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{
"title": "City manager threatens reporter, outlet with legal action",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/city-manager-threatens-reporter-outlet-with-legal-action/",
"first_published_at": "2023-03-28T18:41:22.318271Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-03-29T13:44:28.843727Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-03-29T13:44:28.710781Z",
"date": "2023-03-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Newburgh",
"longitude": -74.01042,
"latitude": 41.50343,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"isezc\">New York broadcast station News 12 Hudson Valley and one of its reporters were threatened with legal action in a statement released by Newburgh city officials on March 20, 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"4uill\">In the <a href=\"https://www.cityofnewburgh-ny.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=539\">statement</a>, part of a press release around a crime-reduction operation with the FBI in 2022, City Manager Todd Venning asserted that a News 12 reporter created a “conspiracy theory” suggesting the City of Newburgh was falsifying crime and arrest data and failing to submit reports to the state. Venning indicated that the City will pursue legal recourse.</p><p data-block-key=\"7qvu2\">“Legitimate reporters from well-credentialed news organizations don’t always get it right, so it’s not surprising to see a local television personality struggle with basic tenets of professional journalism,” Venning said. “The City will explore its legal options against this presenter and News 12 for its reckless disregard of the truth.”</p><p data-block-key=\"877qn\">Venning was referencing News 12 reporter Blaise Gomez’s <a href=\"https://bronx.news12.com/city-of-newburgh-officials-face-scrutiny-for-alleged-cover-up-to-improve-image\">March 15 reporting</a> in which she outlined a pattern of his office withholding information from the press and public. Gomez <a href=\"https://newjersey.news12.com/exclusive-sources-say-city-of-newburgh-manager-covering-up-crime-to-improve-image\">first reported</a> on the lack of transparency nearly a year prior, writing that Venning had issued what amounted to gag orders and directed information requests to go through City Hall.</p><p data-block-key=\"dr9qi\">As part of Gomez’s reporting, she interviewed Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler. In a <a href=\"https://midhudsonnews.com/2023/03/20/breaking-city-officials-attack-reporter-falsely-accuse-district-attorney-hoovler-video/\">recording of the interview</a> obtained by Mid Hudson News, Gomez asks multiple questions concerning allegations that Newburgh city officials are withholding information about crime in order to improve the city’s image. The interview did not include any mention of state or federal crime reporting requirements.</p><p data-block-key=\"1qjc\">Gomez declined to comment, directing questions to News 12; the station did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"dhlb8\">When reached by phone, Venning told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to direct all requests to [email protected]. The email to that address was returned as undeliverable. Michael Neppl, Venning’s chief of staff, responded after publication with an acknowledgement of requests for comment but provided no statement.</p><p data-block-key=\"34kf\"><i>Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect a response from a City of Newburgh representative.</i></p></div>",
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"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
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"categories": [
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"Blaise Gomez (News 12 Hudson Valley)"
],
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{
"title": "Photojournalist choked, his camera damaged in attack at Maine drama competition",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-choked-his-camera-damaged-in-attack-at-maine-drama-competition/",
"first_published_at": "2023-04-28T17:43:48.635795Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-01T14:09:32.612351Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-01T14:09:32.515728Z",
"date": "2023-03-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Skowhegan",
"longitude": -69.71922,
"latitude": 44.76506,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"csjlq\">Michael G. Seamans, staff photojournalist for the Morning Sentinel in Maine, was assaulted and his camera damaged while photographing a high school drama competition in Skowhegan on March 11, 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"10g9m\">Seamans told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he arrived at Skowhegan High School at about 6:30 p.m. and identified himself as a journalist to a woman in a hallway near the stage. She told him that photography wasn’t allowed. Seamans responded that he was confused why that would be the case, when high school sports are routinely photographed. He said she threw up her hands, told him to do whatever he wanted and then walked away.</p><p data-block-key=\"arcmm\">Seamans then connected with the director of the Madison High School drama program, his primary focus. Seamans said the director and the Skowhegan vice principal both authorized him to photograph the Madison students in the pre-show area in the cafeteria where they were getting ready to perform.</p><p data-block-key=\"enlf2\">“At this point I’m no longer photographing anything and only getting identifications of kids in my pictures,” Seamans said. “And now I hear the first person that I encountered, this woman, yelling at the Madison director about me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b789b\">Seamans said he tried to intervene in order to diffuse the situation, saying that he was done and could leave the premises, but she kept yelling over him. He took a step back and made the gesture for a timeout.</p><p data-block-key=\"act92\">“A man, who I later came to learn was her husband, was standing behind be and he points at me and yells, ‘You’re not going to tell her to shut up!’” Seamans said. “That’s when his finger turned into his fist. And his fist opened up, grabbed me by the throat and threw me into a wall. At this point, I’m on my tip-toes, he has me almost elevated off my feet.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6gnjm\">Seamans said that the man continued to hold him there for nearly a minute as he held his hands up and asked for the man to let him go and for someone to call the police. He said the man only released him when a principal from the Skowhegan school system arrived, by which point Seamans’ vision had started to darken from the periphery and he had become disoriented.</p><p data-block-key=\"53nfu\">Seamans said that one of his cameras struck the wall during the altercation and was damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"591fe\">The school officials then led Seamans to an office where they questioned him for nearly 30 minutes before consenting to his repeated requests for someone to call police. Seamans filed a police report and went to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with a concussion and significant bruising of the neck and throat. Seamans said his primary care physician instructed him during a follow-up visit to remain on leave from work until March 27.</p><p data-block-key=\"a3ik3\">“In nearly two decades of working in this industry, from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the locked-downed districts of Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic to the front lines of Ukraine, I’ve never been attacked so suddenly and abruptly before,” Seamans told the Tracker. “It’s a difficult scenario to articulate.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3ii5o\">When reached by phone, a Skowhegan Police Department officer said he could not discuss details from the investigation, but confirmed that the department had referred the case to the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office. DA Maeghan Maloney, in an emailed response to the Tracker, said that her office is reviewing additional footage from the incident and has not concluded its assessment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"h0skk\">Photojournalist Michael G. Seamans, pictured here in Ukraine in 2022, was injured while on assignment at a high school drama competition in March 2023 in Maine. A man grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against a wall, also damaging his camera.</p>",
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"name": "Maine",
"abbreviation": "ME"
},
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"Equipment Damage"
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{
"title": "University staff member interrupts student journalist’s coverage at SEC Tournament",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/university-staff-member-interrupts-student-journalists-coverage-at-sec-tournament/",
"first_published_at": "2023-03-16T21:59:37.479575Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T17:33:37.771203Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T17:33:37.682918Z",
"date": "2023-03-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Nashville",
"longitude": -86.78444,
"latitude": 36.16589,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7lsud\">While covering the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 10, 2023, student photojournalist Jack Weaver’s coverage of men’s basketball was abruptly interrupted by a University of Arkansas staff member following the university’s loss.</p><p data-block-key=\"7733i\">Weaver told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was on assignment for the Kentucky Kernel, the student newspaper of the University of Kentucky. He went onto the court after the Arkansas-Texas A&M game to photograph the player and coach reactions, as he had done with previous games.</p><p data-block-key=\"2mhhn\">“As [Arkansas coach Eric Musselman] started making his way toward the tunnel, I took out my phone to grab a video of the team coming off the court. And that did not go as planned,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ci717\">Weaver said that just as he began filming, Arkansas’ Director of Internal Operations Riley Hall grabbed the phone out of his hand and threw it.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman left the court in a rage of f-bombs after losing to Texas A&M in the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/SECMBB?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SECMBB</a> Tournament. His assistant then grabbed my phone and threw it at the ground. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KYKernelSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@KYKernelSports</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/xRiX7O7dAN\">pic.twitter.com/xRiX7O7dAN</a></p>— Jack Weaver (@jack_weaver_) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jack_weaver_/status/1634380458988298241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 11, 2023</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7lsud\">Weaver said that the three-second clip he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jack_weaver_/status/1634380458988298241\">posted to Twitter</a> was all that his phone captured before it hit the ground and stopped recording, but that the phone was not damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"3qdsm\">“I was wearing my press credentials, I had my camera around my neck and I was standing completely to the side by the rail with plenty of room to move there. I wasn’t in anyone’s way and was in an approved area,” Weaver said.</p><p data-block-key=\"86e2o\">“Obviously I’m fine, all he did was grab my phone and toss it. It’s not like he pushed me or broke my camera,” he said. “But still, nonetheless, you can’t do that. And I think people kind of understand that that’s not acceptable.”</p><p data-block-key=\"n1e5\">Weaver said the newsroom as well as professors at the university have been supportive. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KyKernel/status/1634391245408591873\">statement on Twitter</a>, The Kernel said it was appalled by the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"10bdo\">“Jack Weaver always embodies professionalism on the job and no journalist, especially a student journalist, should be subjected to violence for simply doing their job,” the statement read.</p><p data-block-key=\"7a1h3\">Hunter Yurachek, the vice chancellor and director of athletics at the University of Arkansas, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/HunterYurachek/status/1634634365987635200\">posted a statement on Twitter</a> the following day apologizing for the incident, which he characterized as accidental.</p><p data-block-key=\"al1ac\">“Mr. Hall expressed his regret that while leaving the floor his engagement inadvertently resulted in knocking the reporter’s cell phone from his hand,” Yurachek wrote. “While, based on our discussion, I do not believe there was malicious intent, I have addressed the issue with Mr. Hall and he agrees his actions were not appropriate or reflective of our program.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b8vdd\">Weaver told the Tracker that Hall also called him to apologize, reiterating that it had been unintentional. Weaver said that when he challenged that claim, Hall simply repeated that he was sorry and that it was an accident.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"may5e\">A member of the University of Arkansas coaching staff sports Razorbacks sneakers during the SEC Tournament on March 10, 2023.</p>",
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"name": "Tennessee",
"abbreviation": "TN"
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{
"title": "Judge delays public notice of Texas abortion pill hearing",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-delays-public-notice-of-texas-abortion-pill-hearing/",
"first_published_at": "2023-03-21T20:21:41.263934Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:09:07.333624Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:09:07.257187Z",
"date": "2023-03-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Amarillo",
"longitude": -101.8313,
"latitude": 35.222,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"kl0fg\">A Texas judge presiding over a challenge to the Federal Drug Administration’s approval of a common abortion medication restricted public and press knowledge of a hearing by delaying putting it on the docket, or public schedule, and requesting attorneys involved in the case not publicize or draw attention to it.</p><p data-block-key=\"5h59q\">U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk told attorneys during a March 10, 2023, conference call that he would delay entering the March 15 hearing in Amarillo on the docket until the evening before, <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/03/11/texas-abortion-pill-hearing-kacsmaryk/\">according to The Washington Post</a>, which first reported the story. He also asked the attorneys for the “courtesy” of not sharing information about the hearing until then.</p><p data-block-key=\"51lc7\">According to the Post, hearings are normally quickly placed on the docket and delays are highly unusual.</p><p data-block-key=\"1l2p4\">In a transcript of the call <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pill-mifepristone-transparency-fda-roe-wade-48c389dd3c892aa9bbc553e0b3de5360\">obtained by The Associated Press</a>, Kacsmaryk said that the case — which could have national implications for medical abortion access — had sparked protests and prompted death threats and harassing phone calls to the courthouse.</p><p data-block-key=\"6vbqj\">“Because of limited security resources and staffing, I will ask that the parties avoid further publicizing the date of the hearing,” Kacsmaryk said, according to the transcript. “We want a fluid hearing with all parties being heard. I think less advertisement of this hearing is better.”</p><p data-block-key=\"30i1t\">Judges have significant discretion over how they run their cases and there are no national policies or rules dictating when hearing notices need to be posted, the AP <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pill-lawsuit-hearing-96a2466ea67dd12f0fdb7347f51a7f2f\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"2c56b\">Both outlets reported concerns that delayed scheduling would prevent the public and press from being able to attend the hearing, as Amarillo is located hours from all major cities in Texas.</p><p data-block-key=\"7b778\">A coalition of media outlets and press freedom advocates, which included the Post and multiple Texas-based newspapers, filed a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.370067/gov.uscourts.txnd.370067.127.0_7.pdf\">letter objecting to the delay</a> on March 13.</p><p data-block-key=\"1vo9f\">“The Court’s attempt to delay notice of and, therefore, limit the ability of members of the public, including the press, to attend Wednesday’s hearing is unconstitutional, and undermines the important values served by public access to judicial proceedings and court records,” the letter read. “The Court cannot constitutionally close the courtroom indirectly when it cannot constitutionally close the courtroom directly.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f08l2\">Within hours of the letter being sent, the hearing was <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.370067/gov.uscourts.txnd.370067.129.0_9.pdf\">placed on the docket</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"4m9g5\">Freedom of the Press Foundation Advocacy Director Seth Stern echoed the coalition's objections, and said he was glad to see the hearing getting plenty of publicity despite the judge’s unconstitutional efforts.</p><p data-block-key=\"64mje\">“A ‘courtesy’ request to not publicize a hearing is a gag order by another name,” Stern said. “Lawyers won’t risk upsetting the judge deciding their case.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c3iaf\">As of publication, Kacsmaryk has not issued a ruling on the request to pause the availability of the drug, which was at issue in the March 15 hearing. NPR <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/03/17/1164112268/abortion-pill-drug-hearing-amarillo-texas-federal-judge-kacsmaryk\">reported</a> that a few dozen members of the press and public were allowed inside the courtroom, while small groups of demonstrators gathered outside.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Political journalist subpoenaed by state senator for source communications",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/political-journalist-subpoenaed-by-state-senator-for-source-communications/",
"first_published_at": "2023-04-06T19:04:22.232238Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-04-06T19:07:16.192435Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-04-06T19:07:16.111711Z",
"date": "2023-03-08",
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"city": "Chesterfield",
"longitude": -77.50582,
"latitude": 37.37709,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fggyd\">Brandon Jarvis, who authors the weekly political newsletter Virginia Scope, was subpoenaed by state Sen. Joe Morrissey on March 8, 2023, as part of the senator’s custody battle.</p><p data-block-key=\"d7e0p\">Jarvis told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he received subpoenas a few weeks after publishing a statement attributed to family members of the senator’s estranged wife, Myrna Morrissey. The judge in the custody case had issued a gag order barring the parents from speaking about the case while it was ongoing.</p><p data-block-key=\"8g87b\">Jarvis’ attorney, Tom Barbour Jr., said that Joe Morrissey issued three concurrent subpoenas — two addressed to Jarvis and <a href=\"/all-incidents/political-newsletter-subpoenaed-by-state-senator-for-source-communications/\">one to the Virginia Scope</a>. Jarvis and the Virginia Scope were both ordered to produce any text messages with Myrna Morrissey, her attorneys or her family members. Jarvis was additionally ordered to appear on March 24 to testify.</p><p data-block-key=\"fku1l\">Jarvis denied the existence of any such messages in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Jaaavis/status/1633957662172880896\">post on Twitter</a> the day he received the subpoenas.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just got a subpoena from Joe Morrissey for all my texts with his wife and her family between Feb. 1 and Feb. 5.</p>— Brandon Jarvis (@Jaaavis) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Jaaavis/status/1633957565607424001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 9, 2023</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fggyd\">Jarvis told the Tracker that receiving the subpoenas and fighting them disrupted his reporting, especially his coverage of Joe Morrissey’s reelection campaign.</p><p data-block-key=\"ar7l8\">“There was other stuff happening in his race that I couldn’t necessarily cover in a timely fashion because I didn’t want to write anything about him while there was a gag order,” Jarvis said. “It was a stressful situation, because at the end of the line there is a possibility of jail time.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9a6c8\">Barbour filed a motion to quash the subpoenas on March 15, arguing in part that Jarvis’ communications are privileged under the First Amendment. A judge for the Chesterfield County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court granted the motion on March 23, but left the door open for the senator to reissue the subpoenas if he exhausts all other avenues for obtaining the information.</p><p data-block-key=\"9iv32\">In a <a href=\"https://richmond.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/joe-morrissey-brandon-jarvis-shield-law-journalism-reporter-virginia-scope/article_93c726ea-ca6b-11ed-aa2a-fbf60859c38b.html\">statement to the Richmond Times-Dispatch</a>, Joe Morrissey said he was pleased with the ruling, saying that the judge had made it clear that Jarvis “is by no means off the hook at all.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8inuq\">Barbour told the Tracker that the case was particularly alarming because of the senator’s position in the state government.</p><p data-block-key=\"8jiof\">“It would be chilling enough if any citizen were doing it, but in this case we’ve got someone who holds elected office in our commonwealth attempting to determine who the confidential source of a political journalist is,” Barbour said. “I think that’s of great concern.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9a7sc\">Virginia is one of <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/reporters-privilege/\">nine states without a shield law</a> protecting journalists from court orders seeking their communications or work product.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Brandon Jarvis (Virginia Scope)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"quashed"
],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Political newsletter subpoenaed by state senator for source communications",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/political-newsletter-subpoenaed-by-state-senator-for-source-communications/",
"first_published_at": "2023-04-06T19:06:35.634704Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-04-06T19:06:35.634704Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-04-06T19:06:35.536564Z",
"date": "2023-03-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chesterfield",
"longitude": -77.50582,
"latitude": 37.37709,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"p8rzd\">The Virginia Scope, a weekly political newsletter, and its author Brandon Jarvis were subpoenaed by state Sen. Joe Morrissey on March 8, 2023, as part of the senator’s custody battle.</p><p data-block-key=\"f5aeo\">Jarvis told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he received subpoenas a few weeks after publishing a statement attributed to family members of the senator’s estranged wife, Myrna Morrissey. The judge in the custody case had issued a gag order barring the parents from speaking about the case while it was ongoing.</p><p data-block-key=\"o864\">Jarvis’ attorney, Tom Barbour Jr., said that Joe Morrissey issued three concurrent subpoenas — one to the Virginia Scope and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/political-journalist-subpoenaed-by-state-senator-for-source-communications/\">two addressed to Jarvis</a>. Jarvis and the Virginia Scope were both ordered to produce any text messages with Myrna Morrissey, her attorneys or her family members. Jarvis was additionally ordered to appear on March 24 to testify.</p><p data-block-key=\"32bbh\">Jarvis denied the existence of any such messages in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Jaaavis/status/1633957662172880896\">post on Twitter</a> the day he received the subpoenas.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just got a subpoena from Joe Morrissey for all my texts with his wife and her family between Feb. 1 and Feb. 5.</p>— Brandon Jarvis (@Jaaavis) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Jaaavis/status/1633957565607424001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 9, 2023</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"p8rzd\">Jarvis told the Tracker that receiving the subpoenas and fighting them disrupted his reporting, especially his coverage of Joe Morrissey’s reelection campaign.</p><p data-block-key=\"cse48\">“There was other stuff happening in his race that I couldn’t necessarily cover in a timely fashion because I didn’t want to write anything about him while there was a gag order,” Jarvis said. “It was a stressful situation, because at the end of the line there is a possibility of jail time.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6ql1t\">Barbour filed a motion to quash the subpoenas on March 15, arguing in part that Jarvis’ communications are privileged under the First Amendment. A judge for the Chesterfield County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court granted the motion on March 23, but left the door open for the senator to reissue the subpoenas if he exhausts all other avenues for obtaining the information.</p><p data-block-key=\"iikr\">In a <a href=\"https://richmond.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/joe-morrissey-brandon-jarvis-shield-law-journalism-reporter-virginia-scope/article_93c726ea-ca6b-11ed-aa2a-fbf60859c38b.html\">statement to the Richmond Times-Dispatch</a>, Joe Morrissey said he was pleased with the ruling, saying that the judge had made it clear that Jarvis “is by no means off the hook at all.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5hvm4\">Barbour told the Tracker that the case was particularly alarming because of the senator’s position in the state government.</p><p data-block-key=\"5lmhn\">“It would be chilling enough if any citizen were doing it, but in this case we’ve got someone who holds elected office in our commonwealth attempting to determine who the confidential source of a political journalist is,” Barbour said. “I think that’s of great concern.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9qkg5\">Virginia is one of <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/reporters-privilege/\">nine states without a shield law</a> protecting journalists from court orders seeking their communications or work product.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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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,
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"legal_order_venue": "State",
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Virginia Scope"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"quashed"
],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Oklahoma public officials accused of discussing killing local journalists",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/oklahoma-public-officials-accused-of-discussing-killing-local-journalists/",
"first_published_at": "2023-04-24T19:55:18.645931Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T19:09:23.298338Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T19:09:23.206834Z",
"date": "2023-03-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Idabel",
"longitude": -94.82633,
"latitude": 33.89566,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"crycp\">Several McCurtain County officials are accused of discussing how to kill two local journalists and making racist comments following a Board of Commissioners meeting on March 6, 2023 in Idabel, Oklahoma.</p><p data-block-key=\"1sj4t\">The McCurtain Gazette-News first published excerpts from the recording in its <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=597973632371133&set=pcb.597973882371108\">April 15 weekend print edition</a> and released the audio in full four days later. Publisher Bruce Willingham <a href=\"https://www.news9.com/story/643c8027600c0b072e7b2dc6/fbi-investigating-alleged-death-threats-made-by-county-officials-against-oklahoma-newspaper-reporters\">told News 9</a> that he left his recording device in the room following the conclusion of the meeting in an attempt to confirm his suspicion that they were still discussing official business, in violation of the state’s Open Meeting Act.</p><p data-block-key=\"bf59m\">The Oklahoman, which noted it had not independently verified the recording, <a href=\"https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/state/2023/04/20/full-audio-released-of-oklahoma-sheriff-discussing-killing-journalists-mccurtain-county/70132913007/\">published the audio</a> to its YouTube channel and identified six public officials’ voices. The <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvykIw4flZk\">3-½ hour recording</a> allegedly captures McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy, Sheriff’s investigator Alicia Manning, Commissioner Mark Jennings and Jail administrator Larry Hendrix discussing the killing of Bruce Willingham and his son Chris Willingham, a reporter for the Gazette-News.</p><p data-block-key=\"5nrn0\">In the recording, an official says he knows of hit men to hire in Louisiana. “I've known two or three hit men, they're very quiet guys, yeah, who would cut no fucking mercy,” the official said.</p><p data-block-key=\"qte0\">The group also discussed where to hide the journalists’ bodies, and buying an old military tank in order to drive it into the newspaper’s building, the Oklahoman reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"4d3a\">When reached for comment, the Gazette-News directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to its attorney, Christin Jones. Jones was unable to be reached by phone, and did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"56qc4\">The audio was recorded on the same day that Chris Willingham filed a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.oked.34137/gov.uscourts.oked.34137.2.0.pdf\">defamation lawsuit</a> against the board of county commissioners, the sheriff’s office, its investigator Manning and Sheriff Clardy. In the suit, he alleges that during a June 2022 teleconference, Manning accused him of exchanging marijuana for pornographic videos of children, connecting him to a man recently arrested for such crimes. Chris Willingham said the accusation was in direct retaliation for his 8-part series of articles investigating allegations of misconduct at the sheriff’s office.</p><p data-block-key=\"3n6ce\">Bruce Willingham <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/mccurtain-oklahoma-racist-killing-journalists-recording-8e445b2359b67622d5f6c1f75554c750\">told The Associated Press</a> he believes the officials were upset by other articles published in the Gazette-News. The newspaper had filed a lawsuit against the sheriff’s office for body camera footage and records in the 2022 death of an Oklahoma man.</p><p data-block-key=\"aoqeo\">Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt called for the resignations of the county officials on April 16, <a href=\"https://oklahoma.gov/governor/newsroom/newsroom/2023/april2023/governor-stitt-calls-for-resignation-of-mccurtain-county-officia.html\">releasing this statement</a>:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-blockquote\">\n\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\" >\n\t<div class=\"rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"30kc3\"><i>“I am both appalled and disheartened to hear of the horrid comments made by officials in McCurtain County. There is simply no place for such hateful rhetoric in the state of Oklahoma, especially by those that serve to represent the community through their respective office. I will not stand idly by while this takes place.”</i></p></div>\n\t\n</blockquote>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"crycp\">Stitt also announced that he would be calling on the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to determine whether the officials had engaged in criminal conduct.</p><p data-block-key=\"8plv4\">KSLA News 12 <a href=\"https://www.ksla.com/2023/04/17/hundreds-gather-mccurtain-co-sheriffs-office-call-resignation-sheriff-others-over-recording-threatening-comments/\">reported</a> that approximately 100 people protested outside the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office on April 17, demanding that Clardy and the other officials resign. Later that evening, the sheriff’s office <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=245359354686191&id=100076363850310\">issued a statement on Facebook</a>, writing that, “This is a very complex situation and one we regret having to address.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3im3f\">The statement goes on to say the recordings have not been authenticated, and that the sheriff’s office is conducting an ongoing investigation into whether Bruce Willingham illegally recorded the conversation in violation of the Oklahoma Security of Communications Act.</p><p data-block-key=\"96jer\">Idabel Mayor Craig Young criticized the sheriff’s office for “doubling down” defending itself amid the allegations, <a href=\"https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/local-regional/2023-04-18/its-a-joke-idabel-mayor-calls-out-sheriffs-statement-doubles-down-on-call-for-resignation\">according to Public Radio Tulsa</a>, and echoed calls for the officials’ resignations.</p><p data-block-key=\"ec2h7\">Commissioner Jennings resigned his position on April 18, <a href=\"https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/state/2023/04/20/full-audio-released-of-oklahoma-sheriff-discussing-killing-journalists-mccurtain-county/70132913007/\">according to the Oklahoman</a>. On April 21 Stitt <a href=\"https://oklahoma.gov/governor/newsroom/newsroom/2023/april2023/governor-stitt-calls-on-attorney-general-to-hold-mccurtain-count.html\">called on</a> the state’s attorney general to investigate complaints of misconduct against Clardy and remove him from office.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Oklahoma",
"abbreviation": "OK"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-06-30 00:00:00+00:00) State AG says there will be no penalty for sheriff said to have talked of killing journalists"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Bruce Willingham (McCurtain Gazette-News)",
"Chris Willingham (McCurtain Gazette-News)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Newspaper subpoenaed for reporter’s notes from jailhouse interview",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/newspaper-subpoenaed-for-reporters-notes-from-jailhouse-interview/",
"first_published_at": "2023-05-19T19:46:21.460981Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-09T16:59:52.476450Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-09T16:59:52.347531Z",
"date": "2023-03-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Bakersfield",
"longitude": -119.01871,
"latitude": 35.37329,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zzzjn\">The Bakersfield Californian was subpoenaed on March 3, 2023, for copies of unpublished materials from a jailhouse interview conducted by one of the newspaper’s reporters. While the subpoena was quashed on April 4, a nearly identical subpoena was issued the same day. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented the second subpoena <a href=\"/all-incidents/newspaper-ordered-to-comply-with-subpoena-for-jailhouse-interview-notes/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"erpv5\">The dispute began after Californian reporter Ishani Desai conducted a jailhouse interview in February with Sebastian Parra. Parra was a key witness in the murder indictment of another inmate, Robert Pernell Roberts, but was subsequently indicted as a co-defendant.</p><p data-block-key=\"buqi5\">The Californian published <a href=\"https://www.bakersfield.com/news/man-indicted-in-shooting-death-of-corrections-counselor-denies-murder/article_c9ca6746-b555-11ed-8227-e3b918ad2c29.html\">Desai’s article</a> about Parra on Feb. 26. On March 3, public defender Alexandria Blythe, who represents Roberts, subpoenaed the newspaper seeking any audio or video recordings of the interview or, if no recording exists, a copy of Desai’s notes and interview questions. The subpoena ordered the newspaper to provide the records by March 20, and whomever has access to the records to attend the hearing on that date.</p><p data-block-key=\"8eq2k\">An attorney representing the newspaper, Thomas Burke, filed objections to the subpoena on March 7. He argued that in addition to the subpoena being improperly filed, all of the requested materials are privileged under California Shield Law, the state constitution and the First Amendment.</p><p data-block-key=\"378dl\">On March 15, Blythe reissued the subpoena after correctly notifying The Californian, but kept the March 20 deadline. The newspaper filed a motion to quash the subpoena the following day.</p><p data-block-key=\"42q1\">“For decades, California law has protected newsgathering from intrusive measures by overzealous parties involved in criminal and civil cases,” Burke wrote. “[These] subpoenas are precisely the type of overreach that the Shield Law is designed to prevent.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ecj7h\">Kern County Superior Court Judge Elizabet Rodriguez quashed the subpoena on April 4, ruling that Blythe had not shown that the documents would assist in Roberts’ defense. Burke told the Tracker that the judge invited Blythe to refile. According to court records, an <a href=\"/all-incidents/newspaper-ordered-to-comply-with-subpoena-for-jailhouse-interview-notes/\">identical subpoena</a> was issued that day but not served on The Californian until April 10.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"8e1v7\">A portion of a subpoena issued to The Bakersfield Californian on March 3, 2023, seeking recordings or notes from reporter Ishani Desai’s jailhouse interview with a defendant charged with murder.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"The Bakersfield Californian"
],
"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
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"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"quashed"
],
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},
{
"title": "Judge bars media from publishing on expelled student suing UNC system",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-bars-media-from-publishing-on-expelled-student-suing-unc-system/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-28T18:43:10.249527Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-03-01T17:36:58.959821Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-03-01T17:36:58.886857Z",
"date": "2023-02-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Asheville",
"longitude": -82.55402,
"latitude": 35.60095,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4nw6o\">An Asheville judge issued an order barring members of the press from publishing about a former student who is suing the University of North Carolina System and multiple university administrators on Feb. 22, 2023, according to court records.</p><p data-block-key=\"gou4\">The plaintiff, who filed <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ncwd.111064/gov.uscourts.ncwd.111064.1.0.pdf\">the suit</a> on Feb. 15 under the pseudonym Jacob Doe, alleges that he was wrongfully expelled from UNC Chapel Hill after being accused of sexual assault by four undergraduate women.</p><p data-block-key=\"dgv7k\">When filing the suit, Doe simultaneously filed the motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, requesting that no information be released by the defendants or published by the media. Those filings appear to have been sealed and are not available for public review.</p><p data-block-key=\"eomrj\">Chief United States District Judge Martin Reidinger <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ncwd.111064/gov.uscourts.ncwd.111064.14.0.pdf\">granted the temporary restraining order</a> on Feb. 22, citing possible irreparable harm to the plaintiff. The order bars the defendants from disclosing any information about the disciplinary proceedings at the heart of the lawsuit and requires them to inform media outlets about the restraint.</p><p data-block-key=\"du2h4\">The order also requires the defendants to instruct news outlets that “they are prohibited from publishing any information concerning the Plaintiff, the disciplinary proceedings, or the outcomes of such proceedings.” It is unclear which media outlets, if any, were informed of the order.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qe2i\">Immediately after the restraint went into effect, the parties jointly <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ncwd.111064/gov.uscourts.ncwd.111064.15.0.pdf\">filed to withdraw</a> the motion, asking the judge to dissolve the TRO and cancel a preliminary hearing scheduled for March 7.</p><p data-block-key=\"4dfss\">As of publication the restraining order remains in effect.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS22CE3.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1r90c\">Students walk across the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in this 2018 file photo. As part of a lawsuit against the university system, a judge approved a motion barring media from publishing information about a former student or his expulsion.</p>",
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"name": "North Carolina",
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"(2023-03-01 12:27:00+00:00) Judge lifts order barring media from publishing on former student suing UNC system"
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{
"title": "Spectrum News 13 photographer shot while reporting; reporter killed",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/spectrum-news-13-photographer-shot-while-reporting-reporter-killed/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-23T03:59:19.301566Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-04-04T20:21:57.934782Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-04-04T20:21:57.809925Z",
"date": "2023-02-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Pine Hills",
"longitude": -81.4534,
"latitude": 28.55778,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"g2d8j\">Two Spectrum News 13 journalists were shot while reporting at the scene of a homicide investigation in the Orlando suburb of Pine Hills, Florida, on Feb. 22, 2023. A reporter was declared dead at a local hospital where a photojournalist remains in critical condition, according to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SeminoleSO/status/1628566085849972739\">multiple</a> <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/22/us/florida-shooting-news.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur\">sources</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"34et3\">The reporter and photojournalist were reporting on an Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigation into the shooting of a 20-year-old woman at approximately 11 a.m. that day, Spectrum News 13 <a href=\"https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2023/02/22/police--shots-fired-near-scene-of-pine-hills-murder-investigation#\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dsu9n\">Shortly after 4 p.m., a man believed to be the suspect in that shooting approached the news crew as they were sitting in an unmarked news vehicle and shot them. The man then continued to a nearby home and shot a woman and her 9-year-old daughter.</p><p data-block-key=\"8q6qk\">WFTV Channel 9 News reporter Sabrina Maggiore <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SabrinaWFTV/status/1628534860158582785\">wrote on Twitter</a> that the shooter walked past a WFTV news crew at the scene before opening fire on the Spectrum News crew. She wrote that the WFTV crew ran up to the journalists to provide aid before emergency crews arrived.</p><p data-block-key=\"fk6vf\">Spectrum News 13 reported that it is not currently releasing the names of the reporter and photojournalist out of respect for their families.</p><p data-block-key=\"1bbvo\">Sheriff John Mina said in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/OrangeCoSheriff/status/1628547278582718464\">press conference</a> at 7:15 p.m. that a man had been arrested in connection with the shootings.</p><p data-block-key=\"7kro\">“We have detained the person believed to be responsible for the murder this morning as well as the shootings this afternoon,” Mina said. “He is being formally charged in the murder from this morning, and we expect additional charges for the shootings of the four people this afternoon.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9e6vk\">Mina added that the shooter’s motives were unclear and they had not yet determined whether the news crew were targeted because they were covering the first shooting.</p><p data-block-key=\"e8dtg\">“I want to acknowledge what a horrible day this has been for our community and our media partners,” Mina said. “No one in our community — not a mother, not a 9-year-old, and certainly not news professionals — should become the victim of gun violence.”</p><p data-block-key=\"17en0\">Charter Communications, Spectrum News 13's parent company, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MyNews13/status/1628575748612030467\">released a statement</a> on Twitter following the shooting: "We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and the other lives senselessly taken today. Our thoughts are with our employee’s family, friends and co-workers during this very difficult time. We remain hopeful that our other colleague who was injured makes a full recovery. This is a terrible tragedy for the Orlando community.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9i9lc\">WESH 2 News Reporter Luana Munoz <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Luana_Munoz/status/1628544709667815433\">tweeted</a> that she and other members of the news media community had gathered at the hospital in solidarity.</p><p data-block-key=\"el2d3\">“This is every reporter's absolutely worst nightmare. We go home at night afraid that something like this will occur, and that is what happened here,” Munoz <a href=\"https://www.wesh.com/article/orlando-news-crew-shot/43033137#\">said</a> during a report from the hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"3eljf\">Since 2017, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=shot+%2F+shot+at&categories=Assault\">more than 300</a> journalists have been shot at or shot, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s database. The Spectrum News 13 reporter is the seventh journalist to be <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=killed\">killed</a> in the course of or as the result of their reporting.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"f1u4b\">Spectrum News 13 photographer Jesse Walden speaks from his hospital bed after he and his colleague Dylan Lyons were shot while reporting in Pine Hills, Florida, on Feb. 22, 2023. Walden was critically injured, and Lyons died as a result of his injuries.</p>",
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"(2023-02-23 21:17:00+00:00) Spectrum News 13 photojournalist hopes to be released from hospital in coming days",
"(2023-02-23 08:37:00+00:00) Photojournalist critically injured while reporting identified as Jesse Walden",
"(2023-02-28 13:15:00+00:00) Man charged with attempted murder in the shooting of Spectrum News photojournalist",
"(2023-03-10 16:36:00+00:00) Additional charges brought against alleged shooter of Spectrum News photojournalist",
"(2023-03-30 16:21:00+00:00) Alleged shooter of Spectrum News photojournalist indicted on first-degree murder charges"
],
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"shot / shot at"
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"Assault"
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"Jesse Walden (Spectrum News 13)"
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{
"title": "Spectrum News 13 reporter killed, photographer shot while reporting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/spectrum-news-13-reporter-killed-photographer-shot-while-reporting/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-23T03:52:06.970554Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-04T18:25:12.939123Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-04T18:25:12.672605Z",
"date": "2023-02-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Pine Hills",
"longitude": -81.4534,
"latitude": 28.55778,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lezu8\">Two Spectrum News 13 journalists were shot while reporting at the scene of a homicide investigation in the Orlando suburb of Pine Hills, Florida, on Feb. 22, 2023. A reporter was declared dead at a local hospital where a photojournalist remains in critical condition, according to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SeminoleSO/status/1628566085849972739\">multiple</a> <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/22/us/florida-shooting-news.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur\">sources</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"48n4a\">The reporter and photojournalist were reporting on an Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigation into the shooting of a 20-year-old woman at approximately 11 a.m. that day, Spectrum News 13 <a href=\"https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2023/02/22/police--shots-fired-near-scene-of-pine-hills-murder-investigation#\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"b4jp3\">Shortly after 4 p.m., a man believed to be the suspect in that shooting approached the news crew as they were sitting in an unmarked news vehicle and shot them. The man then continued to a nearby home and shot a woman and her 9-year-old daughter.</p><p data-block-key=\"1vbf7\">WFTV Channel 9 News reporter Sabrina Maggiore <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SabrinaWFTV/status/1628534860158582785\">wrote on Twitter</a> that the shooter walked past a WFTV news crew at the scene before opening fire on the Spectrum News crew. She wrote that the WFTV crew ran up to the journalists to provide aid before emergency crews arrived.</p><p data-block-key=\"mbs6\">Spectrum News 13 reported that it is not currently releasing the names of the reporter and photojournalist out of respect for their families.</p><p data-block-key=\"50m18\">Sheriff John Mina said in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/OrangeCoSheriff/status/1628547278582718464\">press conference</a> at 7:15 p.m. that a man had been arrested in connection with the shootings.</p><p data-block-key=\"418nn\">“We have detained the person believed to be responsible for the murder this morning as well as the shootings this afternoon,” Mina said. “He is being formally charged in the murder from this morning, and we expect additional charges for the shootings of the four people this afternoon.”</p><p data-block-key=\"51lkp\">Mina added that the shooter’s motives were unclear and they had not yet determined whether the news crew were targeted because they were covering the first shooting.</p><p data-block-key=\"fe35d\">“I want to acknowledge what a horrible day this has been for our community and our media partners,” Mina said. “No one in our community — not a mother, not a 9-year-old, and certainly not news professionals — should become the victim of gun violence.”</p><p data-block-key=\"26pb7\">Charter Communications, Spectrum News 13's parent company, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MyNews13/status/1628575748612030467\">released a statement</a> on Twitter following the shooting: "We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and the other lives senselessly taken today. Our thoughts are with our employee’s family, friends and co-workers during this very difficult time. We remain hopeful that our other colleague who was injured makes a full recovery. This is a terrible tragedy for the Orlando community.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cvkdn\">WESH 2 News Reporter Luana Munoz <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Luana_Munoz/status/1628544709667815433\">tweeted</a> that she and other members of the news media community had gathered at the hospital in solidarity.</p><p data-block-key=\"qljq\">“This is every reporter's absolutely worst nightmare. We go home at night afraid that something like this will occur, and that is what happened here,” Munoz <a href=\"https://www.wesh.com/article/orlando-news-crew-shot/43033137#\">said</a> during a report from the hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"9mrpk\">Since 2017, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=shot+%2F+shot+at&categories=Assault\">more than 300</a> journalists have been shot at or shot, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s database. The Spectrum News 13 reporter is the seventh journalist to be <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=killed\">killed</a> in the course of or as the result of their reporting.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Lyons_-_Spectrum_News_13.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cvlvl\">Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons, 24, was killed in a shooting in the Orlando suburb of Pine Hills, Florida, on Feb. 22, 2023. His colleague, photojournalist Jesse Walden, 29, was critically injured.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"case_number": "2025-CA-000699",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
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},
"updates": [
"(2023-02-23 08:16:00+00:00) Reporter killed while covering homicide identifed as Dylan Lyons, 24",
"(2023-02-28 13:14:00+00:00) Man charged in the shooting death of Spectrum News reporter",
"(2023-03-30 16:19:00+00:00) Alleged shooter of Spectrum News reporter indicted on first-degree murder charges",
"(2025-01-28 00:00:00+00:00) Family of Spectrum News reporter sues station for negligence over killing",
"(2023-03-10 16:34:00+00:00) Additional charges brought against alleged shooter of Spectrum News reporter"
],
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"ongoing"
],
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"tags": [
"killed",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Dylan Lyons (Spectrum News 13)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Florida city officials enact media conduct rules, threaten to ban editor",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/florida-city-officials-enact-media-conduct-rules-sanction-editor/",
"first_published_at": "2023-08-22T13:03:33.870090Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-20T20:40:44.451002Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-20T20:40:44.368037Z",
"date": "2023-02-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Winter Garden",
"longitude": -81.58618,
"latitude": 28.56528,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"b0acw\">Rules regarding media conduct passed by city officials in Winter Garden, Florida, on Feb. 9, 2023 — called unconstitutional by press freedom advocates — were cited in a June letter sanctioning the editor-in-chief of a local publication.</p><p data-block-key=\"3dj2\">The new rules were part of a <a href=\"https://b667e21d-f732-407f-92f2-2a0e061d7d85.usrfiles.com/ugd/b667e2_441450c95d774cd8b4af7431334c74b3.pdf\">resolution</a> that stipulates that journalists are not to ask officials questions before or after city commission meetings or during the meetings’ public comment periods. The rules also direct members of the press to contact the city-designated public information officer with requests for comment or interviews, though no such appointee exists, <a href=\"https://www.scribd.com/document/663014736/First-Amendment-Foundation-letter-to-City-of-Winter-Garden#\">according to the First Amendment Foundation</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6lkti\">The Orlando Sentinel <a href=\"https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/08/04/winter-gardens-new-restrictions-on-journalists-are-unconstitutional-first-amendment-experts-say/\">reported</a> that City Manager Jon Williams proposed the resolution in direct response to VoxPopuli Editor-in-Chief Norine Dworkin’s use of the public comment portion of commission meetings to ask questions. Williams, in response to emailed questions from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, declined to state the motivation behind the resolution.</p><p data-block-key=\"ci6ki\">Dworkin told the Tracker that she is often one of the few members of the media present at the City Commission meetings, and that she asks questions during the public comment period only when her calls and emails go unanswered.</p><p data-block-key=\"5p6uv\">“When I want to make a point or when I haven’t gotten a response, I would go and use the public comment forum and ask publicly because it’s harder to dodge the question in front of your constituents,” Dworkin said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8o0kv\">After the media rules were passed, Dworkin said she kept asking questions without issue. “I continued to just do my job and do all the things I normally do,” Dworkin said, “until I asked about the neo-Nazis.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ce5ua\">It was during the City Commission meeting on June 22 that Dworkin <a href=\"https://www.wintergardenvox.com/post/mayor-sidesteps-condemnation-of-neo-nazis-who-spread-antisemitic-flyers-in-winter-garden\">asked Mayor John Rees</a> whether he condemned the neo-Nazis who distributed antisemitic pamphlets in neighborhoods in Winter Garden and the nearby town of Oakland. The following day, Dworkin received an official notice of violation, which stated that she would be banned from the meetings if she continued to defy the resolution.</p><p data-block-key=\"bu4h1\">Williams defended the resolution in an email to the Tracker, stating that the guidelines were intended to ensure the meetings are “courteous and orderly” and that citizens can raise concerns for consideration by the commission.</p><p data-block-key=\"tq80\">“City Commission meetings are not an open public forum (like a public sidewalk), but are a limited public forum,” Williams wrote. “The public comment portion of the meetings are not offered as a platform to address matters that are not city business.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7orde\">The First Amendment Foundation <a href=\"https://www.scribd.com/document/663014736/First-Amendment-Foundation-letter-to-City-of-Winter-Garden#\">sent a letter</a> to Rees and Williams on July 25 challenging the constitutionality of the resolution and encouraging them to rework the resolution to comply with state and federal law.</p><p data-block-key=\"4d3h5\">“Denying [journalists] access to officials during public comment periods or forbidding them from asking them questions when the officials enter or leave meetings can only be seen as a violation of the journalist’s First Amendment rights,” wrote Executive Director Bobby Block.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9i23\">Williams told the Tracker that city management had a “productive” meeting with representatives from the First Amendment Foundation on Aug. 3 to discuss the organization’s concerns. The city is now awaiting the foundation’s specific proposed revisions to the resolution.</p><p data-block-key=\"1dl2\">Dworkin said that though this issue started with her, it’s not really about her or VoxPopuli.</p><p data-block-key=\"60v26\">“This is really about the First Amendment, it’s about press freedom and it’s about having access to the elected officials and being able to ask them questions and to hold them accountable,” Dworkin said. “That’s all this has ever been about.”</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Local government: Legislature"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Norine Dworkin (VoxPopuli)"
],
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"type_of_denial": [
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]
},
{
"title": "MinnPost reporter reinstated to press list after coalition backing",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/minnpostcom-reporter-reinstated-to-press-list-after-coalition-defends-media-access/",
"first_published_at": "2023-05-10T19:48:29.478523Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-20T20:40:06.834777Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-20T20:40:06.706072Z",
"date": "2023-02-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "St. Paul",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0yke0\">MinnPost reporter Peter Callaghan was removed on Feb. 10, 2023, from the Minnesota House DFL Caucus media distribution list in apparent retaliation and reinstated a few weeks later after a coalition of news media defended the reporter and media access.</p><p data-block-key=\"144ss\">According to MinnPost editor Elizabeth Dunbar, Callaghan is back on the media list receiving emails and correspondence “just like other members of the press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9pqef\">The reporter’s removal stemmed from an incident on Feb. 9 between Callaghan and Matt Roznowski, the Director of Communications and Public Affairs for the House Democratic-Farmer-Labor Caucus. The DFL party currently holds five of the state’s offices including governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor and state attorney general.</p><p data-block-key=\"ahuek\">Following a verbal exchange between the two during a press conference at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Callaghan was removed from the House press list that provides updates to reporters with access to press releases and press conferences.</p><p data-block-key=\"c923s\">The MinnPost subsequently sent a letter to the House DFL Caucus objecting to Callaghan’s treatment and defending the media’s right to access public officials.</p><p data-block-key=\"ahalr\">By Feb. 27, Callaghan had his media access restored, however in a back-and-forth exchange of correspondence between the House DFL Caucus and the MinnPost, the House DFL Caucus accused Callaghan of discrimination and harassment based on comments the reporter had made at the press conference.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ltom\">In an April 12 letter, Leita Walker, an attorney with Ballard Spahr LLP, notified the House DFL Caucus that she represented a coalition of national and local news organizations that were <a href=\"https://www.minnpost.com/inside-minnpost/2023/04/why-we-sent-a-coalition-letter-expressing-concern-over-the-treatment-of-our-reporter-peter-callaghan/\">banding together to defend Callaghan</a> and the media’s right to access. The coalition included: Axios, Fox affiliate KMSP-TV, NBC affiliate KARE-TV, the Mankato Free Press, the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Minnesota Public Radio, The Minnesota Reformer, the MinnPost.com, the (St. Paul) Pioneer Press and The Star Tribune.</p><p data-block-key=\"b5t7g\">“Excluding a member of the media from government communications after that member made a pointed but justifiable comment during a press conference smacks of retaliation and raises serious constitutional concerns,” Walker wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"cbnoc\">In response, Speaker of the House Rep. Melissa Hortman made a <a href=\"https://www.audacy.com/wccoradio/news/local/house-speaker-responds-to-calls-of-mistreatment-of-reporter\">public statement</a> on April 14 explaining that a 2018 policy requires the House to investigate “an allegation of conduct that violates the House Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment.” Hortman said the House had taken action following Callaghan’s alleged behavior at the February press conference.</p><p data-block-key=\"dfses\">A few days later, on April 17, Hortman wrote again — this time acknowledging the media coalition letter. Hortman said the February press conference led to “flared tempers and misunderstandings” and suggested mending fences.</p><p data-block-key=\"fa8av\">“I would be happy to meet with the media to discuss how we can rebuild trust and improve relationships going forward,” she stated in the letter.</p><p data-block-key=\"ckoek\">As of May 9, members of the coalition are “discussing a follow-up meeting” with the Speaker of the House but nothing had been scheduled, MinnPost editor Dunbar said in an email with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. There have been no new concerns about retaliation against Callaghan, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"83us4\">When reached for comment, Ted Modrich, Minnesota House DFL Press Secretary who serves as Senior Advisor to the Speaker of the House and who responded for Melissa Hortman, said in an email: “The Speaker doesn’t have any comment beyond what she has already said publicly.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"State government: Legislature"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Peter Callaghan (MinnPost)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": [
"Press credential or media list"
]
},
{
"title": "NewsNation reporter arrested while covering Ohio governor news conference",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/newsnation-reporter-arrested-while-covering-ohio-governor-news-conference/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-09T16:29:30.325939Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-06T16:16:42.416563Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-06T16:13:28.168992Z",
"date": "2023-02-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "East Palestine",
"longitude": -80.54035,
"latitude": 40.83395,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t9uht\">NewsNation Correspondent Evan Lambert was forced to the ground and arrested while covering a news conference held by Ohio’s governor in East Palestine on Feb. 8, 2023. The outlet <a href=\"https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/midwest/newsnation-reporter-arrested-ohio-news-conference/\">reported</a> live as he was released approximately five hours later.</p><p data-block-key=\"ae1ds\">Lambert was reporting live at around 5 p.m. as Gov. Mike DeWine spoke in a school gymnasium about cleanup efforts around a recent train derailment. Law enforcement officers approached Lambert at the back of the room, telling him to be quiet. After finishing his live report, officers again approached him and asked that he leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"4c3uo\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NewsNation/status/1623467498279403521\">footage</a> of the incident, Lambert can be seen speaking with four law enforcement officers as one of them pulls on Lambert’s arm to forcibly remove him. Officers ultimately forced Lambert to the ground, pinning him on his stomach while handcuffing him. Two officers then place him in what appears to be a Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"b3oj\">NewsNation Washington Bureau Chief Mike Viqueria <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NewsNation/status/1623481470638604288\">said during a broadcast</a> that he spoke to Lambert while he was jailed.</p><p data-block-key=\"7anu3\">“The first thing I’m going to tell you is Evan continues to act with a calm professionalism and equanimity despite what appears to me to be an infuriating outrage and violation of the First Amendment,” Viqueria said.</p><p data-block-key=\"e834j\">NewsNation reported live as Lambert was released from the Columbiana County Jail at around 10:15 p.m. He faces charges of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct. It was not immediately clear which law enforcement agency filed the charges. When reached by phone, the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to contact the East Palestine Police Department. A EPPD officer said that they would be releasing a press release on Feb. 9.</p><p data-block-key=\"aeelj\">After his release, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NewsNation/status/1623526647503933440\">Lambert said</a> he was doing fine and that it had been an extremely long day.</p><p data-block-key=\"4lbuu\">“I’m just trying to do my job — as I am continuing to do right now — and that’s what it’s all about,” Lambert said. “No journalist expects to be arrested when you’re doing your job, and I think that’s really important that that doesn’t happen in our country.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">"No journalist expects to be arrested when you're doing your job," <a href=\"https://twitter.com/EvanLambertTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@EvanLambertTV</a> says. He goes on to say he will continue to do his job and report what people need to know.<br><br>Watch <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Banfield?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Banfield</a>: <a href=\"https://t.co/s8z9kEhRC4\">https://t.co/s8z9kEhRC4</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/tqHDvxHbk7\">pic.twitter.com/tqHDvxHbk7</a></p>— NewsNation (@NewsNation) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NewsNation/status/1623529349470380034?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 9, 2023</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t9uht\">The governor told reporters shortly after the arrest that he had not ordered or authorized it.</p><p data-block-key=\"2m56l\">“It has always been my practice that if I’m doing a press conference, someone wants to report out there and they want to be talking back to the people back on channel, whatever, they have every right to do that,” DeWine said. “If someone was stopped from doing that, or told they could not do that, that was wrong.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_459.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"yovfg\">NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert is pinned to the ground after being stopped from covering a news conference held by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Feb. 8, 2023. He was arrested and later released with pending charges.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "East Palestine Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "4:23-cv-02200",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Ohio",
"abbreviation": "OH"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-11-13 13:58:00+00:00) NewsNation reporter sues over wrongful arrest, battery",
"(2023-02-09 14:38:00+00:00) Body camera footage, law enforcement statements released in arrest of NewsNation correspondent",
"(2023-02-15 14:15:00+00:00) Charges against NewsNation correspondent dropped",
"(2024-01-30 00:00:00+00:00) TV reporter settles Ohio arrest and battery suit"
],
"case_statuses": [
"dismissed"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Evan Lambert (NewsNation)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Subpoena for NBC reporter to testify at murder trial quashed",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-for-nbc-reporter-to-testify-at-murder-trial-quashed/",
"first_published_at": "2023-09-26T20:36:29.374449Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-09-26T20:36:29.374449Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-09-26T20:36:29.100908Z",
"date": "2023-02-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Binghamton",
"longitude": -75.91797,
"latitude": 42.09869,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dy44w\">NBC Dateline reporter Andrea Canning was subpoenaed on Feb. 7, 2023, to testify at an upcoming murder trial. The New York Supreme Court Appellate Division quashed the order on Sept. 14.</p><p data-block-key=\"eafrk\">Canning interviewed Ganesh R. Ramsaran in 2014 as he was awaiting his initial trial for allegedly murdering his wife. The resulting Dateline episode first aired at the end of October 2014. Ramsaran — who has maintained his innocence — was found guilty and sentenced, but was granted a retrial in 2022.</p><p data-block-key=\"3d2r1\">Benjamin Bergman, the special prosecutor in the Ramsaran retrial, issued Canning a subpoena in early 2023 ordering her to testify at trial to confirm the authenticity of her recorded interview with Ramsaran and to speak to the contents of the interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"8h6ns\">While Bergman initially asserted that he only sought to question Canning about the published portions of the interview, according to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he later admitted that he required a witness with knowledge of the unpublished sections.</p><p data-block-key=\"b3j51\">Attorneys for NBCUniversal filed a motion to quash the subpoena on March 10, arguing that she was protected under New York’s Shield Law.</p><p data-block-key=\"1iqjj\">In an affidavit in support of the motion, Canning wrote: “In my reporting on the criminal justice system, my ability to gain interviewees’ trust hinges on my ability to remain separate from law enforcement and criminal prosecution. If I am forced to act as a witness for the government every time I conduct one of these interviews, my role would be virtually indistinguishable from that of law enforcement.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1h2co\">Chenango County Judge Frank Revoir Jr. denied Canning’s motion on May 8, ruling that her testimony would not be privileged under the Shield Law and that the evidence sought from her is “critical or necessary” to the prosecution’s case.</p><p data-block-key=\"db6rt\">Canning’s attorneys <a href=\"https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=dJge8Nc43T_PLUS_2A7GTK0ADvQ==\">filed an appeal</a> to the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court in Albany in June. On Sept. 14, the five justices of the court unanimously ruled in favor of Canning, finding that the lower court judge had “exceeded his jurisdiction and power.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2upoa\">“There is a multitude of other evidence against Ramsaran, including the statements that he made during his telephone calls to 911, his girlfriend and to the police, as well as DNA evidence of the blood found on his clothes and the victim’s van,” the justices wrote. “Ramsaran’s statements during the interview do not contradict any of his other statements, but rather corroborate other available evidence against him.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fltud\">Neither Canning nor NBC News responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Canning.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7jba5\">A portion of a Feb. 7, 2023, subpoena ordering NBC Dateline correspondent Andrea Canning to testify at the retrial of a man charged with murdering his wife. The New York Supreme Court Appellate Division quashed the order on Sept. 14.</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": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Andrea Canning (NBC News)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Reporter pepper-sprayed while covering ‘Justice for Tyre’ protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pepper-sprayed-while-covering-justice-for-tyre-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-02T21:42:34.868348Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-02-08T15:18:16.426239Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-02-08T15:18:16.264002Z",
"date": "2023-02-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Johnson City",
"longitude": -75.95881,
"latitude": 42.11563,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5oix4\">Sarah Eames, a reporter for the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, was pepper-sprayed by law enforcement while covering a protest in the village of Johnson City, New York, on Feb. 1, 2023, the Press & Sun-Bulletin <a href=\"https://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/local/2023/02/02/wegmans-johnson-city-protest-multiple-arrests-reporter-pepper-sprayed-by-police-tyre-nichols/69864762007/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ditnp\">The protest was <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/events/910743433616264\">organized</a> on the first day of Black History Month in response to the release of footage from the police beating of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, as well as the New Year’s Day arrest of Hamail Waddell, a resident of nearby Binghamton. Nichols was beaten by multiple officers following a traffic stop on Jan. 7, and died three days later. Waddell was pinned to the ground by an officer with a knee on his neck in the early hours of Jan. 1.</p><p data-block-key=\"dging\">The demonstration began peacefully at approximately 7 p.m., <a href=\"https://www.wskg.org/news/2023-02-02/police-shut-down-protest-make-arrests-outside-wegmans\">according to WSKG</a>. A Broome County Sheriff’s deputy ordered the crowd to disperse via loudspeaker, stating that they were on private property. Shortly after, law enforcement officers began arresting multiple people and threatening the crowd with pepper spray.</p><p data-block-key=\"2jl0u\">In <a href=\"https://www.pressconnects.com/videos/news/local/2023/02/02/wegmans-protest-johnson-city-pressconnects-reporter-pepper-sprayed-tyre-nichols/11166964002/\">footage</a> Eames captured on her cellphone, a Johnson City police officer can be heard yelling, “Back up or you’re going to get sprayed!”</p><p data-block-key=\"5d77l\">Immediately after, he pepper-sprays Eames in the face. The Press & Sun-Bulletin reported Eames had identified herself as press and was holding up her media credentials. In the video, the spray also appears to coat her cellphone. It was not immediately clear whether the equipment was damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"598jo\">Eames did not respond to an email requesting comment. She shared her footage and photos of her face <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sarahsawthat/status/1620994786655371265\">on Twitter</a> after the incident.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Got pepper-sprayed in the face while covering a protest tonight, alongside several demonstrators. Eight others were violently arrested and have since been released. <br><br>Story to come. <a href=\"https://t.co/cbPT12LMPg\">pic.twitter.com/cbPT12LMPg</a></p>— Sarah Eames (@sarahsawthat) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sarahsawthat/status/1620994786655371265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 2, 2023</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5oix4\">“I had to tap out earlier than I would’ve liked,” Eames <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sarahsawthat/status/1621008500720816129\">wrote</a> in a reply on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"fb2dt\">When reached by telephone, the Johnson City Police Department said that it planned to release an official statement.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_454.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zlmue\">Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reporter Sarah Eames, left, with camera, is seen in law enforcement’s body camera footage released following a protest in Johnson City, New York, on Feb. 1, 2023. </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": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-02-02 10:17:00+00:00) Police release statement, body camera footage after reporter pepper-sprayed at protest"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sarah Eames (Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "NY Assembly keeping pandemic restrictions for press access this session",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ny-assembly-keeping-pandemic-restrictions-for-press/",
"first_published_at": "2023-02-14T22:36:01.653884Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-20T20:41:37.657585Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-20T20:41:37.568404Z",
"date": "2023-01-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Albany",
"longitude": -73.75623,
"latitude": 42.65258,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"oy3tn\">Limitations on press access inside the New York State Assembly implemented during the pandemic will continue this legislative session, a spokesman for the Speaker confirmed on Jan. 23, 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"bkmm4\">In an email to Zach Williams, president of the New York State Legislative Correspondents Association, Press Secretary Michael Whyland said that the rules for the lower house of the legislature were not changing.</p><p data-block-key=\"5rk5u\">During the first months of the pandemic, sweeping health and safety measures were put in place limiting how many people — including lawmakers — could enter the statehouse and where they could go. Journalists covering the Assembly were limited to a few chairs in the well of the chamber and at the back of the room, and were barred from directly approaching lawmakers at their desks. Reporters were also no longer permitted in the area behind the dias to access the speaker’s office, conference rooms and a lounge.</p><p data-block-key=\"7j3me\">Whyland wrote that the area behind the dias is still by appointment only.</p><p data-block-key=\"c89ne\">Williams, who is also the New York Post’s Albany bureau chief, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that when COVID-19 restrictions for the statehouse began to expire, the LCA initiated conversations about lifting the media access limitations as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"5trvt\">“Once they stopped having the mask restriction and capacity restrictions, reporters like myself started raising questions about why we could not enter and move around the chamber and adjacent areas like we did before coronavirus struck New York,” Williams said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7perf\">Tom Precious, who covered the New York State legislature for more than 30 years before retiring in 2022, told the Tracker via email that in the years before the pandemic, members of the press were able to move around the chamber with relative ease.</p><p data-block-key=\"8um74\">“It used to be that reporters could walk down onto the floor during session and go right up to a lawmaker’s desk to ask them a question,” Precious said. “I spent many, many hours of my time at the Capitol walking that back hallway in order to grab lawmakers for comments or background perspectives on an issue.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fhf1q\">After receiving the email confirming that limits on media access would continue, Williams sent a <a href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XGTlA2MnkMh-vq14w7O5TG3aBl977-Kw/view\">letter</a> on Feb. 2 on behalf of the LCA calling on Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to restore the pre-pandemic policies.</p><p data-block-key=\"eghgg\">“Decades of experience proved that order can be maintained in the chamber while Capitol reporters do their jobs of informing the public,” Williams wrote. “The Assembly now aims to bar the press in your name from anywhere except the back of the chamber and a few chairs in the well of the floor. Only favored reporters would be allowed anywhere behind the chamber. The LCA has voted to reject such conditions. We need more than that to do our jobs.”</p><p data-block-key=\"97o6i\">Williams confirmed to the Tracker on Feb. 9 that he had not received an official response to his letter.</p><p data-block-key=\"c0d3j\">Whyland, the press secretary, did not respond to requests for comment from the Tracker. He <a href=\"https://twitter.com/mwhyland/status/1622974518221492224\">wrote on Twitter</a> that press access to the Assembly is both the same as it was pre-pandemic and is the same as access to the Senate.</p><p data-block-key=\"bj1u2\">Reporter Keshia Clukey, an LCA member who has covered the statehouse for seven years, told the Tracker that press access has never been the same in both chambers due to differences in size and formality.</p><p data-block-key=\"1lm3l\">“The Senate and Assembly have always had very different rules. The Senate hasn’t been quite as accessible as the Assembly,” Clukey said. “But the Assembly has always been the ‘People’s House.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"7u1en\">She added that she’s particularly concerned about the strict access heading into the budgeting process in March, when many decisions are made behind the scenes.</p><p data-block-key=\"aqtlr\">“That lack of transparency in the budget process makes this fight to have the access that we've always had even more important,” Clukey said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Press access is so important, especially in Albany during budget season where negotiations and policymaking are already done behind closed doors. <br><br>Bring it back, please! <a href=\"https://t.co/xnxjToZVe1\">https://t.co/xnxjToZVe1</a></p>— Keshia Clukey (@KeshiaClukey) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KeshiaClukey/status/1622975389223235584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 7, 2023</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"oy3tn\">In early 2022, the Tracker reported how<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-removed-from-iowa-senate-floor-overturning-a-century-old-practice/\"> Iowa</a>,<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-moved-from-kansas-senate-floor-to-public-gallery-for-new-legislative-session/\"> Kansas</a> and<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/utah-senate-becomes-third-state-legislature-this-year-to-limit-journalists-access/\"> Utah</a> senates enacted similar policies or changes to practice restricting reporter access. In January 2023, the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/texas-upholds-covid-era-policy-barring-reporters-from-senate-floor/\">Texas</a> Senate also confirmed that pandemic restrictions on the press would remain in place.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Journalist subpoenaed by DC construction company after libel claims dismissed",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-subpoenaed-by-dc-construction-company-after-libel-claims-dismissed/",
"first_published_at": "2023-05-12T13:06:33.843022Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-13T22:26:24.072956Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-13T22:26:23.957065Z",
"date": "2023-01-20",
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"city": "Washington",
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"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yv364\">Natalie Delgadillo, the managing editor of DCist, was issued a subpoena on Jan. 20, 2023, in connection with a protracted legal dispute involving a Washington, D.C.-based construction company. The subpoena was subsequently quashed and the company sanctioned by the court.</p><p data-block-key=\"clj3t\">The dispute began after the district’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against Precision Contracting Solutions, LLC, owner Derrick Sieber and his father, Stephen Sieber, in July 2019, alleging violations of consumer protection and construction codes. Delgadillo <a href=\"https://dcist.com/story/19/07/31/d-c-attorney-general-sues-home-contractor-over-shoddy-and-destructive-work/\">reported</a> on the suit and a press release from the attorney general, and subsequently updated the article with comments from the Siebers and a customer to whom Stephen Sieber had referred her.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ib7k\">According to a court filing from Delgadillo’s attorney, reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Stephen Sieber began leaving “disturbing” voicemail messages for Delgadillo in January 2020. That March, the Siebers filed a defamation lawsuit against her and American University, which owns DCist through its NPR affiliate radio station WAMU. The Siebers attempted to force Delgadillo to testify in court multiple times throughout the defamation proceedings, but the judge consistently denied their requests.</p><p data-block-key=\"fvm33\">Though the judge dismissed the libel claims against Delgadillo and AU under the district’s Anti-SLAPP Act in June 2020, he reversed the decision on procedural grounds more than a year later in July 2021. The claims were again dismissed in February 2022, and later that year Delgadillo and AU were awarded nearly $116,000 in attorneys fees and costs.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ib57\">As the attorney general’s lawsuit against the company progressed, Precision Contracting Solutions indicated an interest in subpoenaing Delgadillo and other journalists at DCist multiple times in the fall of 2020, but did not do so until January 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"c7bgl\">Stephen Sieber issued a subpoena to Delgadillo on Jan. 20, ordering her to appear to testify in May when the trial was scheduled to begin. Charles Tobin, an attorney representing the journalist, filed a motion to quash the subpoena on Feb. 16, arguing that the Siebers had harassed her and her colleagues for nearly three years.</p><p data-block-key=\"796cl\">Tobin also requested that the court issue sanctions against the Siebers and grant a protective order to prevent Delgadillo or any of her DCist colleagues from being forced to testify at the trial.</p><p data-block-key=\"5c5d9\">Superior Court Judge Juliet McKenna <a href=\"https://medialaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/05.03.23sieber.pdf\">granted</a> all three requests on March 30, ruling that Stephen Sieber had acted in bad faith and had been repeatedly instructed that any testimony from Delgadillo was protected under reporter’s privilege. On May 2, McKenna awarded Delgadillo more than $20,800 in attorneys fees and costs.</p><p data-block-key=\"lpq6\">Delgadillo, when contacted by the Tracker, said that she’s still not sure whether the years-long saga has truly ended, but otherwise declined to comment.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"jbiua\">A portion of the subpoena issued to DCist Managing Editor Natalie Delgadillo on Jan. 20, 2023, by a construction company after she reported on a lawsuit against it. A judge quashed the subpoena and ordered sanctions against the company.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
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"Subpoena/Legal Order"
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"Natalie Delgadillo (DCist)"
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"quashed"
],
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{
"title": "SC reporter arrested, banned from tribal lands",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sc-reporter-arrested-banned-from-tribal-lands/",
"first_published_at": "2023-01-19T15:41:37.800666Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-31T20:42:56.195050Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-31T20:42:56.073192Z",
"date": "2023-01-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Rock Hill",
"longitude": -81.02508,
"latitude": 34.92487,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"wd2vz\">Post and Courier reporter Maggie Brown was arrested and charged with trespassing after being removed from a Catawba Nation general council meeting near Rock Hill, South Carolina, on Jan. 14, 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"ckvvi\">The Post and Courier, which originally reported the arrest in a since-deleted article, wrote that Brown was in attendance to cover discussions around whether to cut ties with the operators of a Catawba-owned casino that is under federal scrutiny. That article is available for reference from an <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20230115033242/https://www.postandcourier.com/news/post-and-courier-reporter-charged-with-trespassing-while-covering-catawba-nation-meeting/article_9e710eae-9473-11ed-86d0-d3f103e0676c.html\">internet archive</a>. Brown and Managing Editor Andy Shain declined to comment when reached by email.</p><p data-block-key=\"94tds\">Queen City News <a href=\"https://www.qcnews.com/news/u-s/york-county/reporter-removed-from-catawba-nation-meeting-cited-for-trespassing-sheriff/\">reported</a> that tribal administrators denied Brown’s request to attend the meeting — which was only open to tribal members and invited guests — in the days leading up to the event. The News reported that approximately 200 people were in attendance.</p><p data-block-key=\"6tmds\">The York County Sheriff’s Office told the outlet that a deputy gave Brown a citation for trespassing, a misdemeanor <a href=\"https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t16c011.php\">punishable</a> by up to 30 days in jail or a $200 fine, and released her. Brown left the Catawba reservation under a police escort.</p><p data-block-key=\"8kfjv\">The Catawba Nation condemned her actions in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/officialcatawba/status/1614664932837949440\">statement</a> released on Twitter after the incident, referring to her as Maggie Brown Driggers. The statement said that she had flaunted tribal sovereignty and disrespected their boundaries.</p><p data-block-key=\"3q3hu\">“Catawba General Council meetings are gatherings of Catawba citizens to discuss, debate, and ultimately vote on issues facing the Nation,” the statement said. “We are a sovereign nation with the power to set boundaries and laws on our land to protect and serve our people. This includes restricting those who are allowed and not allowed in our meetings.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cgc06\">According to the statement, Brown has been banned from tribal lands.</p><p data-block-key=\"15ev3\">The York County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a voicemail requesting further information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"name": "South Carolina",
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"(2023-07-17 16:31:00+00:00) Trespassing charge against reporter dropped"
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{
"title": "Texas judge vacates order limiting murder trial coverage",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/texas-judge-vacates-order-limiting-murder-trial-coverage/",
"first_published_at": "2023-01-17T16:56:48.597929Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-01-17T16:56:48.597929Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-01-17T16:56:48.471282Z",
"date": "2023-01-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Waco",
"longitude": -97.14667,
"latitude": 31.54933,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0uwcn\">A judge in Waco, Texas, issued a sweeping gag order on Jan. 9, 2023, restricting media coverage ahead of a retrial in a murder case. The order was vacated two days later after attorneys for local broadcaster KWTX successfully argued that it amounted to an unconstitutional prior restraint, the outlet <a href=\"https://www.kwtx.com/2023/01/11/waco-judge-vacates-portion-gag-order-upcoming-retrial-ex-daycare-owner-charged-childs-overdose-death/?outputType=amp\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"j97k\">Judge David Hodges’ order prohibited the press from reporting on basic facts about the case, including testimony or evidence from the initial trial in 2015, that it resulted in a conviction, the fact that the case was reversed or the reason behind the reversal. It also barred any reporting on any pretrial rulings in the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"bru49\">The case — which was set to begin on Jan. 9 — was postponed citing concerns that there would not be insufficient jurors from which to select a jury, according to KWTX.</p><p data-block-key=\"4jnfv\">The Waco Tribune-Herald <a href=\"https://wacotrib.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/mclennan-county-judge-backtracks-on-muzzling-press-in-fraser-murder-retrial/article_6b7c8af2-91c9-11ed-ad3f-5f5b399051ab.html\">reported</a> that the gag order forced it to hold its reporting on the postponement.</p><p data-block-key=\"5u8sm\">Attorneys for CBS-affiliate KWTX sent a three-page letter to the court arguing against the order the same day it was issued, according to the outlet. KWTX Vice President and General Manager Josh Young declined to comment when reached by email.</p><p data-block-key=\"carv\">Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, told the outlet that the order would have infringed on First Amendment rights and Hodges was right to lift the restrictions on the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"7avgh\">“Journalists have a right — and a duty — to cover what’s going on at the courthouse to keep the public informed,” Shannon said. “It’s understandable that the judge wants to ensure a fair trial and try to select a local jury, but attempting to restrain what the news media reports is not the answer.”</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"KWTX-TV",
"Media",
"Waco Tribune-Herald"
],
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Texas Senate extends barring reporters from floor",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/texas-upholds-covid-era-policy-barring-reporters-from-senate-floor/",
"first_published_at": "2023-01-11T21:02:18.365294Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-20T20:42:20.289095Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-20T20:42:20.202123Z",
"date": "2023-01-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Austin",
"longitude": -97.74306,
"latitude": 30.26715,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vxbw7\">The Texas Senate secretary confirmed to a reporter that a COVID-19 policy implemented two years ago barring reporters from the chamber floor will continue into the new legislative session.</p><p data-block-key=\"24nub\">On Jan. 6, 2023, Dallas Morning News reporter Lauren McGaughy <a href=\"https://twitter.com/lmcgaughy/status/1611403879501168640\">tweeted</a> a portion of an email from Senate Secretary Patsy Spaw stating to her that the policy was still in effect.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Member of the press will not be allowed onto the Texas Senate floor during the upcoming session, the secretary of the senate confirm to me. <br><br>The policy was implemented during COVID and is not being lifted even though most other pandemic restrictions are gone. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/txlege?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#txlege</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/Z9RLFCCc6P\">pic.twitter.com/Z9RLFCCc6P</a></p>— 🌟 Lauren McGaughy (@lmcgaughy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/lmcgaughy/status/1611403879501168640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 6, 2023</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vxbw7\">“There is no floor seating for the press,” Spaw wrote. “The reserved area for the press was moved to the Senate Gallery in the southwest corner. The press is not restricted to that area, but may sit in any open seat in the gallery.”</p><p data-block-key=\"96nsc\">Spaw did not respond to a request for further comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"67rrj\">The <a href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2023/01/06/texas-senate-reporters-banned/\">Texas Tribune</a> reported that media members were moved to the third floor of the Senate gallery in 2021 to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, while senators occupied the second floor. Donnis Baggett, executive vice president of the Texas Press Association, told the Tracker via email that the decision to continue the policy was a disservice to both reporters and senators.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9u2g\">“Many legislative procedures were changed during the height of COVID restrictions, but most of those have been dissolved since. Unfortunately, this rule was left in place. The result: reporters are still restricted to the Senate gallery, which is a floor above the senators themselves. That works to the detriment of timely and mutually beneficial conversations between senators and reporters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b4hrc\">Baggett said that he hopes Senate leadership will reconsider the decision for the benefit of voters.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ia83\">Press freedom advocacy groups said the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/pressfreedom/status/1612920680793755651\">decision was concerning</a>, and lacked sufficient explanation.</p><p data-block-key=\"4j2vm\">“The Texas Senate is not even claiming any legitimate justification to limit press access,” said Seth Stern, advocacy director for Freedom of the Press Foundation. “Officials hope that press restrictions will fly under the radar when they quietly make temporary COVID policies permanent. Hopefully Texas won’t fall for it.” FPF co-founded and maintains the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"302dt\">In early 2022, the Tracker reported how <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-removed-from-iowa-senate-floor-overturning-a-century-old-practice/\">Iowa</a>, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-moved-from-kansas-senate-floor-to-public-gallery-for-new-legislative-session/\">Kansas</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/utah-senate-becomes-third-state-legislature-this-year-to-limit-journalists-access/\">Utah</a> senates enacted similar policies or changes to practice restricting reporter access.</p><p data-block-key=\"5kmcu\"><i>Editor's note: The article was updated to include comment from Texas Press Association Executive Vice President Donnis Baggett.</i></p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"kkzmv\">The Texas state capitol building in downtown Austin.</p>",
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"Denial of Access"
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{
"title": "Bloomberg subpoenaed for reporter communications, quashed by judge",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/bloomberg-subpoenaed-for-reporter-communications-quashed-by-judge/",
"first_published_at": "2023-09-21T18:43:34.303966Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-08T15:25:03.510707Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-08T15:25:03.388522Z",
"date": "2023-01-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9q728\">Bloomberg Television parent Bloomberg LP was issued a subpoena for communications between former anchor Stephanie Ruhle and Under Armour founder Kevin Plank on Jan. 4, 2023, as part of an ongoing lawsuit against the sportswear company. A judge quashed the subpoena more than six months later.</p><p data-block-key=\"c6uqi\">A shareholder suit alleged that Under Armour had artificially inflated its share price, costing a shareholder pension fund millions, <a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/media/scottish-city-demands-msnbc-anchor-stephanie-ruhles-emails-with-under-armour-founder-legal-feud.amp\">according to Fox News</a>. Shareholders argued that Ruhle, now a host at MSNBC, advised Plank and did damage control for the company using her platform at Bloomberg Television.</p><p data-block-key=\"hct3\">Shareholders had <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.595712/gov.uscourts.nysd.595712.3.1.pdf\">subpoenaed</a> Bloomberg for Ruhle’s communications with Plank and others, as well as any emails sent or received by her concerning Under Armour. They then filed a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.595712/gov.uscourts.nysd.595712.1.0.pdf\">motion</a> on March 15 to compel the media company to comply with the requests.</p><p data-block-key=\"7glvh\">Bloomberg argued, however, that shareholders’ allegations that the communications were not protected by reporter’s privilege because Ruhle’s journalistic independence was compromised were false and unfounded.</p><p data-block-key=\"co9c5\">Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein ruled in favor of Bloomberg, quashing the subpoena on Aug. 25. “The personal relationship between Ruhle and Plank did not mean that Ruhle was not acting as a journalist with respect to her dealings with Under Armour,” he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"9rud9\">According to <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.595712/gov.uscourts.nysd.595712.27.0.pdf\">court filings</a> reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Ruhle gave a deposition in the underlying suit in early 2023. The Tracker was unable to determine whether Ruhle was compelled or voluntarily gave testimony. But Gorenstein said no efforts were made to question Ruhle during her deposition about who she communicated with about Under Armour.</p><p data-block-key=\"ci546\">“We will thus not rely on speculation that documents may exist at Bloomberg to justify piercing the journalist privilege,” Gorenstein wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"f6fog\">Ruhle did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"70u91\">In a <a href=\"https://puck.news/ruhles-of-the-game/\">statement to Puck</a>, a Bloomberg News spokesperson said: “The reporter’s privilege offers essential protections for all newsrooms. It allows journalists to engage in newsgathering without outside interference or pressure, and we think it’s worth fighting for.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7rq2n\">A Bloomberg spokesperson declined to comment further when reached by the Tracker.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"781v9\">A portion of the Jan. 4, 2023, subpoena ordering media company Bloomberg to turn over communications between its former reporter Stephanie Ruhle and the founder of Under Armour and others as part of an ongoing lawsuit against the retailer.</p>",
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{
"title": "Penn. journalist ordered to destroy, unpublish copies of leaked report",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/penn-journalist-ordered-to-destroy-unpublish-copies-of-leaked-report/",
"first_published_at": "2023-04-18T21:44:08.181833Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-13T22:27:07.949500Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-13T22:27:07.850297Z",
"date": "2022-12-15",
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"city": "Exeter Township",
"longitude": null,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9wgte\">Pennsylvania journalist Jerry Geleff, host of The Exeter Underground podcast and publisher of The Exeter Examiner, was ordered on Dec. 15, 2022, to take down reporting on a leaked document and destroy copies of it.</p><p data-block-key=\"ca136\">In July 2022, Geleff filed a <a href=\"https://www.openrecords.pa.gov/RTKL/About.cfm\">public records request</a> for a report from an investigation into allegations of harassment against a Township Supervisor. His request and subsequent appeal were denied. During a Dec. 14 episode of the Underground, Geleff announced that he had obtained excerpts of the report and read sections aloud. He also published images of the first page and the last two pages on his local news website, the Examiner, which <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/TheExeterExaminer/\">transitioned to Facebook-only</a> in early 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"1u4tq\">According to court records reviewed by the Tracker, an attorney for the Township emailed Geleff on Dec. 15 at 10:45 a.m., threatening legal action against him unless he immediately agreed to return all physical or electronic copies of the report, and destroy copies and descriptions of it that had been published on his platforms. The attorney said he would bring a lawsuit against Geleff and his media companies, and had plans to present an <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2022-12-15-Exeter-Township-v.-Geleff-Plaintiffs-emergency-motion-for-preliminary-injunction.pdf\">emergency motion for a preliminary injunction</a>, an order requiring Geleff to destroy and unpublish the report, to a judge at 1:30 p.m. that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"ebm5u\">Geleff told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he replied he would not comply with the request.</p><p data-block-key=\"227l7\">The judge granted the Township’s motion at 2 p.m., and within two hours Geleff had removed the podcast and the article with images of the report.</p><p data-block-key=\"c5ekm\">“I had no time to get legal representation and how a judge allowed that to happen I can’t understand,” Geleff said.</p><p data-block-key=\"d6tu8\">That evening, Geleff posted on the Examiner’s Facebook page a link to an external website that published photos of the report. Within 15 minutes, he was contacted by the Township’s attorney who alleged posting the link violated the order. Geleff promptly removed that post and mentions of the website from his podcast.</p><p data-block-key=\"5b8a8\">Two days later, Geleff published an article (available through a <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20221220060554/https://exeterexaminer.us/latest-news/f/exeter-township-is-suing-me-and-violating-all-of-our-rights\">web archive</a>) about the emergency order and the lawsuit against him, alleging that it was entirely retaliatory.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0vvf\">“This is nothing but retribution for a very vocal critic who has a media outlet and audience. They are attempting to silence any dissent of their plans. And they must be stopped,” Geleff wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"9hv12\">On Dec. 23, an attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2022-12-23-Exeter-Township-v.-Geleff-Brief-in-support-of-motion-to-dissolve-injunction.pdf\">motion to dissolve the restraint</a> on Geleff’s behalf. RCFP Local Legal Initiative Attorney Paula Knudsen Burke wrote that the prior restraint “flatly violates” the First Amendment and the state’s constitution.</p><p data-block-key=\"dv7ln\">That same day, the Township’s attorney filed a motion for Geleff to be held in contempt for the Facebook post linking to the external website, asking that the court fine Geleff and order him to pay the Township’s attorneys and court fees.</p><p data-block-key=\"3b080\">In its January 2023 filing of arguments against the lawsuit and the motion to hold Geleff in contempt, RCFP attorney Burke wrote that the Township was asking the court to further punish Geleff without cause.</p><p data-block-key=\"bfe18\">“This behavior would be troubling from a private litigant. From the Township, a local government seeking to punish one of its residents for speech on a matter of public interest, it shocks the conscience,” Burke wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"f8aql\">On Jan. 10, the Township’s attorney withdrew the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be refiled at a later date. The preliminary injunction barring Geleff from publishing the report was also lifted.</p><p data-block-key=\"1469m\">Geleff republished his article and podcast episode that day, <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/TheExeterExaminer/posts/pfbid02nce9WW5vb1YebvoUMqXdrnnyFGy68LMtSza4Daxd8NGGWDi9eVHRpnbuGyutgoZ7l?__cft__[0]=AZXmKCz4LCTPVn8mCxvZ6MSCbFb7ZUqOTVep0j_p2fLwzoZJ9w846BgDQcQ3ztl9CBw9fLH6Eo5KLRCSGCYFM9IsECKWbuct4dE2qqtKtz5TvyIn6vHhIqgq3ipkDiUPd8Dm4cX0NKrRdGM2m86Z2yBarS45unxUNnAeFs2cG1yfPlE6NFR7JVwh0LDX8z1FrO0&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R\">writing</a> on the Examiner’s Facebook, “The cowardly Exeter Township Supervisors dropped their lawsuit against me, and I'm able to put this back up. The unconstitutional temporary injunction they were granted no longer applies.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9g20\">On its Facebook page, the Township <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ExeterTWP/posts/pfbid03CukdF8LBqf3LAzJrofXoc4vAdGQYNViJyz7jzP1QGZr1k5naezJK2gRCAeUt3t6l?__cft__[0]=AZX7FqZi-q8c1F572uBwwvSYbLCgXE9i7BOTGoHHJbEYX9JVB8NbD9NLarLa7ytLdvHVQyLS4K9MDgSLrFVMQDkBkZctkpY6W7ELy5lIJU7bllqJuqY_R1BtnheeKTbE7ZOyI42ZGBvd0Fb5kR7elRgGvZ6UkvTgzXG7ODEEJYFJVw&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R\">acknowledged</a> that portions of the report had continued to be shared online and that continuing the lawsuit would only incur additional expenses for the taxpayers.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"dxp7x\">A portion of the Dec. 15, 2022, order directing journalist Jerry Geleff to destroy all copies of a leaked report from Exeter Township, Pennsylvania, as well as all of his coverage of the report’s contents.</p>",
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"The Exeter Underground"
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"categories": [
"Prior Restraint"
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"Jerry Geleff (Jerry Geleff Media)"
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},
{
"title": "Colorado county settles lawsuit after denying outlet’s bid for legal notices",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/colorado-county-settles-lawsuit-after-denying-outlets-bid-for-legal-notices/",
"first_published_at": "2023-07-12T19:32:45.891634Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-01-16T19:47:00.351800Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-01-16T19:47:00.230408Z",
"date": "2022-12-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Westcliffe",
"longitude": -105.46584,
"latitude": 38.13472,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"s05ql\">Nearly a year after punitively denying the Wet Mountain Tribune a county contract, Colorado’s Custer County agreed on Dec. 14, 2022, to pay $50,000 to settle a First Amendment lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"3rqo0\">The Tribune has been the county’s newspaper of record, bidding for — and winning — the right to publish the county’s legal notices since 1883, <a href=\"https://www.aspentimes.com/opinion/westcliffe-paper-sues-over-custer-county-steering-advertising-away-because-of-news-coverage/\">according to an op-ed</a> by owner and publisher Jordan Hedberg. The only exceptions were two years wherein it wasn’t the lowest bidder, he wrote, a precedent largely disregarded during the Board of County Commissioners’ Jan. 19 vote.</p><p data-block-key=\"5cc7\">In a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW-4V1SxG-Y&t=7536s\">recording</a> of the public meeting, Commissioner Bill Canda made it clear his vote was based on his opinions of the Tribune’s reporting. “I don’t know why I would support a paper that doesn’t support the county,” Canda said.</p><p data-block-key=\"e91t0\">Commissioner Kevin Day expressed his agreement, describing the Tribune as “combative.” The lone dissenter, Commissioner Tom Flower, responded that only the cost and circulation should matter.</p><p data-block-key=\"f79gr\">“I don’t recall the Tribune in 2021 refusing to put any legal notices in his paper and that’s what we’re paying him for,” Flower said. “Whether we agree or disagree with editorials or not doesn’t factor into it. We’re paying a paper to print our legal notices and be the paper of record.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7vgd8\">Another outlet, the Sangre De Cristo Sentinel, was <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cod.217645/gov.uscourts.cod.217645.1.8.pdf\">awarded the contract</a> with the county in a 2-1 vote. It has around half the circulation and bid more than twice what the Tribune did.</p><p data-block-key=\"cgnq2\">Hedberg filed a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cod.217645/gov.uscourts.cod.217645.1.0.pdf\">lawsuit</a> against Canda, Day and the Board of County Commissioners on Aug. 18, 2022, arguing that they had retaliated against the Tribune because of its critical reporting on the county government and an official.</p><p data-block-key=\"1hq4a\">Neither Hedberg nor the county commissioners responded to requests for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"6nu4q\">“They can call me up and say, ‘Hey, we don’t like what you’ve done, we’re very upset with it,’ and that’s absolutely within their right,” Hedberg <a href=\"https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/next-with-kyle-clark/custer-county-paper-first-amendment-lawsuit-commissioners/73-84f100cd-e508-4061-a80c-25274426fff6\">told a local news station</a>. “But when they start using their power to attempt to punish and harm us, financially particularly in this case, then that crosses the line.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4g464\">Hedberg <a href=\"https://coloradomedia.substack.com/p/a-victory-for-wet-mountain-tribune\">told Inside the News in Colorado</a> in mid-December that the parties had reached a settlement agreement. In exchange for Hedberg dropping the suit, the county would pay the Tribune $50,000 and make it the newspaper of record for the next four years.</p><p data-block-key=\"b7nrt\">“I feel like the justice system upheld our First Amendment rights as newspapers in a pretty blatant case,” Hedberg said.</p><p data-block-key=\"f0k5g\">The case was formally dismissed on Dec. 28, according to <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/64907346/wet-mountain-publishing-company-v-canda/\">court records</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"0znpj\">Colorado’s Custer County commissioners denied a public notice contract to the Wet Mountain Tribune during a Jan. 19, 2022, public meeting, citing its reporting. The county later settled a First Amendment lawsuit with the Tribune.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"case_number": "1:22-cv-02121",
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"name": "Colorado",
"abbreviation": "CO"
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"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
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"categories": [
"Other Incident"
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{
"title": "FTC orders Twitter to disclose names of journalists",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ftc-orders-twitter-to-disclose-names-of-journalists/",
"first_published_at": "2023-03-23T23:38:50.129811Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-03-23T23:38:50.129811Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-03-23T23:38:50.036230Z",
"date": "2022-12-13",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7tk9i\">As part of an ongoing investigation, the Federal Trade Commission asked Twitter to disclose the names of journalists who were provided access to some of the social media company’s internal communications, the Wall Street Journal <a href=\"https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/twitter-investigation-ftc-musk-documents-db6b179e\">reported</a> in March 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"a7bbu\">The company has been subject to a consent decree since 2011, following multiple user data breaches, and is required to regularly conduct security audits and inform the FTC how it is handling sensitive data. In May 2022, Twitter agreed to improve its privacy practices as part of a settlement with the agency. According to The New York Times, the commission <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/07/technology/ftc-twitter-investigation-privacy.html\">intensified its investigation</a> into Twitter’s data and privacy practices following Elon Musk’s October 2022 takeover and subsequent mass reduction of the workforce.</p><p data-block-key=\"9nm6s\">On Dec. 13, the FTC sent a letter to Twitter questioning the decision to give journalists access to internal communications, which Musk dubbed the “Twitter Files.” The agency asked the social media giant to disclose the names of the journalists, to describe the “nature of access granted each person” and whether the information was disclosed in a way that “is consistent with your privacy and information security obligations under the Order.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3i7r0\">A select subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee <a href=\"https://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/weaponization-select-subcommittee-releases-staff-report-ftc-harassment-twitter\">released an interim report</a> on March 7, 2023, alleging that the FTC overstepped its authority and has been harassing the company.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ng6r\">“There is no logical reason, for example, why the FTC needs to know the identities of journalists engaging with Twitter,” the report said.</p><p data-block-key=\"b6lfi\">In a statement to the Times, an FTC spokesperson said that the agency is working to protect user privacy, particularly in the wake of mass layoffs and budget cuts.</p><p data-block-key=\"ep5a8\">“Protecting consumers’ privacy is exactly what the FTC is supposed to do,” Douglas Farrar said. “It should come as no surprise that career staff at the commission are conducting a rigorous investigation into Twitter’s compliance with a consent order that came into effect long before Mr. Musk purchased the company.”</p><p data-block-key=\"agalm\">The Freedom of the Press Foundation, which manages the day-to-day operations of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, <a href=\"https://freedom.press/news/ftc-overreaches-by-demanding-twitter-identify-journalists/\">decried</a> the request for journalists’ names as an alarming step toward government surveillance.</p><p data-block-key=\"emmce\">“Anyone who cares about the free press should be concerned by the FTC’s demand that Twitter identify journalists who have received information that might embarrass the administration, regardless of what they think of Elon Musk or Twitter,” Advocacy Director Seth Stern said in a statement. “The FTC should not have to violate the privacy of journalists to protect the privacy of Twitter users.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aahib\">Twitter, which has laid off its communications staff, responded to a request for comment with an auto-response of a poop emoji.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"xs7zp\">The Federal Trade Commission asked Twitter in Dec. 2022 to disclose the names of journalists given access to internal company files, the so-called “Twitter Files.”</p>",
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