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{
"title": "Missouri TV station subpoenaed in lawsuit involving Tyson Foods",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/missouri-tv-station-subpoenaed-in-lawsuit-involving-tyson-foods/",
"first_published_at": "2025-01-24T18:00:17.978084Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-24T18:00:17.978084Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-24T17:57:53.498417Z",
"date": "2024-07-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New Madrid",
"longitude": -89.52785,
"latitude": 36.58645,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zvd0k\">Broadcast station KFVS-TV was subpoenaed on July 12, 2024, in connection with a lawsuit against Tyson Foods in New Madrid, Missouri. The outlet ignored the subpoena without pushback.</p><p data-block-key=\"9evdt\">Multiple chicken farmers sued the meat company in December 2023 for allegedly breaking its contracts after it shut down a processing plant in nearby Stoddard County, causing the farmers significant financial losses.</p><p data-block-key=\"vn8l\">Attorneys representing the farmers <a href=\"https://investigatemidwest.org/2024/12/17/tyson-foods-cut-contracts-with-poultry-farmers-now-the-company-is-working-to-silence-their-legal-fight/\">told Investigate Midwest</a> that after the suit was filed, Tyson attempted to intimidate the plaintiffs and suppress media coverage.</p><p data-block-key=\"cufq0\">KFVS-TV, which <a href=\"https://www.kfvs12.com/2024/01/02/heartland-chicken-farmers-file-lawsuit-against-tyson-foods/\">reported</a> on the lawsuit in January 2024, was subpoenaed by Tyson in July and ordered to turn over copies of its communications with the farmers and all recordings or notes from any interviews with them. The news outlet was also ordered to have someone appear to testify on Aug. 12.</p><p data-block-key=\"98jbj\">Brandon Boulware, an attorney representing the farmers, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that KFVS-TV sent a letter to Tyson objecting to the subpoena, after which the company did not attempt to enforce it.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0hqo\">KFVS-TV did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"7qss3\">Tyson also asked the court to authorize it to issue an identical subpoena to another news outlet — Arkansas-based news website Talk Business & Politics. Circuit Court Judge Joshua Underwood granted the request July 24, but the company did not file paperwork showing it was served.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ea0f\">Roby Brock, the CEO of TBP’s parent company, confirmed to the Tracker in January 2025 that the outlet was not issued the subpoena.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/KFVS-TV_subpoena.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"vg3my\">A portion of the subpoena issued to broadcast station KFVS-TV on July 12, 2024, ordering the news outlet to provide copies of communications and interview recordings or notes in connection with a lawsuit against Tyson Foods in New Madrid, Missouri.</p>",
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"name": "Missouri",
"abbreviation": "MO"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"KFVS-TV"
],
"tags": [],
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"authors": [],
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],
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},
{
"title": "Las Vegas police deny local outlet access to email press release list",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/las-vegas-police-deny-local-outlet-access-to-email-press-release-list/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-31T20:09:00.828693Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-01T16:51:12.539339Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-01T16:51:12.416873Z",
"date": "2024-07-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Las Vegas",
"longitude": -115.13722,
"latitude": 36.17497,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"kp14a\">The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department refused on July 10, 2024, to include a freelance journalist and a local video news outlet that relies on stringers on its email list for notifications of press conferences.</p><p data-block-key=\"6gndt\">Doug Roberts, a freelance video journalist for Las Vegas Live, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he has been trying for two years to get on the email list and has been barred from attending three press conferences.</p><p data-block-key=\"f0226\">The email list is primarily used to alert journalists about news briefings on developing crime stories, often held near the crime scenes, Roberts explained to the Tracker. He has missed some events, he said, but has been getting by with help from other journalists who share the information with him. Some have even taken his camera into the news conferences when he has been barred from entering.</p><p data-block-key=\"bd744\">“We’ve basically been getting by without being added to that list just because of the relationships that we’ve built with other people in the industry,” Roberts said. “Luckily they’re seeing us little guys being discriminated against so they’re helping us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mj2f\">In one instance, which Roberts recorded on a body cam and shared with the Tracker, a police public information officer denied him access to a June 26, 2024, press conference on the sidewalk. When he said it was a public space, she moved the press conference inside the police tape, excluding him.</p><p data-block-key=\"1pksv\">Roberts wrote police a letter on June 27 seeking inclusion on the email distribution list, explaining that he is affiliated with both <a href=\"https://lasvegaslive.news/\">Las Vegas Live</a> and <a href=\"http://onscene.tv/\">OnScene.tv</a>, a video distribution company. He wrote his request on letterhead from Live Core Productions, the company that he created for his freelance work. He sought inclusion on the list for Las Vegas Live, OnScene.tv and Live Core Productions.</p><p data-block-key=\"8i1v2\">In a response written by a lawyer for the department on July 10, Las Vegas police denied Roberts’ request, citing a <a href=\"https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-179a.html#NRS179ASec070\">Nevada statute</a> that says criminal history information must be provided to “any reporter or editorial employee who is employed or affiliated with a newspaper, press association or commercially operated, federally licensed radio or television station.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8btk1\">The letter stated that Roberts’ Live Core was not “a ‘press association’ or any other type of news media.” It didn’t address Las Vegas Live or OnScene.tv, but police didn’t add them to the list.</p><p data-block-key=\"9efvn\">In the letter, the police argued that a press association had a limited definition, such as The Associated Press, which is a worldwide news cooperative.</p><p data-block-key=\"7tdh0\">“As such, LVMPD may not disseminate criminal history information to Live Core therefore and must exclude Live Core from media briefings,” the letter said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4m86k\">The police department’s public information office didn’t respond to the Tracker’s repeated phone calls and emails requesting comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbpus\">The Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/briefs-comments/lvmpd-freelancer-restrictions-letter/\">wrote a letter</a> to the police department on behalf of freelance reporters on July 22.</p><p data-block-key=\"fs5r\">“The protections of the First Amendment apply equally to traditional and non-traditional journalists and news organizations, including freelance reporters and stringers,” the letter said.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0qi\">It pointed out that the Nevada Supreme Court, in interpreting the state’s reporter shield law, “clarified that courts ‘are not required to make a fortress out of the dictionary,’ and explained that these protections extend to journalists, including bloggers.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2iupd\">Roberts filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the police department and received the email distribution list in redacted form. It includes more than 100 email addresses, some for online-only publications, such as tabloid entertainment news TMZ.</p><p data-block-key=\"70ija\">Roberts said that his exclusion from the email list and briefings has a chilling effect, because other journalists see that police could restrict access to them, too.</p><p data-block-key=\"4r9du\">“I think that the media in Las Vegas is not being critical of the police, or they’re not doing their job in terms of holding the police accountable because they become reliant upon the police for information and for leads and for stories,” Roberts told the Tracker. “And if they become critical of police, they might end up in the same boat that we are.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/doug_roberts.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"tj5es\">A Las Vegas police officer is seen preventing freelance reporter Doug Roberts from attending a news conference in body camera footage from June 26, 2024. Police on July 10 also denied Roberts access to the department’s email press release list.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Nevada",
"abbreviation": "NV"
},
"updates": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Las Vegas Live",
"OnScene.TV"
],
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"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Law enforcement: Local"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Doug Roberts (Live Core Productions)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
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"Press credential or media list"
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},
{
"title": "City of Cleveland subpoenas newsroom, judge quashes request",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/city-of-cleveland-subpoenas-newsroom-judge-quashes-request/",
"first_published_at": "2024-11-01T20:49:32.484266Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-01T20:49:32.484266Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-01T20:49:32.404957Z",
"date": "2024-06-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Cleveland",
"longitude": -81.69541,
"latitude": 41.4995,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"if14z\">The Marshall Project was served a subpoena by the City of Cleveland on June 26, 2024, in connection with a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Ohio city. A federal judge quashed the request Oct. 28.</p><p data-block-key=\"9b120\">Marshall Project staff reporter Wilbert Cooper <a href=\"https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/05/23/black-police-officers-cleveland-black-shield\">authored an article</a> in May about Vincent Montague, a Black former police sergeant in the Cleveland Division of Police who filed a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ohnd.291838/gov.uscourts.ohnd.291838.1.0.pdf\">lawsuit</a> against multiple high-ranking officers and the city after he was fired in December 2021. The article included Montague’s allegation that he was dismissed because of his connection to the Black Lives Matter movement.</p><p data-block-key=\"bodjn\">According to <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.624525/gov.uscourts.nysd.624525.3.0.pdf\">court filings</a> reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, an attorney representing the city contacted Cooper in May 2024 seeking “copies of any recordings of [his] conversations with Mr. Montague, either audio filed or written notes.” Marshall Project attorney Jason Criss responded on the journalist’s behalf, stating that neither Cooper nor the newsroom would provide the work product.</p><p data-block-key=\"59c3i\">The city’s attorney subpoenaed The Marshall Project on June 26, after first improperly emailing the subpoena to Criss on June 13. The <a href=\"https://ecf.nysd.uscourts.gov/doc1/127135778198\">subpoena</a> ordered the outlet to turn over unpublished work product, interview notes and communications with Montague concerning his interactions with the former chief of police and any employees of the division, as well as a bar owner convicted of bribing police.</p><p data-block-key=\"52q1g\">The Marshall Project filed a motion to quash the subpoena July 9 in U.S. District Court in New York, where the news organization is headquartered. Criss argued that the requests are a clear violation of the state’s well-established journalist’s privilege and a clear attempt to leverage the outlet’s reporting against Montague in the civil case.</p><p data-block-key=\"2oric\">“By issuing the Subpoena to TMP, Cleveland seeks to do exactly what federal law prohibits,” Criss wrote. “Journalists cannot foster and maintain trust with sources if the public perceives them to be the unwitting accomplices of civil litigants.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7trcj\">District Judge Valerie Caproni <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.624525/gov.uscourts.nysd.624525.29.0.pdf\">granted</a> the motion to quash Oct. 28, ruling that the materials were protected under the state’s shield law and rejecting the city’s argument that it couldn’t obtain comparable statements from Montague during a deposition because it is not “a relaxed neutral setting.”</p><p data-block-key=\"10gdf\">“If the Court were to accept Cleveland’s argument, it would eviscerate the protection accorded by the journalist’s privilege,” Caproni wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"e00tc\">Criss told the Tracker that while his law firm was representing The Marshall Project pro bono, the legal fees from fighting such subpoenas can cripple newsrooms. He also noted that the city fought for the case to be heard in Ohio under the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where journalists have far weaker protections, rather than in New York, covered by the 2nd Circuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"eg9rc\">“Unfortunately, what it shows is the variation in protections for journalists around the country,” he said. “If there was a federal shield law that sort of leveled up the law around the country to be what we enjoy in the 2nd Circuit, that would be a very welcome development.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2024-10-30_at_10.54.07.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"x37mz\">A portion of a subpoena served to The Marshall Project on June 26, 2024, ordering the outlet to turn over all interviews and communications with a former Cleveland, Ohio, police sergeant who is suing the department for wrongful termination.</p>",
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"name": "Ohio",
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"The Marshall Project"
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},
{
"title": "Reporter sprayed with chemical irritant while covering clashing LA protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-sprayed-with-chemical-irritant-while-covering-clashing-la-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-01T13:21:12.160496Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-02T21:28:51.887816Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-02T21:28:51.757944Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9p05c\">Reporter Cam Higby was pepper-sprayed while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"29gqr\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cm5ov\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"6t4gg\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"11vf\">Higby told the Tracker that he arrived at the synagogue at approximately 11:30 a.m. and found police and private security hired by the congregation staging around the entrance. He said he filmed from behind the perimeter law enforcement established for nearly an hour before crossing into the street where protesters and counterprotesters were brawling.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ao3c\">“I had been on the street for probably about 60 seconds before I saw bear spray flying through the air. And my first instinct when I see a scuffle is to run over so I can get it on camera, and that’s when I was bear-Maced,” Higby said.</p><p data-block-key=\"dsv7i\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TodayisAmerica/status/1805004231885340767\">footage</a> captured by Higby’s body-worn camera, a woman wearing a kaffiyeh can be seen spraying first at men who had just pushed her, before turning and spraying a second time directly at Higby.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">🚨INSANE FOOTAGE: Protestor stops, looks at our on-the-scene reporter <a href=\"https://twitter.com/camhigby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@camhigby</a> and bear sprays him directly in eyes only feet away. <br><br>Members of the community immediately rush to his aid. Cam is now recovering at home. <a href=\"https://t.co/FnHmUvoo6b\">pic.twitter.com/FnHmUvoo6b</a></p>— Today is America (@TodayisAmerica) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TodayisAmerica/status/1805004231885340767?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 23, 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=\"9p05c\">Immediately after being sprayed, Higby can be heard crying out in pain and multiple journalists — including independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel and Left Coast Right Watch reporter Kate Burns — are seen coming to his aid. (Both journalists were assaulted by individuals they identified as people at the pro-Israeli demonstration later that day.)</p><p data-block-key=\"dje14\">“Hey, look at me. Get your heart rate down. Breathe through your nose. I know it’s awful. Somebody will get water soon, OK? We’re going to flush it, all right,” Beckner-Carmitchel instructs.</p><p data-block-key=\"cbtjn\">One of the rabbis working to prevent fights then escorts Higby to a nearby sidewalk and has him sit while someone goes to bring a medic over to treat him.</p><p data-block-key=\"4cqpq\">Higby told the Tracker that he was wearing a press credential from Today Is America, which he described as a digital news media and commentary site. He also had both a camera and body camera recording, and believes he was deliberately targeted because he was filming.</p><p data-block-key=\"4i70t\">He added that the LAPD officers didn’t appear to be doing anything to mitigate the scuffles between the demonstrators, and that he and a friend left the area not long after he was sprayed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">For those asking, I’ve mostly recovered. Just burning pain all over my body. Stay tuned/follow for updates. <a href=\"https://t.co/DwRwTHM9kT\">pic.twitter.com/DwRwTHM9kT</a></p>— Cam Higby 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/camhigby/status/1805011302211084426?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 23, 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=\"9p05c\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/NS_BH_06232024_-4.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"czbau\">Reporter Cam Higby, center, recovers after being sprayed with a chemical irritant while covering clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters outside a synagogue in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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],
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{
"title": "Reporter’s phone knocked to the ground, later stolen at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporters-phone-knocked-to-the-ground-later-stolen-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-28T17:06:18.025835Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-03T19:42:49.181286Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-03T19:42:49.081541Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"boco1\">Sergio Olmos, an investigative reporter for the nonprofit news site CalMatters, reported that his phone was knocked to the ground and subsequently stolen while he was documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"2q7om\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"aa987\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"eqkt8\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"3d8qh\">Olmos <a href=\"https://x.com/MrOlmos/status/1805078097198448764\">wrote</a> on the social media platform X that he was filming an attack on a pro-Palestinian protester when a man drove a truck toward the crowd, nearly ramming people. “At that moment a pro-israeli demonstrator knocked my phone out of my hands to stop me from filming it,” Olmos wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"509tk\">Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that the phone was later returned. Olmos declined to comment further when reached by the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"d2sri\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/MrOlmos/status/1805072157485228384\">second post</a>, Olmos wrote that in a separate incident later that day a different demonstrator stole his phone and, when he held up his press credentials, the man told him, “You shouldn’t be there.” The robbery can be seen at 0:47 in <a href=\"https://x.com/ACatWithNews/status/1805029920944669114\">footage</a> captured by Beckner-Carmitchel. Of the phone, Olmos wrote: “its gone.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">At :47 seconds you can see the moment a demonstrator snatches my phone to stop me from filming. I told him I was press and showed him my press creds, he told me "you shouldn't be there" and took my phone, its gone. <a href=\"https://t.co/RIvFUixqjm\">https://t.co/RIvFUixqjm</a></p>— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1805072157485228384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 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=\"boco1\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Olmos_assault__ED.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"5hkfa\">CalMatters reporter Sergio Olmos, in black shirt at center right, is seen wearing a press credential and filming as pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters clash in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. Seconds later, his phone was stolen.</p>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
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"name": "California",
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"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest",
"robbery"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sergio Olmos (CalMatters)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist’s camera snatched, smashed during clashes at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-camera-snatched-smashed-during-clashes-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-01T16:18:32.176382Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-08T19:39:30.546963Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-08T19:39:30.441868Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8gruh\">Independent photojournalist Nick Stern’s video camera was stolen and broken while he was documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"2l5ni\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"5kmt7\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"55oio\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"mvu6\">Stern, whose work is largely published in British outlets, told the Tracker that he was wearing press credentials on a lanyard and was easily identifiable as a journalist by the two cameras strapped around his neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"8f7k8\">But that may have put him more at risk, he said, as the attacks appeared to be targeting journalists. “I think it would have been safer if I hadn’t,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"fqlu8\">Stern said he and journalist Tina-Desiree Berg were standing on a grassy embankment when a pro-Israeli protester carrying a large yellow flag came up to them and tried to block his shot.</p><p data-block-key=\"6q43s\">Another pro-Israeli protester shoved Berg off the embankment, then grabbed Stern’s video camera as he was recording. Stern shared the video of the snatch with the Tracker.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Photojournalist <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NickSternPhotos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@nicksternphotos</a> said that the press credentials around his neck may have made him more of a target: someone grabbed the video camera out of his hands and then threw it on the ground, breaking it.<a href=\"https://t.co/IgxGVQsjjf\">https://t.co/IgxGVQsjjf</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/9DZ51TJpB3\">pic.twitter.com/9DZ51TJpB3</a></p>— U.S. Press Freedom Tracker (@uspresstracker) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/uspresstracker/status/1808610620121534780?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 3, 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=\"dwtku\">Stern said he chased the protester, who threw the camera down on the ground. Stern retrieved it, but the camera, a DJI Osmo Pocket 3 worth about $600, had a broken lens and battery pack, rendering it unusable.</p><p data-block-key=\"f83p8\">Stern told the Tracker that as of June 28 he hadn’t yet reported his broken camera to police.</p><p data-block-key=\"b9r8f\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p><p data-block-key=\"ai14r\">Stern told the Tracker that he plans to continue covering protests, but after witnessing the assaults on journalists on June 23, he expects to carry a Taser with him for protection.</p><p data-block-key=\"c95e6\">“I think we’ve got to a point now where a journalist will get significantly injured or even possibly killed at a protest event,” he told the Tracker. “This needs to stop. As journalists, we need to do what we’re out there doing.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/image3.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1lupb\">A protester blocks the camera of photojournalist Nick Stern at a pro-Palestinian protest in Los Angeles on June 23, 2024. Later, a pro-Israeli protester snatched the video camera away and threw it on the ground, breaking it.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"actor": "private individual",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera equipment"
}
],
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"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest",
"robbery"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Nick Stern (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent videographer attacked at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-attacked-by-demonstrators-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-01T17:38:31.381695Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-10T13:13:45.060155Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-10T13:13:44.971736Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"n0wq7\">Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was surrounded and attacked by multiple individuals while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"aqafg\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7lh9n\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"6drpu\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"77k0u\">Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that tensions were high from the start, and that while covering the clashing demonstrations for several hours he observed an “intense” amount of security, tit-for-tat assaults and lots of bear spray in use.</p><p data-block-key=\"bas98\">After police cleared the area surrounding the synagogue, Beckner-Carmitchel said, the pro-Palestinian demonstrators began to move back and the pro-Israeli protesters followed and chased them through the neighborhood. When the groups looped back to Adas Torah, he said it was like a switch flipped.</p><p data-block-key=\"ecspf\">“I’ve been doing this a long time, and I know when things are about to turn from violent to even more violent, and I could feel it,” he told the Tracker. “That was the moment where I was like, ‘Oh boy, I need to start figuring out a way to get out of here because this is not good.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"7o6bd\">Beckner-Carmitchel said journalists were being deliberately targeted, so when he saw a large group following independent journalist <a href=\"/all-incidents/journalist-assaulted-by-la-protesters-has-camera-damaged-and-iphone-stolen/\">Kate Burns</a> and another photojournalist, he approached them to film in case something happened and to plead with the crowd. That’s when he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1805045228635861005/video/1\">became the target</a> of the crowd’s aggression.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Video and a still taken before I was hit several times by several in the pro-Israel crowd.<br><br>By the way, I’m alright and have filed a police report. <a href=\"https://t.co/2iffHL5p7E\">pic.twitter.com/2iffHL5p7E</a></p>— acatwithnews (@ACatWithNews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1805045228635861005?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 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=\"n0wq7\">At 0:28 in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/johnschreiber/status/1805038380079808748\">footage</a> captured from a helicopter by <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dOKwts4J-0\">KCAL-TV</a> photojournalist John Schreiber, a man can be seen kicking the phone from Beckner-Carmitchel’s hand. The phone was caught by videographer <a href=\"/all-incidents/photographer-pulled-struck-while-covering-la-protests/\">Justin Jun</a>, but when Jun attempted to return it the pair of journalists were swarmed by individuals Beckner-Carmitchel identified as pro-Israeli demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"am4aj\">“The crowd surrounded us, so I grabbed him (Jun) really close and gave him a bear hug to try to make sure that nobody can get us down on the ground and to protect my face and stomach and to protect my gear,” Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Multiple fights broke out between pro-Palestine and pro-Israel demonstrators today near a synagogue in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of LA. Looks like some live-streamers/journalists were also attacked as a phone was kicked out of one man's hand. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kcalnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@kcalnews</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/JApVUC180U\">pic.twitter.com/JApVUC180U</a></p>— John Schreiber (@johnschreiber) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/johnschreiber/status/1805038380079808748?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 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=\"n0wq7\">Schreiber’s footage shows two men pulling Jun back while a third attempts to kick his video camera. As Beckner-Carmitchel holds onto Jun, the third man grabs onto his shoulder and punches him twice in the back of the head.</p><p data-block-key=\"8j7gb\">Independent photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-camera-snatched-smashed-during-clashes-at-la-protest/\">Nick Stern</a> steps in to attempt to stop the attack, but as the journalists move away from the crowd one of the men nearly rips the shirt off Beckner-Carmitchel’s back and another kicks the videographer in the groin.</p><p data-block-key=\"clit3\">Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that he went up to the police line and was eventually allowed through to file a police report. He said that he had a large bump on his head and that, while there were some light scratches on one of the phone’s camera lenses, it was otherwise undamaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"3a2pg\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. Beckner-Carmitchel said he believes his report is one of those cited. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2024-06-28_at_10.17.02.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"pcaj4\">Independent videographers Sean Beckner-Carmitchel and Justin Jun, shown in circle added at center, were assaulted by multiple individuals while reporting on clashing protests outside a synagogue in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sean Beckner-Carmitchel (Independent)"
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},
{
"title": "Journalist shoved, phone briefly stolen during clashes at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-phone-briefly-stolen-during-clashes-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-02T13:15:08.017820Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-10T20:28:28.178770Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-10T20:28:28.049996Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"q2vhr\">Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was shoved multiple times and her phone briefly stolen while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"8uo19\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"4h5cm\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"7vl6u\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"28d17\">Berg told the Tracker she was targeted with aggressions multiple times throughout the day. “The one thing that really disturbed me the most about that day was the rage. You just could feel the insane amount of rage from these individuals, like nothing I’ve seen,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"f64ao\">Investigative journalist Kate Burns, who was <a href=\"https://x.com/LCRWnews/status/1804952319441965087\">covering the protest</a> for Left Coast Right Watch, <a href=\"https://x.com/LCRWnews/status/1804986225088163928\">captured footage</a> shortly after 2 p.m. of multiple men watching Berg film the protests. At 0:11 in the clip, one man appears to lightly push a second toward Berg. The second man then crashes into her with his shoulder and raised arms, toppling her several feet over and sending her phone flying.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">More attack's on press <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TinaDesireeBerg</a> has been trageted a couple of times today <a href=\"https://t.co/fh5XbDT2nx\">pic.twitter.com/fh5XbDT2nx</a></p>— LEFT COAST RIGHT WATCH (@LCRWnews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LCRWnews/status/1804986225088163928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 23, 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=\"q2vhr\">When Burns confronts the man about what happened, he responds simply with, “I got pushed.” Later in the clip, the same man appears to attempt to block multiple journalists from filming.</p><p data-block-key=\"16hiv\">After police cleared the area surrounding the synagogue, the pro-Palestinian demonstrators began to move back and the pro-Israeli protesters followed and chased them through the neighborhood, according to reports to the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbels\">Berg said that a group of individuals she identified as pro-Israeli demonstrators surrounded her, shouting at her to leave and threatening, “We’ll get you later.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9ko7o\">At 2:04 in <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAAG5tOuTC0\">footage</a> captured by Berg, she can be heard asking a woman wearing an Israeli flag around her shoulders, “Why is being a journalist being a loser?” A man standing between them shouts over the woman’s response: “Because you lie! We don’t need you here!”</p><p data-block-key=\"5am72\">The man then repeatedly attempts to block Berg’s camera until photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-camera-snatched-smashed-during-clashes-at-la-protest/\">Nick Stern</a> intervenes, as more and more people begin to surround them. “A rabbi got in between them and me and had to calm them down,” Berg said.</p><p data-block-key=\"n8op\">Berg told the Tracker that after protesters had moved into another part of the surrounding neighborhood, she was standing at the top of a small set of stairs to film as they marched around the corner. “I walked up there and was filming this shot when this guy came up around me and pushed me off the top of the staircase,” Berg said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6jmck\">Stern, who was standing next to her, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/uspresstracker/status/1808610620121534780\">filmed</a> the incident but seconds later the same man grabbed the camera from his hands and threw it on the ground, damaging it.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Photojournalist <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NickSternPhotos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@nicksternphotos</a> said that the press credentials around his neck may have made him more of a target: someone grabbed the video camera out of his hands and then threw it on the ground, breaking it.<a href=\"https://t.co/IgxGVQsjjf\">https://t.co/IgxGVQsjjf</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/9DZ51TJpB3\">pic.twitter.com/9DZ51TJpB3</a></p>— U.S. Press Freedom Tracker (@uspresstracker) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/uspresstracker/status/1808610620121534780?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 3, 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=\"u4hus\">Berg added that shortly after that encounter she was pepper-sprayed by an individual who ran up and then quickly away, but said she wasn’t certain whether she had been deliberately targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"5i8ji\">The protests eventually looped back to Adas Torah, which is when independent videographer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-attacked-by-demonstrators-at-la-protest/\">Sean Beckner-Carmitchel</a> said a switch flipped and violence escalated, particularly with the targeting of journalists. Berg told the Tracker she saw Beckner-Carmitchel being attacked and so ran over to intervene.</p><p data-block-key=\"aovi8\">Shortly after, Berg was targeted again: An individual she described as “a kid” ripped the phone from her hands and ran down the street. “I start chasing him as fast as I could and somehow caught up to him,” she said. “I said, ‘Give me my phone. That is theft.’ And he looked at me and just chucked it as far and as hard as he could and it went all the way across the street.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cebj6\">Beginning at 1:20 in <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dOKwts4J-0\">footage</a> captured by KCAL-TV, Berg is visible running toward the right side of the street; when the camera zooms in, she can be seen grabbing what looks to be a cellphone from the hands of an individual who appears to be wearing a skullcap. Berg said the individual picked up her phone and returned it when she said she would press charges if he didn’t. She said that aside from scratches on the case, it was undamaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"2h6ra\">Around that same time, another demonstrator <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-assaulted-by-la-protesters-has-camera-damaged-and-iphone-stolen/\">grabbed the phone from Burns’ hands</a> and ran off, dropping it on the sidewalk when he noticed police nearby, the reporter told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"fk6hq\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p><p data-block-key=\"b8tln\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment and additional details about the incident from Tina-Desiree Berg.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"09jwt\">Journalist Tina-Desiree Berg, center, in black, holds a cellphone behind her back, having retrieved it after an individual threw it across the road. She was covering clashing protests outside a synagogue in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024.</p>",
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{
"title": "Freelance photojournalist’s camera struck while covering LA protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalists-camera-struck-while-covering-la-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-10T14:44:14.479452Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-10T14:44:14.479452Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-10T14:36:44.147804Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nt8tt\">Freelance photojournalist Jon Putman had his camera struck while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"5968v\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"d9fnn\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"5mv5k\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"c6khg\">In <a href=\"https://x.com/ACatWithNews/status/1805000908654416033\">footage</a> captured by independent videographer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-attacked-by-demonstrators-at-la-protest/\">Sean Beckner-Carmitchel</a>, Putman is visible in a black T-shirt and baseball cap <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8lTn9JRtBv/?img_index=1\">photographing</a> from the street as dozens of people mill around. At 0:23 in the clip, a man with a face bloodied after a fight can be seen knocking Putman’s camera aside with his hand. The same individual similarly attempted to prevent photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pushed-multiple-times-at-protest-outside-la-synagogue/\">David Swanson</a> from photographing him earlier.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Things continuing, both crowds now walking through Pico-Robertson exchanging the occasional fight and lots of taunts. Pro-Palestinian protesters appear to be attempting to walk away or through the neighborhood. Pro-Israel demonstrators following them. <a href=\"https://t.co/csRakK3ylU\">pic.twitter.com/csRakK3ylU</a></p>— Sean Beckner-Carmitchel (@ACatWithNews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1805000908654416033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 23, 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=\"nt8tt\">Putman did not respond to requests for additional comment about the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"999mn\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"duckd\">Freelance photojournalist Jon Putman, far left, can be seen documenting clashing protests outside the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles on June 23, 2024, as an individual grabs his camera and pushes it away.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"name": "California",
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"tags": [
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"protest"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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{
"title": "Photojournalist pushed, camera lens broken during LA protest clashes",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pushed-camera-lens-broken-during-la-protest-clashes/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-08T19:21:43.957787Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-08T19:21:43.957787Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-08T19:21:43.875476Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8tzq1\">An independent photojournalist was shoved and his camera was kicked, breaking the lens, while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"6jcft\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"bdk27\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"ct0hc\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"7d9rk\">The photographer, who asked not to be identified because he fears harassment, told the Tracker that he arrived at the protest with another photojournalist and verbally identified himself to protesters as a journalist, although he didn’t wear a press pass.</p><p data-block-key=\"93ijc\">As the protest came to an end, he was attacked when someone in the crowd falsely said he worked for Al Jazeera, the Qatari-based international TV news network that the Israeli government has barred from operating in the country amid the Israel-Gaza war. The photographer denied that he worked for the news organization, but said no one could hear him in the chaos.</p><p data-block-key=\"cqucc\">A large man then walked up to him and, standing chest to chest, pushed the journalist into the street with his torso, he recounted to the Tracker. Another person at the protest pulled the large man away.</p><p data-block-key=\"2jcdo\">The crowd around the photojournalist grew to at least a dozen people, he said. They were walking toward him and he was slowly walking backward.</p><p data-block-key=\"820nk\">“I felt my camera get kicked,” he told the Tracker. “It was in my hand. I sort of wrapped my strap around my hand, so it didn’t fly away.”</p><p data-block-key=\"402au\">The lens, a Sigma 20 mm F1.4 Canon mount worth about $900, was broken in the encounter. He said he has since sent the lens to be repaired, which he expects to cost hundreds of dollars.</p><p data-block-key=\"fm05c\">After the kick, the photographer’s friend and fellow journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-attacked-by-demonstrators-at-la-protest/\">Sean Beckner-Carmitchel</a> got between him and the crowd and told him to get away, which he did, despite several people grabbing at his backpack. Meanwhile, Beckner-Carmitchel and journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-pulled-struck-while-covering-la-protests/\">Justin Jun</a> were beaten.</p><p data-block-key=\"6lqrg\">The photojournalist returned to try to help the journalists who were being assaulted, but someone else walked him away. He returned one more time and when Beckner-Carmitchel shouted at him to get away, he did.</p><p data-block-key=\"dcgtc\">After the event, the photojournalist said he was particularly worried about people from the protest tracking him down and so now sleeps with a baseball bat by his bed.</p><p data-block-key=\"9n7hl\">“I still would happily do photojournalism,” he told the Tracker. “I’m just really disheartened that police didn’t even bother to stop any violence that was happening right in front of their eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7omn\">He continued: “I’m scared for my safety at protests now. And I’m worried that I’m going to get targeted for no reason other than having a camera.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b7ns6\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"0zkx6\">A confrontation at a June 23, 2024, protest in Los Angeles. A photojournalist at the event was shoved and his camera lens was broken.</p>",
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"tags": [
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Photojournalist pushed multiple times at protest outside LA synagogue",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pushed-multiple-times-at-protest-outside-la-synagogue/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-09T16:02:53.064663Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-12T14:26:26.818984Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-12T14:26:26.714848Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t1lrh\">Freelance photojournalist David Swanson was pushed multiple times while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"fe6dv\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dm2li\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"36ice\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"9qt0j\">Swanson told the Tracker that he was on assignment for Agence France-Presse and documented various skirmishes that broke out in the street. He said he was wearing a lanyard with a press pass issued by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and had his LAPD-issued credentials in his bag.</p><p data-block-key=\"4f3s\">In <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8oQZfguXkJ/?hl=en&img_index=4\">footage</a> captured by photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pepper-sprayed-camera-smacked-at-clashing-la-protests/\">Shay Horse</a>, Swanson, in a gray shirt, can be seen moving in to photograph a young man whose face is covered in blood following a brawl. The man then grabs Swanson’s lens and shoves it into his face and to the side.</p><p data-block-key=\"7asms\">“That gentleman was there in support of the Jewish neighborhood and he got into a scuffle and he was bloodied when he got up,” Swanson said. “I got close with my camera. He saw me and I think he reached forward a couple of times, grabbed my lens and pushed it away from my face.”</p><p data-block-key=\"59si7\">He said he had almost forgotten about the incident, as he had been so focused on getting the photo, though he added that others attempted to interfere as well. “There was a person — who I think we all had trouble with — that was pushing me and didn’t want me to photograph the bloodied person,” Swanson said.</p><p data-block-key=\"darjf\">Swanson told the Tracker that he was shoved by individuals at the demonstration at least once or twice more that day, but that he was uninjured. He said that anyone who was documenting the day’s event was being targeted with violence.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Things continuing, both crowds now walking through Pico-Robertson exchanging the occasional fight and lots of taunts. Pro-Palestinian protesters appear to be attempting to walk away or through the neighborhood. Pro-Israel demonstrators following them. <a href=\"https://t.co/csRakK3ylU\">pic.twitter.com/csRakK3ylU</a></p>— Sean Beckner-Carmitchel (@ACatWithNews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1805000908654416033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 23, 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=\"wj1vk\">“The gist of it is that in the current climate, we’re getting attacked more by protesters,” he said. “Nobody tried to take my camera, but I know some of the reporters who use their cellphones for video had their cameras stolen.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9jd15\">The Tracker has documented the theft of at least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=robbery%2Cprotest%2CIsrael-Gaza+war\">four journalists’ devices</a> at the demonstrations that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"1q60\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/NS_BH_06232024_-3.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"e8xb4\">Protesters and counterprotesters gathered outside Los Angeles’ Adas Torah synagogue on June 23, 2024. Freelance photojournalist David Swanson was on assignment covering clashes between demonstrators when he was shoved multiple times.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"David Swanson (Agence France-Presse)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photographer pulled, struck while covering LA protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-pulled-struck-while-covering-la-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-01T18:41:28.614253Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-01T18:41:28.614253Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-01T18:39:21.697853Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5rgtk\">Independent videographer Justin Jun was pulled by multiple individuals and smacked in the head while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"6110h\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fs7do\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"ejtkf\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"etl1t\">At 0:28 in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/johnschreiber/status/1805038380079808748\">footage</a> captured from a helicopter by <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dOKwts4J-0\">KCAL-TV</a> photojournalist John Schreiber, a man can be seen kicking independent videographer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-attacked-by-demonstrators-at-la-protest/\">Sean Beckner-Carmitchel</a>’s phone out of his hand. Jun caught the phone, but when he attempted to return it the pair of journalists were swarmed by individuals Beckner-Carmitchel identified as pro-Israeli demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"afg5b\">“The crowd surrounded us, so I grabbed him (Jun) really close and gave him a bear hug to try to make sure that nobody can get us down on the ground and to protect my face and stomach and to protect my gear,” Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Multiple fights broke out between pro-Palestine and pro-Israel demonstrators today near a synagogue in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of LA. Looks like some live-streamers/journalists were also attacked as a phone was kicked out of one man's hand. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kcalnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@kcalnews</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/JApVUC180U\">pic.twitter.com/JApVUC180U</a></p>— John Schreiber (@johnschreiber) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/johnschreiber/status/1805038380079808748?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 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=\"5rgtk\">Schreiber’s footage shows two men pulling Jun back while a third attempts to kick his video camera. One of the men who had pulled him into the street then strikes him in the back of the head with an open hand. Beckner-Carmitchel is also seen being punched multiple times while holding onto Jun.</p><p data-block-key=\"cdlrp\">Independent photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-camera-snatched-smashed-during-clashes-at-la-protest/\">Nick Stern</a> steps in to attempt to stop the attack, but as the journalists move away from the crowd Jun helps keep Beckner-Carmitchel upright after an assailant kicks him in the groin.</p><p data-block-key=\"br6c9\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2024-06-28_at_10.17.21.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"kq962\">Independent videographers Justin Jun and Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, shown in circle added at center, were assaulted by multiple individuals while reporting on clashing protests outside a synagogue in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Justin Jun (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Reporter asked to leave event after questioning New York governor",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-asked-to-leave-event-after-questioning-new-york-governor/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-02T20:41:35.024490Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-02T20:41:35.024490Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-02T20:41:34.929222Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vo3fw\">A senior reporter for the nonprofit newsroom New York Focus said he was “ejected” from an event held by Gov. Kathy Hochul in New York City on June 23, 2024, after she declined to answer questions from him about a controversial congestion pricing program.</p><p data-block-key=\"a4cps\">Journalist Sam Mellins was attending Hochul’s speech at the Latino Pastoral Action Center and Sanctuary in the Bronx, where he repeatedly asked her about the program, which would have charged drivers higher tolls to enter Manhattan during peak hours but was abruptly blocked by Hochul earlier in June.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">After <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GovKathyHochul?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GovKathyHochul</a> refused to answer my questions about her plans to fund the MTA, I was ejected from her event yesterday.<br><br>Meanwhile, Senator <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LizKrueger?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LizKrueger</a> says the that the governor has offered "no proposal" to replace congestion pricing.<a href=\"https://t.co/WIpUvMQgrs\">https://t.co/WIpUvMQgrs</a></p>— Sam Mellins (@SamMellins) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SamMellins/status/1805265517592166702?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 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=\"vo3fw\">According to <a href=\"https://nysfocus.com/2024/06/24/hochul-declines-questions-congestion-pricing\">a published account by Mellins</a>, Hochul went into a side room where security personnel barred the reporter from following. Mellins was told to leave the building and instructed to wait outside to ask questions of her there.</p><p data-block-key=\"4p4dv\">Hochul then apparently left by another exit, skirting him, as her security and press staff also left the building, Mellins wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"e660e\">Mellins added that Hochul spokesperson Liam Buckley apologized for the ejection, saying it “shouldn’t have happened.”</p><p data-block-key=\"43f15\">Neither Mellins nor Hochul’s press office responded to a request for additional information from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2024-07-02_at_4.09.22P.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ei56n\">Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at the Latino Pastoral Action Center and Sanctuary in New York City on June 23, 2024, where a reporter was asked to leave after asking questions about one of her policies.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"State government: Governor"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sam Mellins (New York Focus)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": [
"Government event"
]
},
{
"title": "Journalist assaulted at LA protest, has camera damaged and iPhone stolen",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-assaulted-by-la-protesters-has-camera-damaged-and-iphone-stolen/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-01T20:50:53.427599Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-02T21:09:31.531453Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-02T21:09:31.403576Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"87pwu\">Investigative journalist Kate Burns was beaten and had gear damaged and stolen while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"1p7e3\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cvlph\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nku4\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qaof\">Burns, who was posting live updates from <a href=\"https://x.com/LCRWnews/status/1804952319441965087\">the protest</a> to social platform X for the investigative journalism outlet Left Coast Right Watch, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was clearly identified as a journalist with a press pass on a lanyard and a camera around her neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"3q7l2\">Burns said that several times she was <a href=\"https://x.com/LCRWnews/status/1804984532120244377\">surrounded by people at the protest</a> who <a href=\"https://x.com/LCRWnews/status/1805016813727797296\">shouted misogynistic expletives</a> and threats. Pro-Israeli protesters <a href=\"https://x.com/LCRWnews/status/1804971469669388749\">called her a terrorist</a> and threatened to rape, behead and burn her at the stake, she recounted.</p><p data-block-key=\"735ki\">They also said they wished she had died of cancer, added Burns, a cancer survivor who wears a face mask because she is immunocompromised.</p><p data-block-key=\"dvfdh\">When, near the end of the protest, Burns went to the aid of a journalist who was being assaulted, an individual stole her iPhone and ran off. Another person at the protest snatched her hat and mask and tripped her, she told the Tracker.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is the last of my footage <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ACatWithNews</a> being assulted other journo's trying to break it up then a guy in the white shirt steals my phone, someone see else steals my hat and mask, trips me, then when he sees the cops he throws my phone <a href=\"https://t.co/WsKZ0j96PK\">pic.twitter.com/WsKZ0j96PK</a></p>— LEFT COAST RIGHT WATCH (@LCRWnews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LCRWnews/status/1805029913248059854?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 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=\"87pwu\">She chased after her phone and when the thief saw the police officers he threw it on the ground, she said. As she reached to get it, others at the protest stepped on the phone to block her.</p><p data-block-key=\"8mv0a\">While she was down, a person at the protest kicked her on the back. Burns said she had scrapes on her hands from the pavement.</p><p data-block-key=\"1tv8c\">She said she picked up her phone, hat and mask and ran to the police, but they didn’t respond to her pleas to intervene.</p><p data-block-key=\"2iipt\">Burns told the Tracker that she retreated into a doorway, but five people at the protest surrounded her. They kicked stones at her, yelled hateful words and taunted her about being a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"r4bf\">Police officers then grabbed Burns and moved her to the other side of the police line into safety, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bg6ai\">A news crew from local station KTLA-TV then intervened to encourage police to take a report of the crimes against Burns. She was later able to file a police report.</p><p data-block-key=\"9p9ld\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest, one of which was Burns’, and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p><p data-block-key=\"7mgmd\">Burns said that her camera, a Canon EOS 600D, was damaged in the scuffles and its case was dinged but still functional. Her phone was undamaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"3kfar\">Burns told the Tracker that her editor has taken her off on-the-ground reporting until her safety can be assured.</p><p data-block-key=\"8uhjp\">“To be perfectly honest, I’m rethinking my life choices,” Burns said. “We thought we were going to get killed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ackcl\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include additional details about the incident provided by Burns to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Kate_burns_via_acatwithnews.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"fyp7f\">Investigative journalist Kate Burns, right, is shown working at a protest in Los Angeles on June 23, 2024. Burns was threatened and assaulted, and had her phone stolen and camera damaged during clashes between protesters and counterprotesters.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"case_number": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"subpoena_type": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera equipment"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest",
"robbery"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kate Burns (Left Coast Right Watch)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist pepper-sprayed, camera smacked at clashing LA protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pepper-sprayed-camera-smacked-at-clashing-la-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-28T15:39:54.396739Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-10T21:13:22.411732Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-10T21:13:22.294616Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ms3qq\">Freelance photojournalist Shay Horse was pepper-sprayed and his camera smacked while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"5hphm\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>. </p><p data-block-key=\"161c7\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters. </p><p data-block-key=\"1cpdd\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"qbf2\">Horse told the Tracker that he arrived at the synagogue and things were already getting “weird.” </p><p data-block-key=\"298gv\">“I showed up and was there for maybe two minutes and someone pepper-sprayed some people, including this one dude Cam Higby,” Horse said. “I got the backsplash right in the eyes. Oh god, I hated that so much.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bijgi\">The Tracker has documented Higby’s assault <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-sprayed-with-chemical-irritant-while-covering-clashing-la-protests/\">here</a>. </p><p data-block-key=\"7chl3\">Horse said approximately an hour later things started getting more hostile and violent, with fights breaking out one after another.</p><p data-block-key=\"63g2p\">“I was trying to photograph one of the assaults and this dude came up and tried to fuck with me,” Horse said. “He went to punch me in the face and then smacked the shit out of my gear. He told me I had to delete everything and then ran away from me.” </p><p data-block-key=\"6c7ft\">Horse <a href=\"https://x.com/HuntedHorse/status/1805055832566243750\">posted</a> a clip of the incident to the social media platform X, which shows an individual wearing a face covering, sunglasses and a baseball cap approaching Horse. The man can be heard telling the photojournalist, “Put your camera away” before striking at it with an open palm.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gonna do a thread of video I shot today at the violent conflict outside of Adas Torah. <br><br>I got my camera smacked by a masked person that demanded I delete footage of an assault on a pro Palestine protester. <a href=\"https://t.co/gPSIQW6MAt\">pic.twitter.com/gPSIQW6MAt</a></p>— Shay Horse (@HuntedHorse) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/HuntedHorse/status/1805055832566243750?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 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=\"ms3qq\">In a <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8mLwoXRYNm/?hl=en\">post on Instagram</a> about the day’s events, Horse wrote that he was also pepper-sprayed a second time and that other journalists were targeted with violence as well. </p><p data-block-key=\"f0h6q\">“Even the insurrectionists weren’t this openly hostile to journalists,” wrote Horse, who covered the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “I saw four other journalists getting assaulted, harassed or robbed by the pro Israel supporters.” </p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Pro Israel supporters really hated news cameras. I had at least a dozen people do something like this to me all day. <a href=\"https://t.co/oRtc1rapiW\">pic.twitter.com/oRtc1rapiW</a></p>— Shay Horse (@HuntedHorse) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/HuntedHorse/status/1805410926944035164?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 25, 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=\"ms3qq\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p><p data-block-key=\"e4ur3\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment and additional details about the incident from Shay Horse.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Horse_CA_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zvy15\">Freelance photojournalist Shay Horse, center left, can be seen carrying multiple cameras to document clashing protests outside the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. Horse was pepper-sprayed and his camera struck that day.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"case_number": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Shay Horse (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Legal journalist may publish revenge porn plaintiff’s name after prior restraint overturned",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/legal-journalist-may-publish-revenge-porn-plaintiffs-name-after-prior-restraint-overturned/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-22T18:23:16.883412Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-22T19:43:18.041928Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-22T19:43:17.936266Z",
"date": "2024-06-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Antonio",
"longitude": -98.49363,
"latitude": 29.42412,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tpvxe\">A magistrate judge ordered a legal journalist on June 20, 2024, not to publish the name of a plaintiff that had mistakenly appeared on court documents in a revenge porn case. The ruling was overturned a month later.</p><p data-block-key=\"cu8d9\">Eugene Volokh — co-founder of the legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy, a law professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University — was singled out in the ruling by Magistrate Judge Elizabeth S. Chestney as the only person who was barred from using the plaintiff’s name.</p><p data-block-key=\"9vffh\">The case, initially filed in 2019, involves a woman who ended an extramarital affair with a man, who she said then posted revenge porn to several adult websites. The case was sealed to protect her privacy. She and the defendant later settled, but the question of whether the case was improperly sealed remained.</p><p data-block-key=\"46p33\">Volokh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he initially noticed the case in an alert from Westlaw, a database of legal documents, and thought it raised First Amendment questions that he might want to write about, given his expertise as a free speech scholar.</p><p data-block-key=\"59qir\">Even though the case was sealed, the names of both the plaintiff and defendant were published in an opinion available on Westlaw, along with other documents that should have been sealed under the judge’s order. It’s not clear exactly why they were published, but Volokh said it appeared to be an error.</p><p data-block-key=\"fnaeq\">“It was just a simple mistake,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"1hof7\">Volokh moved to intervene in the case and have it unsealed. Chestney, the magistrate judge, agreed on July 18, 2022, to let him intervene but <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/legal-journalist-may-write-about-revenge-porn-case-after-prior-restraint-overturned/\">ruled that Volokh could not write about the case</a> until a decision was made on unsealing the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"8tqst\">“Professor Volokh may not blog or write about this case until any renewed motion to unseal has been granted,” <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891.358.0.pdf\">the ruling ordered</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8d0dm\">Volokh appealed the case to District Judge Xavier Rodriguez, who on Aug. 3, 2022, <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891.363.0.pdf\">vacated the prior restraint language</a> and said the entire case should be unsealed. Volokh then published the plaintiff’s name in a blog post in August 2022 since, he said, it was also the name of the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"flnn3\">The plaintiff appealed the unsealing of the case to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which <a href=\"https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/22/22-50707.0.pdf\">ruled that it should be partially sealed</a> with certain personal information redacted.</p><p data-block-key=\"f3mlg\">The case then returned to Chestney to determine what exactly should be redacted and whether the plaintiff could retroactively use a pseudonym, Jane Doe.</p><p data-block-key=\"d81ft\">In her June 20, 2024, ruling, Chestney ruled in favor of the retroactive pseudonym.</p><p data-block-key=\"fbt12\">“And then to my surprise, she says that even though I don't have to take down past writings that mention the plaintiff’s name, I cannot use her name in future writings,” Volokh told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"4f9tn\"><a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891.454.0.pdf\">The ruling</a> stated: “Professor Volokh may not, however, publicly disclose Plaintiff’s name or personal identifying information in any future writings, speeches, or other public discourse.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8dlco\">Volokh again appealed and on July 16 Rodriguez <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891.457.0.pdf\">vacated that prior restraint language</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7mq1p\">“The order restricts Volokh from sharing information that is publicly available through his prior writings but allows for any of Volokh’s readers to share that same information,” Rodriguez wrote. “As such, the language at issue here is an unconstitutional prior restraint.”</p><p data-block-key=\"de6hs\">Volokh detailed the ruling in a <a href=\"https://reason.com/volokh/2024/07/17/district-court-rejects-magistrate-judges-gag-order-on-publishing-name-of-retroactively-pseudonymized-litigant/\">post on The Volokh Conspiracy</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ecvf3\">The plaintiff could still appeal the ruling to the 5th Circuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"587ua\">Volokh said he was deciding whether to go back to his August 2022 article and redact the name.</p><p data-block-key=\"8f6lg\">But whether he uses her name in future articles, he added, should be a matter of editorial discretion, not a judge’s ruling.</p><p data-block-key=\"cojll\">“I think it’s important that this be a decision for the individual journalist, the individual speaker, and not something that they’re ordered to do,” Volokh told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"9cnu1\">Volokh said he sees this case as an example of the system working. But he noted that he was uniquely positioned to fight these instances of prior restraint.</p><p data-block-key=\"f25d2\">“I should also acknowledge that maybe if I weren’t a law professor, if I weren’t a specialist on the subject, if I had to pay a lawyer to challenge the prior restraints, maybe the situation might not have come out as well,” he told the Tracker.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2024-07-22_at_11.53.55.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"mzopc\">A portion of the July 16, 2024, district court ruling that vacated prior restraint language ordering legal journalist and professor Eugene Volokh not to publish the name of a plaintiff in a revenge porn case.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": "struck down",
"mistakenly_released_materials": true,
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"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
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"categories": [
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],
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},
{
"title": "Student journalist arrested while covering Stanford protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-arrested-while-covering-stanford-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-10T16:26:02.050858Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-03-06T22:05:43.258484Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-03-06T22:05:43.027855Z",
"date": "2024-06-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Stanford",
"longitude": -122.16608,
"latitude": 37.42411,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"d7l9w\">Dilan Gohill, a student journalist for The Stanford Daily, was arrested while reporting on a protest at the university’s campus in Stanford, California, on June 5, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"8htae\">The Daily <a href=\"https://stanforddaily.com/2024/06/05/pro-palestine-protesters-occupy-presidents-office/\">reported</a> that a group of students barricaded themselves into a building housing the president’s office at around 5:30 a.m., while more protesters gathered outside. The students demanded the school divest from weapons manufacturers, disclose endowment investments and drop disciplinary and criminal charges against pro-Palestinian students at Stanford.</p><p data-block-key=\"53hoe\">Officers from the Stanford Department of Public Safety and Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office entered the building at approximately 7:20 a.m., <a href=\"https://stanforddaily.com/2024/06/05/live-updates-police-break-window-after-pro-palestine-protesters-take-over-presidents-office/\">according to the Daily</a>, and arrested at least a dozen protesters. The Daily reported that one of its reporters — later identified as Gohill — was among those detained, despite identifying himself as a journalist and showing law enforcement his press credential.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qtsd\">Gohill was transported to the Santa Clara County Jail alongside the protesters, where he was held for approximately 15 hours before being released on $20,000 bail, the Daily <a href=\"https://stanforddaily.com/2024/06/07/protesters-who-occupied-presidents-office-receive-felony-charges/\">reported</a>. He faces a felony burglary charge, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-07/stanford-university-arrests-13-pro-palestine-protesters-asks-da-to-file-felony-burglary-charges\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"955op\">The Columbia Journalism Review <a href=\"https://www.cjr.org/getting-the-story/should-a-student-reporter-face-prosecution-for-embedding-with-protesters.php?mc_cid=0cf3b791a0&mc_eid=d54a865283\">reported</a> that police seized Gohill’s cellphone, laptop and school notebooks, as well as a camera belonging to the Daily. Gohill told CJR that officers also “tried to hold my phone up and biometrically use my face ID to open my phone. And I literally turned my head and said, ‘I do not consent.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"1s9d6\">CJR reported that the equipment was still in police custody as of December.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nn54\">Stanford President Richard Saller and Provost Jenny Martinez, whose office was also in the occupied building, issued a <a href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/06/this-morning-s-occupation-of-building-10\">statement</a> that day saying they were appalled and saddened by the protest, and that in addition to pursuing the criminal charges, all arrested students would be suspended and seniors would be barred from graduating.</p><p data-block-key=\"3e89s\">In a subsequent letter to the Daily’s board of directors on June 7, Saller and Martinez claimed that the incident raised “serious questions of journalistic ethics,” and that Gohill had no First Amendment right to cover the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"8g2ns\">“The First Amendment does not protect the right to break, enter and/or trespass in a locked private building, and this case did not involve a police line or rolling closure,” the letter read. “Moreover, as a matter of policy, allowing reporters a right to trespass in private buildings merely because there are newsworthy materials or events of interest inside would create a multitude of problems.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5ipe3\">Saller and Martinez added that while they fully support having Gohill criminally prosecuted and have referred him to Stanford’s Office of Community Standards alongside the other students arrested that day, they have lifted his interim suspension and campus ban.</p><p data-block-key=\"egsf2\">In an <a href=\"https://stanforddaily.com/2024/06/05/letter-from-the-editors-on-todays-arrests-at-the-presidents-office/\">op-ed</a> about Gohill’s arrest, the Daily’s editors wrote, “His arrest constitutes a threat to the freedom of the press, including protection from unreasonable search and seizure, and we are disappointed in the actions of officers and the University.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4n3ip\">Neither Editor-in-Chief Kaushikee Nayudu nor an attorney representing the Daily responded to requests for additional information.</p><p data-block-key=\"9e9s\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article was updated in December 2024 to include details about the equipment seized from Dilan Gohill during his arrest.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTSZPSAR.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"thkib\">Protesters gather at a pro-Palestinian encampment at Stanford University in April 2024. When police arrested students occupying an office on the California campus on June 5, a student journalist for The Stanford Daily was detained and charged as well.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Stanford Department of Public Safety",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2024-06-05",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": "in custody",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "computer"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2025-03-06 00:00:00+00:00) Prosecutors drop burglary charge against California student journalist"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Dilan Gohill (The Stanford Daily)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Broadcast photographer struck, kicked outside Massachusetts court",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/broadcast-photographer-struck-kicked-outside-massachusetts-court/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-10T17:47:37.206375Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T18:13:50.383692Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T18:13:50.285705Z",
"date": "2024-06-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Taunton",
"longitude": -71.08977,
"latitude": 41.9001,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5fmzt\">James Cullity, a news photographer for television station WFXT, was attacked alongside other members of the press while reporting outside a courthouse in Taunton, Massachusetts, on June 3, 2024. His alleged assailant was charged with multiple counts of assault later that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"2736p\">According to a police report shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a man identified as Louis Chaves was being arraigned at the Taunton District Court on unrelated assault charges and was released on a $250 bond. Following his hearing, Chaves and his wife exited through a side door of the courthouse and were approached by a gaggle of broadcast journalists from multiple local stations seeking comment on the allegations against him.</p><p data-block-key=\"dpqrf\">“Louis appeared to be overcome with rage at the sight of the reporters and started advancing on a cameraman,” the police report stated, identifying Cullity as the targeted journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"bl8ap\">In <a href=\"https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/former-taunton-crossing-guard-facing-new-assault-charges-after-attacking-news-crews/JIO7WQM6NNHZ5PB5TPFD3G2D4U/\">footage</a> aired by Boston-based WFXT, Chaves’ wife can be seen attempting to hold him back while he lunges at Cullity, grabs the journalist by the shirt and kicks him. Cullity also appears to shout at Chaves to stop while backing up to avoid being assaulted further.</p><p data-block-key=\"d5hsd\">Chaves then directed his attention and aggression toward a second photojournalist, identified in the police report as Brian Felsenthal of the Rhode Island-based station WPRI-TV. The Tracker has documented that assault <a href=\"/all-incidents/television-reporter-struck-while-reporting-outside-massachusetts-court/\">here</a>. Other journalists present were charged at but not struck.</p><p data-block-key=\"13ucg\">After walking a short distance away, Chaves also picked up a branch from a nearby tree and attempted to throw it at the group of journalists but it struck the tree in front of him instead.</p><p data-block-key=\"48rkn\">Cullity went to a local police station to report the attack at 4 p.m., according to the police, and told officers that he did not suffer any injuries and his equipment was undamaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"628qk\">Chaves was arrested several hours later and booked on three charges: assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault with a dangerous weapon for his alleged attacks on Cullity, and assault and battery for his alleged attack on Felsenthal.</p><p data-block-key=\"9sidv\">He was arraigned at 10 a.m. the following day and released on the same bond, but was issued a warning and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.</p><p data-block-key=\"400rt\">According to court records reviewed by the Tracker, Chaves has a pretrial hearing on Aug. 8.</p><p data-block-key=\"ba0im\">Neither Cullity nor WFXT responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"e2wme\">WFXT photographer James Cullity, right, was struck and kicked by a man he and other members of the press were attempting to interview outside a courthouse in Taunton, Massachusetts, on June 3, 2023. The man was arrested on multiple assault charges.</p>",
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"James Cullity (WFXT)"
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{
"title": "Television reporter struck while reporting outside Massachusetts court",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/television-reporter-struck-while-reporting-outside-massachusetts-court/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-10T17:49:28.140849Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T18:15:37.908130Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T18:15:37.828265Z",
"date": "2024-06-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Taunton",
"longitude": -71.08977,
"latitude": 41.9001,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ea1ld\">Brian Felsenthal, a news photographer for WPRI-TV, was attacked alongside other members of the press while reporting outside a courthouse in Taunton, Massachusetts, on June 3, 2024. His alleged assailant was charged with multiple counts of assault later that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"23n9q\">According to a police report shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a man identified as Louis Chaves was being arraigned at the Taunton District Court on unrelated assault charges and was released on a $250 bond. Following his hearing, Chaves and his wife exited through a side door of the courthouse and were approached by a gaggle of broadcast journalists from multiple local stations seeking comment on the allegations against him.</p><p data-block-key=\"dfqtu\">“Louis appeared to be overcome with rage at the sight of the reporters and started advancing on a cameraman,” the report stated. After striking and kicking the first photojournalist, identified in the report as <a href=\"/all-incidents/broadcast-photographer-struck-kicked-outside-massachusetts-court/\">James Cullity</a> of the Boston-based station WFXT, Chaves directed his attention and aggression toward Felsenthal.</p><p data-block-key=\"cbcl4\">In <a href=\"https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/se-mass/taunton-assault-suspect-accused-of-attacking-members-of-media/\">footage</a> aired by Rhode Island-based WPRI-TV, Chaves’ wife can be seen attempting to hold him back while he slaps at Felsenthal and his camera. Felsenthal told police that he was not injured and his equipment was not damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"4mfab\">According to the police report, WPRI-TV reporter Alex Torres-Perez was working alongside Felsenthal that day. She told officers that while Chaves threatened her and the other journalists when they attempted to ask him questions, he did not assault her.</p><p data-block-key=\"8iroo\">After walking a short distance away, Chaves also picked up a branch from a nearby tree and attempted to throw it at the group of journalists but it struck the tree in front of him instead.</p><p data-block-key=\"7sel4\">Chaves was arrested several hours later and booked on three charges: assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault with a dangerous weapon for his alleged attacks on Cullity, and assault and battery for his alleged attack on Felsenthal.</p><p data-block-key=\"7q0uu\">He was arraigned at 10 a.m. the following day and released on the same bond, but was issued a warning and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.</p><p data-block-key=\"f6dfe\">According to court records reviewed by the Tracker, Chaves has a pretrial hearing on Aug. 8.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ikg0\">Neither Felsenthal nor WPRI-TV responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Felsenthal_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zya7f\">WPRI-TV photographer Brian Felsenthal, right, was struck by a man he and other journalists were attempting to interview outside a courthouse in Taunton, Massachusetts, on June 3, 2023. The man was arrested on multiple assault charges.</p>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"Assault"
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"Brian Felsenthal (WPRI-TV)"
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},
{
"title": "New York newspaper to sue Nassau County, alleging retaliation for coverage",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-york-newspaper-to-sue-nassau-county-alleging-retaliation-for-coverage/",
"first_published_at": "2025-02-11T21:56:19.391129Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-12T14:43:43.432911Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-12T14:43:43.340185Z",
"date": "2024-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Melville",
"longitude": -73.41512,
"latitude": 40.79343,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dx6cv\">Newsday plans to sue New York’s Nassau County, it said on Jan. 28, 2025, citing a retaliatory campaign against the newspaper that a county official referred to as “a holy war” and which included a near-complete media list blackout starting in June.</p><p data-block-key=\"e96bv\">Melville-based Newsday <a href=\"https://archive.ph/1v4kB\">notified</a> Nassau County that it would file suit in federal court against the county, County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the County Legislature.</p><p data-block-key=\"3mksr\">According to a draft complaint obtained by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, the outlet alleges that due to displeasure with Newsday’s news coverage and editorial content, the defendants violated its First Amendment rights by removing its reporters from the county media distribution list and repeatedly ignored requests for comment, as well as revoking its long-held designation as the county’s official newspaper.</p><p data-block-key=\"5o4b4\">In the complaint, Newsday said that throughout 2024, its reporters had critically covered attempts by Blakeman, a Republican, to ban transgender women and girls from competing on sports teams with cisgender women and girls on Nassau County property. Its editorial board had also <a href=\"https://www.newsday.com/opinion/editorials/blakeman-transgender-sports-ban-nassau-ijy7ye2r\">denounced</a> Blakeman’s efforts.</p><p data-block-key=\"2di94\">Unhappy with that coverage, “the Blakeman administration engaged in a multi-pronged effort to deprive Newsday of access to public information,” the complaint alleges.</p><p data-block-key=\"3pcrl\">At the beginning of June, the administration “removed all but one Newsday employee—an editor—from its distribution list for press releases,” the paper said. Previously, at least 20 reporters and editors had been on the list, the complaint added, noting that the one editor who remained was a registered Republican.</p><p data-block-key=\"bbjki\">“As a result of this blackout, Newsday was routinely denied public information that Blakeman and the County provided to other news outlets, including advisories for press conferences and public statements,” the outlet alleged.</p><p data-block-key=\"4jarm\">The complaint also described how, starting in March 2024, Blakeman and his officials ignored nearly 50 requests for comment about various topics. In a text message in June, Blakeman spokesperson Christopher Boyle told a Newsday reporter that the administration was in a “little bit of a holy war” against the outlet about a “myriad of things,” adding that they “haven’t been commenting on anything.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dar35\">Newsday, as the area paper with the widest reach, had been legally designated as Nassau County’s official newspaper for “decades,” the complaint continued. It published government notices — such as public hearings about local laws — in its print editions and on its website. In both 2023 and 2024, the country spent some $200,000 to publish those notices in Newsday.</p><p data-block-key=\"en7s6\">Newsday alleges that on June 24, 2024, the Legislature improperly amended a local law governing the process by which an official newspaper is designated when it gave the county executive new authority to make recommendations, subject to the body’s approval. The process had previously been the sole purview of the Legislature, and Newsday argued that the change should have been brought before voters.</p><p data-block-key=\"do7o9\">Blakeman then recommended to legislative leadership Dec. 9 that the New York Post be designated as the county’s official paper. According to the complaint, Newsday’s Nassau County readership of more than 440,000 is nearly twice the Post’s county readership of around 227,000.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ebge\">Despite objections from Democratic legislators over the gap in readership, the Republican-controlled Legislature passed Blakeman’s proposal Dec. 16. But it did not include it on the public agenda or provide public text of the proposed resolution ahead of time, which Newsday alleges violated the state’s Open Meetings Act.</p><p data-block-key=\"2r15d\">Later that day, Blakeman <a href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bruce-blakeman-erin-geismar-nassau-county-welcomes/id1550751591?i=1000680632791\">said on a radio program</a> that, “Many of our constituents don’t agree with the philosophy of the editorial board of Newsday, which was also an important consideration.”</p><p data-block-key=\"522lh\">In the proposed suit, Newsday said it would ask the court to issue a permanent injunction ordering the county and the Legislature to restore its designation as the county’s official paper, void the June law change and the December 2024 resolution, declare that the Legislature violated the Open Meetings Act and award Newsday compensatory damages and legal costs.</p><p data-block-key=\"fmpvf\">In a statement, Newsday Publisher Debby Krenek said, “The residents of Nassau County have the right to transparency from their government officials, and taxpayer dollars should never be used to intimidate the press and limit information the public needs.”</p><p data-block-key=\"a2en1\">Blakeman did not respond to a request for comment. In a <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/nyregion/newsday-suing-blakeman-nassau-county.html?smid=nytcore-android-share\">statement</a> to The New York Times, his spokesperson, Boyle, called the lawsuit “foolish, frivolous and completely devoid of merit.” He added, “The Blakeman administration regularly communicates with all members of the media, including Newsday.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25036653244773.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"i2jhk\">Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, at podium, speaks during a news conference in Mineola, New York, on March 6, 2024. Newsday said on Jan. 28, 2025, that it planned to sue Blakeman and the county, alleging retaliation for its coverage.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"case_number": null,
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"name": "New York",
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"Newsday"
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"Local government: Legislature"
],
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"Denial of Access"
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"Press credential or media list"
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},
{
"title": "Turkish journalist slapped repeatedly during live broadcast in Pennsylvania",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/turkish-journalist-slapped-repeatedly-during-live-broadcast-in-pennsylvania/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-28T19:37:06.028446Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-15T15:55:04.694112Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-15T15:55:04.589609Z",
"date": "2024-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Saylorsburg",
"longitude": -75.32352,
"latitude": 40.89565,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j3h42\">A journalist for CNN Türk was repeatedly slapped and nearly struck by an SUV on June 1, 2024, during a live broadcast in rural Pennsylvania.</p><p data-block-key=\"fc4o6\">Yunus Paksoy, the Washington D.C. bureau chief for CNN Türk, an Istanbul-based news channel affiliated with CNN, was broadcasting live with his iPhone outside the Chestnut Retreat Center in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, which is believed to be the residence of the U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen.</p><p data-block-key=\"9c6h7\">A GMC SUV drove directly toward Paksoy so that he had to jump from the curb into the roadway to avoid being hit, according to a criminal complaint.</p><p data-block-key=\"b2qse\">On air, Paksoy <a href=\"https://youtu.be/oxl1Uk4keRM?feature=shared&t=110\">is heard saying</a> in English: “Pull away. Pull away. Just pull away. What the hell do you think you’re doing here? Are you mad? Are you mad? What are you doing?”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"tr\" dir=\"ltr\">CNN TÜRK Vaşington Temsilcisi Yunus Paksoy, FETÖ'nün Pensilvanya’daki örgüt kampından yayın yaptığı sırada saldırıya uğradı. Bir FETÖ’cü, Paksoy'u önce arabayla ezmeye sonra otomobilden çıkıp yumruk atmaya başladı. Canlı yayındaki o saldırıya Ankara'dan peş peşe tepki geldi.… <a href=\"https://t.co/sh96SDm65v\">pic.twitter.com/sh96SDm65v</a></p>— CNN TÜRK (@cnnturk) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/cnnturk/status/1797345245396435118?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"j3h42\">The driver, Ekrem Candir, then backed up and got out of the car, approached Paksoy and slapped his face, the complaint said, shaking the camera so it panned to the pavement. He then shoved the journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"fkj86\">Candir turned away, then came back and slapped Paksoy again, knocking the iPhone and other items out of his hand, the criminal complaint filed by Pennsylvania State Police said.</p><p data-block-key=\"etjvb\">The broadcast view shows a jerky movement between the sky and pavement as the phone falls onto the road, then cuts off. The phone was undamaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"4jntk\">Candir proceeded to pull Paksoy back into the roadway by his arm and head, then slapped Paksoy’s head and back of the neck again, the complaint said. Paksoy’s shirt was torn open in the attack.</p><p data-block-key=\"8sf66\">Candir, a resident of the retreat, was arrested and charged with simple assault, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and harassment. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Magisterial District Court in Brodheadsville on Aug. 8.</p><p data-block-key=\"fvc07\">Paksoy was treated at a hospital for bruises and abrasions. He <a href=\"https://x.com/yunuspaksoy/status/1796997584071840048\">tweeted later that day</a> that he was in good condition.</p><p data-block-key=\"68va0\">Troopers said Paksoy stayed in public areas and didn’t enter the retreat’s private property. In his broadcast, Paksoy showed the “No Trespassing” signs outside the property and explained that it would be illegal to enter without permission.</p><p data-block-key=\"cekk7\">The Chestnut Retreat Center was started by Turkish American Muslims and, according to its website, is based on the teachings of Gülen, who has lived in the U.S. since 1999. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/world/middleeast/turkey-fethullah-gulen-coup.html\">blames the cleric for a 2016 coup attempt</a>, although the U.S. has <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/17/politics/trump-fethullah-gulen-turkey/index.html\">declined requests to extradite</a> him.</p><p data-block-key=\"6n09c\">Erdoğan spokesman Fahrettin Altun <a href=\"https://x.com/fahrettinaltun/status/1796976959286559123\">tweeted his condolences</a> to Paksoy and said he would work with U.S. authorities to seek punishment for those behind the attack. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also <a href=\"https://www.mfa.gov.tr/no_-103_-sayin-yunus-paksoy-un-ugradigi-saldiri-hk.tr.mfa\">condemned the attack</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7kdqu\">Shadows show the assault of journalist Yunus Paksoy during a live broadcast on CNN Türk on June 1, 2024, as his phone was knocked out of his hands.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"actor": null,
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"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,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-08-08 00:00:00+00:00) Man who slapped Turkish journalist fined for harassment"
],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Yunus Paksoy (CNN Türk)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Turkish photojournalist shoved to the ground by police at NYC protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/turkish-photojournalist-shoved-to-the-ground-by-police-at-nyc-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-12T15:36:52.157238Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-12T15:36:52.157238Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-12T15:36:52.044874Z",
"date": "2024-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xgjqx\">Fatih Aktaş, a photojournalist for the Turkish state-run outlet Anadolu Agency, was shoved to the ground by multiple New York City police officers while covering a pro-Palestinian protest in Brooklyn on May 31, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"5crrj\">Protesters gathered outside Barclays Center arena at 3 p.m., NBC News <a href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-arrest-34-people-brooklyn-museum-protesters-occupy-building-rcna155032\">reported</a>, before walking the mile to the Brooklyn Museum, where they occupied the plaza and entered the building, hanging banners both inside and on the facade and calling for a cease-fire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.</p><p data-block-key=\"a09hd\">Aktaş told Anadolu he was photographing the violent police response to the protests when he became a target of it. “While I was trying to capture the police intervention in the protests, a police officer strongly pushed me backward,” Aktaş said. “To avoid damaging my camera, I had to fall on my back, hitting my elbow hard on the ground.”</p><p data-block-key=\"edm69\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/peterhvideo/status/1796963102367338713\">footage</a> of the incident, Aktaş appears to be standing and photographing police while demonstrators march in front of the museum. At least three officers can then be seen shoving Aktaş, with the photojournalist landing on the ground approximately 10 feet back from the officers. Moments later, another officer can be seen helping him to his feet as two supervisory officers walk past, with one of the higher-ranking officers then pushing him again and ordering him to back up.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Four NYPD officers are seen pushing a journalist to the ground as they were covering the beating and subsequent arrest of a protestor in Brooklyn yesterday. <a href=\"https://t.co/lGhS0lRIfe\">pic.twitter.com/lGhS0lRIfe</a></p>— Peter Hambrecht (@peterhvideo) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/peterhvideo/status/1796963102367338713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 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=\"xgjqx\">Aktaş said that he didn’t initially notice the scrapes and bruises on his elbow, but was grateful that his injuries weren’t worse. “I could have hit my head on the ground at that moment, which could have had more severe consequences,” he told Anadolu.</p><p data-block-key=\"cdnki\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/MedyaUmed/status/1797320533983330625\">video</a> published by a Turkish media association, Aktaş described the incident and showed the injury to his elbow. Neither Aktaş nor Anadolu responded to requests for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"chstr\">Turkish <a href=\"https://x.com/fahrettinaltun/status/1797331674469892151\">public</a> <a href=\"https://x.com/omerrcelik/status/1797342999195664757\">officials</a> condemned the attack and stated their support for Aktaş and Anadolu.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Aktas_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"286zp\">Anadolu Agency photojournalist Fatih Aktaş, center, was shoved to the ground by multiple New York City police officers while covering a pro-Palestinian protest in Brooklyn on May 31, 2024. He reported minor injuries and no damage to his equipment.</p>",
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"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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},
{
"title": "Justice Department questions journalist’s motives in reporting on federal terror case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/justice-department-questions-journalists-motives-in-reporting-on-federal-terror-case/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-27T15:20:36.637717Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-30T19:18:25.794648Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-30T19:18:25.710922Z",
"date": "2024-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Detroit",
"longitude": -83.04575,
"latitude": 42.33143,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5598b\">Federal prosecutors attacked a reporter’s motives in a U.S. district court filing May 29, 2024, that sought to keep documents sealed in a terrorism case, suggesting that the journalist was colluding with the defendant to undermine their case.</p><p data-block-key=\"2np9\">The filing in the case of alleged terrorist Aws Naser is centered on the defendant’s relationship and conversations with The Intercept contributing writer Trevor Aaronson, an award-winning journalist whose work largely centers on counterterrorism cases.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rbn5\">“The Court should consider the possibility of improper motives on the part of the media ‘such as promoting public scandal or gratifying private spite,’” prosecutors <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24767444-federal-prosecutors-attack-journalist-in-court-filing-to-block-document-release\">wrote in the 23-page filing</a>. They also suggested that Aaronson was working with Naser to “taint the jury pool and undermine the fairness of the trial.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6f0bp\">Aaronson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the allegations against him were false, outrageous and dangerous to press freedoms.</p><p data-block-key=\"61m8\">“If journalists don’t stand up to these kinds of attacks from the Justice Department, we run the very real risk of those attacks continuing and growing,” Aaronson told the Tracker. “I also plan to continue reporting on this case, because we also can’t allow these kinds of attacks to create a chilling effect.” Aaronson spoke in detail about the prosecutors’ accusations in a video interview with the Tracker:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.49999999999999%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/tiXJVMAHzQo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen title=\"Justice Department questions motives of journalist reporting on federal terror case\"></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"b9x10\">An attorney for Aaronson and The Intercept sent <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24767445-letter-from-attorney-charles-kadado-to-judge-jonathan-grey-on-behalf-of-the-intercept\">a letter to the judge</a> and attended a hearing in the U.S. District Court in Detroit.</p><p data-block-key=\"bq80j\">“This Court should be alarmed by the Government’s public attacks on a journalist who has been working diligently to obtain the information it aims to conceal from the public,” the letter said.</p><p data-block-key=\"9fcqk\">Since 2019, Aaronson has been interviewing Naser, a former U.S. military translator who was born in Iraq and raised in Michigan, he explained in <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2024/06/20/justice-department-fbi-journalist-isis/\">The Intercept</a>. Naser had previously been convicted of armed robbery and was jailed when the journalist met him, Aaronson wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"g4qj\">Aaronson explained that he was investigating whether Naser’s Fourth Amendment right to unlawful search and seizure had been violated, and was seeking information about any ties between Naser’s parole officer and the FBI.</p><p data-block-key=\"6vmde\">Naser’s attorneys sought to reclassify 124 files that are part of the discovery process from “sensitive” to “general,” in anticipation that it may shed light on those issues.</p><p data-block-key=\"9j961\">Since 2022, when Naser was charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, Aaronson wrote that he has been recording phone interviews with him for a possible audio documentary. Law enforcement was also recording those calls.</p><p data-block-key=\"efkik\">Aaronson told the Tracker that he hasn’t decided whether to create a documentary; nevertheless, prosecutors cited it in their filing. They called it a “one-sided documentary” that would be “sensationalizing the FBI’s investigative techniques in terrorism cases.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dprct\">Prosecutors also claimed a documentary would be a powerful vehicle for “evoking strong emotions, and creating a long-lasting impression of the subject matter.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2k3up\">Aaronson told the Tracker that he adheres to the “same high journalistic standards” regardless of the medium or length of his work.</p><p data-block-key=\"tep5\">“The government doesn’t have a say in what form a journalist’s reporting takes when it reaches the public, and the government dangerously suggests with this statement that documentaries are propaganda, not journalism,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"6rh66\">The judge hasn’t issued a ruling. The next months would show whether prosecutors continue citing Aaronson as a reason to keep them sealed, he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"74q8f\">“At a time of increasing attacks on the press from both the public and current and former government officials, I think we need to remember that it’s important to defend press freedoms whenever they are questioned or attacked by a government agency,” Aaronson told the Tracker. “Especially the Justice Department, whose prosecutors swore an oath [to] defend our constitutional freedoms, including freedom of the press.”</p></div>",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Aaronson_screenshot.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6o49f\">Journalist Trevor Aaronson, in an interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, spoke about federal prosecutors’ accusations in a May 29, 2024, filing that he colluded with a suspected terrorist.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
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"Department of Justice"
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"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
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"Trevor Aaronson (The Intercept)"
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{
"title": "Fox News cameraman struck with umbrella at U.S. Capitol",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fox-news-cameraman-struck-with-umbrella-at-us-capitol/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-14T19:54:19.099736Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T19:54:19.099736Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T19:54:19.026087Z",
"date": "2024-05-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dczig\">A video journalist for Fox News said he was hit with an umbrella by a congressional staff member during an interview with Rep. Rashida Tlaib on the U.S. Capitol grounds on May 23, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"9eo4v\">The videographer was attempting to record Tlaib, D-Mich., as senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram asked for her reaction to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being invited to address Congress.</p><p data-block-key=\"ekohh\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/TVNewsNow/status/1793757180187058341\">video clip</a> of the incident posted on social network X, the staffer can be seen first unfurling the umbrella to deter Pergram. Then, after closing the umbrella, he opened it again to obscure the cameraman’s view of Tlaib as she spoke. The camera visibly wobbles and <a href=\"https://x.com/TVNewsNow/status/1793757180187058341\">the cameraman’s voice is heard saying</a>, “He hit me with an umbrella.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d9i90\">The aide denies striking him on camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"alnab\">Pergram responds, “We have it on video, guys.</p><p data-block-key=\"f1l13\">“He hit him with the umbrella,” Pergram says as he walks past a Capitol police officer. “That’s assault.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ed0v9\">Neither the staff member nor the cameraman were identified. Tlaib’s director of communications didn’t respond to an email request from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker seeking comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"duopr\">Fox News communications executive Caley Cronin confirmed the incident via email with the Tracker and pointed to a <a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hill-aide-interferes-fox-news-camera-crew-during-tlaib-interview\">Fox News report for details</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2024-06-14_at_11.44.54.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"rrl44\">A Fox News videographer said he was hit with an umbrella during a May 23, 2024, interview between congressional correspondent Chad Pergram and Rep. Rashida Tlaib on the U.S. Capitol grounds.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "public figure",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
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"Assault"
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"Unidentified photojournalist 32 (Fox News)"
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{
"title": "Journalist shoved, equipment damaged at UCLA student protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-equipment-damaged-at-ucla-student-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-10T16:48:09.557667Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-10T16:48:09.557667Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-10T16:48:09.375091Z",
"date": "2024-05-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"g5krz\">Reporter Cam Higby said he was assaulted while attempting to report on the occupation of a building on the University of California, Los Angeles, campus on May 23, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"1pgpo\">UCLA’s student newspaper, the Daily Bruin, <a href=\"https://dailybruin.com/2024/05/23/protesters-occupy-then-vacate-dodd-hall-following-2nd-encampment-dispersal-at-ucla\">reported</a> that protesters staged a sit-in at an academic building after law enforcement officers cleared a second pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.</p><p data-block-key=\"86pau\">Higby told the Tracker he was blocked from entering the building through the front doors but was able to find a way in through a side entrance. “I was just filming and kind of walking around, taking pictures of the graffiti they had spray-painted inside the building,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3epo0\">Shortly after, someone recognized him and called out, “This guy’s a Zionist!”</p><p data-block-key=\"f93q8\">Multiple individuals then surrounded him near the top of a set of exit stairs, jeering at him and challenging his status as a journalist. Higby confirmed with the Tracker that he was wearing a press credential from Today Is America, which he described as a digital news media and commentary site.</p><p data-block-key=\"6v372\">Higby said he started to walk away from the individuals, but someone came from behind and struck his camera with what he believes was a closed fist.</p><p data-block-key=\"2pk5q\">In his <a href=\"https://x.com/camhigby/status/1794051789517693154\">footage</a> of the incident, a voice can be heard asking Higby, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">UCLA protestors opened almost every pouch of my gear bag, and poured coffee into it, destroying my solar charger. <br><br>They then told me that my actions have consequences, and joked about me slipping on the coffee that leaked all over the stairs just before pushing me down them. <a href=\"https://t.co/TiTicBvfrQ\">pic.twitter.com/TiTicBvfrQ</a></p>— Cam Higby 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/camhigby/status/1794051789517693154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 24, 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=\"g5krz\">He said that while the individuals surrounded him, someone poured cold coffee into a pocket of his equipment bag, damaging his solar charger. In the footage, after Higby pulls out the soaked charger, a voice can be heard stating, “Your actions have consequences,” while others chant, “Busted!”</p><p data-block-key=\"60ij0\">“They berated me, taunted me, told me it would be a shame if I slipped on the coffee that was now leaking out of my bag,” Higby said. “Then they pushed me down the stairs. I remained on my feet and then they pushed me out the door and I fell on my back.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">🚨PROTESTORS JUST VIOLENTLY ATTACKED ME AND PUSHED ME DOWN THE STAIRS AT DODD HALL <a href=\"https://t.co/CPmX1nL4hS\">pic.twitter.com/CPmX1nL4hS</a></p>— Cam Higby 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/camhigby/status/1793765759614898202?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 23, 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=\"g5krz\">He added that he later <a href=\"https://x.com/camhigby/status/1793789693613728153\">attempted to reenter</a> the building by donning a kaffiyeh and posing as a protester, but was again identified, assaulted and forced out of the building. Higby told the Tracker he filed a police report about the incidents.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"p78ar\">Reporter Cam Higby filmed his interaction with individuals attempting to prevent him from documenting a sit-in at the University of California, Los Angeles, on May 23, 2024. He was later pushed out of the building and had his solar battery damaged.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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{
"quantity": 1,
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],
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"name": "California",
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"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
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"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
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"Cam Higby (Today Is America)"
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}
]
