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{
"title": "State Department classifies six Russian state-owned news outlets ‘foreign missions’",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/state-department-classifies-six-russian-state-owned-news-outlets-foreign-missions/",
"first_published_at": "2024-10-01T19:22:17.267733Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-01T19:22:17.267733Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-01T19:22:08.612355Z",
"date": "2024-09-04",
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"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ul200\">The U.S. State Department is classifying six Russian state-owned media outlets as foreign missions as part of its efforts to counter alleged Russian interference in the 2024 election, it <a href=\"https://www.state.gov/u-s-department-of-state-takes-actions-to-counter-russian-influence-and-interference-in-u-s-elections/\">announced</a> on Sept. 4, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9dea\">The media organizations named were the state media group Rossiya Segodnya and the related news operations RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Ruptly and Sputnik. The move makes the outlets subject to the same rules as foreign embassies and consulates located inside the U.S. under the 1982 <a href=\"https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/17842.pdf\">Foreign Missions Act</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"2cep8\">To continue operating in the U.S., the outlets would be required to regularly report a list of employees — including their addresses and ages — as well as disclose the property the organizations own within the U.S. and obtain approval from the State Department’s Office of Foreign Missions to lease or buy real estate. The State Department is also restricting visas for those it believes are using the media outlets as a cover.</p><p data-block-key=\"db16c\">During a Sept. 13 <a href=\"https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-remarks-to-the-press-29/\">news conference</a>, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the outlets are “no longer merely firehoses of Russian Government propaganda and disinformation; they are engaged in covert influence activities aimed at undermining American elections and democracies, functioning like a de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence apparatus.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fpc38\">Blinken emphasized that the United States champions freedom of expression, even when it comes to purveyors of government propaganda. “But we will not stand by as RT and other actors carry out covert activities in support of Russia’s nefarious activities, and we’ll continue to respond forcefully to Moscow’s playbook of aggression and subversion,” Blinken continued.</p><p data-block-key=\"rc4r\">As part of the efforts to address Russian influence on the upcoming election, on Sept. 4 the U.S. Justice Department <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-rt-employees-indicted-covertly-funding-and-directing-us-company-published-thousands\">unsealed an indictment</a> of two Russian employees of RT, while the U.S. Treasury Department <a href=\"https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2559\">imposed sanctions</a> on 10 top RT executives.</p><p data-block-key=\"7d029\">U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-disrupts-covert-russian-government-sponsored-foreign-malign-influence\">also announced</a> that the Justice Department seized 32 web domains that it says the Kremlin used to influence the election, adding that the department’s investigation is ongoing.</p><p data-block-key=\"brfhg\">Russian authorities have consistently denied allegations of U.S. election interference, Al Jazeera <a href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/5/us-accuses-russia-of-election-disinformation-campaigns-what-to-know\">reported</a>. When asked how Russia will respond to the sanctions, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova <a href=\"https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1968177/\">said</a>: “We warn once again that any attempt to expel Russian journalists from the United States, create unacceptable conditions for their work or hinder their professional operation in any other way, including through visa restrictions, will be regarded as grounds for a symmetric and/or asymmetric action against American media outlets.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c56eg\">Under former President Donald Trump’s administration, the State Department classified <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/state-department-classifies-five-chinese-state-run-outlets-as-foreign-missions/\">15 Chinese state-run media outlets</a> as foreign missions as part of a series of tit-for-tat reprisals between the U.S. and China, with journalists in the middle.</p><p data-block-key=\"2k9rp\">Russian outlet <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rt-america-compelled-register-foreign-agent-department-justice/\">RT America</a> was similarly ordered to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act in 2017, as were Russian outlets <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/us-based-news-outlets-funded-russia-ordered-register-foreign-agents/\">RM Broadcasting and RIA Global LLC</a> in 2019 and Al Jazeera’s U.S.-based social media division, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/al-jazeeras-aj-ordered-to-register-as-foreign-agent/\">AJ+</a>, in 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"bbomj\">Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project, <a href=\"https://freedom.press/news/declassify-rt-records-so-the-public-can-vet-administrations-claims/\">called on the Biden administration</a> to declassify the records used to justify the sanctions so they can be independently vetted.</p><p data-block-key=\"3c2lk\">“All state media outlets, including our own, seek to advance the interests of the government in some way, and Americans are constitutionally entitled to consume foreign propaganda if they so choose,” wrote Lauren Harper, FPF’s inaugural Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy. “If RT’s alleged conduct is not starkly different from what other government media outlets do, then the investigation puts outlets worldwide at risk of retaliation.”</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"f80d9\">The Moscow headquarters of Rossiya Segodnya, one of six Russian state-owned news outlets that were classified as foreign missions by the U.S. State Department on Sept. 4, 2024.</p>",
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"RIA Novosti",
"Rossiya Segodnya",
"RT America",
"Ruptly",
"Sputnik",
"TV-Novosti"
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{
"title": "Sheriff’s deputies question reporter at her home",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sheriffs-deputies-question-reporter-at-her-home/",
"first_published_at": "2024-09-20T15:21:19.902226Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-12-19T17:44:04.725331Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-12-19T17:44:04.521522Z",
"date": "2024-08-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Stockton",
"longitude": -121.29078,
"latitude": 37.9577,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"78dj5\">Aaron Leathley, a reporter for the central California daily newspaper The Stockton Record, was visited at her Stockton home on Aug. 30, 2024, by San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who questioned her about a court document she had reported on months earlier.</p><p data-block-key=\"4llt8\">In November 2023, sheriff’s deputies <a href=\"https://www.recordnet.com/story/news/2023/11/14/search-warrants-served-at-stockton-unified-office-trustees-home/71585337007/\">searched</a> the home of Stockton Unified School District board president AngelAnn Flores and the school board’s headquarters. Later that month, Leathley <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/11/28/warrant-reveals-why-stockton-unifieds-angelann-flores-was-searched/71627562007/\">reported</a> on various details from the search warrant, a copy of which the paper had obtained from the San Joaquin County Superior Court — including that deputies had searched Flores’ home and vehicles, questioned Flores and seized her phones, iPad and laptop to investigate her alleged misuse of a school district credit card, witness intimidation and other misconduct.</p><p data-block-key=\"eoibt\">A day after the article published, the Record <a href=\"https://www.recordnet.com/story/news/local/2024/09/12/sheriffs-deputies-visit-home-of-stockton-record-reporter-for-unclear-reasons/75076689007/\">reported</a>, a public information officer for the court emailed Leathley to tell her that the warrant had been released accidentally and ask her “to prevent any further dissemination of this document by copying, sharing, or using it for further publication.” The sheriff’s office also said at the time that the warrant should not have been released, according to the Record.</p><p data-block-key=\"cr2p9\">Flores was <a href=\"https://stocktonia.org/news/public-safety/2024/05/07/stockton-unified-trustee-arraigned-for-alleged-fraud-embezzlement-grand-theft/\">charged</a> in May 2024 with making fraudulent insurance claims, embezzlement and theft of school district funds and pleaded not guilty. The criminal case against her is ongoing.</p><p data-block-key=\"bi933\">On Aug. 30, two sheriff’s deputies who identified themselves as members of the Agriculture, Gangs, and Narcotics Enforcement team under the sheriff’s Special Services Division arrived at Leathley’s door. One claimed that Leathley had been emailed a “cease and desist” about the warrant, Leathley confirmed in a phone call with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. AGNET members also conducted the search of Flores’ home, Leathley said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8cfrc\">Leathley told the Tracker that one of the deputies asked her about the “cease and desist,” repeating “What happened with that?” several times.</p><p data-block-key=\"4k1ad\">The Record reported that it has no records of a cease and desist letter and Sheriff’s Sgt. Daniel Levin told the paper he wasn’t aware of one. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office would not confirm to the paper whether it had sent a cease and desist letter to Leathley.</p><p data-block-key=\"bb6i6\">Freedom of the Press Foundation Director of Advocacy Seth Stern condemned the deputies’ “shenanigans,” saying, “Officials should never intimidate a journalist for possessing lawfully obtained records, whether through court cases or house calls.” The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project of FPF.</p><p data-block-key=\"d0i0m\">When asked for an explanation of the deputies’ actions, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s department told the Tracker, “Because this is an ongoing investigation, I can’t answer those questions.” Leathley told the Tracker she didn’t know whether this “ongoing investigation” was connected to Flores.</p><p data-block-key=\"fcfc1\">“I think, structurally, something like this always could have a chilling effect on reporting,” Leathley said of the deputies’ house call. But, she added, “I would not change how I report on the situation based on intimidation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e4csn\"><i>Editor’s Note: This incident has been updated to include comments from Leathley and to correct the spelling for the name of Sheriff’s Sgt. Daniel Levin.</i></p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-12-04 12:15:00+00:00) California sheriff investigating reporters as “co-conspirators” in leak case"
],
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"Aaron Leathley (The Stockton Record)",
"Hannah Workman (The Stockton Record)"
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{
"title": "Chicago Reader journalist pushed with police baton amid DNC protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/chicago-reader-journalist-pushed-with-police-baton-amid-dnc-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2024-08-29T16:36:46.393564Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-09-06T13:47:46.498223Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-09-06T13:47:46.381986Z",
"date": "2024-08-22",
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"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5qsqb\">Shawn Mulcahy, the news editor for the Chicago Reader, was shoved in the stomach with a baton by Chicago police while documenting a protest coinciding with the nearby Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"c8b08\">The Chicago Tribune <a href=\"https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/08/22/dnc-thursday-protests-chicago/\">reported</a> that more than 2,000 people marched to protest U.S. aid to Israel, advancing through Chicago’s West Side and within blocks of the United Center where Vice President Kamala Harris was accepting the Democratic nomination during the final night of the convention.</p><p data-block-key=\"243m8\">Mulcahy told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that late in the evening after the march, a small group of 25 to 50 protesters sat in the street to block traffic. He said a <a href=\"https://x.com/FordFischer/status/1826812151522054351\">large number of press</a> were still around, and that police didn’t seem to know how to handle the journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"dsgpr\">“There was a rush to arrest someone and they were trying to push people back onto the sidewalk,” Mulcahy said. “I was standing there filming the arrest and they pushed me with a baton into my stomach.” He added that he intends to file a complaint with the city.</p><p data-block-key=\"22c1t\">That night, officers also <a href=\"https://x.com/FordFischer/status/1826870837124767908\">threatened</a> to revoke journalists’ press credentials if they refused to comply with the dispersal order. Mulcahy said that the members of the media raised alarm over the order and the department’s chief of patrol and deputy director of news affairs and communications ultimately walked it back.</p><p data-block-key=\"4mb6l\">When reached by email for comment, the Chicago Police Department directed the Tracker to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling’s news conferences during the DNC, declining to respond to questions about officers’ aggression toward journalists and attempts to revoke press credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ejn5\">During Snelling’s <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/share/v/FRs1KLmcBLZrnFKq/\">Aug. 21 news conference</a>, he said that the department wants journalists to be able to do their jobs, but highlighted that the press must comply with police orders and step to the side when officers move in to make arrests. “If you don’t do that, it’s obstructing us and it makes it harder for us to take the people into custody that we’re trying to take into custody. And what we don’t want is for you to get caught in the middle of it and injured and hurt,” Snelling said.</p><p data-block-key=\"9a8ti\">At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-20&date_upper=2024-08-20&city=Chicago&categories=Assault\">four journalists</a> were shoved or pulled by officers responding to similar protests on Aug. 20, and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-20&date_upper=2024-08-20&city=Chicago&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">at least three</a> were arrested.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"xzhyr\">Chicago police officers clash with demonstrators at a protest during the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22, 2024. Police pushed Chicago Reader journalist Shawn Mulcahy in the stomach with a baton while he was covering protests that night.</p>",
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"name": "Illinois",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist arrested, camera damaged by Chicago police during DNC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-camera-damaged-by-chicago-police-during-dnc/",
"first_published_at": "2024-08-22T18:35:40.447534Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-12-05T18:16:36.138552Z",
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"city": "Chicago",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"h93sj\">Freelance photojournalist Olga Fedorova was arrested by Chicago Police Department officers on Aug. 20, 2024, while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest planned to coincide with the nearby Democratic National Convention. Law enforcement also confiscated her press credentials and cracked her camera lens.</p><p data-block-key=\"coife\">A small gathering of protesters, <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/democratic-convention-chicago-protests-war-gaza-f064683535bbbe93231d31ecc2dbafc7\">unaffiliated</a> with and more militant than other groups that had organized larger demonstrations earlier in the week, converged around 7 p.m. <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\">outside the Israeli Consulate</a> in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"rlg4\">Other journalists besides Fedorova were among the dozens detained, according to the Chicago chapter of the <a href=\"https://nlgchicago.org/2024/08/21/chicago-police-arrest-dozens-during-palestine-solidarity-protest-at-israeli-consulate-on-second-day-of-democratic-national-convention/\">National Lawyers Guild.</a> CBS News <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/live-updates/chicago-dnc-protest-day-2/\">reported</a> that Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said three journalists were arrested for not complying with officers’ orders when police began moving in to arrest protesters who had attacked police.</p><p data-block-key=\"2eq3v\">Independent photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-shoved-by-chicago-police-gear-seized-and-damaged/\">Josh Pacheco</a>, one of those arrested, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the scene was chaotic, with officers issuing conflicting, often inaudible commands to the crowd, and pushing people onto the sidewalk, which was already crowded with police bicycles. Pacheco said that members of the press were caught between protesters and police as officers tried to keep demonstrators out of the roadway and intersections.</p><p data-block-key=\"6bn09\">Amid the chaos, Fedorova was arrested. Journalists <a href=\"https://x.com/taliaotg/status/1826192345349394438\">Talia (Jane) Ben-Ora</a> and <a href=\"https://x.com/ACatWithNews/status/1826192292484411794\">Sean Beckner-Carmitchel</a> both reported on social media that at the time of her arrest Fedorova was wearing Chicago–issued press credentials, which the police confiscated, and that her camera lens was cracked by the police.</p><p data-block-key=\"8idp1\">Fedorova’s attorney Steven Baron confirmed to the Tracker that Fedorova was “swept up in the mass arrest and detained for many hours at the Area 3 Chicago Police headquarters.” She was <a href=\"https://x.com/taliaotg/status/1826191255862157557\">released</a> the following morning and her press credentials were returned to her later in the day.</p><p data-block-key=\"534j7\">Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, told the Tracker that Chicago police returned Fedorova’s credentials after NPPA and the journalists’ attorneys notified them “that such seizures were improper.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2qsnd\">Osterreicher also said that in advance of the DNC, he had offered the Chicago Police Department a training on interacting with the press similar to one he gave the Milwaukee Police Department before the Republican National Convention in July.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0h6k\">“They told me that they had been providing First Amendment training and they didn’t need anything from NPPA,” Osterreicher said. “Given the events of last night, I would have to say that that alleged training was an abysmal failure.”</p><p data-block-key=\"53bon\">The DNC’s Public Safety Joint Information Center confirmed that Fedorova had been cited for disorderly conduct — failure to obey police. It did not respond to an additional question about why she was arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"86tqu\">“Olga and the others were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct for simply doing their jobs as reporters,” Baron told the Tracker. “We are disappointed that the City of Chicago chose to sweep the First Amendment under the rug with its heavy-handed tactics against working journalists.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ofe3c\">Freelance photojournalist Olga Fedorova, at right, is arrested by Chicago Police Department officers on Aug. 20, 2024, while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest coinciding with the Democratic National Convention.</p>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
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}
],
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-11-14 00:00:00+00:00) Charge dropped against photojournalist arrested at DNC"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"election",
"Election 2024",
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Damage",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Olga Fedorova (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Chicago journalist struck with police bike while covering protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/chicago-journalist-struck-with-police-bike-while-covering-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2024-09-06T17:01:50.078106Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-09-06T17:01:50.078106Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-09-06T17:01:39.680832Z",
"date": "2024-08-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5e87z\">Raven Geary, who operates the independent outlet Jinx Press, was struck with a bicycle by a Chicago Police Department officer while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest planned to coincide with the nearby Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"1uaeh\">A small gathering of protesters, <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/democratic-convention-chicago-protests-war-gaza-f064683535bbbe93231d31ecc2dbafc7\">unaffiliated</a> with and more militant than other groups that had organized larger demonstrations earlier in the week, converged around 7 p.m. <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\">outside the Israeli Consulate</a> in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6iir9\">Geary told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest “blew up really quickly.”</p><p data-block-key=\"84tou\">“There was such a massive show of police, unlike we normally see, and a lot of just unclear directions — both to protesters and to journalists — about what the police wanted us to do,” she said. “At a certain point I guess they were giving dispersal orders over a megaphone, for example, and where I was situated I never even heard a single audible dispersal order.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4pdq0\">She added that those who said they did hear the orders to disperse reported that police blocked them from doing so.</p><p data-block-key=\"us0o\">Police corralled protesters and press multiple times over the course of several hours, Geary said, and at one point an officer struck her in the leg with a bicycle, bruising her. She told the Tracker that she was clearly identifiable as media and was wearing Jinx Press media credentials, but that given the chaos of the scene, she couldn’t be certain whether she was deliberately targeted.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Protesters stepped off to attempt a march; CPD immediately moves in. Signs and flags being confiscated, huge press scramble. <a href=\"https://t.co/E4QVqoM6Fp\">pic.twitter.com/E4QVqoM6Fp</a></p>— Jinx Press (@JinxPress) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JinxPress/status/1826055103239135570?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 21, 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=\"5e87z\">When reached by email for comment, the Chicago Police Department directed the Tracker to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling’s news conferences during the DNC, declining to respond to questions about officers’ aggression toward journalists and reported attempts to revoke press credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"borrc\">“We want to allow you to do your jobs. We really do. But there are times when we’re calling a mass arrest or we’re attempting to move in, we need you guys to step to the side,” Snelling said of journalists during the <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/share/v/FRs1KLmcBLZrnFKq/\">Aug. 21 news conference</a>. “If you don’t do that, it’s obstructing us and it makes it harder for us to take the people into custody that we’re trying to take into custody. And what we don’t want is for you to get caught in the middle of it and injured and hurt.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9vrcj\">At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-20&date_upper=2024-08-20&city=Chicago&categories=Assault\">four other journalists</a> were shoved or pulled by officers responding to the protests outside the consulate that day, and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-20&date_upper=2024-08-20&city=Chicago&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">at least three</a> were arrested.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/DSC_0293.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"k06mj\">Chicago Police Department officers line up during the first day of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19, 2024. The following day, an officer struck Jinx Press founder Raven Geary’s leg with a bicycle while she covered pro-Palestinian protests.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
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},
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"tags": [
"election",
"Election 2024",
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Raven Geary (Jinx Press)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Freelance photojournalist arrested at pro-Palestinian protest at DNC in Chicago",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-arrested-at-pro-palestinian-protest-at-dnc-in-chicago/",
"first_published_at": "2024-08-22T19:03:50.213467Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-14T16:51:25.089639Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-14T16:51:24.887467Z",
"date": "2024-08-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4jdw5\">Freelance photojournalist Sinna Nasseri was arrested by Chicago Police Department officers on Aug. 20, 2024, while on assignment for German news outlet Zeit covering a pro-Palestinian protest planned to coincide with the nearby Democratic National Convention.</p><p data-block-key=\"af9pm\">A small gathering of protesters, <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/democratic-convention-chicago-protests-war-gaza-f064683535bbbe93231d31ecc2dbafc7\">unaffiliated</a> with and more militant than other groups that had organized larger demonstrations earlier in the week, converged around 7 p.m. <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\">outside the Israeli Consulate</a> in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"4b25l\">Photojournalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-shoved-by-chicago-police-gear-seized-and-damaged/\">Josh Pacheco</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-camera-damaged-by-chicago-police-during-dnc/\">Olga Fedorova</a> were among the dozens detained. CBS News <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/live-updates/chicago-dnc-protest-day-2/\">reported</a> that Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said three journalists were arrested for not complying with officers’ orders when police began moving in to arrest protesters who had attacked police.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rj92\">Nasseri told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was documenting the protesters as they started marching away from the consulate when the police kettled them, trapping him and a few other journalists on all sides. The officers “were screaming. They were pretty aggressive and started making arrests,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6gbdi\">Nasseri said he identified himself as press to the police multiple times, but was handcuffed and then detained at a precinct until 6 a.m. the following morning. He added that his equipment was returned to him upon his release, and that it appeared to be undamaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"agqt4\">Nasseri told the Tracker that the officers’ violent behavior seemed disproportionate to what was happening — that the protesters seemed nonviolent and that he and the journalists he was with took care to stay on the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"6df1h\">“I’ve covered many, many protests and this was very strange in that they were very aggressive,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"2a8q3\">The DNC’s Public Safety Joint Information Center confirmed that Nasseri had been cited for disorderly conduct — breach of peace. It did not respond to an additional question about why the journalist was arrested. Nasseri told the Tracker an initial hearing on the charge is scheduled for Sept. 27.</p><p data-block-key=\"8rb5o\">Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, told the Tracker that in advance of the DNC, he had offered the Chicago Police Department a training on interacting with the press similar to one he gave the Milwaukee Police Department before the Republican National Convention in July.</p><p data-block-key=\"5clu5\">“They told me that they had been providing First Amendment training and they didn’t need anything from NPPA,” Osterreicher said. “Given the events of last night, I would have to say that that alleged training was an abysmal failure.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2uarl\">The three journalists were charged “for simply doing their jobs as reporters,” Nasseri’s attorney Steven Baron told the Tracker. “We are disappointed that the City of Chicago chose to sweep the First Amendment under the rug with its heavy-handed tactics against working journalists.”</p><p data-block-key=\"55aav\"><i>Editor’s note: This article and the incident’s metadata have been updated to include comments and details from Nasseri.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS161LAO_-_Reuters_-_Leah_Millis.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"lwufk\">Chicago police repeatedly clashed with demonstrators at a pro-Palestinian protest coinciding with the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024. Photojournalist Sinna Nasseri was arrested while documenting the chaotic scene.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Chicago Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2024-08-21",
"detention_date": "2024-08-20",
"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,
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [
"(2025-01-07 00:00:00+00:00) Charge dropped against photojournalist arrested at DNC protest"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"election",
"Election 2024",
"Israel-Gaza war",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sinna Nasseri (Zeit)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist pulled off concrete planter box by Chicago police at protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-pulled-off-concrete-planter-box-by-chicago-police-at-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-08-29T13:03:58.110150Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-29T13:03:58.110150Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-29T12:56:26.672759Z",
"date": "2024-08-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"heyjc\">Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was physically pulled by a Chicago Police Department officer while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest planned to coincide with the nearby Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"5rrlb\">A small gathering of protesters,<a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/democratic-convention-chicago-protests-war-gaza-f064683535bbbe93231d31ecc2dbafc7\"> unaffiliated</a> with and more militant than other groups that had organized larger demonstrations earlier in the week, converged around 7 p.m.<a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\"> outside the Israeli Consulate</a> in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago<a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\"> reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"27ia1\">Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the police response to protests up to that point of the week had been restrained, but “shit went south” that day. She said she was trying to stay out of the way of the police when an officer grabbed her without warning.</p><p data-block-key=\"6pr37\">“I was up on a planter, behind a bush filming — you do what you do to get the shot — when all of a sudden a cop came up from behind me and yanked me out of the bush, onto the ground. And he just started yelling at me,” Berg said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8a5ij\">In <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rprIWiRccAM\">footage</a> captured in the moments leading up to the incident, police can be seen corralling a small group of protesters while Berg and other journalists film from atop a concrete planter box. Near the end of a clip, an officer shouts, “Get down from there! Get down! Get them down!” The clip ends and it is unclear how much time passed before Berg was physically pulled from the planter.</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/rprIWiRccAM?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=\"DNC Coverage: Protesters Get Corralled Between Two Police Lines Arrests Ensue\"></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"heyjc\">Later that evening, a supervisory officer <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LY6gAPLAOz4\">ordered Berg</a> to show him her press credentials and said he was revoking them. She told the Tracker that he seemed shocked when she pushed back.</p><p data-block-key=\"aa7kh\">“I told him: ‘You’re not in charge of my credentials, you don’t get to revoke anything. There’s still a First Amendment in this country,’” Berg said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ara5\">Shortly after the encounter, a different officer filmed or photographed both her face and her press credentials, which are from Los Angeles, where she’s based. Berg said that she observed officers similarly documenting journalists’ identities that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"28son\">When reached by email for comment, the Chicago Police Department directed the Tracker to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling’s news conferences during the DNC, declining to respond to questions about officers’ aggression toward journalists and attempts to revoke press credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"dvn04\">“We want to allow you to do your jobs. We really do. But there are times when we’re calling a mass arrest or we’re attempting to move in, we need you guys to step to the side,” Snelling said of journalists during the <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/share/v/FRs1KLmcBLZrnFKq/\">Aug. 21 news conference</a>. “If you don’t do that, it’s obstructing us and it makes it harder for us to take the people into custody that we’re trying to take into custody. And what we don’t want is for you to get caught in the middle of it and injured and hurt.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c23h5\">At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-20&date_upper=2024-08-20&city=Chicago&categories=Assault\">three other journalists</a> were shoved or pulled by officers responding to the protests outside the consulate that day, and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-20&date_upper=2024-08-20&city=Chicago&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">at least three</a> were arrested.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Berg_IL_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"m2e5p\">Chicago police corral protesters gathered outside the Israeli Consulate coinciding with the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024. An officer pulled journalist Tina-Desiree Berg off a concrete planter shortly after she captured this image.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"case_number": null,
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"actor": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
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"tags": [
"election",
"Election 2024",
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Tina-Desiree Berg (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist convicted on arrest charge from Chicago convention protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-convicted-on-arrest-charge-from-chicago-convention-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-01-31T18:34:37.901458Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-31T18:34:37.901458Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-31T18:34:37.700749Z",
"date": "2024-08-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ntdfz\">Independent journalist Sylvie Evans was arrested by Chicago Police Department officers on Aug. 20, 2024, while covering a pro-Palestinian protest planned to coincide with the nearby Democratic National Convention. She accepted a plea deal on Jan. 6, 2025, and was sentenced to a day of probation.</p><p data-block-key=\"d5qnu\">On the second day of the convention, a small gathering of protesters converged around 7 p.m. <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\">outside the Israeli Consulate</a> in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"afat6\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-20&date_upper=2024-08-20&city=Chicago&state=Illinois\">seven other journalists</a> arrested or assaulted at the protest. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/live-updates/chicago-dnc-protest-day-2/\">claimed</a> that three arrested photojournalists had not complied with officers’ orders to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"1qq3u\">Evans, who runs the <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/colpeoplespress/\">Colorado People’s Press</a>, a small independent outlet that covers local news in Colorado, described police officers’ behavior as confusing and intense.</p><p data-block-key=\"fsd1t\">“All night they were screaming,” she told the Tracker. “They just kept saying ‘move back’ or ‘get on the sidewalk,’ but even if you’re on the sidewalk, it didn’t seem to matter that much. Wherever you’re trying to go, that’s where they want to be. All the instructions were super unclear.</p><p data-block-key=\"dnfd3\">“I was as careful as I’ve ever been during any protest,” she added. “I was always on the very edge, as far back on the very edge as I could be. I listened to all of the instructions. I was always on the sidewalk. This was completely different from anything I’ve ever dealt with before. I was kind of surprised by how aggressive they were. And how they just seemed to fucking hate everyone there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"86hb7\">She told the Tracker that she and a group of protesters were kettled by police on the sidewalk a few blocks away from the consulate. Police issued a dispersal order and Evans attempted to leave, but was directed twice to different areas and then grabbed by a police officer who pulled her arms behind her back, bruising her shoulder.</p><p data-block-key=\"fj7mc\">Evans told the Tracker that she doesn’t think she was targeted for arrest as press. “They were just mad at whatever,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ehl76\">While in handcuffs, Evans, who was wearing a helmet labeled “press,” said she was approached by Tom Ahern, deputy director of news affairs and communications for the police department, who told her that she was not press because she hadn’t procured police credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"aov8c\">Evans said she spent four hours in a police wagon, then eight hours in a cell, before being released around 8:30 the next morning, with paperwork listing a disorderly conduct charge.</p><p data-block-key=\"1kh30\">Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, told the Tracker the day after the protest that in advance of the convention, he had offered the Chicago Police Department a training on interacting with the press similar to one he gave the Milwaukee Police Department before the Republican National Convention in July.</p><p data-block-key=\"c0p09\">“They told me that they had been providing First Amendment training and they didn’t need anything from NPPA,” Osterreicher said. “Given the events of last night, I would have to say that that alleged training was an abysmal failure.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cvhkg\">In January, Evans accepted the charge in exchange for no fine and one day of supervision, and the case was closed, Evans’ attorney confirmed to the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"4162d\">After the case ended, Evans told the Tracker that she hasn’t been reporting since her arrest “partially because I can’t risk something like that happening again.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d0tep\">“I’ll probably get back to it eventually but I’m taking a break for a while,” she said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"pm7y8\">Reporter Sylvie Evans, at left, was arrested by Chicago police while attempting to document a pro-Palestinian protest coinciding with the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024.</p>",
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"Israel-Gaza war",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist repeatedly shoved by police while covering Chicago protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-repeatedly-shoved-by-police-while-covering-chicago-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-08-29T16:34:27.330904Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-29T16:34:27.330904Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"izuo7\">Independent photojournalist Madison Swart was repeatedly pushed and bruised by Chicago Police Department officers while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest coinciding with the nearby Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"1j43u\">A small gathering of protesters,<a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/democratic-convention-chicago-protests-war-gaza-f064683535bbbe93231d31ecc2dbafc7\"> unaffiliated</a> with and more militant than other groups that had organized larger demonstrations earlier in the week, converged around 7 p.m.<a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\"> outside the Israeli Consulate</a> in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago<a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\"> reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fpnlo\">Swart told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was repeatedly shoved by officers who used batons or bicycles as they moved in to control the crowd and make arrests.</p><p data-block-key=\"b5l9i\">“They were just trying to push the press back from taking photos of them arresting the protesters,” Swart said. “They were just shoving us back with their batons very forcefully.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9bmpd\">She added that there appeared to be significant miscommunications and inconsistencies between the officers and in their directives toward the press. “A lot of them were telling us different things about where to go, and then we would go there and we would get in trouble for going where an officer had told us to go,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"31moq\">Ultimately, Swart was in the crowd when she said police surrounded them using a technique called kettling, which is often followed by mass arrests.</p><p data-block-key=\"2k3ti\">“I didn’t even realize that I had been pushed and wasn’t allowed to get out until I tried to,” Swart said. “The officers told me that I couldn’t go through and I was like, ‘OK, but I’m press, I’m just trying to get out.’ So one officer told me to go over to that side but when I did another officer said, ‘Nope, you’re all under arrest.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"rddi\">In a clip shared with the Tracker, Swart and multiple other journalists can be seen standing across the street from the consulate when she tells officers that press had been directed there. One of the officers reviewed their credentials and then allowed them out of the kettle, at one point telling someone, “Yeah, you look like press, come on down.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4hiu3\">While Swart said she was released relatively quickly, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-20&date_upper=2024-08-20&city=Chicago&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">at least three journalists</a> were arrested that night, and others were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-20&date_upper=2024-08-20&city=Chicago&categories=Assault\">shoved or pulled</a> by officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"66b7k\">“There seemed to be a blatant disrespect of the press in general from the CPD, even going so far as mocking a lot of the press, which I’ve never seen before,” Swart said.</p><p data-block-key=\"e6499\">When reached by email for comment, the Chicago Police Department directed the Tracker to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling’s news conferences during the DNC, declining to respond to questions about officers’ aggression toward journalists and attempts to revoke press credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"dfihp\">During Snelling’s <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/share/v/FRs1KLmcBLZrnFKq/\">Aug. 21 news conference</a>, he said that the department wants journalists to be able to do their jobs, but highlighted that the press must comply with police orders and step to the side when officers move in to make arrests. “If you don’t do that, it’s obstructing us and it makes it harder for us to take the people into custody that we’re trying to take into custody. And what we don’t want is for you to get caught in the middle of it and injured and hurt,” Snelling said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"igled\">Chicago Police Department officers repeatedly shoved photojournalist Madison Swart and others with batons and bicycles while responding to pro-Palestinian protests near the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024.</p>",
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"name": "Illinois",
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"election",
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"Israel-Gaza war",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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],
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{
"title": "Photojournalist arrested, shoved by Chicago police; gear seized and damaged",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-shoved-by-chicago-police-gear-seized-and-damaged/",
"first_published_at": "2024-08-22T15:33:21.411348Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-12-05T18:13:50.497299Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-12-05T18:13:50.347494Z",
"date": "2024-08-20",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1w74w\">Independent photojournalist Josh Pacheco was arrested by Chicago Police Department officers on Aug. 20, 2024, while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest planned to coincide with the nearby Democratic National Convention. Law enforcement also hit them with bikes and batons, confiscated their press credentials and dropped two of their cameras on the ground, damaging one.</p><p data-block-key=\"43iom\">A small gathering of protesters, <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/democratic-convention-chicago-protests-war-gaza-f064683535bbbe93231d31ecc2dbafc7\">unaffiliated</a> with and more militant than other groups that had organized larger demonstrations earlier in the week, converged around 7 p.m. <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\">outside the Israeli Consulate</a> in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6c002\">Other journalists besides Pacheco were among the dozens detained, according to the Chicago chapter of the <a href=\"https://nlgchicago.org/2024/08/21/chicago-police-arrest-dozens-during-palestine-solidarity-protest-at-israeli-consulate-on-second-day-of-democratic-national-convention/\">National Lawyers Guild.</a> CBS News <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/live-updates/chicago-dnc-protest-day-2/\">reported</a> that Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said three journalists were arrested for not complying with officers’ orders when police began moving in to arrest protesters who had attacked police.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ses8\">Pacheco told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the scene was chaotic, with officers issuing conflicting, often inaudible commands to the crowd, and pushing people onto the sidewalk, which was already crowded with police bicycles.</p><p data-block-key=\"amegq\">Pacheco said that members of the press were caught between protesters and police as officers tried to keep demonstrators out of the roadway and intersections, and that officers slammed the photojournalist multiple times with bicycles and batons, seemingly intentionally.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0l6b\">Stuck on a corner amid protesters organizing themselves to disperse, Pacheco, whose New York City–issued press credentials were prominently displayed on a lanyard around their neck, was grabbed from behind by Deputy Chief Daniel O’Connor and pulled past the police line.</p><p data-block-key=\"2rvkn\">“He said something like, ‘I’ve told you over and over again you have to leave, now you’re being arrested,’” Pacheco told the Tracker. They were handcuffed with zip ties tightly enough to leave bruises on their wrists.</p><p data-block-key=\"d6mpc\">“The police are saying they ordered a dispersal three times and warned of a mass arrest, which did not happen, and even if it did, there was no way to hear it,” Pacheco said. “They weren’t using megaphones. There were just random police officers screaming different orders.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5l6rj\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/taliaotg/status/1826081943638696136\">video</a> shot by journalist Talia (Jane) Ben-Ora, she asks O’Connor why he arrested Pacheco, a credentialed journalist. “We’re figuring everything out right now,” O’Connor says, then walks away. Pacheco told the Tracker they also informed police they were press.</p><p data-block-key=\"97mg7\">During the arrest, police officers tried to stuff Pacheco’s photography gear into a bag, which then broke, sending two of their cameras to the ground, lens-first.</p><p data-block-key=\"744i\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/ACatWithNews/status/1826086073669157151\">video</a> shot by journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, the gear can be heard hitting the ground as Pacheco says to the officers, “Come on, are you serious?” Pacheco examined the cameras later and told the Tracker that one appeared to have sustained around $500 in damage to the shutter.</p><p data-block-key=\"advmh\">Another police official, who Pacheco identified as Tom Ahern, deputy director of news affairs and communications, “took my press pass pretty violently,” they said, which “ripped my hair out.”</p><p data-block-key=\"25t8n\">Pacheco told the Tracker that they felt targeted as a journalist, perhaps less because of their visible press credentials and camera equipment and more because they were wearing a full-face gas mask. “I was told by local press that when they see that, they interpret you as an agitator,” they said of the police. Pacheco also said that Ahern “was definitely following me around and ordering me around more than the rest of the press, and I don't know why.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f4bds\">In a phone call from the precinct with Ben-Ora, a <a href=\"https://x.com/taliaotg/status/1826157443207860561\">video</a> of which she posted on the social platform X, Pacheco called the arrest “an obscene abuse of power.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4sla2\">“I can’t believe that I’m here again in the same summer behind bars for having a camera,” they said. Pacheco was arrested <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-05-01&date_upper=2024-05-31&targeted_journalists=Josh+Pacheco\">three times in May</a> while documenting protests related to the Israel-Gaza war.</p><p data-block-key=\"161q5\">“My arrest was clearly just because, I don’t know, I look arrestable to them,” they told Ben-Ora.</p><p data-block-key=\"j4nc\">Pacheco was released after 9 1/2 hours in custody and charged with disorderly conduct, with an initial hearing scheduled for Sept. 30. They told the Tracker that their left wrist was red and bruised the day after the arrest, and one of their shins was bruised from a police bicycle. Their press pass was returned later in the day.</p><p data-block-key=\"aluqc\">Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, told the Tracker that in advance of the DNC, he had offered the Chicago Police Department a training on interacting with the press similar to one he gave the Milwaukee Police Department before the Republican National Convention in July.</p><p data-block-key=\"bb948\">“They told me that they had been providing First Amendment training and they didn’t need anything from NPPA,” Osterreicher said. “Given the events of last night, I would have to say that that alleged training was an abysmal failure.”</p><p data-block-key=\"20s4e\">The DNC’s Public Safety Joint Information Center confirmed that Pacheco had been cited for disorderly conduct — breach of peace. It did not respond to an additional question about why the journalist was arrested.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Josh_Pacheco_Aug_20.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"h3r1w\">Independent photojournalist Josh Pacheco, at left, is arrested by Chicago Police Department officers on Aug. 20, 2024, while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest coinciding with the Democratic National Convention.</p>",
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"detention_date": "2024-08-20",
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],
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"(2024-10-24 00:00:00+00:00) Charge dropped against photojournalist arrested at DNC"
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "NY Post reporter’s credentials ripped from lanyard at Chicago protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ny-post-reporters-credentials-ripped-from-lanyard-at-chicago-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-08-28T21:14:10.703144Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fd9xz\">New York Post reporter Steven Vago had his credentials ripped from around his neck by a Chicago Police Department officer while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest planned to coincide with the nearby Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"7jklm\">A small gathering of protesters, <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/democratic-convention-chicago-protests-war-gaza-f064683535bbbe93231d31ecc2dbafc7\">unaffiliated</a> with and more militant than other groups that had organized larger demonstrations earlier in the week, converged around 7 p.m. <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\">outside the Israeli Consulate</a> in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/21/72-people-arrested-during-protest-outside-israeli-consulate/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7jh14\">Vago told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he began to film using his cellphone when protesters broke through the police line and officers attempted to control the crowd. As the action moved closer to where he was standing, Vago said, “I might’ve gotten a little too close for the cops’ comfort.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ch144\">In <a href=\"https://x.com/Vagoish/status/1826070031744028943\">footage</a> Vago posted to the social platform X, he can be seen filming from the sidewalk as police clash with demonstrators in the street near the consulate. At 0:28 in the clip, a handful of protesters can be seen making it past the police. When officers begin detaining others 20 seconds later, an officer appears to pin a demonstrator at Vago’s feet. The clip cuts out just after Vago identifies himself as press.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Pro-Palestinian protesters clash with Chicago cops outside the Israeli Consulate, about two miles away from the DNC. <br><br>Police arrested at least three people <a href=\"https://t.co/1hom3KxFfj\">pic.twitter.com/1hom3KxFfj</a></p>— Steven Vago (@Vagoish) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Vagoish/status/1826070031744028943?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 21, 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=\"fd9xz\">“I was wearing a New York City-issued press pass — the one I always wear, not a DNC one — but it does say my name and the outlet,” Vago said. “And all of a sudden, this cop just grabs it and yanks it off my neck, so my pass fell to the ground.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2jo9b\">He said he was able to quickly retrieve his credentials while repeatedly identifying himself as press, and that the pass was undamaged. Vago told the Tracker that he wasn’t sure whether the officer grabbed at him because he was a member of the press or if it was that he was close by in the heat of the moment.</p><p data-block-key=\"15sbs\">In another clip Vago shared with the Tracker, officers repeatedly shouted “move” at a crowd that appeared to be predominantly members of the press while shoving them from behind with their hands and batons.</p><p data-block-key=\"2t3q3\">When reached by email for comment, the Chicago Police Department directed the Tracker to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling’s news conferences during the DNC, declining to respond to questions about officers’ aggression toward journalists and attempts to revoke press credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"90igs\">“We want to allow you to do your jobs. We really do. But there are times when we’re calling a mass arrest or we’re attempting to move in, we need you guys to step to the side,” Snelling said of journalists during the <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/share/v/FRs1KLmcBLZrnFKq/\">Aug. 21 news conference</a>. “If you don’t do that, it’s obstructing us and it makes it harder for us to take the people into custody that we’re trying to take into custody. And what we don’t want is for you to get caught in the middle of it and injured and hurt.”</p><p data-block-key=\"91kg2\">At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-20&date_upper=2024-08-20&city=Chicago&categories=Assault\">three other journalists</a> were shoved or pulled by officers responding to the protests outside the consulate that day, and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-20&date_upper=2024-08-20&city=Chicago&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">at least three</a> were arrested.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ppwem\">Chicago Police Department officers push members of the press and protesters back amid demonstrations around the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024. An officer ripped New York Post reporter Steven Vago’s press credentials from his neck.</p>",
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{
"title": "Press obstructed, threatened in and outside DNC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/press-obstructed-threatened-in-and-outside-dnc/",
"first_published_at": "2024-09-12T13:10:16.048807Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-09-12T13:10:16.048807Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-09-12T13:09:58.417227Z",
"date": "2024-08-19",
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"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7fo4t\">Journalists covering the August 2024 Democratic National Convention encountered hostility, threats and efforts to block their coverage both in and outside Chicago’s United Center.</p><p data-block-key=\"5fad\">Within the event venue, issues over coverage started early. In the months leading up to the convention, concerns were raised over the number of seats afforded to print reporters by the journalists who represent congressional correspondents and are in charge of press facilities at the national conventions.</p><p data-block-key=\"f1ag7\">In a statement to the DNC <a href=\"https://www.semafor.com/article/08/19/2024/a-friendly-media-grows-grumbly-in-milwaukee\">shared with Semafor</a>, the Standing Committee of Correspondents said the number of dedicated and accessible workspaces for journalists had been cut by hundreds compared to previous conventions.</p><p data-block-key=\"b5an9\">At the same time, WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR station, <a href=\"https://www.wbez.org/2024/08/14/what-it-costs-to-cover-the-democratic-national-convention\">reported</a> that the costs to cover the convention — for access, seating, internet speed — were also significantly higher than years prior and in comparison to the Republican National Convention the month before.</p><p data-block-key=\"88jtu\">According to the outlet, an assigned seat with a table and electrical outlet at the DNC had a $751 price tag at the early-bird rate, and $911 in the days leading up to the convention. At the RNC, a similar setup cost $100.</p><p data-block-key=\"cj220\">A DNC spokesperson dismissed accusations that the convention wasn’t properly accommodating members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"9nab5\">“Democrats value a free press, and our convention is a reflection of that,” spokesperson Emily Soong wrote in a statement to Semafor. “We’ve prioritized making sure members of the media have the resources they need to bring the story of our convention out to their communities from both inside and outside of the convention hall.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bj8gk\">But Drop Site editor and reporter Ryan Grim <a href=\"https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/biden-dnc-uncommitted-gaza-protest\">recounted</a> that some delegates and event security were quick to block reporters from documenting evidence the party was not fully unified.</p><p data-block-key=\"asidf\">When several delegates unfurled a “Stop Arming Israel” banner as President Joe Biden took the stage on Aug. 19, for instance, others used their signs to block Grim’s camera and that of a Democracy Now reporter; still others attempted to rip the banner away or, at the direction of staff, block it with their signs.</p><p data-block-key=\"1qkgq\">“One delegate followed me through the crowd relentlessly — with frankly impressive determination — putting his ‘USA’ sign in front of my phone as I worked to avoid him,” Grim wrote.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DNC members held up a “Stop Arming Israel” banner while DNC delegates worked to block it with “We Love Joe” and “USA” signs. <br><br>Wild scene: <a href=\"https://t.co/HEkgqiHQ4E\">pic.twitter.com/HEkgqiHQ4E</a></p>— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ryangrim/status/1825746153540886529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 20, 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=\"7fo4t\">A staff member also approached Grim and told him that the area he was in, and where he had been filming without issue for nearly 10 minutes, was for delegates only and asked that he move.</p><p data-block-key=\"c4ol0\">Outside the convention center, similar demands for journalists to move from a particular area were commonplace at demonstrations — most of which focused on the Israel-Gaza war — scheduled throughout the week.</p><p data-block-key=\"7149j\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that officials and officers with the Chicago Police Department repeatedly gave conflicting or unclear orders, segregated the press from the protesters, and threatened journalists with arrest or the revocation of their press credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"2d5c8\">“It was very clear to me from the very first day that the police mission was: Whatever is going to happen, we want to get press out of there,” photojournalist Mostafa Bassim <a href=\"https://otter.ai/u/iR31vzl1Zb8lpBkZUhx0by603qI\">said during a panel</a> <a href=\"https://freedom.press/news/indie-journalists-speak-out-about-chicago-police/\">hosted</a> by Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project.</p><p data-block-key=\"9vto5\">Every police order, videographer Ford Fischer said, “was backed by the threat of arrest, which actually happened to some people.” <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-20&date_upper=2024-08-20&city=Chicago&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">At least three journalists</a> were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct while covering a protest outside the Israeli consulate on Aug. 20.</p><p data-block-key=\"69ljb\">Credentials belonging to two of the arrested journalists were not returned until after the National Press Photographers Association and the journalists’ attorneys notified Chicago police that seizing them was improper.</p><p data-block-key=\"8l1nn\">Journalists reported that police repeatedly threatened to seize press credentials, with Tom Ahern, the CPD’s deputy director of news affairs and communication, often seen at the front of protests directing press off the street and threatening to revoke the credentials of those who didn’t comply.</p><p data-block-key=\"4neio\">A New York Post reporter’s credentials were also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ny-post-reporters-credentials-ripped-from-lanyard-at-chicago-protest/\">ripped off the lanyard</a> he was wearing, and an officer tried to do the same to independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg.</p><p data-block-key=\"di39g\">“One of them came up to me and tried to grab mine from around my neck and I pulled them away and I’m like, ‘Back off.’ He said, ‘I’m revoking your credentials.’ And I said, ‘You don’t get to do that,’” Berg told the Tracker. “He was surprised that I talked back, I guess. I told him, ‘You’re not in charge of my credentials, you don’t get to revoke anything. There’s still a First Amendment in this country.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"anb7c\">A different officer then filmed close-ups of Berg’s face and press credentials. The Tracker received reports of at least one additional journalist whose identification and face had been photographed.</p><p data-block-key=\"61a7h\">By the final night of the convention, Aug. 22, the journalists had had enough. During what local independent journalist Raven Geary referred to as the “Press Riot at Union Park,” police struggled to respond to the <a href=\"https://x.com/FordFischer/status/1826812151522054351\">large number of press</a> still present when a small group of protesters sat in the street to block traffic, and many reporters resisted police orders to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"333em\">“They pushed us off the street, onto the sidewalk, into the grass of Union Park, and then threatened media members with arrest if they didn’t disperse,” journalist Mel Buer 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\">Standoff. Media being told to leave or be arrested. <a href=\"https://t.co/683TSxr82O\">pic.twitter.com/683TSxr82O</a></p>— Mel Buer (@mel_buer) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/mel_buer/status/1826825010876432550?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 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=\"7fo4t\">Shawn Mulcahy, the news editor for the Chicago Reader, said police directed a dispersal order specifically at the media, in violation of the department’s own policies on First Amendment rights. The policies, updated less than two weeks before the convention, specify that credentialed members of the press are exempt from crowd dispersal orders.</p><p data-block-key=\"825ng\">The journalists raised alarm over the order and challenged it, Mulcahy said. Ahern, alongside CPD’s Chief of Patrol Jon Hein, ultimately <a href=\"https://x.com/HuntedHorse/status/1827961464520643071\">walked it back</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"acba4\">During the Freedom of the Press Foundation panel, reporter Brian Karem challenged the norm that journalists shouldn’t publicize such infringements on their First Amendment rights, saying that’s what police count on.</p><p data-block-key=\"6cqc5\">“They want you not to report it. The fact of the matter is, you’re not making yourself the story: They did that,” he said. “You did not do anything but your job, and you need to stand up for the First Amendment.”</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"q8n44\">Police officers faces members of the media during a protest on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 22, 2024.</p>",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist shoved with police batons at NYC pro-Palestinian protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shoved-with-police-batons-at-nyc-pro-palestinian-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-09-04T16:22:50.747350Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-09-04T16:22:50.747350Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-09-04T16:19:50.742065Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4h72g\">Independent photojournalist Alexa Wilkinson was repeatedly shoved with a baton by New York City police officers while documenting protests outside a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign on Aug. 14, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"38ddn\">State Democratic leaders — including Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul — and labor union members gathered in Harlem in a show of support for the Harris-Walz campaign ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Politico <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/14/nyc-harris-rally-pro-palestinian-demonstration-00174120\">reported</a>. Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside the event, demonstrating against the Biden administration’s military support for Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.</p><p data-block-key=\"f89st\">Wilkinson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest outside the campaign event was uneventful, but tensions escalated after protesters marched the 10 blocks north to a restaurant where the Democratic officials were holding an after-party. She said she was near the front of the march when protesters arrived, and she was one of five or six journalists to make it into the restaurant alongside approximately 15 protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"e3ve2\">After yelling back and forth between demonstrators and event attendees in the restaurant, Wilkinson said the manager ordered the protesters and press out of the restaurant. As they exited, she added, police had already begun making arrests and she was quickly trapped between planter boxes by officers from the department’s Special Response Group, a rapid response unit that the New York Civil Liberties Union calls <a href=\"https://www.nyclu.org/podcast/s2-ep-9-inside-the-special-nypd-unit-thats-brutalizing-protesters\">notoriously violent</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7fqs4\">“As I looked to my left, a door or two down there was one cop — who I now know to be one of the ones who had his baton out incorrectly and handle facing outward toward people — he was to the left sort of cornering press, an acquaintance of mine, and cracked him in the ribs,” Wilkinson said. “As press were trying to document that pocket of violence, SRG was then trying to push press and protesters out, very violently, down the sidewalk away from the restaurant and into the street.”</p><p data-block-key=\"72goq\">She told the Tracker that a group of journalists accidentally became trapped between a line of police and the protesters. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-14&date_upper=2024-08-14&state=New+York&tags=protest&categories=Assault\">At least four journalists</a>, including Wilkinson, were struck or pushed by officers with batons that night. Wilkinson said she was repeatedly shoved and an officer grabbed her by the arm and threw her sideways during the chaos.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">From there it was pure chaos. White shirts, SRG, and every cop in between was wielding whatever baton or hard object they had to either beat or use it to shove us. Press were at the front line of the group they were shoving</p>— Alexa Wilkinson (@alexabwilkinson) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/alexabwilkinson/status/1823904203980280087?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 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=\"4h72g\">“That was the most brutal I’ve seen them be toward press,” she said. “And I was taken aback about how not quiet they were about their contempt for us.” Wilkinson added that she heard supervisory officers taunting the journalists and shouting things like “fuck your press pass” while pushing the journalists back.</p><p data-block-key=\"e37sv\">The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"bkal\">Officers also repeatedly attempted to grab Wilkinson’s camera by the lens and the phone from her hand; her backpack was also ripped, which she said caused her to lose some of her personal belongings. She added that she was wearing a lanyard with her city-issued press credentials and was clearly identifiable as a member of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"a4fth\">After she left the protest at around 10 p.m., Wilkinson said she noticed bruises along the back of her arms and general soreness from the continuous shoving.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"rcap7\">Pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside a presidential campaign event for Vice President Kamala Harris in New York City on Aug. 14, 2024. Police shoved photojournalist Alexa Wilkinson multiple times while she covered the protest that evening.</p>",
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{
"title": "Independent journalist shoved with batons by NYC police at protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-shoved-with-batons-by-nyc-police-at-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-09-04T19:54:05.950997Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hffxm\">An independent journalist who writes under the moniker Spyder Monkey was repeatedly shoved with batons by New York City police while documenting protests outside a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign on Aug. 14, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"dcpj0\">State Democratic leaders — including Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul — and labor union members gathered in Harlem in a show of support for the Harris-Walz campaign ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Politico <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/14/nyc-harris-rally-pro-palestinian-demonstration-00174120\">reported</a>. Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside the event, demonstrating against the Biden administration’s military support for Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.</p><p data-block-key=\"du8q8\">Spyder Monkey, who asked to be identified only by his pen name for safety reasons, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest outside the campaign event was uneventful, but tensions escalated after protesters marched the 10 blocks north to a restaurant where the Democratic officials were holding an after-party. He said protesters went into the restaurant, yelled at attendees and quickly exited.</p><p data-block-key=\"61u11\">“As they were leaving, that’s when the police who were monitoring them from earlier in the day came in and immediately arrested two or three protesters, and that’s when the cop riot basically started,” Spyder Monkey said. “That’s where most of the violence kind of happened, with all the press filming everything around them, smoke bombs being thrown, arguments between police and protesters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7l4s4\">He said that the press became trapped between the protesters and a line of officers from the department’s Special Response Group, a rapid response unit that the New York Civil Liberties Union calls <a href=\"https://www.nyclu.org/podcast/s2-ep-9-inside-the-special-nypd-unit-thats-brutalizing-protesters\">notoriously violent</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"a88r7\">“It was a lot of shoving, a lot of police pushing press who, including me, were just trying to hold their arms up to show nonviolence, but we just kept getting manhandled and pushed around,” Spyder Monkey said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1bkbq\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/SpyderMonkey0_0/status/1823924956154966134\">clip</a> Spyder Monkey posted on the social platform X, a supervisory officer can be seen using a baton to shove back independent photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-shoved-with-police-batons-while-covering-nyc-protest/\">Gerard Dalbon</a> — wearing a black shirt — while the journalist’s press credential is visible on a lanyard.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I can corroborate that Ruel Stephenson, as usual, was wild today in shoving and hitting press with his baton (you can see him push <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GerardDalbon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GerardDalbon</a> at the end of the clip)<br><br>Officers constantly manhandled press who half the time were squished between protesters and the police <a href=\"https://t.co/GWGQJUX7Vm\">https://t.co/GWGQJUX7Vm</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/EJ1pmpqY5c\">pic.twitter.com/EJ1pmpqY5c</a></p>— Spyder Monkey (@SpyderMonkey0_0) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SpyderMonkey0_0/status/1823924956154966134?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 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=\"hffxm\"><a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-14&date_upper=2024-08-14&state=New+York&tags=protest&categories=Assault\">At least four journalists</a>, including Spyder Monkey and Dalbon, were struck or pushed by officers with batons during the chaos. Spyder Monkey told the Tracker that his city-issued press credentials were visible and that he was clearly identifiable as press.</p><p data-block-key=\"aal93\">The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"us8ot\">Attendees outside a presidential campaign event for Vice President Kamala Harris in New York City on Aug. 14, 2024, are surrounded by pro-Palestinian protesters. An independent journalist was shoved by police while covering a protest that night.</p>",
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"name": "New York",
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"tags": [
"election",
"Election 2024",
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Spyder Monkey (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist struck, shoved with police batons while covering NYC protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-shoved-with-police-batons-while-covering-nyc-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-09-04T17:29:41.384406Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-09-04T17:29:41.384406Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-09-04T17:26:15.010082Z",
"date": "2024-08-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"blat0\">Independent photojournalist Gerard Dalbon was struck repeatedly with a baton by New York City police while documenting protests outside a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign on Aug. 14, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"av8mt\">State Democratic leaders — including Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul — and labor union members gathered in Harlem in a show of support for the Harris-Walz campaign ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Politico <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/14/nyc-harris-rally-pro-palestinian-demonstration-00174120\">reported</a>. Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside the event, demonstrating against the Biden administration’s military support for Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.</p><p data-block-key=\"895lq\">Dalbon told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest outside the campaign event was uneventful, but tensions escalated after protesters marched the 10 blocks north to a restaurant where the Democratic officials were holding an after-party. Officers with the department’s Special Response Group, a rapid response unit that the New York Civil Liberties Union calls <a href=\"https://www.nyclu.org/podcast/s2-ep-9-inside-the-special-nypd-unit-thats-brutalizing-protesters\">notoriously violent</a>, quickly arrived and began pushing everyone back and hitting people with batons.</p><p data-block-key=\"4gpe2\">He said that he was shoved by a supervisory officer who was one of the first to pull out his baton and begin striking at people. “I was repeatedly hit with a baton by him as we were getting pushed back. I was showing him my press badge and he did not care,” Dalbon said. “He was saying ‘fuck your press badge’ as he was hitting people.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5v786\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/SpyderMonkey0_0/status/1823924956154966134\">clip</a> posted on the social platform X, a supervisory officer can be seen using a baton to shove back Dalbon — wearing a black shirt — while the journalist’s press credential is visible on a lanyard.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I can corroborate that Ruel Stephenson, as usual, was wild today in shoving and hitting press with his baton (you can see him push <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GerardDalbon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GerardDalbon</a> at the end of the clip)<br><br>Officers constantly manhandled press who half the time were squished between protesters and the police <a href=\"https://t.co/GWGQJUX7Vm\">https://t.co/GWGQJUX7Vm</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/EJ1pmpqY5c\">pic.twitter.com/EJ1pmpqY5c</a></p>— Spyder Monkey (@SpyderMonkey0_0) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SpyderMonkey0_0/status/1823924956154966134?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 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=\"blat0\">Dalbon told the Tracker that while he has covered many protests, this was the first time he had been hit by police. He added that there was a large group of press at the front between the police and protesters, and that because of that the journalists got “pummeled.” <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-14&date_upper=2024-08-14&state=New+York&tags=protest&categories=Assault\">At least four journalists</a>, including Dalbon, were struck or pushed by officers with batons during the chaos.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As protesters moved up the block to disrupt the DNC fundraiser afterparty, NYPD began violently dispersing the crowd gathered outside the bar by beating, pepper spraying, and arresting demonstrators on the sidewalk. Myself and other press and ppl were repeatedly hit with batons. <a href=\"https://t.co/c0DLjYkjSy\">https://t.co/c0DLjYkjSy</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/Xws0SigTCv\">pic.twitter.com/Xws0SigTCv</a></p>— Gerard (@GerardDalbon) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GerardDalbon/status/1823890329533342035?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 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=\"blat0\">The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"jwil7\">At least four journalists, including photojournalist Gerard Dalbon, were shoved and struck with batons by police while reporting on a pro-Palestinian protest after a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris in New York City on Aug. 14, 2024.</p>",
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"election",
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"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
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{
"title": "Videojournalist shoved with batons by police during NYC protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/videojournalist-shoved-with-batons-by-police-during-nyc-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-09-05T15:45:46.066771Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-09-05T15:45:46.066771Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-09-05T15:30:06.007227Z",
"date": "2024-08-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5ip8z\">Freelance videojournalist Peter Hambrecht was shoved repeatedly with batons by New York City police while documenting protests outside a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign on Aug. 14, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"3iun6\">State Democratic leaders — including Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul — and labor union members gathered in Harlem in a show of support for the Harris-Walz campaign ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Politico <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/14/nyc-harris-rally-pro-palestinian-demonstration-00174120\">reported</a>. Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside the event, demonstrating against the Biden administration’s military support for Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.</p><p data-block-key=\"5l4nr\">Hambrecht told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest outside the campaign event was uneventful, but tensions escalated after protesters marched the 10 blocks north to a restaurant where the Democratic officials were holding an after-party. He said he was one of five or six journalists to make it into the restaurant alongside approximately 15 demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"a43jm\">“I was kind of pulled out of the restaurant by the cops, who eventually came in. And then they just start pushing people down the sidewalk away from the restaurant for a while, just really ramming people,” Hambrecht said. “Most of us at the front were press anyway, by the end of it, and they just continued to do it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f1suc\">He said that he was wearing his city-issued credentials while police shoved him multiple times with their batons, and he received multiple bruises around his ribs. Hambrecht said he licensed his footage from the protest to News2Share, a collective that sells footage to news outlets.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">VIDEO THREAD: Palestine supporters gathered at a Harris/Waltz fundraising afterparty in Harlem, New York City on Wednesday night, hoping to confront Mayor Eric Adams over his participation.<br><br>Some went inside the bar, and NYPD arrived to force them away.<br><br>Filmed by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/peterhvideo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@peterhvideo</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/drNyoz8jv0\">pic.twitter.com/drNyoz8jv0</a></p>— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/FordFischer/status/1824127355700260875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 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=\"5ip8z\"><a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-08-14&date_upper=2024-08-14&state=New+York&tags=protest&categories=Assault\">At least four journalists</a>, including Hambrecht, were struck or pushed by officers with batons during the chaos. Hambrecht, who <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_journalists=Peter+Hambrecht\">routinely documents protests</a> in New York City, told the Tracker that the police response on the night of Aug. 14 “was the craziest it’s been for a while.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6ijna\">“They just didn’t stop. It was very, very strange that they seemed to be the clear aggressors in that situation, when everyone was getting out of the way and they continued to push us,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4jfdr\">The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ok8o6\">Pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside a presidential campaign event for Vice President Kamala Harris in New York City on Aug. 14, 2024. Videographer Peter Hambrecht was shoved by police while covering the protest that evening.</p>",
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"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Production company Zero Point Zero subpoenaed in music copyright suit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/production-company-zero-point-zero-subpoenaed-in-music-copyright-suit/",
"first_published_at": "2025-01-22T20:14:14.701178Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-14T19:14:41.514532Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-14T19:14:41.283678Z",
"date": "2024-08-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lsm7k\">Production company Zero Point Zero Production was subpoenaed on Aug. 8, 2024, for documents and testimony related to a docuseries it produced, according to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"7g1hq\">The subpoena is part of a music copyright suit filed on behalf of Jamaican reggaetón duo Steely & Clevie and their representatives. The suit <a href=\"https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.law.gwu.edu/dist/a/4/files/2024/02/Browne-v.-Donalds-Original-Complaint-748ad82bd91f88aa.pdf\">alleges</a> that numerous musicians had copied or sampled without permission a rhythm first used in their 1989 song “Fish Market.” The complaint <a href=\"https://theconversation.com/the-lawsuit-that-could-bring-reggaeton-to-its-knees-232779\">names</a> more than 160 individual musicians and record labels as defendants.</p><p data-block-key=\"fjp30\">The plaintiffs <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.628548/gov.uscourts.nysd.628548.1.2.pdf\">subpoenaed</a> ZPZ in connection with the suit, asking it to turn over editorial materials related to “<a href=\"https://www.paramountpressexpress.com/paramount-plus/shows/de-la-calle/releases/?view=108578-paramount-announces-new-docuseries-de-la-calle-to-premiere-november-7\">De La Calle</a>,” an eight-part docuseries it produced on the evolution of Latin music, including reggaetón.</p><p data-block-key=\"1oenb\">Paramount Global, which oversaw the production of the 2023 series on behalf of its subsidiary New Remote Productions, received a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/paramount-global-subpoenaed-in-music-copyright-suit/\">similar subpoena</a>. Both were issued by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles.</p><p data-block-key=\"ct8hu\">The subpoena demanded that ZPZ turn over all video and interview footage from “De La Calle,” whether or not it was used in the series, as well as all eight aired episodes and all communications with another reggaeton duo and a singer who appeared in the series and are named as defendants in the copyright suit.</p><p data-block-key=\"71oif\">It also sought to depose ZPZ regarding the authenticity of the documents, its maintenance and recordkeeping practices, the “development and production” of the series and “the creative decisions made regarding subject matter and individuals to involve.”</p><p data-block-key=\"54m5g\">In a Sept. 18 <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.628548/gov.uscourts.nysd.628548.1.0.pdf\">letter</a> regarding Paramount and ZPZ’s motion to quash the subpoenas — filed that day — attorney Jacquelyn Schell of Ballard Spahr argued that the plaintiffs were seeking unpublished footage and editorial materials, including communications with sources, that are “protected against compelled disclosure by the reporter’s privileges under New York and California state law, federal law, and the First Amendment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fgv4i\">Schell also asserted that the subpoenas are “overly broad, unduly burdensome” and “seek irrelevant information.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9ebr1\">The motion to quash was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, as both Paramount and ZPZ’s records are stored in New York City.</p><p data-block-key=\"57b7c\">The plaintiffs argued in an Oct. 25 letter opposing the motion to quash that the information collected in making the docuseries was directly related to their case, that they would be unable to obtain the material elsewhere and that Paramount and ZPZ had not demonstrated that the documentary participants were confidential sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"e9cnc\">But Schell, in a Nov. 1 <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.628548/gov.uscourts.nysd.628548.14.0.pdf\">letter</a> to presiding Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn, called the plaintiffs’ requests an “archetypal fishing expedition,” arguing that they had failed to demonstrate that the “requested materials are of ‘likely relevance to a <i>significant</i> issue’ and not obtainable elsewhere, as required to overcome the reporter’s privilege that protects the information sought from compelled disclosure.”</p><p data-block-key=\"apad\">Schell asked the judge to grant the motion to quash, and award Paramount and ZPZ their costs and attorneys’ fees.</p><p data-block-key=\"f6pnp\">Schell did not reply to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"pxtrh\">A portion of a subpoena issued to Zero Point Zero Production on Aug. 8, 2024, for documents and testimony related to a music docuseries it produced.</p>",
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"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2025-02-12 00:00:00+00:00) Subpoena to production company struck down in music copyright suit"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Zero Point Zero Production"
],
"tags": [],
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{
"title": "Paramount Global subpoenaed in music copyright suit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/paramount-global-subpoenaed-in-music-copyright-suit/",
"first_published_at": "2025-01-22T20:06:53.573190Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-14T19:14:49.314089Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-14T19:14:49.085772Z",
"date": "2024-08-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2tn2j\">Media conglomerate Paramount Global was subpoenaed on Aug. 8, 2024, for documents and testimony related to a docuseries it produced, according to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"5lm1q\">The subpoena is part of a music copyright suit filed on behalf of Jamaican reggaetón duo Steely & Clevie and their representatives. The suit <a href=\"https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.law.gwu.edu/dist/a/4/files/2024/02/Browne-v.-Donalds-Original-Complaint-748ad82bd91f88aa.pdf\">alleges</a> that numerous musicians had copied or sampled without permission a rhythm first used in their 1989 song “Fish Market.” The complaint <a href=\"https://theconversation.com/the-lawsuit-that-could-bring-reggaeton-to-its-knees-232779\">names</a> more than 160 individual musicians and record labels as defendants.</p><p data-block-key=\"1cfaf\">The plaintiffs <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.628548/gov.uscourts.nysd.628548.1.1_1.pdf\">subpoenaed</a> Paramount Global in connection with the suit, asking it to turn over editorial materials related to “<a href=\"https://www.paramountpressexpress.com/paramount-plus/shows/de-la-calle/releases/?view=108578-paramount-announces-new-docuseries-de-la-calle-to-premiere-november-7\">De La Calle</a>,” an eight-part docuseries produced by one of its subsidiaries, New Remote Productions. The series chronicles the evolution of Latin music, including reggaetón.</p><p data-block-key=\"dt2di\">Zero Point Zero Production, which produced the 2023 series on behalf of New Remote Productions, received a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/production-company-zero-point-zero-subpoenaed-in-music-copyright-suit/\">similar subpoena</a>. Both were issued by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles.</p><p data-block-key=\"73ldl\">The subpoena demanded that Paramount turn over all video and interview footage from “De La Calle,” whether or not it was used in the series, as well as all eight aired episodes and all communications with another reggaetón duo and a singer who appeared in the series and are named as defendants in the copyright suit.</p><p data-block-key=\"vklf\">It also sought to depose Paramount over the authenticity of the documents, its maintenance and recordkeeping practices, the “development and production” of the series and “the creative decisions made regarding subject matter and individuals to involve.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fd1uj\">In a Sept. 18 <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.628548/gov.uscourts.nysd.628548.1.0.pdf\">letter</a> regarding Paramount and ZPZ’s motion to quash the subpoenas — filed that day — attorney Jacquelyn Schell of Ballard Spahr argued that the plaintiffs were seeking unpublished footage and editorial materials, including communications with sources, that were “protected against compelled disclosure by the reporter’s privileges under New York and California state law, federal law, and the First Amendment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6et5l\">Schell also asserted that the subpoenas are “overly broad, unduly burdensome” and “seek irrelevant information.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cb68n\">The motion to quash was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, as both Paramount and ZPZ’s records are stored in New York City.</p><p data-block-key=\"ddc2q\">The plaintiffs argued in an Oct. 25 letter opposing the motion to quash that the information collected in making the docuseries was directly related to their case, that they would be unable to obtain the material elsewhere and that Paramount and ZPZ had not demonstrated that the documentary participants were confidential sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"dogoo\">But Schell, in a Nov. 1 <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.628548/gov.uscourts.nysd.628548.14.0.pdf\">letter</a> to presiding Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn, called the plaintiffs’ requests an “archetypal fishing expedition,” arguing that they had failed to demonstrate that the “requested materials are of ‘likely relevance to a <i>significant</i> issue’ and not obtainable elsewhere, as required to overcome the reporter’s privilege that protects the information sought from compelled disclosure.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bkfd4\">Schell asked the judge to grant the motion to quash, and award Paramount and ZPZ their costs and attorneys’ fees.</p><p data-block-key=\"614nn\">Schell did not reply to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"tb825\">A portion of a subpoena issued to Paramount Global on Aug. 8, 2024, for documents and testimony related to a music docuseries it produced.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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"(2025-02-12 00:00:00+00:00) Paramount Global subpoena struck down in music copyright suit"
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},
{
"title": "City of Chicago orders removal of downtown newsracks prior to DNC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/city-of-chicago-orders-removal-of-downtown-newsracks-prior-to-dnc/",
"first_published_at": "2024-09-03T19:20:59.408260Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-09-03T19:20:59.408260Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-09-03T19:20:59.326158Z",
"date": "2024-08-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1ft53\">The Chicago mayor’s office ordered the removal of more than 80 multirack newspaper boxes that dispensed news publications to the downtown area, just prior to the city’s hosting of the Democratic National Convention in August 2024, according to local media.</p><p data-block-key=\"cu134\">The racks, installed per a 1996 city <a href=\"https://chicagonews.wordpress.com/city-of-chicago-newsrack-ordinance/\">ordinance</a> to consolidate and standardize Chicago’s disparate freestanding newspaper distribution boxes, had been used by free alternative and community papers and magazines such as Chicago Reader, South Side Weekly and Newcity to reach their audiences, especially in underserved communities, local <a href=\"https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/if-youre-reading-this-its-not-too-late/\">media</a> <a href=\"https://www.wbez.org/books/2024/08/22/chicago-removes-newsstands-ahead-of-the-democratic-national-convention#:~:text=The%20newsracks%20were%20originally%20installed,mandate%20size%2C%20location%20and%20uniformity\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9cttr\">With the shift to digital formats, the racks were used less frequently, and some had <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/28/downtown-newspaper-racks-removed-by-city-ahead-of-dnc-with-no-plans-to-bring-them-back/\">become</a> filled with trash or covered with graffiti.</p><p data-block-key=\"ah16\">Brian Hieggelke, the editor and publisher of Newcity, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the city did not inform him in advance of the decision, “in spite of decades of regular communications with the city and their vendor,” outdoor advertising company JCDecaux.</p><p data-block-key=\"43vs6\">Hieggelke, who also heads the <a href=\"https://chicagonews.wordpress.com/about/\">Chicago Newsrack Task Force</a> established to facilitate communication between Chicago media outlets and the city about the racks, said he first received a report of a few newsracks being removed Aug. 7.</p><p data-block-key=\"1a0hp\">Then, on Aug. 16, after learning that more had been removed, he contacted JCDecaux. The firm’s representative replied: “City instructed us 2 weeks ago to permanently dismount all 83 newsracks. This is not a JCD decision. We only follow City’s directives. I was under the impression you were made aware by the City, before they instructed us to start with the dismounts.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8ve8e\">Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s spokesperson was <a href=\"https://x.com/jimdaleywrites/status/1824601414313840998\">quoted</a> by South Side Weekly Investigations Editor Jim Daley, in an Aug. 16 post on the social platform X, as saying that the decision to remove the racks was made “based on the public health and safety risks, as well as their deteriorating condition and limited use.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bgfk5\">Daley also quoted the spokesperson as saying that the publications were free to use their own individual newsracks. But an <a href=\"https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/if-youre-reading-this-its-not-too-late/\">account</a> in the <a href=\"https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/if-youre-reading-this-its-not-too-late/\">Chicago Reader</a> said news boxes cost anywhere between $200 and $250.</p><p data-block-key=\"im1p\">Solomon Lieberman, chief executive officer and publisher of the Chicago Reader, said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LiebSolly/status/1825943525050962297\">post</a> on X and in an <a href=\"https://mailchi.mp/chicagoreader/newsracks-removed-without-notice?e=bf7e3f2727\">email</a> newsletter that the removals had a serious impact on the paper and the Chicago community. “Thousands of copies of the Reader have nowhere to go this week—copies that include advertising purchased months in advance by some of the most important arts-and-cultural organizations in the city,” Lieberman wrote.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">🚨Important <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chicago?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Chicago</a> News: Yesterday, as the DNC celebrated a progressive vision of freedom and democracy, the City of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/chicago?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Chicago</a> began removing at least 83 permanent newsracks across the Loop—newsracks that support free, critical news sources like <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Chicago_Reader?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Chicago_Reader</a>,… <a href=\"https://t.co/0RkPfFM4U4\">pic.twitter.com/0RkPfFM4U4</a></p>— Solomon Lieberman (@LiebSolly) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LiebSolly/status/1825943525050962297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 20, 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=\"1ft53\">The Reader’s editor-in-chief, Salem Collo-Julin, <a href=\"https://www.wbez.org/books/2024/08/22/chicago-removes-newsstands-ahead-of-the-democratic-national-convention\">said to WBEZ</a> that she had expected high amounts of foot traffic downtown with the DNC in Chicago and that not being able to distribute the newspapers was going to hurt ad revenue and distribution.</p><p data-block-key=\"niel\">Hieggelke told the Tracker, “The immediate and unplanned loss of major distribution outlets is profoundly disruptive and will take months to rebuild, if not years,” adding that the loss of numerous copies of the magazine – which were not returned – was potentially in the tens of thousands of dollars.</p><p data-block-key=\"4grvr\">He said that while the city had a right to change its mind about the newsrack program, “The manner in which they did was extremely disruptive to small and in many cases BIPOC businesses.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2afrh\">“Distribution of news — through newsboxes or otherwise — is constitutionally protected,” wrote Seth Stern, director of advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project. “If reporters’ findings show that the city violated the First Amendment, hopefully it’ll be held accountable in a court of law. Regardless, the city should be judged harshly in the court of public opinion.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3ja27\">Johnson’s office and JCDecaux did not respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Chicago_newsracks.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"oeb7w\">A multirack newspaper box that dispenses free community and alternative papers in Chicago on Aug. 16, 2024. The city ordered the removal of racks around downtown just prior to hosting the Democratic National Convention.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Chicago Reader",
"La Raza",
"Newcity",
"RedEye",
"South Side Weekly"
],
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"Other Incident"
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},
{
"title": "Minnesota outlet ordered to delete court memo in murder case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/minnesota-outlet-ordered-to-delete-court-memo-in-murder-case/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-30T19:04:56.977928Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-15T20:42:28.098218Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-15T20:42:27.928696Z",
"date": "2024-07-19",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "St. Paul",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hmia6\">NBC affiliate KARE was barred from publishing an improperly filed memo in a high-profile murder case in St. Paul, Minnesota, on July 19, 2024. Five days later, the broadcast station filed a petition to overturn the gag order with the state Court of Appeals, the outlet <a href=\"https://www.kare11.com/article/news/investigations/kare-11-investigates-judge-joy-bartschers-gag-order/89-8216e1e1-b764-4e3a-a1d1-a7939eec9e77\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"2tk6k\">Joseph Sandoval was charged with the murders of two men at a St. Paul sober home in 2022, and he pleaded guilty in May 2024. Ahead of Sandoval’s sentencing, his attorney filed a sentencing memorandum with the court detailing the failures of the state and the sober home to provide him the medical care he needed given his history of mental illness and drug-induced psychosis, KARE reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"2jq4c\">KARE has followed the prosecution as part of a <a href=\"https://www.kare11.com/article/news/investigations/kare-11-investigates-the-gap-failure-to-treat-failure-to-protect-mental-health/89-b56dcfba-3016-407f-ba11-72819c671652\">series</a> focusing on the systemic failings in cases involving individuals found incompetent to stand trial who are released without court-ordered mental health treatment and go on to commit new, sometimes more serious, crimes.</p><p data-block-key=\"2sjs8\">The station obtained a publicly available copy of the memo through the court’s website and attempted to film the July 19 sentencing, but Ramsey County District Judge Joy Bartscher <a href=\"https://interactive.kare11.com/pdfs/State-v-Joseph-Sandoval.pdf\">refused</a> to allow the camera in her courtroom.</p><p data-block-key=\"4vbcj\">“I believe that the media coverage would make this case more of a circus than a solemn proceeding in which the Court is making a decision about many people’s lives,” Bartscher said during the hearing. “The purpose of media coverage is supposed to be, supposedly what I have been instructed, is to have transparency about what is going on in a courtroom. I don’t think that that’s what the purpose is of media coverage quite frankly.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4t3et\">Bartscher then granted a protective order for the memo — first orally and then in writing — requiring anyone who had obtained a copy to refrain from publishing and to destroy their copies of the document.</p><p data-block-key=\"b6oav\">“It’s my understanding that at least one media outlet was able to access that information that should have been confidential,” Bartscher said. “That memorandum shall not be used for any purpose other than consideration by the Court and parties for sentencing.”</p><p data-block-key=\"40ujq\">Attorneys representing KARE <a href=\"https://interactive.kare11.com/pdfs/Petition-for-Writ-of-Prohibition.pdf\">filed a petition</a> with the Minnesota Court of Appeals on July 24, arguing that the gag order violates the First Amendment and amounts to an unconstitutional prior restraint. “The Court’s July 19 Orders had immediate and far-reaching consequences on KARE 11’s reporting,” the appeal stated.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ae2\">It added that, without a reversal from the court, the outlet would be “forced to choose between reporting on information it lawfully obtained from the Court’s public docket, and risk being held in contempt, or giving up its constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of the press and depriving the public of information on matters of significant public interest and concern.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6e5v4\">The appeal is still pending and no hearing dates have been scheduled, according to records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Attorneys for KARE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"rrbo4\">A portion of the July 19, 2024, district court order instructing KARE and others to destroy any copies of a mistakenly released sentencing memo and not to publish details from the document in connection with a high-profile case in St. Paul, Minnesota.</p>",
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"status_of_prior_restraint": "struck down",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-08-13 00:00:00+00:00) Gag order on Minnesota television outlet struck down"
],
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"targeted_institutions": [
"KARE"
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"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Prior Restraint"
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},
{
"title": "Former editor subpoenaed in constable’s defamation suit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-editor-subpoenaed-in-constables-defamation-suit/",
"first_published_at": "2024-09-16T18:04:32.756156Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-05T15:43:55.464299Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-05T15:43:55.242255Z",
"date": "2024-07-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Monticello",
"longitude": -74.68933,
"latitude": 41.65565,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"u2lsj\">The former managing editor of the Sullivan County Democrat, a twice-weekly newspaper in New York’s Catskill Mountains, was subpoenaed on July 18, 2024, to testify and produce documents about a former law enforcement official suing the town of Highland for defamation and discrimination.</p><p data-block-key=\"7rirm\">A motion to quash the subpoena by the editor, Joseph Abraham, was denied in September, but the order was stayed for 60 days pending a possible appeal.</p><p data-block-key=\"519tq\">The Democrat published <a href=\"https://www.scdemocratonline.com/stories/highland-constabulary-internal-turmoil,61848\">an article</a> by reporter Derek Kirk in August 2022 about a Highland Town Board investigation of its law enforcement entity, a team of constables (or “constabulary”). The board had released a redacted report on its investigation and announced its decision to dissolve the constabulary and instead contract with the county sheriffs.</p><p data-block-key=\"mu4g\">The Democrat obtained and confirmed the authenticity of an unredacted version of the board’s report, however, that contained a number of allegations labeled “substantiated” and “unsubstantiated” against one of the constables. The paper’s August 2022 article described the substantiated allegations, which accused Constable Marc Anthony of workplace misconduct.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3l39\">Anthony then sued the town, <a href=\"https://riverreporter.com/stories/highland-constable-lawsuit-partially-dismissed,128578\">alleging</a> that a town official had leaked information from the investigation that damaged his reputation.</p><p data-block-key=\"53dav\">Abraham left the Democrat in April 2023, according to court documents. In March 2024, he received an email from Anthony’s attorney, reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, asking to talk about the 2022 article. Abraham did not respond.</p><p data-block-key=\"48jdc\">The attorney then issued a subpoena demanding Abraham’s testimony and any documents in his possession that referred to Anthony, the constabulary or the article.</p><p data-block-key=\"78h58\">Kirk, the author of the article, confirmed to the Tracker that he was not subpoenaed in the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"n9ah\">The court allowed a motion from Abraham to quash that subpoena due to “improper service” — the subpoena had been sent to a house that Abraham owns but does not live in.</p><p data-block-key=\"6fv6d\">But Anthony’s attorney then issued another subpoena July 18, this time also calling for text messages between Abraham and the town official Anthony had accused of leaking information from the investigation. That official admitted to compiling the board’s report but not to confirming its authenticity to the Democrat.</p><p data-block-key=\"fjk9c\">That the town official authenticated the allegations within the report for the paper is key to Anthony’s defamation claims against her, his attorney argued.</p><p data-block-key=\"e9hsf\">Abraham filed another motion to quash Aug. 19, arguing that Anthony was seeking “a broader swath of information that even more clearly violates Mr. Abraham’s rights under the New York Shield Law and the First Amendment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fkm8a\">The court denied the motion Sept. 10. Abraham did not respond to a question from the Tracker about whether he plans to appeal the ruling during the 60-day stay.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"3g7nm\">A portion of a July 18, 2024, subpoena ordering Joseph Abraham, former managing editor of the Sullivan County Democrat, to testify and produce documents related to an article published in the Democrat about ex-town Constable Marc Anthony.</p>",
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"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-10-09 00:00:00+00:00) Ex-editor appeals subpoena order requiring testimony and documents"
],
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"categories": [
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],
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},
{
"title": "LA County sheriffs surveilled, investigated multiple journalists",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-county-sheriffs-surveilled-investigated-multiple-journalists/",
"first_published_at": "2024-08-07T16:50:09.679233Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-07T16:50:09.679233Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-07T16:49:10.674444Z",
"date": "2024-07-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"76syn\">The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigated or surveilled multiple journalists during Alex Villanueva’s tenure as sheriff from 2018 to 2022, according to accounts published in July 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"8a3n0\">The Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-07-20/a-times-reporter-got-a-leaked-list-of-problem-deputies-then-the-sheriffs-dept-started-investigating-her\">reported</a> that its former investigative reporter Maya Lau became a subject of an investigation in 2018, when the department revived an inquiry into the disclosure of a list of roughly 300 problem deputies. Lau <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-sheriff-brady-list-20171208-htmlstory.html\">had written</a> about the deputies the previous year, prompting the LASD’s initial attempt to identify the source, which quickly ended without success.</p><p data-block-key=\"5hijj\">The investigation was reopened shortly after Villanueva took office as sheriff and, according to an investigative case file obtained by the Times, officers ultimately alleged that Lau was a “criminal suspect,” having knowingly received stolen materials. The department submitted the case against her to the state’s attorney general in 2021, who formally declined to prosecute her in May 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"gg6r\">Lau told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she only learned of the investigation when her former colleagues at the Times reached out for comment after it was closed.</p><p data-block-key=\"19e9o\">“This investigation is an outrage. They should know better: Journalists shouldn’t be criminally investigated for doing their job,” Lau said. “Whether they want to admit it or not, it is an intimidation tactic.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5kp7s\">She added that her coverage, along with that of her colleagues, helped change state laws to improve public access to police disciplinary records and that the work she did was in the public’s interest.</p><p data-block-key=\"5kmr0\">Lau was not the last journalist investigated under Villanueva’s leadership.</p><p data-block-key=\"4m3kv\">According to a pair of articles published on July 17, 2024, reporter Cerise Castle obtained email records <a href=\"https://lapublicpress.org/2024/07/lasd-surveils-journalist-deputy-gang-press-freedom/\">confirming</a> that the <a href=\"https://lapublicpress.org/2024/07/lasd-surveils-journalist-deputy-gang-reporter/\">LASD began surveilling her</a> almost immediately after she <a href=\"https://knock-la.com/tradition-of-violence-lasd-gang-history/\">published a 15-part series</a> with Knock LA in March and April 2021 exposing a history of gangs within the department.</p><p data-block-key=\"4u2th\">Castle gained access to digital communications containing her name after suing the department for denying a May 2021 public records request. It ultimately agreed to a settlement and began turning over the records two years later.</p><p data-block-key=\"es9nv\">The emails revealed that she was flagged as a suspicious person, that an officer described her reporting as “a potential officer safety concern” and that another described Knock LA as among the “anti-LASD platform(s) we’re tracking,” Castle reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"97and\">“These emails confirm LASD monitored me, a reporter performing her work, protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution, as well as other people they consider to be in my orbit,” Castle <a href=\"https://lapublicpress.org/2024/07/lasd-surveils-journalist-deputy-gang-press-freedom/\">wrote</a>. “It’s not clear the extent of which this is still happening. I have filed similar requests to the original filed in 2021, but have not received any records.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dntn\">Castle told the Tracker that before the series was published, a source warned her that she might be surveilled and she took it seriously: She stayed at a safe house while finishing the reporting and through its publication. After returning home, she said she repeatedly saw department vehicles parked in the driveway outside her apartment — located outside of LASD’s jurisdiction — and has been pulled over multiple times recently while reporting on police misconduct cases.</p><p data-block-key=\"a2ev8\">“It’s impossible for me to relax. I don’t really feel safe anywhere, even at home,” Castle said. “It hasn’t killed my resolve. It has changed me completely as a person, but I’m not going to stop doing this work.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ee058\">David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, condemned the surveillance of journalists <a href=\"https://lapublicpress.org/2024/07/lasd-surveils-journalist-deputy-gang-press-freedom/\">in a statement</a>, calling it “truly alarming.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bufa9\">“It creates a significant chill in the fact that journalists should be able to do their jobs without fear that they’re going to be targets, or potential targets, of law enforcement retaliation,” Loy said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6668q\">At a news conference in April 2022, Villanueva targeted another journalist, LA Times reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sheriffs-department-targets-la-times-reporter-in-criminal-leak-investigation-then-backtracks/\">Alene Tchekmedyian</a>, as part of a leak investigation. That followed Tchekmedyian’s reporting on internal documents that detailed an alleged department cover-up around an inmate abuse case.</p><p data-block-key=\"dt5pi\">When pressed at the news conference to say whether Tchekmedyian was under criminal investigation, Villanueva responded that the reporter received information and put it to use. “What she receives legally and puts to her own use and what she receives legally and the L.A. Times uses — I'm sure that's a huge, complex level of law and freedom of the press and all that. However, when it’s stolen materials, at some point, you actually become part of the story.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4388c\">Hours after the news conference, Villanueva went on social media to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LACoSheriff/status/1519130928915787776\">address</a> the public outcry over his comments.</p><p data-block-key=\"81qp9\">“Resulting from the incredible frenzy of misinformation being circulated, I must clarify at no time today did I state an LA Times reporter was a suspect in a criminal investigation. We have no interest in pursuing, nor are we pursuing, criminal charges against any reporters,” Villanueva wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"ebv44\">At the time of that statement, however, the department’s recommendation that Times reporter Lau be charged was still pending before the attorney general.</p><p data-block-key=\"dn5sk\">Villanueva was later voted out of office and his replacement, Robert Luna, was sworn in as sheriff in December 2022.</p><p data-block-key=\"1h2od\">In an emailed statement to the Tracker in July 2024, the department said: “Under the leadership of Sheriff Luna, we do not monitor journalists and we respect the freedom of the press. Our current administration operates distinctively from its predecessor, and actions taken in prior administrations do not reflect our current policies or practices.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fglh7\">LASD declined to respond to requests for details about when the investigations were opened and closed, and whether Villanueva personally ordered or oversaw them. Villanueva did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"4q1e8\">Police investigating journalists isn’t unusual, Castle told the Tracker. “We’ve seen journalists that have gone through surveillance like this by police departments quite frequently,” she said, citing Lau, Tchekmedyian and the raid on the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/newsroom-personal-equipment-seized-in-kansas-raid/\">Marion County Record</a> last year. “This stuff is happening all over the United States a lot more frequently than I think people are aware of, and it’s something that should be a concern for all of us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dlkk8\">Lau said that while she doesn’t have any reason to believe that egregious investigatory tactics, such as tapping her phone, were used, there are unanswered questions. “I don’t know the full scope of this investigation and that is the danger. It could theoretically put other sources, including those that had nothing to do with this story, at risk.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS3FORW.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"pn1bl\">Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva in his office in 2020. During his tenure, the department investigated and surveilled multiple journalists, proposing criminal charges against one of them.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
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"categories": [
"Other Incident"
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"Maya Lau (Los Angeles Times)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist forced to the ground, detained at soccer match in Miami",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-forced-to-the-ground-detained-at-soccer-match-in-miami/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-18T20:32:56.316040Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-18T20:32:56.316040Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-18T20:27:01.516272Z",
"date": "2024-07-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Miami Gardens",
"longitude": -80.20255,
"latitude": 25.97981,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"plfbh\">Hernán González, a producer for the South American broadcaster Torneos, was forced to the ground and handcuffed by multiple law enforcement officers at a stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, while reporting live before a soccer match on July 14, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"5a37q\">The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/15/us/copa-america-final-miami-world-cup.html\">reported</a> that mayhem broke out at the Copa América final between Argentina and Colombia, when throngs of unticketed fans attempted to enter Hard Rock Stadium in the Miami suburb, delaying kickoff for more than an hour.</p><p data-block-key=\"3psfe\">In <a href=\"https://x.com/jakefenner_/status/1812631749819515175\">footage</a> captured by Mail Sport reporter Jake Fenner, officers from multiple law enforcement agencies can be seen grabbing a man who appears to be holding press credentials and who entered through the media entrance, according to Fenner.</p><p data-block-key=\"23ia2\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker was able to confirm the man was González, who is the content and production director for Torneos, which produced and was a <a href=\"https://www.torneos.com/en/novedades/0/250/torneos-will-produce-and-participate-as-host-broadcaster-of-the-conmebol-copa-america-2024\">host broadcaster</a> of the event.</p><p data-block-key=\"ffuki\">In the video, González is quickly surrounded by at least six officers, who lift him sideways and place him prone on the ground, with an officer appearing to hold his head against the pavement while others place him in handcuffs. Both of the journalist’s shoes came off and his shirt ripped open in the course of the detention.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A man with credentials who went through the media entrance was taken to the ground and has been cuffed <a href=\"https://t.co/fMfMQF8zv5\">pic.twitter.com/fMfMQF8zv5</a></p>— Jake Fenner (@jakefenner_) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jakefenner_/status/1812631749819515175?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 14, 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=\"plfbh\">In <a href=\"https://www.clarin.com/deportes/argentina-vs-colombia-detuvieron-gerente-torneos-directv_3_44TModeuHb.html\">additional footage</a> published by Argentine newspaper Clarín, an officer appears to examine González’s credentials before placing them back around his neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ue71\">The officers appeared to be predominantly from the Miami-Dade and Miami Gardens police departments, but the more than 800 law enforcement officers present at the event were from eight different agencies, <a href=\"https://x.com/MiamiDadePD/status/1812949438387904962\">according to the Miami-Dade Police Department</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8i9p6\">An MDPD spokesperson told the Tracker that many similar detentions and ejections took place throughout the day, but was unable to provide more information about González’s detention.</p><p data-block-key=\"5p85f\">“Given the circumstances regarding that day, many people were detained, ejected, arrested and even unarrested in some cases, meaning that they were detained then — depending on the circumstances in which they were detained — they may have been released,” the public information officer said. “We’re attempting to be as transparent as possible with this incident, but there were a lot of individuals who just lacked judgment that day.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4vd1h\">No charges had been filed against González as of July 18, according to court records reviewed by the Tracker. González did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cwx3p\">Fans rush the gates before the Copa América final between Argentina and Colombia outside Miami, Florida, on July 14, 2024. Hernán González, a producer for the broadcaster Torneos, was forced to the ground and handcuffed by officers amid the chaos.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Miami-Dade Police Department",
"arrest_status": "unknown",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2024-07-14",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
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"categories": [
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],
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},
{
"title": "Argentinian photographer shoved by Miami police at soccer match",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/argentinian-photographer-shoved-by-miami-police-at-soccer-match/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-18T20:23:58.600867Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-23T17:18:33.481269Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-23T17:18:33.368862Z",
"date": "2024-07-14",
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"city": "Miami Gardens",
"longitude": -80.20255,
"latitude": 25.97981,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"d61xr\">Diego Spairani, a photojournalist for the Argentinian TV news channel Todo Noticias, was pushed by police attempting to force him and a colleague from a stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, while reporting live before a soccer match on July 14, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"bu4ts\">The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/15/us/copa-america-final-miami-world-cup.html\">reported</a> that mayhem broke out at the Copa América final between Argentina and Colombia, when throngs of unticketed fans attempted to enter Hard Rock Stadium in the Miami suburb, delaying kickoff for more than an hour.</p><p data-block-key=\"53rg\">Spairani told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in a written statement translated from Spanish that he and reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/argentinian-reporter-shoved-by-miami-police-while-covering-soccer-match/\">Leo Paradizo</a> had arrived at the stadium at around 6 p.m. for an interview with Argentine singer Abel Pintos, who was to perform at the match. When the journalists entered a stadium corridor, security personnel kicked them out without allowing them to explain, forcing them to a stadium exit where crowds of fans had gathered. </p><p data-block-key=\"88kd\">In Todo Noticias’ <a href=\"https://x.com/forofms/status/1812671936708632937\">live footage</a>, Paradizo can be seen walking toward one of the closed entrances when suddenly the gate opens and individuals start rushing in. Law enforcement and event security quickly respond, and a Miami-Dade Police Department officer can be seen pushing Spairani back from the entrance while he says in Spanish that they’re cooperating. </p><p data-block-key=\"fj6cs\">Spairani told the Tracker that police and stadium security attempted to cover the camera with their hands and pull on the transmission cables, before resorting to pushing the journalists to force them to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"37uml\">In the footage, an officer appears to direct the journalists to stand in a particular location, but a stadium employee approaches and erroneously asserts that the journalists had opened the gate for the crowd, saying that they should be forced to leave.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">¡VERGONZOSO! mientras estaba por arrancar el partido, la policía echaba a los empujones a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/leoparadizo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@leoparadizo</a>, al equipo de <a href=\"https://twitter.com/todonoticias?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@todonoticias</a> y también reprimía con pistolas taser a los hinchas (muchos de ellos con entrada). <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/CopaAmerica?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CopaAmerica</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/CopaAmerica2024?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CopaAmerica2024</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Conmebol?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Conmebol</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/TN?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#TN</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/TNFinDeSemana?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#TNFinDeSemana</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/Ff3yYGvkRL\">pic.twitter.com/Ff3yYGvkRL</a></p>— foromedios (@forofms) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/forofms/status/1812671936708632937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 15, 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=\"d61xr\">Officers can be heard telling the journalists, “Let’s go, vamos.” Paradizo responds in Spanish, asking why they are being removed and telling the officers that they are working. Moments later, an officer can be seen pushing Paradizo toward the opened gate where staff and police are holding back the crowd. Someone then blocks the camera and Paradizo walks out of frame with the officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"6l0rb\">Todos Noticias <a href=\"https://tn.com.ar/deportes/2024/07/14/la-policia-intento-echar-del-estadio-al-equipo-de-tn-en-medio-de-los-incidentes-en-la-final-de-la-copa-america/\">reported</a> that the journalists were ultimately not forced out of the venue and were able to continue their coverage. Spairani told the Tracker that his camera was not damaged, but the live feed was cut off.</p><p data-block-key=\"2reko\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/leoparadizo/status/1812735352345378994\">post</a> on the social platform X, Paradizo wrote that both he and Spairani are fine and that they had only wanted to show the chaos taking place at the stadium entrance, calling it a disaster. Neither Paradizo nor Spairani responded to requests for additional comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"9rcsu\">Another journalist, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-forced-to-the-ground-detained-at-soccer-match-in-miami/\">Hernán González</a> of the South American broadcaster Torneos — which was an official broadcaster of the match — was surrounded by officers, who then lifted and forced him to the ground before handcuffing him.</p><p data-block-key=\"ce6gu\">A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Police Department told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was unaware of the incident and that no report would have been filed if the journalists had been permitted to remain in the stadium.</p><p data-block-key=\"4is3b\">“Given the circumstances regarding that day, many people were detained, ejected, arrested and even unarrested in some cases,” the public information officer said. “We’re attempting to be as transparent as possible with this incident, but there were a lot of individuals who just lacked judgment that day.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9d5d6\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment from Diego Spairani.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ngv5l\">A Miami-Dade police officer attempting to physically remove Diego Spairani, a photographer for the Argentinian TV news channel Todo Noticias, as he and a colleague covered a throng of soccer fans at a stadium in a Miami, Florida, suburb on July 14, 2024.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
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{
"title": "Argentinian reporter shoved by Miami police while covering soccer match",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/argentinian-reporter-shoved-by-miami-police-while-covering-soccer-match/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-18T20:21:39.902111Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-18T20:38:02.375021Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-18T20:38:02.291561Z",
"date": "2024-07-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Miami Gardens",
"longitude": -80.20255,
"latitude": 25.97981,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"chdoy\">Leo Paradizo, a reporter for the Argentinian TV news channel Todo Noticias, was pushed by police attempting to force him and his photographer from a stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, while reporting live before a soccer match on July 14, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"fb95q\">The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/15/us/copa-america-final-miami-world-cup.html\">reported</a> that mayhem broke out at the Copa América final between Argentina and Colombia, when throngs of unticketed fans attempted to enter Hard Rock Stadium in the Miami suburb, delaying kickoff for more than an hour.</p><p data-block-key=\"b32oo\">In Todo Noticias’ <a href=\"https://x.com/forofms/status/1812671936708632937\">live footage</a>, Paradizo can be seen walking toward one of the closed entrances when suddenly the gate opens and individuals start rushing in. Law enforcement and event security quickly respond, and a Miami-Dade Police Department officer can be seen pushing photographer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/argentinian-photographer-shoved-by-miami-police-at-soccer-match/\">Diego Spairani</a> back from the entrance while he says in Spanish that they’re cooperating.</p><p data-block-key=\"1kl6d\">The officer appears to direct the journalists to stand in a particular location, but a stadium employee approaches and erroneously asserts that the journalists had opened the gate for the crowd, saying that they should be forced to leave.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">¡VERGONZOSO! mientras estaba por arrancar el partido, la policía echaba a los empujones a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/leoparadizo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@leoparadizo</a>, al equipo de <a href=\"https://twitter.com/todonoticias?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@todonoticias</a> y también reprimía con pistolas taser a los hinchas (muchos de ellos con entrada). <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/CopaAmerica?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CopaAmerica</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/CopaAmerica2024?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CopaAmerica2024</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Conmebol?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Conmebol</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/TN?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#TN</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/TNFinDeSemana?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#TNFinDeSemana</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/Ff3yYGvkRL\">pic.twitter.com/Ff3yYGvkRL</a></p>— foromedios (@forofms) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/forofms/status/1812671936708632937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 15, 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=\"chdoy\">Officers can be heard telling the journalists, “Let’s go, vamos.” Paradizo responds in Spanish, asking why they are being removed and telling the officers that they are working. Moments later, an officer can be seen pushing Paradizo toward the opened gate where staff and police are holding back the crowd. Someone then blocks the camera and Paradizo walks out of frame with the officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"bredi\">Todos Noticias <a href=\"https://tn.com.ar/deportes/2024/07/14/la-policia-intento-echar-del-estadio-al-equipo-de-tn-en-medio-de-los-incidentes-en-la-final-de-la-copa-america/\">reported</a> that the journalists were ultimately not forced out of the venue and were able to continue their coverage.</p><p data-block-key=\"4pn89\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/leoparadizo/status/1812735352345378994\">post</a> on the social platform X, Paradizo wrote that both he and Spairani are fine and that they had only wanted to show the chaos taking place at the stadium entrance, calling it a disaster. Paradizo did not respond to a request for additional comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"akmtf\">Another journalist, <a href=\"/all-incidents/journalist-forced-to-the-ground-detained-at-soccer-match-in-miami/\">Hernán González</a> of the South American broadcaster Torneos — which was an official broadcaster of the match — was surrounded by officers, who then lifted and forced him to the ground before handcuffing him.</p><p data-block-key=\"31gfl\">A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Police Department told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was unaware of the incident and that no report would have been filed if the journalists had been permitted to remain in the stadium.</p><p data-block-key=\"4sqtp\">“Given the circumstances regarding that day, many people were detained, ejected, arrested and even unarrested in some cases,” the public information officer said. “We’re attempting to be as transparent as possible with this incident, but there were a lot of individuals who just lacked judgment that day.”</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"tp4i7\">Leo Paradizo, a reporter for the Argentinian TV news channel Todo Noticias, is seen at center being pushed by a Miami-Dade police officer attempting to physically remove him from a stadium in a Miami, Florida, suburb on July 14, 2024.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Leo Paradizo (Todo Noticias)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
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}
]
