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{
"title": "Florida journalist indicted on allegations of conspiracy, computer fraud, wiretapping",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/florida-journalist-indicted-on-allegations-of-conspiracy-computer-fraud-wiretapping/",
"first_published_at": "2024-02-22T22:14:33.633823Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-22T22:17:50.549030Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-22T22:17:50.336689Z",
"date": "2024-02-21",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Tampa",
"longitude": -82.45843,
"latitude": 27.94752,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"id0tz\">Florida-based independent journalist Tim Burke was charged by the Justice Department with 14 felony counts alleging conspiracy, wiretapping and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, in an indictment unsealed on Feb. 21, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"3l3sc\">FBI agents <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fbi-raids-home-office-of-independent-journalist-on-hacking-allegations/\">raided Burke’s home and office</a> in May 2023 in connection to a criminal probe into “alleged computer intrusions and intercepted communications at the Fox News Network,” according to reports at the time.</p><p data-block-key=\"83qlb\">In total, federal agents seized nine computers, seven hard drives, four cellphones and four notebooks from Burke’s home and the guesthouse that serves as his office. More than nine months after the raid, only a small portion of the electronic devices and files seized by law enforcement has been returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"39d6q\">The <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24438752-burke-indictment\">indictment</a>, which was filed on Feb. 15 but unsealed just under a week later, alleges that Burke and an unnamed co-conspirator used “compromised credentials” to gain access to websites with the live feeds of two New York City-based media companies, and to download files and disseminate them.</p><p data-block-key=\"29r32\">Burke is charged with:</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"rqbu\">One count of conspiracy;</li><li data-block-key=\"adui7\">Six counts of accessing a protected computer without authorization;</li><li data-block-key=\"3ervs\">Five counts of wiretapping; and</li><li data-block-key=\"5ihdb\">Two counts of disclosing communications obtained through illegal wiretapping.</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"fkkjc\">Attorney Mark Rasch, who is representing Burke and who <a href=\"https://kjk.com/professionals/mark-rasch/\">created</a> the Justice Department’s Computer Crime Unit, denied any criminal behavior by Burke and warned that the charges could set a precedent that could make routine investigative journalism techniques a felony.</p><p data-block-key=\"cnpkd\">“Timothy Burke committed the crime of journalism, and that’s it. He didn’t hack anything, he didn’t steal anything, he simply reported,” Rasch told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “The analogies that the government uses about breaking in fundamentally misunderstand how the internet works and what the norms of behavior are on the internet.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f4n93\">Rasch said that Burke appeared at a courthouse in Tampa on Feb. 22 for an initial hearing on the charges, and that first the raid and now the indictment have had a serious impact on the journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"5hoah\">“He’s financially ruined and professionally devastated, and it has taken an emotional toll as well,” Rasch said.</p><p data-block-key=\"frni6\">Burke did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"q7was\">A portion of the indictment charging Florida-based independent journalist Tim Burke on Feb. 21, 2024, with 14 counts for allegedly violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, wiretapping and conspiracy.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "U.S. Department of Justice",
"arrest_status": "charged without arrest",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
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"tags": [
"Department of Justice"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Tim Burke (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Florida reporter threatened after questioning rapper Kodak Black",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/florida-reporter-threatened-after-questioning-rapper-kodak-black/",
"first_published_at": "2024-02-28T19:53:09.403797Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-28T21:58:38.522457Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-28T21:58:38.436303Z",
"date": "2024-02-21",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Fort Lauderdale",
"longitude": -80.14338,
"latitude": 26.12231,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pnkin\">Reporter Rosh Lowe of Florida television station WPLG was threatened by rapper Kodak Black in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 21, 2024, the broadcast outlet reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"g2nf\">Photojournalist Bryan Murphy, also of WPLG, <a href=\"/all-incidents/florida-photojournalist-struck-by-rock-thrown-by-rapper/\">was struck in the ribs</a> with a rock thrown by the rapper. Murphy and Lowe were questioning the rapper following his release from a Broward County jail.</p><p data-block-key=\"apm42\">WPLG <a href=\"https://www.local10.com/news/local/2024/02/23/kodak-black-fans-defend-him-for-throwing-rocks-at-photojournalist-outside-broward-jail/\">said</a> that a police report was filed but that Murphy decided not to press charges. Murphy and Lowe did not respond to a request for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"8r1ib\">In a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qM748M9BPg\">video</a> captured by Murphy, the rapper begins throwing rocks at the crew, as Murphy tells Lowe to “call the cops.” The rapper’s threat to punch Lowe was not shown on camera, but he acknowledged it later in the video. “You threatened to punch me,” Lowe said on camera. “I did,” replied the rapper.</p><p data-block-key=\"babf2\">Lowe reported later that some of the rapper’s fans have since come to his defense and issued threats, including one posted on Instagram that read “next rock to ya Head big Z.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4s2rr\">But in Lowe’s earlier account, the reporter noted: “It is very usual in our profession to interview people coming out of jail, especially noteworthy people. What is unusual is what happened here today.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eimmt\">The legal representative for Kodak Black did not respond to the Tracker’s request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"gjnb7\">WPLG reporter Rosh Lowe was threatened by rapper Kodak Black when Lowe and a WPLG photojournalist questioned the rapper following his release from jail.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"assailant": "public figure",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Rosh Lowe (WPLG)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Two journalists in different states say police called on them while reporting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-journalists-in-different-states-say-police-called-on-them-while-reporting/",
"first_published_at": "2024-03-15T18:24:05.055521Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-15T18:34:59.781042Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-15T18:34:59.694217Z",
"date": "2024-02-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Multiple",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zetvc\">In February and March 2024, two reporters in separate states said they had the police called on them while they were conducting everyday reporting duties.</p><p data-block-key=\"6i73j\">Tampa Bay Times reporter Justin Garcia had the police called on him on Feb. 20, 2024, by the city’s fire chief after he showed up at the Tampa Fire Rescue department headquarters, looking for documents about a firefighter who had recently been fired, according to Garcia, who spoke to the U.S Press Freedom Tracker, and the <a href=\"https://www.tampabay.com/news/tampa/2024/03/07/tampa-fire-chief-ordered-police-called-local-journalist-asking-records/\">newspaper</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"161cd\">Garcia told the Tracker that he was informed that he needed to submit the request through an online portal, which he had already done. According to Garcia, he also cited Florida's <a href=\"http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0100-0199/0119/0119.html\">Chapter 119</a>, which states that “all state, county and municipal records are open for personal inspection and copying by any person.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2ohfi\">After going back and forth with Personnel Chief Robbie Northrop, who is not a public records custodian, the police were called, even though Garcia was acting within his capacity as a reporter, he told the Tracker. Garcia left before police arrived and was not arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"ipva\">According to records obtained by the Times, Northrop first asked a lower-level employee to call the police, who said she did not have time to make the call. Fire Chief Barbara Tripp eventually called the police on Garcia, the Times reported, adding that it was unknown who asked Tripp to call the police.</p><p data-block-key=\"78pio\">“No one ever should call the police on a reporter even if that reporter is being belligerent, obnoxious and aggressive,” Adam Smith, spokesperson for Mayor Jane Castor, told the Times. Both the Times and Garcia maintain that he never raised his voice or was disruptive in any way.</p><p data-block-key=\"e3ufc\">In the second incident, WTIC-TV news reporter Matt Caron said in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/mattcarontv/status/1766304329370067012\">tweet</a> on March 8 that Connecticut public school officials had called police while he was reporting live about “racism and bullying” that his outlet’s reporting had exposed.</p><p data-block-key=\"96jtm\">“I was standing on public property,” Caron wrote. He added that he would use the Freedom of Information Act to request the bodycam footage “to see what was said.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dqq77\">Caron did not reply to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": null,
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist briefly detained at pro-Palestinian march in NYC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-briefly-detained-at-pro-palestinian-march-in-nyc/",
"first_published_at": "2024-05-28T20:34:59.037791Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-05-28T20:34:59.037791Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-05-28T20:33:00.758706Z",
"date": "2024-02-19",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jzgxf\">Independent photojournalist Josh Pacheco was pulled to the ground and briefly detained by New York City police officers while covering a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Queens on Feb. 19, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"dd3uc\">Hundreds of protesters gathered in the Astoria neighborhood to demand a cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza war, <a href=\"https://pix11.com/news/local-news/8-people-arrested-during-pro-palestinian-rally-in-queens-nypd/\">WPIX TV reported</a>. Pacheco was documenting the protest march alongside multiple other members of the press when police began ordering everyone to get off the street, the photojournalist told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"cijdc\">In footage shared with the Tracker, Pacheco can be seen wearing a press credential and holding a professional camera while standing next to a second individual with a camera affixed to a monopod. An officer appears to direct the journalists to move up the street before suddenly grabbing Pacheco by the arm.</p><p data-block-key=\"c7r0\">“He just grabs me, drags me into the street. Another officer helps him try to arrest me, with my press pass just swinging in the wind,” Pacheco told the Tracker. “I’m up and I’m down and I’m up and I’m down, because they’re just pulling me every which way.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2f9d8\">In Pacheco’s <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JP_OTG/status/1759696308091146367\">footage</a>, the journalist can be heard saying, “Yo, yo! What the hell?” to the officer pulling them into the street, as multiple others shout that Pacheco is a member of the press. Moments later, another officer approaches and can be heard asking, “Are you press?” The rest of the exchange cannot be heard over the police’s loudspeaker announcements.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NYPD blitz arrest ACLU legal observers and press as they and protesters exit the roadway. One press member is released upon orders from a supervisor. At least three other arrests of protesters are made. It is speculated that at least one is targeted from prior organizing. <a href=\"https://t.co/UXsDfwICNa\">pic.twitter.com/UXsDfwICNa</a></p>— Josh Pacheco (They/Them) (@JP_OTG) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JP_OTG/status/1759696308091146367?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 19, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jzgxf\">“It took a captain walking over to say, ‘You can’t do that, they’re press,’ for them to finally let me go,” Pacheco told the Tracker. They said that while they were uninjured and none of their equipment was damaged, “It was jarring.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dfter\">The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"vv4eo\">Pro-Palestinian demonstrators call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza war during a march in New York City on Feb. 19, 2024. Independent photojournalist Josh Pacheco was briefly detained while covering the protest.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "New York City Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2024-02-19",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"name_of_business": null,
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Josh Pacheco (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist hurled to ground by police at NYC protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hurled-to-ground-by-police-at-nyc-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-10-10T18:10:57.618555Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T18:10:57.618555Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T17:51:18.769911Z",
"date": "2024-02-19",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3hcn3\">Independent photojournalist Cristina Panagi was thrown to the ground by a New York City police officer while covering a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Queens on Feb. 19, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"2sa0s\">Hundreds of protesters gathered in the Astoria neighborhood to demand a cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza war, <a href=\"https://pix11.com/news/local-news/8-people-arrested-during-pro-palestinian-rally-in-queens-nypd/\">WPIX TV reported</a>. Panagi told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that after the march had stopped, demonstrators were standing around and police began using a sound cannon to order everyone to get off the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"8tjik\">Panagi said she was standing alongside other members of the press in a parking lane when officers threatened to arrest her if she didn’t move back. In footage she <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C3i9NBiua7Y/?img_index=1\">posted to Instagram</a>, an officer can be heard ordering her to get on the sidewalk. Less than a second later, another officer lunges at her.</p><p data-block-key=\"4m29c\">“I go to step back and there’s no room, so I go to walk a bit over so I can actually fit onto the sidewalk, and this other cop — who wasn’t even the one speaking to me — grabs me by the collar of my jacket and throws me backward,” Panagi said.</p><p data-block-key=\"2027k\">She said she landed hard, directly on her hip. The following day, she said she went to an urgent care center to have it checked to ensure she hadn’t been seriously injured but only had a large bruise.</p><p data-block-key=\"3nfda\">The photojournalist had been standing near two legal observers, who told the officer he had assaulted a member of the press and asked him why, to which he didn’t respond. Panagi said that she was wearing press credentials from the Freelance Journalists Union, as she was still in the <a href=\"https://www.nyc.gov/site/mome/press-card/press-card-application.page\">process of obtaining credentials</a> from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.</p><p data-block-key=\"abijn\">Another photojournalist, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-briefly-detained-at-pro-palestinian-march-in-nyc/\">Josh Pacheco</a>, was pulled to the ground by police and briefly detained while documenting the protest that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"cougn\">Panagi told the Tracker she filed a complaint with the Civilian Complaint Review Board on Feb. 28, and they interviewed her about the incident in March. As of October, she said the board hasn’t followed up with her or disclosed the result of its investigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"8d07c\">The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Panagi_NY_assault_219_QcxChU3.a85296d3.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"q24k4\">A New York City police officer directs independent photojournalist Cristina Panagi to get on the sidewalk during a pro-Palestinian protest in Queens on Feb. 19, 2024. A second later, another officer grabbed Panagi and threw her onto the ground.</p>",
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"case_number": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
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"tags": [
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"protest"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Cristina Panagi (Independent)"
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},
{
"title": "NC blogger issued no-contact, no-trespass orders after confronting county attorney",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nc-blogger-issued-no-contact-no-trespass-orders-after-confronting-county-attorney/",
"first_published_at": "2024-04-19T12:52:27.513091Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-19T12:52:27.513091Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-19T12:51:03.473219Z",
"date": "2024-02-16",
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"city": "Currituck",
"longitude": -76.01548,
"latitude": 36.44988,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ols2e\">Independent blogger Thom Roddy was issued no-contact and no-trespassing orders in Currituck County, North Carolina, on Feb. 16, 2024, after approaching the county attorney to question her following a County Board of Commissioners meeting.</p><p data-block-key=\"40ghi\">Roddy, who runs the investigative blog Blackwater Reports, said the orders were imposed following a Feb. 15 encounter in which he attempted to question County Attorney Megan Morgan in a parking lot outside the county courthouse about her role in the censure of one of the elected commissioners.</p><p data-block-key=\"2rbfi\">The next day, Morgan filed a complaint saying that Roddy had pinned her between two vehicles, and was pointing and yelling at her inches from her face. “I was trapped,” Morgan alleged in the complaint. She also said that leading up to the incident, Roddy had made daily posts on his website about her, “with false statements, emails, calls.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6fs2o\">In a statement, Roddy said he had “approached the county attorney in a well-lit parking lot outside the county seat, with many others present, and attempted to ask questions about her involvement” in the censure. A video taken by Roddy after the start of the dispute shows him standing at least several feet away from Morgan.</p><p data-block-key=\"82jah\">“While I stood at a considerable distance from Morgan, as corroborated by video evidence, it’s customary for members of the press to position microphones and cell phones inches away from public officials’ lips in the pursuit of eliciting a response,” Roddy said.</p><p data-block-key=\"dtf7n\">“Morgan’s apprehension wasn’t triggered by my mere physical proximity,” Roddy wrote to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, “but rather by the nature of the questions I sought to ask. Subsequently, she mobilized the government’s resources, enlisted a colleague’s assistance, involved the Sheriff’s Office, and manipulated the justice system. … The no-contact and no-trespass orders amounted to little more than Prior Restraint.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e9rh\">The no-contact order, issued by the district court, restricts Roddy from visiting Morgan at her work or residence, or contacting her by phone, in writing or electronically. The order was made permanent by the court after a Feb. 23 hearing, Roddy said.</p><p data-block-key=\"aeso5\">The no-trespassing order, signed by the county manager, restricts Roddy indefinitely from being on the property of the county courthouse or entering the building.</p><p data-block-key=\"1o8kn\">In April, after an email was sent to Morgan from a Blackwater Reports account, she filed a new motion asking that Roddy be held in contempt for violating the no-contact order. A hearing has been scheduled for May 9.</p><p data-block-key=\"cqr2u\">Morgan did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"souy9\">A portion of the temporary no-contact order issued to independent blogger Thom Roddy on Feb. 16, 2024, by a North Carolina county court, limiting access to a county attorney. It was later made permanent.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "North Carolina",
"abbreviation": "NC"
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"Prior Restraint"
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"Thom Roddy (Blackwater Reports)"
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{
"title": "New Yorker reporter subpoenaed by federal government in criminal trial",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-yorker-reporter-subpoenaed-by-federal-government-in-criminal-trial/",
"first_published_at": "2024-02-27T15:46:15.298362Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-07T18:05:39.206859Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-07T18:05:39.093973Z",
"date": "2024-02-15",
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"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"k3noa\">Eric Lach, a staff writer for The New Yorker, was subpoenaed by a federal prosecutor on Feb. 15, 2024, to testify about his reporting on a man accused of fraud, extortion and lying to federal law enforcement.</p><p data-block-key=\"1in4u\">Lach began reporting on Brooklyn preacher Lamor Whitehead in 2022, according to an <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591215/gov.uscourts.nysd.591215.147.2.pdf\">affidavit</a>. Whitehead stands accused of stealing a parishioner’s savings and defrauding a businessman with claims that he could leverage his ties to Mayor Eric Adams and other city officials for financial gain, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-preacher-lamor-miller-whitehead-fraud-trial-7818c32afad40817aad29fdacf534bed\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fuqoj\">Lach spoke with the preacher several times that December and published an <a href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/how-eric-adams-started-mentoring-a-con-man\">article</a> about Whitehead and his relationship with Adams in January 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"9occ2\">The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York subpoenaed Lach just over a week before the criminal trial was scheduled to begin on Feb. 26. The <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591215/gov.uscourts.nysd.591215.147.1.pdf\">subpoena</a> orders Lach to testify during the trial to authenticate on-the-record statements from Whitehead in the published article.</p><p data-block-key=\"c9m2v\">Attorneys representing Lach filed a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591215/gov.uscourts.nysd.591215.147.0.pdf\">motion to quash</a> the request on Feb. 19. In his accompanying affidavit, Lach voiced concerns that being forced to testify could impair not only his ability to report on Whitehead’s trial but his journalistic work generally.</p><p data-block-key=\"1gjde\">“The prospect of being forced to testify in court about my news reporting is, frankly, chilling,” Lach said in his affidavit. “I often speak to criminal defendants as part of my reporting, and I am confident that criminal defendants — and other sources — will be less willing to speak to me as part of my reporting if they understand that I may be called to testify against them in their trial.”</p><p data-block-key=\"45alv\">The motion to quash argued that the subpoena is also highly invasive and would subject Lach to a cross-examination that could jeopardize his confidential reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"5dnkd\">“In violation of the Department of Justice’s own guidelines, the Government seeks to compel the testimony of a journalist to authenticate a generic, run-of-the mill denial,” the motion said, noting that the statements were made after Whitehead knew he was the target of a government investigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"baf7m\">The day before the subpoena was issued, the Justice Department <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/jm/jm-9-13000-obtaining-evidence#9-13.400\">released new guidelines</a> for federal prosecutors limiting when they can seek journalists’ records: when the information is crucial for the prevention of a serious crime, when the journalist is the target of the investigation and when the records involve information that is already public.</p><p data-block-key=\"8niuj\">To address concerns around the potential breadth of the cross-examination, Lach and his attorneys agreed to appear for a private interview with District Judge Lorna G. Schofield on Feb. 26.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"q846r\">A portion of a subpoena issued to New Yorker reporter Eric Lach on Feb. 15, 2024, by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, ordering him to testify about his reporting on a criminal defendant with ties to New York City’s mayor.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
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"(2024-03-04 00:00:00+00:00) New Yorker reporter does not have to testify, judge rules"
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{
"title": "Reporter, public barred from Illinois township board meeting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-public-barred-from-illinois-township-board-meeting/",
"first_published_at": "2024-03-05T19:47:04.995937Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-05T19:47:04.995937Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-05T19:21:19.759006Z",
"date": "2024-02-13",
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"city": "South Holland",
"longitude": -87.60699,
"latitude": 41.60087,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6j3qb\">Josh Bootsma, the managing editor at The Lansing Journal, was prevented from attending a Thornton Township Board of Trustees meeting, along with members of the public, on Feb. 13, 2024, in apparent violation of Illinois’ Open Meetings Act.</p><p data-block-key=\"ei1lv\">He <a href=\"https://thelansingjournal.com/2024/02/14/public-denied-access-to-thornton-township-board-meeting/\">reported</a> that upon arriving at the township headquarters, located in the suburban Chicago village of South Holland, they were directed into the basement of the building, though the meeting was being held in the upstairs boardroom.</p><p data-block-key=\"dti8s\">Bootsma told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that an audio feed of the meeting was streaming from the speakers downstairs, but it was too faint to follow what was being said and lasted no longer than 30 seconds before cutting out entirely. He also noted that, while attendees were told someone would collect public comment, the meeting ended after just four minutes without anyone doing so.</p><p data-block-key=\"bu8d6\">Board meetings had previously been held in the larger downstairs room, which can comfortably fit more than 100 people, Bootsma explained. But after the last township supervisor died in 2021, Supervisor Tiffany Henyard has held meetings in an upstairs boardroom that can only seat 10 to 15 members of the public, he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"dqflm\">“There are 17 municipalities represented by Thornton Township. So, if one person from each of those municipalities came to the meeting it would be challenging for all of them to have a seat, and that’s just the normal M.O. for the Henyard administration,” Bootsma said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3q59i\">One of the township trustees, Christopher Gonzalez, told the Tracker that he was also informed he couldn't enter the boardroom until the Feb. 13 meeting was scheduled to begin. When he asked why, Gonzalez was told it was because other trustees were afraid he’d bring members of the press in with him.</p><p data-block-key=\"8sts9\">“It was out of nowhere. I’ve given interviews to the media but never once have I tried to coordinate or march in with the media,” Gonzalez said. “I am asking questions and being vocal, so I’m viewed as an enemy.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4i1mu\">At the following board meeting on Feb. 27, Bootsma told the Tracker that he and members of the public were initially informed that they would again only be permitted to observe the meeting via a stream in the basement.</p><p data-block-key=\"784es\">Shortly before the meeting was set to begin, a security guard informed Bootsma, other media and the two members of the public in attendance that they could go up to the main boardroom.</p><p data-block-key=\"d24rl\">Gonzalez told the Tracker that there was a lot of chatter from the other trustees ahead of the announcement and that he heard someone say, “What’s the big deal, just let them in. We’re going to get in trouble and for what? She’s not here, nobody could ask her any questions anyways.”</p><p data-block-key=\"98r1j\">Bootsma <a href=\"https://thelansingjournal.com/2024/02/28/public-eventually-allowed-into-thornton-township-meeting-supervisor-henyard-absent/\">reported</a> that Trustee Gerald “Jerry” Jones, who oversaw the meeting in Henyard’s absence, declined to comment about the decision to allow the press and public into the room and said he did not know why access was denied during the prior meeting.</p><p data-block-key=\"fcci5\">Bootsma told the Tracker: “At this most recent meeting, on the video stream all we could see was empty chairs, so why are we being told that we can’t go up? It’s clearly not for overflow. There’s no good reason that I can see why this is happening.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f4ii9\">While members of the press have not previously been barred from public meetings, Bootsma said that Henyard has a “general hostility” toward the media and <a href=\"https://thelansingjournal.com/2023/08/18/thornton-township-passes-walk-of-hope-expenses-as-some-residents-prevented-from-accessing-public-meeting/\">has repeatedly said</a> that the media only covers negative stories. Bootsma noted that a reporter for the Journal was <a href=\"https://thelansingjournal.com/2024/02/26/journal-reporter-denied-entrance-to-thornton-township-black-history-event-told-nda-was-needed/\">told she could not attend</a> a Black History Month event on Feb. 24, for instance, because she had not signed a nondisclosure agreement before the event.</p><p data-block-key=\"25r5l\">Neither Henyard nor Township Special Advisor Keith Freeman responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Bootsma.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"nye8q\">Lansing Journal Managing Editor Josh Bootsma and local residents were barred without explanation from a board of trustees meeting at Thornton Township headquarters, above, in South Holland, Illinois, on Feb. 13, 2024.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
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"Local government: Legislature"
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},
{
"title": "Photographer grabbed by Wyoming state representative on first day of session",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-grabbed-by-wyoming-state-representative-on-first-day-of-session/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:06:32.107479Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:06:32.107479Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T16:05:42.763131Z",
"date": "2024-02-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Cheyenne",
"longitude": -104.82025,
"latitude": 41.13998,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"n8s40\">A photojournalist for WyoFile was threatened and grabbed by a state representative while documenting the first day of the Wyoming legislative session at the Capitol in Cheyenne on Feb. 12, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"4kngc\">Matthew Copeland, the chief executive and editor of WyoFile, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they had contracted the photojournalist to document the first few days of the session to get images of the legislators that could be used alongside the outlet’s coverage the next month.</p><p data-block-key=\"1bjem\">“We had hired him to get a bunch of face shots, action shots, sort of your standard shot list,” Copeland said. “There are hallways that run parallel to the main chamber floors, and reporters are allowed in the hallway and not on the floor itself, and he was in one of the clearly marked areas where photographers can stand and was shooting through an open door.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cppgk\">The photojournalist, who asked to remain anonymous because he is just beginning his career, told the Tracker that while he was working on his shot list, Rep. Clarence Styvar seemed to get upset when he noticed he was being photographed. To avoid a confrontation, the photographer said he moved his focus from the legislator to other representatives on the House floor.</p><p data-block-key=\"ffrjo\">“I could see [Styvar] in the peripheral of the viewfinder, and he continued to shake his head [no],” the photojournalist said. When Styvar began to come toward him, the photojournalist said he sidestepped to allow plenty of space, as he had with other legislators using the doorway that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"d98bd\">When Styvar exited the chamber, he came up close to the photojournalist and asked him what he was doing. The photojournalist recounted that when he said he was taking photos for the media, the representative responded, “If you take another picture of me I’ll break your camera over your fucking head,” and made a motion of breaking the camera lens.</p><p data-block-key=\"b9ed0\">“I was kind of in shock at that moment and just responded with ‘OK,’” the photojournalist told the Tracker. “He then proceeded to tell me that he wasn’t the type of guy that I wanted to mess with and that he was very serious.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4kpib\">When Styvar asked who he worked for, the photojournalist went to pick up the press pass around his neck. “That’s when he grabbed it and pulled,” the photojournalist said. “Not super forcefully, but it definitely made me move forward a little bit.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9ngqi\">According to the photojournalist, when Styvar saw that he was on assignment for WyoFile, the legislator said that he was just messing with him.</p><p data-block-key=\"8gd68\">“I felt alarmed about my safety throughout the entire interaction,” the photojournalist said. “I felt extremely uncomfortable and awkward being that close to him. My entire body was definitely screaming that something needs to stop.”</p><p data-block-key=\"epult\">The photojournalist said he reported the incident to his editor and others in the newsroom, including Copeland. In an email to the director of the legislative service office the following day, Copeland shared the photojournalist’s account of what had happened and said he wanted to initiate a complaint against the representative.</p><p data-block-key=\"3jcok\">“What [the photojournalist] described is an egregious breach of legislative conduct, an assault and an attempted violation of his and WyoFile’s First Amendment rights,” Copeland wrote. “Styvar’s behavior is unacceptable by any reasonable measure and cannot be allowed to go unaddressed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bpkt2\">The photojournalist said he was called to speak before various House and committee leaders to describe the incident as part of the initial investigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"cv851\">The subcommittee investigated the complaint, Copeland told the Tracker, and determined a formal investigation by the full House wasn’t warranted. However, Copeland said, the House leadership wrote in a letter on Feb. 16 that they didn’t condone Styvar’s behavior and had taken steps to ensure it wouldn’t be repeated.</p><p data-block-key=\"3iv3l\">In an emailed statement to the Tracker, Styvar denied that the incident took place: “No incident fitting the description you gave happened therefore I cannot comment on it, however a complaint was made by a media outlet that was investigated and dismissed by the Legislative Service Office and the House Legislative Management Council.”</p><p data-block-key=\"crmv4\">The photojournalist, who is now employed at an outlet in California, told the Tracker that he is undeterred by the experience.</p><p data-block-key=\"cu73i\">“I’m still very dedicated to the Fourth Estate and this is still what I want to do with my life,” he said. “I’m definitely a bit more nervous now in legislative meetings and with political figures, how I handle them.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"bevha\">A photojournalist for WyoFile was threatened and grabbed by a state representative on Feb. 12, 2024, while covering the first day of the legislative session at the Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne, pictured in this 2021 file photo.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Wyoming",
"abbreviation": "WY"
},
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"Anonymous photojournalist 4 (WyoFile)"
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{
"title": "Podcaster arrested, assaulted at NYC protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/podcaster-arrested-assaulted-at-nyc-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-02-14T19:15:58.370624Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-14T16:11:57.370802Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-14T16:11:57.248975Z",
"date": "2024-02-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6wwqc\">Journalist Reed Dunlea was tackled and arrested while reporting on a pro-Palestinian protest in New York City on Feb. 10, 2024. Police officers threw Dunlea to the ground, damaging his equipment, and charged him with resisting arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"cn5dl\">“It was a 1 p.m. protest. I arrived by 1:30 p.m. and I was in a police van by 2:15 p.m.,” he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"2li1t\">Dunlea said that he was at the protest outside the Brooklyn Museum, which had been planned by the Palestinian-led community organization Within Our Lifetime, to record audio for his podcast, Scene Report. Shortly after arriving, Dunlea saw a small group of protesters in a shouting match with a white-shirted supervisory police officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"detm6\">When he approached to record the interaction, Dunlea said the officer screamed at him to get on the sidewalk. “I showed him my press pass in that moment and he was still bugging out, so I stepped away from that pretty quickly,” Dunlea told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"fkst1\">As New York Police Department officers conducted multiple rounds of arrests — going into the crowd, extracting individuals and handcuffing them — Dunlea said he tried to stay on the edge of the police line.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3v20\">“And then I was somehow in the middle of it,” Dunlea said. “I don’t know exactly what happened, but all of a sudden I had a group of officers throwing me to the ground.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8bmdc\">In footage <a href=\"https://twitter.com/isabelle_leyva/status/1756395017495621977\">captured</a> <a href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@peterhvideo/video/7334379645686631711?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7335246087470990890\">by bystanders</a> and posted to social media, at least three officers can be seen dragging Dunlea into the middle of the street before pinning him on his stomach. Dunlea told the Tracker he repeatedly identified himself as a journalist and told the officers he was wearing a city-issued press credential.</p><p data-block-key=\"5i3s9\">Both Dunlea’s Zoom H6 recorder and Apple headphones were damaged in the course of the arrest, and he said he hadn’t checked whether his microphone was broken as well. He also noted that the audio he was recording during the arrest is missing, but he is unsure whether it was deleted or if it failed to save when the recorder was damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"16qu7\">Dunlea was transferred to One Police Plaza alongside the other individuals detained at the protest and was held until shortly after midnight, when he was released on a charge of resisting arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"2c6im\">“In the last month, NYPD has started to crack down in serious ways on any Palestine protests, because the NYPD was humiliated by the protests on January 8,” Dunlea said, referring to the <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/pro-palestinian-protesters-block-new-york-city-bridges-tunnel-2024-01-08/\">successful blockading</a> of the Holland Tunnel and multiple bridges into Manhattan by pro-Palestinian protesters. “I’m seeing the mayor of New York City and the NYPD making a decision that they no longer accept protests happening, so they are choosing to violently suppress them.”</p><p data-block-key=\"53qbi\">The New York Civil Liberties Union criticized the police response to the protest in a statement <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NYCLU/status/1756466707130925538\">posted to social media</a>. “Flooding peaceful protests with police,” it noted, “seems designed to create tension and provoke arrests.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6mg71\">The New York Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"9aok0\">Dunlea was ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing on March 1.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Dunlea.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"uulm5\">Journalist Reed Dunlea was arrested while recording for his podcast, Scene Report, at a pro-Palestinian protest in New York City on Feb. 10, 2024. Officers threw him to the ground, breaking his recording equipment, and charged him with resisting arrest.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "New York City Police Department",
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"(2024-03-04 16:42:00+00:00) Charge dropped against podcaster following arrest at NYC protest"
],
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"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
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"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault",
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},
{
"title": "Judge quashes subpoena for Salman Rushdie’s memoir notes, contract",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-quashes-subpoena-for-salman-rushdies-memoir-notes-contract/",
"first_published_at": "2024-12-20T14:05:18.820609Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-12-20T14:05:18.820609Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-12-19T22:15:32.414867Z",
"date": "2024-02-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Mayville",
"longitude": -79.50449,
"latitude": 42.25395,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vdib0\">Penguin Random House was subpoenaed on Feb. 8, 2024, for drafts, edits and communications concerning the Salman Rushdie memoir it was planning to publish. The subpoena — filed in connection with a criminal case against a man charged with the 2022 assault of the author during a public lecture Chautauqua, New York — was quashed in July, according to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"2cff6\">Rushdie was about to begin speaking at a literary festival on Aug. 12, 2022, when a man <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/salman-rushdie-attacked-stage-new-york/\">rushed the stage and stabbed the author</a> multiple times. The man, later identified as Hadi Matar of New Jersey, was subsequently <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/salman-rushdie-coming-to-terms-with-knife-attack-writing-new-book-60-minutes/\">charged</a> with attempted murder and assault, as well as <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/new-jersey-man-charged-terrorism-offenses-relating-his-attempted-murder-salman-rushdie\">terrorism-related offenses</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ge58\">In February 2024, Matar’s attorney subpoenaed Penguin Random House, seeking all drafts, writings and communications concerning Rushdie’s planned memoir about the attack, “<a href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738826/knife-by-salman-rushdie/\">Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder</a>,” which was published in April.</p><p data-block-key=\"97eh9\">Rushdie was <a href=\"http://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/salman-rushdie-subpoenaed-for-memoir-materials-by-alleged-attacker\">issued</a> a nearly identical subpoena Feb. 26, according to court records.</p><p data-block-key=\"e9iia\">After filing an initial objection Feb. 23, attorneys representing Penguin Random House filed a joint motion with counsel for Rushdie to quash the subpoenas. The April 15 motion argued, in part, that they were protected from disclosing the materials by both New York’s reporter shield law and the First Amendment.</p><p data-block-key=\"2mr2l\">The subpoenas include “sprawling requests for editorial material,” according to the motion, and “constitute nothing more than an overbroad fishing expedition” for material to harm Rushdie’s credibility.</p><p data-block-key=\"be98p\">“These are all highly personal documents concerning the editorial process that would ordinarily never be made public or even privately shared with third parties,” Rushdie wrote in an affidavit supporting the motion. “To have these unpublished materials—or indeed, any of my private documents—become fodder for the Defendant (or his counsel) to sift through would be an extraordinary invasion of my privacy and sense of security.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4ifaq\">County Court Judge David Foley quashed both subpoenas following a hearing on July 18, according to court filings. In addition to ruling that the subpoenas were “overbroad and unreasonably burdensome,” Foley also affirmed that Rushdie and Penguin Random House, as well as the memoir, are protected under the shield law.</p><p data-block-key=\"fimvc\">Matar’s trial was scheduled to begin Oct. 15, but was delayed to allow a state appeals court to consider whether to move the case out of Chautauqua County, The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/11/nyregion/salman-rushdie-stabbing-trial-testify.html\">reported</a>. Rushdie is expected to testify when the trial moves forward.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/PRH_subpoena.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7a5yj\">Penguin Random House was subpoenaed on Feb. 8, 2024, for materials concerning author Salman Rushdie’s memoir about an attack he suffered in 2022. The subpoena was struck down when a judge ruled that the publisher is protected by New York’s shield law.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
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"Penguin Random House"
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},
{
"title": "Kansas state senator calls for slashing local PBS funding",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kansas-state-senator-calls-for-slashing-local-pbs-funding/",
"first_published_at": "2024-02-21T20:13:59.432709Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-21T20:13:59.432709Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-21T20:10:42.733261Z",
"date": "2024-02-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Topeka",
"longitude": -95.67804,
"latitude": 39.04833,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"s18to\">A Kansas state senator called on Feb. 8, 2024, for the legislature to eliminate all funding to Kansas PBS stations in retaliation for a documentary broadcast by Topeka’s public TV channel, KTWU. The proposed budget cut was initially reduced and then overturned by another legislative committee.</p><p data-block-key=\"87h2a\">Sen. Caryn Tyson, during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Commerce, sought to have it strike the $500,000 typically allocated for the state’s six PBS stations, citing her outrage over a program that included criticism of the committee’s chairperson, Sen. Renee Erickson. While Tyson did not name the program, the <a href=\"https://kansasreflector.com/2024/02/12/state-senator-threatened-pbs-funding-over-program-turns-out-it-was-a-film-about-lgbtq-kansans/\">Kansas Reflector identified it</a> as “No Place Like Home: The Struggle Against Hate in Kansas,” a documentary about the plight of LGBTQ+ Kansans.</p><p data-block-key=\"4c097\">“I just don’t think we can tolerate it and the way we get the message to them is by impacting their purse,” Tyson <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/live/V9rYlvnOps4?si=b9xJRayidPmHH7aw&t=1834\">said during the meeting</a>. “That’s what the legislature does. We have the hammer, and I’m going to swing this hammer in a large way.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4d4f7\">The committee settled on a 10% reduction. Erickson cast the deciding vote in favor, while stating, “I have not asked for this. I do not make my policy decisions based on personal attacks on me or otherwise.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dfshn\">Maxwell Kautsch, president of the Kansas Coalition for Open Government, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the budget reduction appeared to be textbook governmental retaliation, which was particularly alarming as it came less than six months after a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/newsroom-personal-equipment-seized-in-kansas-raid/\">police raid on a newsroom</a> in the state.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ir0l\">“What it comes down to is we have these laws, which are well-known in First Amendment circles and clearly established, yet we have people in positions of power or law enforcement that either don’t know or don’t care to know about them,” Kautsch said. “It’s hard to quantify the chilling effect that this kind of request has had.”</p><p data-block-key=\"26n6p\">KTWU General Manager Val VanDerSluis told the Tracker that she took the budget proposal as an opportunity.</p><p data-block-key=\"55ipc\">“I saw it as: I have someone who needs to be educated a bit more on how we program, how we operate, the audiences we serve,” VanDerSluis said. “For me, it wasn’t a threat. I will continue to program our station for our viewing community. I can’t operate off of fear, and it just shows that there are more conversations that need to be had with those that are making decisions about funding.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5i5vi\">VanDerSluis said that she spoke with Tyson after the proposal and, following their meeting, Tyson told VanDerSluis that she would no longer be pursuing cuts to the public broadcasting budget. Tyson did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"a9oju\">Later, when the proposal went before the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Feb. 14, committee member Sen. Carolyn McGinn said that she would hate to see the budget cut because of hearsay, the <a href=\"https://kansasreflector.com/2024/02/15/kansas-senators-cut-pbs-funds-after-lgbtq-documentary-offended-the-money-has-been-put-back/\">Reflector reported</a>. McGinn proposed that that committee not only restore the $50,000 but also increase the overall funding to $700,000. The committee ultimately voted against the budget cut and tabled discussions of an increase.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX5ZFNA.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7z19l\">Kansas State Sen. Caryn Tyson, pictured in the state capital in Topeka in 2018, called for the elimination of state funding for Kansas PBS stations on Feb. 8, 2024, citing her outrage over a program broadcast by KTWU that criticized a fellow senator.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Kansas",
"abbreviation": "KS"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"KTWU"
],
"tags": [
"LGBTQ+ rights"
],
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"categories": [
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],
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},
{
"title": "Alabama radio station ceases transmission after broadcast tower stolen",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/alabama-radio-station-ceases-transmission-after-broadcast-tower-stolen/",
"first_published_at": "2024-02-14T20:29:52.987531Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-14T20:29:52.987531Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-14T20:29:52.705116Z",
"date": "2024-02-02",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Jasper",
"longitude": -87.27751,
"latitude": 33.83122,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jvctl\">A 200-foot AM radio tower for Jasper, Alabama, broadcaster WJLX was stolen “without a trace” on Feb. 2, 2024, according to the station. </p><p data-block-key=\"6ohvn\">“I’ve been around the business my whole life, I’ve been in it professionally for 26 years and I’ve never heard of an entire tower being stolen,” WJLX General Manager Brett Elmore told Birmingham television station WABM. </p><p data-block-key=\"2aca8\">WJLX, which is now unable to broadcast on its AM frequency, <a href=\"https://www.wjlx1015.com/\">said it has</a> since had to shut down its broadcast operations entirely, including its FM station. The Federal Communications Commission told WJLX on Feb. 8 that it could not operate its FM transmitter while the AM station is off the air. It will continue to stream its programming only via the internet and its apps, it said.</p><p data-block-key=\"c8hi9\">Elmore has also filed a request with the FCC for WJLX to remain silent for now without losing its license, <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/02/09/alabama-radio-station-tower-missing/\">The Washington Post reported</a>. The paper said if stations remain silent for more than one year, the FCC considers them expired.</p><p data-block-key=\"a63kd\">The station’s absence was a cause for worry for Sharon Tinely, president of the Alabama Broadcasters Association, who told WABM, “What if there were a crisis going on right now that the community needs to hear information from local sources on a local radio station and they can’t.” </p><p data-block-key=\"f5dil\">“This is a huge loss,” Elmore <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/08/alabama-200ft-radio-tower-stolen\">told the Guardian</a>. “People have reached out and asked how they can help, but I don’t know how you can help unless you have a 200ft tower and an AM transmitter.” </p><p data-block-key=\"9bmqu\">The tower was uninsured, according to Elmore, and replacing it could cost $60,000-plus. WJLX has set up <a href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/wjlx-1240-am-tower-and-equipment-replacement?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer\">a GoFundMe account</a> and so far raised over $8,000.</p><p data-block-key=\"3cl15\">That station said it was alerted to the theft when a landscaping cleanup crew arrived at the tower site to clean up the property, only to find it completely cleared out by the thieves. “I couldn’t believe it,” Elmore recalled.” I asked him [the landscaper] if he was sure he was at the right place. He responded, ‘the tower is gone. Wires are scattered everywhere.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"51g8e\">The radio tower was located in a wooded area, behind a local poultry plant, The Guardian reported. Elmore told the paper that thieves had cut the tower’s wires and somehow removed it, while also taking the station’s AM transmitter from a nearby building. </p><p data-block-key=\"43nka\">Elmore said he believes the thieves may have targeted the tower to sell the metal and also told The Guardian that about six months ago, a nearby radio station had its air conditioning unit, copper pipes and other materials stolen.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ck49\">The station has filed charges with the Jasper Police Department and the case is currently under investigation. </p><p data-block-key=\"304fv\">“This is a federal crime and whoever did this it’s not worth your time, effort or energy,” Elmore told WABM. “Because when we find you, you are going to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2024-02-09_at_2.51.04.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"rmnte\">WJLX’s AM radio tower disappeared on Feb. 2, leaving behind a concrete slab and cut wires.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "unknown",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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{
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"equipment": "broadcast tower"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "radio transmitter"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Alabama",
"abbreviation": "AL"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"WJLX"
],
"tags": [
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],
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"categories": [
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},
{
"title": "Judge orders Oregonian to destroy Nike lawsuit documents",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-orders-oregonian-to-destroy-nike-lawsuit-documents/",
"first_published_at": "2024-01-31T16:54:41.617437Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-01T19:30:53.875825Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-01T19:30:53.780275Z",
"date": "2024-01-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"s631b\">A federal judge ordered The Oregonian on Jan. 26, 2024, to return documents related to a gender discrimination lawsuit against Nike and destroy any copies, after the plaintiff’s lawyer inadvertently sent them to a reporter on Jan. 19.</p><p data-block-key=\"dfend\">Judge Jolie A. Russo said in her order that the Portland, Oregon-based daily newspaper must agree “not to disseminate that information in any way; and to destroy any copies in its possession” by Jan. 31.</p><p data-block-key=\"ca68g\">That publishing gag was vacated, or withdrawn, on Jan. 30 by another judge, who ruled that Russo must hold a hearing to allow The Oregonian to make arguments against the order before reviewing the issue again. The paper, in a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ord.139235/gov.uscourts.ord.139235.414.0.pdf\">Jan. 29 appeal</a>, had argued that Russo did not allow the news organization to be heard in court, which it called a “quintessential due process violation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mhhc\">Russo held a hearing Jan. 30 and ordered the plaintiff’s attorneys to respond by Feb. 6 to arguments made by The Oregonian in its appeal.</p><p data-block-key=\"4hppv\">“Prior restraint by government goes against every principle of the free press in this country,” Therese Bottomly, editor and vice president of content for The Oregonian, said in a statement emailed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “This is highly unusual, and we will defend our First Amendment rights in court.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7uosi\">In its Jan. 29 appeal, The Oregonian argued that because it is a “non-party intervener” and has no stake in the outcome of the lawsuit, it is not subject to a protective order covering the documents.</p><p data-block-key=\"36vdh\">“The Documents contain no national security implications, there is no risk of bodily harm or safety to any individual, and there are no competing constitutional rights at play—The Oregonian is the only one whose constitutional rights are on the line,” the filing read.</p><p data-block-key=\"fmio\">The Oregonian was writing an article, based on its independent reporting, about a <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2018/08/class-action_lawsuit_on_nike_w.html\">culture of sexual harassment</a> at Nike, when the attorney for the plaintiffs in the suit accidentally shared the documents in an email attachment.</p><p data-block-key=\"26gf8\">The judge said the documents were subject to the case’s protective order, which makes them unviewable to the public. Other documents have been unsealed after a <a href=\"https://www.businessinsider.com/insider-oregonian-portland-business-journal-unseal-nike-discrimination-lawsuit-2022-4\">coalition of news outlets</a>, including The Oregonian, filed a motion in court in April 2022.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"r6xfo\">A judge ordered The Oregonian to destroy documents about a gender discrimination lawsuit against Nike that were inadvertently released to the news outlet. The publishing gag, or prior restraint, has been withdrawn until another hearing can be held.</p>",
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"(2024-02-28 00:00:00+00:00) Judge allows Oregonian to keep Nike lawsuit documents"
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{
"title": "Judge lifts Indybay gag order over voided search warrant",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-lifts-indybay-gag-order-over-voided-search-warrant/",
"first_published_at": "2024-03-14T18:46:42.415061Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-14T18:46:42.415061Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-14T18:46:42.230016Z",
"date": "2024-01-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Francisco",
"longitude": -122.41942,
"latitude": 37.77493,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r9jn1\">San Francisco police on Jan. 24, 2024, obtained a warrant to search independent news outlet Indybay’s electronic data, along with a 90-day gag order preventing Indybay from discussing or writing about its existence, according to court documents.</p><p data-block-key=\"63ajl\">The warrant, which police later decided against pursuing, sought to identify the author of an Indybay post who claimed to have vandalized the San Francisco Police Credit Union.</p><p data-block-key=\"2spb6\">The nondisclosure order was ultimately <a href=\"https://www.eff.org/files/2024/03/07/3.7.24_indybay_-_order.pdf\">lifted</a> on March 7 by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Linda Colfax, allowing Indybay to <a href=\"https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2024/03/07/18863966.php\">speak publicly</a> about the warrant. Also on March 7, the San Francisco Police Department <a href=\"https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/news/san-francisco-police-department-voids-search-warrant-issued\">said</a> it had decided not to act on the warrant due to potential First Amendment issues.</p><p data-block-key=\"2l8tp\">The warrant stemmed from a Jan. 18 <a href=\"https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2024/01/18/18862190.php\">post</a> on Indybay, published under the pseudonym “some anarchists,” in which the author took responsibility for having smashed windows at the credit union earlier that day in an “act of vengeance” on the one-year anniversary of the <a href=\"https://www.hrc.org/news/remembering-tortuguita-indigenous-queer-and-non-binary-environmental-activist-and-forest-defender\">police shooting death</a> of an environmental activist in Atlanta.</p><p data-block-key=\"ce4ri\">Indybay, a volunteer-run, community-sourced <a href=\"https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2003/12/08/16643971.php\">newswire</a> also known as the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center, allows anyone to self-publish articles, photos, videos and other material on the site. The posts are reviewed by Indybay editors, who according to the site’s <a href=\"https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2002/08/04/1395001.php\">editorial policies</a> may combine them, make edits for spelling or grammar, or hide them if they are deemed “false, libelous, abusive … or hate speech.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f4lns\">On Jan. 24, the police obtained the <a href=\"https://www.eff.org/document/indybay-search-warrant\">search warrant</a>, which required Indybay to turn over information that would help identify the author of the story, such as IP addresses, website login credentials, and email addresses and phone numbers.</p><p data-block-key=\"cdiri\">Indybay asked the police to withdraw the warrant on Jan. 29, <a href=\"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/03/victory-eff-helps-resist-unlawful-warrant-and-gag-order-issued-independent-news\">arguing that it was illegal</a> under <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/privilege-compendium/california/\">California’s shield law</a> and the federal <a href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/2000aa\">Privacy Protection Act</a>, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which provided the outlet with pro bono legal assistance. The SFPD told Indybay on Jan. 31 that it would take no further action on the warrant.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3fq\">Indybay filed a motion on Feb. 22 not only to <a href=\"https://www.eff.org/document/indybay-motion-quash\">formally quash</a> the warrant but also the nondisclosure order — which remained in effect — arguing that it violated the First Amendment as a “content-based prior restraint on speech.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e487\">Colfax vacated the gag order on March 7, while also confirming that the search warrant had become void on Feb. 3, “as no search occurred and no records were received.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ejs8d\">EFF Staff Attorney F. Mario Trujillo told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email that “SFPD and the judge did not end up taking a position” on the argument that the search warrant was unlawful. “SFPD, instead, took the position that—regardless of whether the warrant was unlawful when it was first issued—it became void after 10 days when SFPD declined to pursue it further in the face of Indybay’s resistance,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"6mhje\">Trujillo went on to say that Colfax supported that interpretation <a href=\"https://www.eff.org/files/2024/03/07/3.7.24_indybay_-_order.pdf\">in her order</a>, adding, “It was important for the judge to confirm that and give Indybay certainty on the record.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ast0i\">SFPD, in a March 7 <a href=\"https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/news/san-francisco-police-department-voids-search-warrant-issued\">news release</a>, said that when Police Chief William “Bill” Scott learned of the warrant, he “immediately ordered officers to not pursue it over questions about possible First Amendment and Freedom of the Press issues.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5oo4p\">The statement added that the police department is committed to supporting the free press and has policies and training related to California’s shield law. The SFPD had previously pledged to ensure that all employees were properly trained on journalist protections with regard to police searches and subpoenas as part of a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-francisco-police-use-search-warrant-raid-home-office-independent-journalist-source-material/\">settlement</a> after a police raid and search of a journalist’s home in 2019.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"m90wz\">A portion of a March 7, 2024, order by a San Francisco judge lifting a gag order that prohibited Indybay from disclosing a search warrant issued in January.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
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},
{
"title": "Oregon Public Broadcasting, reporter sued by Portland to block records release",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/oregon-public-broadcasting-reporter-sued-by-portland-to-block-records-release/",
"first_published_at": "2024-04-01T17:12:59.349330Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-01T17:12:59.349330Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-01T17:12:31.734907Z",
"date": "2024-01-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qc0f9\">The City of Portland sued Oregon Public Broadcasting and one of its reporters on Jan. 22, 2024, seeking to block the release of public records about businesses that paid taxes to the city’s clean energy fund, according to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"2japd\">The suit stemmed from an October 2023 public records request filed by OPB environmental reporter Monica Samayoa that sought a list of companies that paid into the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund in 2022, according to the complaint and local <a href=\"https://www.koin.com/local/city-of-portland-suing-opb-to-block-clean-energy-fund-public-records-request/\">media</a> <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/watchdog/2024/01/portland-sues-opb-seeks-to-block-public-release-of-business-clean-energy-tax-payments.html\">reports</a>. Samayoa also asked for the amounts each company paid to the fund in 2022.</p><p data-block-key=\"588vh\">The fund is a voter-approved <a href=\"https://www.portlandoregon.gov/auditor/article/674246\">program</a> that pays for climate initiatives by applying a 1% tax to Portland businesses with earnings over certain thresholds.</p><p data-block-key=\"118f6\">The city denied the request, citing taxpayers’ right to confidentiality. The outlet petitioned Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt, who on Jan. 8 ordered the city to release the records “in such a format as to not associate any individual business name with any dollar amount,” according to the complaint.</p><p data-block-key=\"6jbp6\">Instead of turning over the documents, the city filed suit against OPB and Samayoa in Multnomah County Circuit Court, seeking to block their release. The city argued that releasing the records would violate local, state and federal laws protecting the taxpayers’ confidentiality, and that Oregon’s <a href=\"https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors192.html\">public records law</a> provided for exemptions on these grounds.</p><p data-block-key=\"bi0ot\">OPB and Samayoa on March 6 filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit and award the defendants legal costs, according to court documents reviewed by the Tracker. In the motion, the defendants argued that the city’s lawsuit isn’t permitted under the Oregon Public Records Law, which restricts such actions to those seeking public records. “In short, only requesters should decide if a trip to court is worth the time and expense.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7427m\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker on March 27, OPB said: “By bringing this suit, the City of Portland is effectively saying that Oregonians who exercise their rights under public records law may be sued. That result would harm journalism and it would have a chilling effect on public inquiry.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4vanu\">The suit also prompted business groups in February to lobby state legislators to change Oregon’s Public Records Law to prohibit local governments from disclosing nearly all taxpayer information, The Oregonian <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/watchdog/2024/02/portland-businesses-push-for-public-records-exemption-amid-pending-release-of-which-firms-paid-clean-energy-tax.html\">reported</a>. After pushback on the proposed changes from press and transparency groups, the legislature ultimately added language to Oregon’s tax law on March 7 <a href=\"https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2024R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB4031/Enrolled\">clarifying</a> that local government agencies are required to follow the same confidentiality guidelines as the Oregon Department of Revenue, <a href=\"https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2024/03/07/oregon-legislature-reaches-compromise-on-public-records-proposal/\">news</a> <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2024/03/after-serial-blunders-by-portland-city-attorneys-oregon-public-records-laws-likely-to-remain-unchanged.html\">reports</a> said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2024-04-01_at_1.11.31P.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hg9ng\">A portion of a complaint filed by the City of Portland on Jan. 22, 2024, against Oregon Public Broadcasting and reporter Monica Samayoa, seeking to block the release of public records about businesses that paid into Portland’s clean energy fund.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Oregon Public Broadcasting"
],
"tags": [
"environmentalism",
"public records"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Monica Samayoa (Oregon Public Broadcasting)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Colorado resident swipes issues of local weekly covering sexual assault case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/colorado-resident-swipes-issues-of-local-weekly-covering-sexual-assault-case/",
"first_published_at": "2024-01-26T16:28:06.088594Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-19T19:55:57.216251Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-19T19:55:57.050015Z",
"date": "2024-01-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Ridgway",
"longitude": -107.76173,
"latitude": 38.15277,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yozwk\">More than 200 copies of a weekly Colorado newspaper, the Ouray County Plaindealer, were stolen, and then returned, on Jan. 18, 2024, after it published a story detailing an alleged rape that occurred inside the home of a local police chief.</p><p data-block-key=\"6qkta\">“All of our newspaper racks in Ouray and all but one rack in Ridgway were hit by a thief who stole all the newspapers,” Erin McIntyre, co-publisher of the Plaindealer and author of the story, wrote in a statement displayed above the paper’s <a href=\"https://us7.campaign-archive.com/?u=66f46a620a5cfcb1f7e9aa021&id=34b94b74c6\">Jan. 18 e-edition</a>. “It’s pretty clear that someone didn’t want the community to read the news this week.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2ur4\">The story discussed details of the allegations, including about the three arrested suspects, one of whom is the stepson of the Ouray Police chief.</p><p data-block-key=\"37iso\">In the wake of the theft, residents raised over $1,000 to fund any loss in revenue the paper experienced, a portion of which has been donated to a local sexual assault support and advocacy organization.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Someone didn't like this edition of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ocplaindealer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ocplaindealer</a>. (Guess which article.) So they stole nearly every newspaper out of our racks in Ouray County. If you hoped to silence or intimidate us, you failed miserably. We'll find out who did this. And another press run is imminent. <a href=\"https://t.co/y8YF5evFms\">pic.twitter.com/y8YF5evFms</a></p>— Mike Wiggins (@mikewiggins76) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/mikewiggins76/status/1748088243319443926?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 18, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yozwk\">But in what McIntyre told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker was a “bizarre twist,” a county resident later confessed to the theft and said that he was trying to protect the accuser, not the defendants.</p><p data-block-key=\"egm65\">“I want to make it clear my intentions were completely opposite of what has been portrayed in the media,” Paul Choate wrote on his personal Facebook page. “My motivation behind this is to bring to light that no details in any victims statements and interviews should be posted without their consent.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cs4ob\">Choate added, “I realize this [stealing the newspapers] was not the appropriate response.” Upon returning the stolen papers, he says he offered compensation for any revenue the Plaindealer lost as a result.</p><p data-block-key=\"dd953\">According to McIntyre, Choate has been issued a court summons for 12 counts of petty theft, one for each newspaper rack he stole from, and may have to pay a $1,200 fine.</p><p data-block-key=\"91vf7\">The Plaindealer staff is now reconsidering how the story was reported, McIntyre said, explaining that she was communicating with the accuser via a third party, but that the details of the story were never successfully conveyed to the accuser. In a Jan. 25 <a href=\"https://www.ouraynews.com/2024/01/24/local-news-minefield-tough-decisions-lessons-learned/\">editorial</a>, the Plaindealer apologized to the victim for any harm caused by its reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"4d56p\">“She is pretty angry, and I understand why,” McIntyre told the Tracker. “From now on, I will only communicate directly with her.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9m9fq\">McIntyre added: “We have a duty to report on the serious crimes in this community, even if it’s ugly or horrifying. But we’re also tasked with reporting on it with some sort of sensitivity to the victim or other past victims who may be reading the story. … We’re trying to find that balance.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2024-01-29_at_4.00.17P.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"bz57j\">More than 200 copies of the Ouray County Plaindealer were stolen after it reported on allegations of a sexual assault.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Colorado",
"abbreviation": "CO"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-02-15 00:00:00+00:00) Man fined for stealing copies of Colorado newspaper"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Ouray County Plaindealer"
],
"tags": [
"robbery"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Los Angeles city attorney files second lawsuit against journalist over records",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/los-angeles-city-attorney-files-second-lawsuit-against-journalist-over-records/",
"first_published_at": "2024-02-13T23:11:39.425889Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-25T21:16:16.620984Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-25T21:16:16.432838Z",
"date": "2024-01-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zilod\">Journalist Ben Camacho was sued by the City of Los Angeles for the second time on Jan. 16, 2024, in an attempt to hold him and an activist group financially liable in a related suit over the release of police headshots.</p><p data-block-key=\"q5nf\">Camacho, a reporter and photo editor for the nonprofit community journalism outlet Knock LA, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he had previously filed a public records lawsuit against the city after the Los Angeles Police Department refused to release the personnel headshots of officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"ak3p3\">As part of a settlement agreement in September 2022, the city provided Camacho a printed roster of sworn officers, a flash drive containing 9,310 officers’ photos and a letter explaining that officers working in undercover assignments had been excluded from the disclosures.</p><p data-block-key=\"5haeq\">After the photos were published online in March 2023 by the activist group, Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, Camacho said it quickly became apparent that there were more images disclosed than the LAPD had wanted. On March 28, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, a police union, sued the city demanding that it recover the headshots. A week later, a group of rank-and-file officers filed a class action suit seeking damages for negligence.</p><p data-block-key=\"fkvgb\">The city, in turn, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/los-angeles-sues-journalist-in-attempt-to-claw-back-photos-of-police-officers/\">filed its first suit</a> against Camacho and the activist group on April 5 in an attempt to force the return of the photographs and the destruction of any copies. The <a href=\"https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AIj5Sw8hmUe5lpI&id=C23E847DDB3F4FE9%2122685&cid=C23E847DDB3F4FE9&parId=root&parQt=sharedby&o=OneUp\">latest lawsuit</a> seeks to have Camacho and Stop LAPD Spying Coalition held financially liable for the damages sought in the negligence class action suit.</p><p data-block-key=\"aaj5f\">Camacho told the Tracker that he believes Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto is pursuing the cases against him without clear support from the mayor or city council.</p><p data-block-key=\"7s7g7\">“This is an elected official who isn’t afraid to ignore First Amendment-protected activity, this is someone who is pro-government secrecy, this is someone who is anti-transparency,” Camacho said. “And she’s also not afraid to go after the California Public Records Act.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f21sm\">Feldstein Soto <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-22/police-photo-release-la-city-attorney-legislation-weaken-public-records-law\">lobbied</a> in 2023 for an amendment to the public records act that would make identifying information — including photos — of public employees exempt from disclosure. Camacho told the Tracker that such an exemption would enable the LAPD to operate as secret police. The proposal did not come to a vote in 2023 but could be reintroduced.</p><p data-block-key=\"10e9f\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bencamach0/status/1753141637092610415\">post on social media</a>, Camacho called the new lawsuit “another stain on the office she holds.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">My full statement:<br><br>Hydee Feldstein Soto has chosen to further her attack on press freedom. This new lawsuit is another stain on the office she holds.<br><br>At a time when the future of local media is threatened, Soto has chosen to push her boot down again on the First Amendment.<br><br>1/x <a href=\"https://t.co/kMTIQPH6ah\">https://t.co/kMTIQPH6ah</a></p>— camacho (@bencamach0) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bencamach0/status/1753141637092610415?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 1, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zilod\">Knock LA expressed its support for Camacho and condemned the lawsuits in a statement posted on its website.</p><p data-block-key=\"36qri\">“Throughout what has become a longstanding battle, Feldstein Soto and her legal team have repeatedly violated the constitutional and First Amendment rights of journalists and the public to report on public servants,” the statement read. “As we continue to lose the local news landscape of Los Angeles to corporate greed and mismanagement, this attack on the free and independent press by the city is especially poignant.”</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Two arrested after Oklahoma radio tower toppled, section stolen",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-arrested-after-oklahoma-radio-tower-toppled-section-stolen/",
"first_published_at": "2024-02-20T21:21:49.266022Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-09T17:08:55.656700Z",
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"date": "2024-01-15",
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"city": "Hugo",
"longitude": -95.50968,
"latitude": 34.01066,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"97z0a\">Two individuals allegedly knocked over KITX’s FM radio tower and stole a section of the structure on Jan. 15, 2024, forcing the Hugo, Oklahoma, station off the air for 10 days, according to the broadcaster.</p><p data-block-key=\"1jvup\">Will Payne, president of Payne Media Group, which owns the station and the tower, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the top half of the nearly 500-foot tower fell after the two suspects cut the guy-wires supporting it. Payne said he believes the suspects cut the bottom half into pieces and carried them into a vehicle. The theft caused more than $500,000 in damage, he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"1o3hn\">“We’re hunting down somebody that brought down a tower in order to get a little hundred-dollar fix of copper,” Payne was <a href=\"https://www.kwch.com/2024/01/17/disbelief-thieves-cut-down-500-foot-radio-tower-steal-copper-it-owner-says/\">reported</a> to have said at the time of the theft. “Seriously, that’s about all it’s going to be worth to them.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cngfh\">The Choctaw County Sheriff’s Office arrested two suspects on Jan. 18, according to the <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/k955fm/videos/1124750695351414\">station’s Facebook page</a>, after they sold copper from the tower to a nearby junkyard the day after the theft. One suspect is currently being held on a $500,000 bond, while the other has since been released, Payne told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"24r7p\">Payne said that when he first saw the red and white tower on the ground, he assumed it was brought down by ice or inclement weather. But once he saw the open door to the transmitter building, he knew something was seriously wrong.</p><p data-block-key=\"1m1f1\">“I had never heard of this as a criminal act. It’s always weather related,” Payne told the Tracker. “To be honest, … that’s why we have insurance.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mfhv\">The country music station was able to get back on the air at half power just 10 days after the theft, thanks to community and industry support, Payne said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3f7m2\">“(Tower builders) were able to build four 20-foot sections of tower in four days, which is unheard of,” he said. “That’s a very, very aggressive timeline to get back on the air. We’re half the tower, half the power.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4lf1n\">Payne said some listeners may have more difficulty accessing the radio station because of the weaker signal. He added that he hopes that the station will be able to operate at full power again in the next 90 days.</p><p data-block-key=\"9a5lh\">KITX is not the only radio station that has recently seen its tower stolen and damaged. In early February, an AM radio tower in Alabama <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/alabama-radio-station-ceases-transmission-after-broadcast-tower-stolen/\">mysteriously vanished</a>. That station is still unable to broadcast and is unsure whether it will be able to rebuild its radio tower because it was uninsured.</p><p data-block-key=\"d43ka\">Since going public, Payne said he had heard similar stories from a number of internet service providers of their towers being destroyed or vandalized.</p><p data-block-key=\"21gej\">“It’s a horrible trend,” Payne said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"sojq8\">The upper half of KITX’s radio tower is seen after being knocked over on Jan. 15, 2024, in Hugo, Oklahoma. The bottom half was stolen and its parts sold for copper.</p>",
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"updates": [
"(2024-07-25 00:00:00+00:00) Woman sentenced for selling copper stolen from toppled Oklahoma radio tower",
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{
"title": "U.S. News subpoenaed about hospital rankings by city attorney",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/us-news-subpoenaed-about-hospital-rankings-by-city-attorney/",
"first_published_at": "2024-01-31T19:20:14.192860Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-16T14:16:19.352626Z",
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"date": "2024-01-09",
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"city": "San Francisco",
"longitude": -122.41942,
"latitude": 37.77493,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"izbqi\">U.S. News & World Report was issued two subpoenas on Jan. 9, 2024, by the city attorney for San Francisco, California, seeking information about its hospital rankings and related business dealings.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ng4e\">For more than three decades, the digital media company has produced multiple such rankings, including its Best Hospitals Honor Roll, Best Hospitals by Specialty and Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll. It also licenses out “badges” with those rankings to interested hospitals.</p><p data-block-key=\"6jqj3\">The subpoenas order U.S. News to <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.423781/gov.uscourts.cand.423781.1.4.pdf\">answer written questions</a> and <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.423781/gov.uscourts.cand.423781.1.5.pdf\">produce documents</a> pertaining to the rankings and U.S. News’ relationships with various health care providers.</p><p data-block-key=\"bd8mt\">San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu first demanded answers about the media company’s process for ranking hospitals in a <a href=\"https://www.sfcityattorney.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-06-20-Ltr-to-USNWR-re-Hospital-Rankings.pdf\">letter in June 2023</a>, citing his authority under the California Business and Professions Code to investigate potentially unlawful business practices. Chiu alleged that the rankings had come under scrutiny for what he described as their “poor and opaque methodology.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pf7o\">In a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.423781/gov.uscourts.cand.423781.1.0_1.pdf\">lawsuit</a> filed on Jan. 23, 2024, U.S. News defended its methodology, noting that detailed reports on how the ranking is compiled are published each year. The suit requested protective orders to prevent the city attorney’s office from enforcing the subpoenas and asked that the media company be awarded attorneys fees and costs.</p><p data-block-key=\"3opre\">“The Subpoenas make clear that the City Attorney is using governmental process to engage in viewpoint discrimination—and, indeed, is proceeding as though he holds censorial (or editorial) authority over how U.S. News performs its journalistic work ranking hospitals,” attorneys for U.S. News wrote. “It is flatly unconstitutional for the City Attorney to harass U.S. News due to his differing views on these rankings; his mounting harassment must be put to a stop.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bp6rg\">In a statement shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Chiu said it was “ironic” that U.S. News was claiming that its speech has been chilled “when the purpose of the company's lawsuit is to chill and impede a legitimate government investigation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"75d0k\">“Despite U.S. News’ stated commitment to transparency, the company has spent months evading tough questions about its undisclosed financial links to the hospitals it ranks,” Chiu said. “U.S. News is not above the law, and its bullying litigation tactics will not deter us from standing up for patients and consumers.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b78kt\">In its filing, however, U.S. News stated that it responded to Chiu’s initial letter — explaining its well-documented methodology and raising concerns about the potential infringement of its rights — and did not receive any additional communications from his office for nearly six months.</p><p data-block-key=\"cab6k\">“The City Attorney’s actions pose a fundamental threat to our First Amendment rights and set a dangerous precedent for all media platforms and news organizations,” the lawsuit argues. It added that if Chiu's actions are allowed to stand, “any journalistic enterprise that provides analyses or opinions to the public—analyses or opinions that elected officials may wish to fault—may for that reason be subject to subpoena and investigation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"boe0s\">A hearing in the case is scheduled for April 23.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"46am6\">A portion of a subpoena issued to U.S. News & World Report on Jan. 9, 2024, ordering the news outlet to answer questions concerning its hospital rankings.</p>",
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"(2024-05-07 00:00:00+00:00) U.S. News appeals federal judge’s dismissal of lawsuit over subpoenas"
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{
"title": "U.S. News subpoenaed for documents by San Francisco city attorney",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/us-news-subpoenaed-for-documents-by-san-francisco-city-attorney/",
"first_published_at": "2024-01-31T19:15:54.349134Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-16T14:16:43.514534Z",
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"longitude": -122.41942,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jh6l3\">U.S. News & World Report was issued two subpoenas on Jan. 9, 2024, by the city attorney for San Francisco, California, seeking information about its hospital rankings and related business dealings.</p><p data-block-key=\"4oqah\">For more than three decades, the digital media company has produced multiple such rankings, including its Best Hospitals Honor Roll, Best Hospitals by Specialty and Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll. It also licenses out “badges” with those rankings to interested hospitals.</p><p data-block-key=\"cs7h7\">The subpoenas order U.S. News to <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.423781/gov.uscourts.cand.423781.1.4.pdf\">answer written questions</a> and <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.423781/gov.uscourts.cand.423781.1.5.pdf\">produce documents</a> pertaining to the rankings and U.S. News’ relationships with various health care providers.</p><p data-block-key=\"4d875\">San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu first demanded answers about the media company’s process for ranking hospitals in a <a href=\"https://www.sfcityattorney.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-06-20-Ltr-to-USNWR-re-Hospital-Rankings.pdf\">letter in June 2023</a>, citing his authority under the California Business and Professions Code to investigate potentially unlawful business practices. Chiu alleged that the rankings had come under scrutiny for what he described as their “poor and opaque methodology.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mt66\">In a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.423781/gov.uscourts.cand.423781.1.0_1.pdf\">lawsuit</a> filed on Jan. 23, 2024, U.S. News defended its methodology, noting that detailed reports on how the ranking is compiled are published each year. The suit requested protective orders to prevent the city attorney’s office from enforcing the subpoenas and asked that the media company be awarded attorneys fees and costs.</p><p data-block-key=\"fka9e\">“The Subpoenas make clear that the City Attorney is using governmental process to engage in viewpoint discrimination—and, indeed, is proceeding as though he holds censorial (or editorial) authority over how U.S. News performs its journalistic work ranking hospitals,” attorneys for U.S. News wrote. “It is flatly unconstitutional for the City Attorney to harass U.S. News due to his differing views on these rankings; his mounting harassment must be put to a stop.”</p><p data-block-key=\"590cp\">In a statement shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Chiu said it was “ironic” that U.S. News was claiming that its speech has been chilled “when the purpose of the company's lawsuit is to chill and impede a legitimate government investigation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7cuq8\">“Despite U.S. News’ stated commitment to transparency, the company has spent months evading tough questions about its undisclosed financial links to the hospitals it ranks,” Chiu said. “U.S. News is not above the law, and its bullying litigation tactics will not deter us from standing up for patients and consumers.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6r1ff\">In its filing, however, U.S. News stated that it responded to Chiu’s initial letter — explaining its well-documented methodology and raising concerns about the potential infringement of its rights — and did not receive any additional communications from his office for nearly six months.</p><p data-block-key=\"4msm4\">“The City Attorney’s actions pose a fundamental threat to our First Amendment rights and set a dangerous precedent for all media platforms and news organizations,” the lawsuit argues. It added that if Chiu's actions are allowed to stand, “any journalistic enterprise that provides analyses or opinions to the public—analyses or opinions that elected officials may wish to fault—may for that reason be subject to subpoena and investigation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"evoe7\">A hearing in the case is scheduled for April 23.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"lhrkd\">A portion of a subpoena issued to the U.S. News & World Report on Jan. 9, 2024, ordering the news outlet to provide documents concerning its hospital rankings.</p>",
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{
"title": "Reporter turns over interview recordings in connection with murder trial",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-turns-over-interview-recordings-in-connection-with-murder-trial/",
"first_published_at": "2025-02-24T16:30:44.496324Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-03-03T17:57:37.651648Z",
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"longitude": -71.16616,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ygjpe\">Boston magazine contributing editor Gretchen Voss was subpoenaed on Jan. 4, 2024, for recordings and handwritten notes in connection with a murder trial in Dedham, Massachusetts. A judge ordered her to turn over redacted copies of the recordings later that month.</p><p data-block-key=\"burps\">In June and July 2023, Voss <a href=\"https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2023/09/27/canton-karen-read/\">interviewed Karen Read</a>, who stands accused of the murder of her boyfriend in a case that has captured national attention.</p><p data-block-key=\"9jsbl\">In January 2024, the prosecutors for the commonwealth filed a motion to compel Voss to disclose notes and recordings from her interviews with Read. Massachusetts does not have a formally recognized reporter’s shield law protecting journalists from being forced to disclose newsgathering materials.</p><p data-block-key=\"feln6\">Voss and Boston magazine agreed to produce the audiotapes so long as they could redact information that Read or her attorneys had requested be kept off the record. But they opposed any disclosure of comments or handwritten notes Voss took during an off-the-record interview with Read at her home.</p><p data-block-key=\"7vu8k\">Robert Bertsche, an attorney representing Voss and Boston magazine, called the prosecutors’ motion a “fishing expedition” during a hearing on Jan. 18, the Boston Herald <a href=\"https://www.bostonherald.com/2024/01/18/karen-read-murder-case-prosecutors-want-reporter-notes-and-to-hide-federal-inquiry-letters/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"26okj\">“Their argument for more is that the article is such a goldmine that there must be more,” Bertsche added.</p><p data-block-key=\"9po5\">Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone sided with Voss and the magazine on Jan. 23, but wrote that prosecutors could renew their motion for the off-the-record content if “the Commonwealth believes it is entitled to further information.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3s1tq\">The case against Read ended in a mistrial in July and was scheduled for a retrial in early 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"fpc1m\">The state <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-ordered-to-turn-over-notes-communications-around-murder-trial\">revived its request</a> for Voss to turn over her notes and unredacted interview recordings in November 2024, ahead of the second trial. Prosecutors also requested copies of any texts, emails or voicemail communications Voss had with Read.</p><p data-block-key=\"4quja\">Cannone initially granted the renewed request on Dec. 5, but partially reversed the decision in January 2025, ruling that Voss would not be forced to disclose her handwritten notes.</p><p data-block-key=\"2e8qg\">Neither Voss nor Bertsche responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6595u\">Prosecutor Adam Lally, right, speaks with Karen Read’s attorney during her murder trial in Dedham, Massachusetts, in May 2024. Ahead of the trial, Lally sought recordings and notes from interviews Boston magazine’s Gretchen Voss conducted with Read.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"name": "Massachusetts",
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},
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
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"Gretchen Voss (Boston magazine)"
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},
{
"title": "Reporter arrested, held overnight while covering NYC pro-Palestinian protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-arrested-held-overnight-while-covering-nyc-pro-palestinian-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-01-02T20:31:05.320441Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-03-14T16:11:31.832311Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-03-14T16:11:31.736523Z",
"date": "2023-12-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4d42k\">Freelance reporter Roni Jacobson was arrested by police while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest in New York City on Dec. 31, 2023. She was held overnight and released the following afternoon after the Manhattan district attorney’s office dropped the charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"5o5l2\">Jacobson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was on assignment for the New York Daily News to cover a protest near Times Square and attempted to pass by a police barricade shortly before 7 p.m. to reach the demonstration. Police allowed other pedestrians to pass, but asked Jacobson to provide identification.</p><p data-block-key=\"daqp7\"><a href=\"https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/01/01/daily-news-reporter-arrested-covering-new-years-eve-protest-midtown-manhattan/\">According to the Daily News</a>, Jacobson identified herself to the New York Police Department officers as a reporter but told them that her request for city-issued press credentials was still pending. The police said she couldn’t pass without a credential and ordered her to back up, Jacobson said, but as she did so another officer arrested her.</p><p data-block-key=\"dhcal\">“I was taking a step back and to the side to be fully out of the way. In fact, I was a moment away from just leaving and going to find another way around because I could tell I wasn’t getting anywhere with these guys,” Jacobson said. “As I was stepping back I bumped into the rookie cop who was behind me and then he had the cuffs on me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9gj7i\">The Daily News reported that Jacobson contacted a night editor for the outlet who confirmed to police that Jacobson was on assignment.</p><p data-block-key=\"53le9\">Police alleged in a statement to the Daily News that Jacobson “attempted to physically push past the officers in an attempt to gain entry and was then placed under arrest without further incident.” Jacobson denied that version of events. The NYPD did not respond to a request for further information.</p><p data-block-key=\"3gq09\">Jacobson told the Tracker she was held overnight at the Midtown South Precinct and charged with obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct. She was released around 4 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2024, when the district attorney declined to prosecute the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"9gkqm\">A spokesperson for the DA’s office told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker said he was unable to comment on the case as it has been sealed, noting that a dismissal is a common reason for sealing a case.</p><p data-block-key=\"413b\">In its report, the Daily News praised the decision to drop the charges, but said it is still seeking answers on why Jacobson was detained in the first place.</p><p data-block-key=\"560ei\">“Freedom of the press to operate freely and unimpeded in coverage of protests is critical for informing the public through our news coverage,” Daily News Executive Editor Andrew Julien said. “We plan on following up with the NYPD to understand what conduct could have justified the arrest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"47u1k\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment from reporter Roni Jacobson.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"n37jp\">Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march in front of the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 28, 2023, one in a series of such protests in New York City during the holiday season. Freelance reporter Roni Jacobson was arrested during a similar protest on Dec. 31.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "New York City Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2024-01-01",
"detention_date": "2023-12-31",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Roni Jacobson (New York Daily News)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist struck with book at NYC protest against drag story hour",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-struck-with-book-at-nyc-protest-against-drag-story-hour/",
"first_published_at": "2023-12-20T20:01:38.364444Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T20:24:21.625211Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T20:24:21.455657Z",
"date": "2023-12-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8jq87\">Freelance journalist Talia Ben-Ora was struck in the head with a book while reporting on a protest outside a drag story hour event in New York City on Dec. 16, 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"8srci\">Ben-Ora, who also publishes under the name Talia Jane, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was reporting on a holiday-themed drag event in Manhattan at around noon, where protesters and “defenders” had gathered. The event took place without issue, she said, but as some of the defenders left, they were chased after by protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"b3rij\">As Ben-Ora followed the individuals around a corner <a href=\"https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1736181196239868154\">while filming on her cellphone</a>, two men turned around, with one taunting her by name and the second advancing toward her, attempting to block her from moving forward.</p><p data-block-key=\"2dadk\">“I said, ‘Get the fuck out of my face.’ And he said, ‘Or what? Or what?’ while getting closer and closer,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ll7h\">Ben-Ora said that she had been taught in a self-defense class to distract a would-be assailant by knocking off one of their belongings so that she could get to safety while they retrieved it.</p><p data-block-key=\"gkd9\">“I flipped his hat to get it off his head, there was no injury, there was no physical contact,” Ben-Ora said. “He responded by using the book and hitting me across the face with it with all his might.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1bpfg\">Police officers who had witnessed at least the start of the encounter examined Ben-Ora’s injuries — including visible swelling, redness and a wound on her lip — and advised Ben-Ora to file a police report. Ben-Ora said the assailant, Pedro Gutierrez Jimenez, was arrested on a charge of felony assault.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A far-right harasser of a Drag Story Hour assaulted me as I was trying to follow a group of defenders being chased by harassers. I got a couple ice packs for the swelling so I’ll be okay. I’m told he’s being transferred to central bookings now.</p>— Talia Jane ❤️🔥 (@taliaotg) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1736112906507321832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 16, 2023</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8jq87\">Ben-Ora was taken to the same precinct as Gutierrez to provide a statement. While she was there, some individuals connected with him arrived and attempted to film her.</p><p data-block-key=\"fmqrg\">“They provided that footage to their friends, of me sitting on a bench with an ice pack on my face,” Ben-Ora said. She said that during a livestream afterward, multiple individuals said that they should “slit that bitch’s throat” or go to her house to “protest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"doi41\">“These people are violently obsessed with hating me because of my reporting,” Ben-Ora said. “They made explicit threats to harm me and further target me because their guy got arrested for assaulting me. It doesn’t go away because he got arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d3hni\">According to court records reviewed by the Tracker, Gutierrez now faces five charges: three counts of third-degree assault and one count each of second-degree aggravated harassment and second-degree harassment. His next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 1, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"c2lsr\">Ben-Ora said there is also a temporary restraining order against him approaching her, which she said is automatic with assault charges.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Ben-Ora_Dec.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ixsgy\">Freelance journalist Talia Ben-Ora captured this image shortly before being struck across the face with a book by an assailant, pictured above, following demonstrations outside a drag story time in New York, New York, on Dec. 16, 2023.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-06-10 00:00:00+00:00) Charges dropped against man who hit New York journalist with book"
],
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"tags": [
"LGBTQ+ rights",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Talia (Jane) Ben-Ora (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Republican House member calls for the jailing of journalists",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/republican-house-member-calls-for-the-jailing-of-journalists/",
"first_published_at": "2023-12-21T18:08:07.838214Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-21T18:08:07.838214Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-21T18:07:50.136180Z",
"date": "2023-12-15",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"w9eb7\">Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote in a Dec. 15, 2023, social media post that journalists and Democrats should be jailed for the investigations into former President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia, joining a chorus of Trump allies calling for the imprisonment of media figures.</p><p data-block-key=\"4qb7n\">“Democrats and their propagandists in the media put America through hell trying to take out President Trump,” Greene <a href=\"https://twitter.com/mtgreenee/status/1735717221249241175\">wrote</a>. “These thugs and criminals need to be held accountable — even jailed — for what they did to Trump and our great country.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4mh4s\">Greene, who <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/23/georgia-marjorie-taylor-greene-donald-trump-vice-president\">told the Guardian</a> in August 2023 that she is “on a list” of potential vice-presidential picks for Trump, has joined other Trump allies in mirroring <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/last-trump-tweet-against-media/\">the rhetoric used by Trump</a> throughout his presidency and current candidacy.</p><p data-block-key=\"1veui\">The New York Times also <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/us/politics/trump-kash-patel-journalists.html\">reported</a> that in early December two former top Trump political advisers openly discussed plans to target the press. Kash Patel, a former National Security Council adviser who is expected to serve under a second Trump administration, <a href=\"https://rumble.com/v3zrlia-patel-were-gonna-use-the-constitution-to-prosecute-those-destroying-the-rep.html\">said</a> that a Trump White House would “come after” what he called “conspirators” in the government and media.</p><p data-block-key=\"1quui\">“Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out. But yeah, we’re putting you all on notice,” Patel said. “We’re actually going to use the Constitution to prosecute them for crimes they said we have always been guilty of but never have.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5g3m6\">Trump himself has called on the government to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1729827992744898712\">pursue charges against the media</a> and, in a late-night Nov. 28 post to the social media site Truth Social, accused MSNBC without evidence of baselessly attacking him to interfere with the 2024 election.</p><p data-block-key=\"dvaq6\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is collecting and cataloging reports of press freedom aggressions by candidates and their teams running in federal elections in 2024. Find that specialized tracking project <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/politics-and-the-press/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTSQL5VW.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"4p1va\">Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, center, in Washington, D.C., in November 2023, called for the jailing of journalists in a social media post on Dec. 15. Joining a chorus of Donald Trump allies, she referred to the press as “propagandists” and “thugs.”</p>",
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"name": "District of Columbia",
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
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"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
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}
]
