan&categories=Border+Stop\">nearly a dozen border stops</a> of journalists following the migrant caravan. In March, San Diego’s NBC 7 investigative news team received leaked documents <a href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/investigations/Source-Leaked-Documents-Show-the-US-Government-Tracking-Journalists-and-Advocates-Through-a-Secret-Database-506783231.html\">showing the U.S. government had been tracking</a> and keeping dossiers on American journalists, lawyers and activists involved with the caravan. The news station also received an internal email showing <a href=\"https://www.nbcsandiego.com/investigations/Blumenthal-Grave-Concerns-Over-Border-Surveillance-Documents-506892591.html\">the order to increase surveillance</a> came from the head of the city’s Department of Homeland Security.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"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": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "San Ysidro Port of Entry",
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": true,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "yes",
"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": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "vehicle"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Anonymous documentary journalist 2 (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist pulled into secondary screening at border",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pulled-secondary-screening-border/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-22T15:53:32.071992Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-07T17:55:18.706621Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-07T17:55:18.623515Z",
"date": "2019-01-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xnvmc\">Mark Abramson, a freelance photojournalist, was pulled into secondary screening by U.S. border officials while returning from Mexico on Jan. 5, 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"8n3fl\">Abramson, a U.S. citizen, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that border agents looked through his belongings, including his notebook, at the El Chaparral port of entry at San Diego, California.</p><p data-block-key=\"6bw2s\">A U.S. Customs and Border Protection official then brought Abramson into a separate room, where he was asked to leave his bag and phone behind. The Intercept <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2019/02/08/us-mexico-border-journalists-harassment/\">reported</a> that in there, he was questioned for about 30 minutes about assignments and payments he received as a freelancer. The official also asked a series of questions related to the migrant caravan, including whether Abramson knew “who is stirring up stuff in the camp” or of groups helping the migrants.</p><p data-block-key=\"7c7bd\">Abramson <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2019/02/several-journalists-say-us-border-agents-questione.php\">told CPJ</a> he was disturbed by the line of questions. “I’m not an informant, my job is to inform the public,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7tw2b\">CBP did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX6IQ2H.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"drigc\">A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer watches a group of migrants from Central America seeking asylum as they search for a place to cross over the U.S. border wall in Tijuana, Mexico, in December 2018.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:19-cv-06570",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"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": false,
"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,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Photojournalists sue DHS, agencies after questioned about caravan coverage"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mark Abramson (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist stopped at the US-Mexico border, questioned about immigration reporting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-us-mexico-border-questioned-about-immigration-reporting/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-20T20:44:26.668036Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-29T17:03:07.283969Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-29T17:03:07.196578Z",
"date": "2019-01-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1e02i\">Manuel Rapalo, a freelance journalist, was stopped and pulled aside for additional screening measures while entering the United States via Washington, D.C. on Jan. 5, 2019. During the screening, Rapalo was questioned about his reporting along the U.S.-Mexico border and had his notebook searched.</p><p data-block-key=\"mch2n\">Rapalo, an American citizen, <a href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/hundreds-honduran-migrants-journey-190116155026749.html\">covered the migrant caravan</a> from Tijuana, Mexico, for Al-Jazeera. Every time he has re-entered the U.S. since then, he says, he has been pulled aside for a secondary screening, in what Rapalo calls his “new routine.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7okm5\">Rapalo believes that a flag or marker has been placed on his travel documents because border officials have consistently stopped him only after scanning his passport. The Jan. 5 secondary screening was his first time to be pulled aside—he was also stopped for <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-border-second-time-camera-searched/\">additional screening on Jan. 26</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-stopped-border-third-time-questioned-about-his-work-and-foia-request/\">Feb. 16</a>, where the photos on his camera were searched and he was questioned about public records requests he intends to file.</p><p data-block-key=\"q7qz9\">“The first question was, ‘Why did you have trouble at the border?’” Rapalo said, referring to his reporting on the US-Mexico border. “I don’t know how he could have even known that. And then they asked me about my work along the border.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hkf38\">According to Rapalo, the secondary screening began with about 30 minutes of questioning, then he was held for 1-2 hours while his luggage was searched.</p><p data-block-key=\"fy9s4\">“They go through my reporter notebooks, receipts, and ask me about the nature of my work, and how long I’ve been doing the job and whether I do fake news,” he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “I tell them to Google me. It seems like they are trying to get information out of me related to the border, like gathering intelligence on why the media is interested in the border.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1960q\">Rapalo said that while reporting from Tijuana on New Year’s Eve 2018, officials with Customs and Border Protection accused him and other journalists of exploiting migrants for stories and even “bringing them here from the shelters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"50fgx\">“CBP tells people at the border hoping to cross that the journalists are taking advantage of them, and that they are there to make money off of them,” Rapalo said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bt48g\">He said he responded to these accusations by stating that, “I can’t speak for everyone else, but I’m just here to watch and witness.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pfial\">CBP did not immediately respond to request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Image_from_iOS_1.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"n7lmb\">Journalists for Al-Jazeera report on Jan. 1 in Mexico while covering activities along 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,
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"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "Washington, D.C.",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "work product"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Manuel Rapalo (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist questioned at San Ysidro border, separated from camera",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-san-ysidro-border-separated-camera/",
"first_published_at": "2019-02-21T19:36:46.461277Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-07T17:55:56.177301Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-07T17:55:56.080351Z",
"date": "2019-01-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1ez6u\">On Jan. 4, 2019, freelance photojournalist Ariana Drehsler was stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border and subjected to secondary screening measures for the third time over the course of several weeks.</p><p data-block-key=\"p1tcs\">Drehsler had been covering the <a href=\"https://www.apnews.com/553a27f836ca4fa0a800ad676c09759a\">migrant caravan</a> and seekers of asylum status in the United States. When she crossed over from Mexico on Dec. 30, 2018, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-san-ysidro-border/\">she was stopped and told that her passport had been “flagged,”</a> and she was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-us-mexico-border-second-time/\">again stopped for additional screening on Jan. 2</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"063n6\">“I was sent to secondary screening again,” she said of the Jan. 4 incident. While she was waiting to be questioned at the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego, she said border agents chatted with her about her photography gear.</p><p data-block-key=\"n4aeq\">“One asked if I would show him my photos, but I declined, and he said something like, ‘Yeah, I kind of figured.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"f4kus\">Unlike her two previous border stops, during which she was questioned by officials wearing civilian clothing, this time she was questioned by uniformed U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"86lw8\">She was patted down, and then her belongings were searched in front of her, she said. “I didn’t have my laptop because I felt paranoid doing so at that point,” referring to the two previous border stops.</p><p data-block-key=\"sjkkq\">“They took me into a hall and they told me to leave my bag and phone there, and they took me to another room.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s64it\">Drehsler said she felt uncomfortable being separated from her belongings.</p><p data-block-key=\"uowhw\">During questioning, she said she was asked about background as a journalist and her previous work-related travels to the Middle East as well as details about the migrant caravan.</p><p data-block-key=\"1z7jo\">“The agents that questioned me said, ‘You’re on the ground and we’re not,’ which is why they were asking me those questions. They wanted to know what I was seeing and hearing about the new caravan and organizers.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ls96g\">Drehsler said that before December 2018 she did not have any problem entering the United States when reporting from Mexico.</p><p data-block-key=\"5d6ct\">CBP did not immediately respond to request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Drehsler_borderstop_3.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"68ylf\">A man holds an American flag at the Contra Viento y Marea shelter, a private warehouse converted into a shelter for migrants who traveled from Central America to near the US-Mexico border, in Tijuana, Mexico, on Jan. 4, 2019.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:19-cv-06570",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
"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": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "yes",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"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": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2019-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Photojournalist sues DHS, agencies after questioned about caravan coverage"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"migrant caravan"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ariana Drehsler (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
}
]
