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{
"title": "Australian reporter shot with munition at LA protest during live broadcast",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/australian-reporter-shot-with-munition-at-la-protest-during-live-broadcast/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-12T21:17:59.247562Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-12T21:17:59.247562Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-12T21:02:01.682788Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"u3p6o\">Lauren Tomasi, a correspondent for Australia’s 9News, was struck by a crowd-control munition while documenting protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1g57u\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with officers from the Los Angeles Police Department and other local law enforcement units as well as federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"abbbf\">On June 8, the protests were focused around the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA, where detainees from prior immigration raids were being held, 9News <a href=\"https://www.9news.com.au/world/los-angeles-protests-national-guard-troops-arrive-in-la-on-donald-trumps-orders-to-quell-immigration-protests/0e451581-493c-46fc-b426-ee220f6a29fc?ocid=Social-9News\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"egu6m\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/9NewsAUS/status/1931885297203347706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1931885297203347706%7Ctwgr%5Ec5b80e43bb48ff30622cf28a88afdf2236acbe70%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmedia%2F2025%2Fjun%2F09%2Faustralian-reporter-shot-with-rubber-bullet-while-covering-anti-ice-protests-in-los-angeles\">live broadcast</a> moments before Tomasi was hit, she reported that, “After hours of standing off, this situation has now rapidly deteriorated. The LAPD moving in on horseback, firing rubber bullets at protesters, moving them on through the heart of LA.”</p><p data-block-key=\"213lo\">Tomasi is seen turning to show the line of law enforcement officers behind her when the Los Angeles Police officer at the end closest to her abruptly turns and fires a crowd-control munition into her leg.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">U.S. Correspondent Lauren Tomasi has been caught in the crossfire as the LAPD fired rubber bullets at protesters in the heart of Los Angeles. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/9News?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#9News</a><br><br>LATEST: <a href=\"https://t.co/l5w7JxixxB\">https://t.co/l5w7JxixxB</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/nvQ7m9TGLj\">pic.twitter.com/nvQ7m9TGLj</a></p>— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/9NewsAUS/status/1931885297203347706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2025</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=\"u3p6o\">A bystander can be heard telling the officer, “You just fucking shot the reporter!”</p><p data-block-key=\"14cfq\">When reached for comment, the Los Angeles Police Department directed the Tracker to the department’s social media accounts, where statements and comments would be posted. The account does not appear to have posted any comment concerning the shooting of Tomasi.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ic3i\">LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell <a href=\"https://www.9news.com.au/national/lauren-tomasi-shot-in-los-angeles-protests-anthony-albanese-responds/428fdfbe-4358-4ba0-8414-40cc4e0254dd\">told 9News</a> that he was aware of the incident and that an investigation had been launched.</p><p data-block-key=\"883jk\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/LaurenTomasi/status/1932129000358642126\">post</a> on the social platform X the following day, Tomasi wrote, “Hey there. Thanks for all your messages - I’m a bit sore, but I’m okay. Important we keep on telling the stories that need to be told.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hey there. Thanks for all your messages - I'm a bit sore, but I'm okay. Important we keep on telling the stories that need to be told. Here's our report on what unfolded in Los Angeles. <a href=\"https://t.co/S8AvjQuFA7\">pic.twitter.com/S8AvjQuFA7</a></p>— Lauren Tomasi (@LaurenTomasi) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LaurenTomasi/status/1932129000358642126?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2025</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=\"u3p6o\">Tomasi did not respond to an email requesting comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"f0njd\">Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called footage of Tomasi being shot “horrific,” adding that it had already been raised with the U.S. government, 9News <a href=\"https://www.9news.com.au/national/lauren-tomasi-shot-in-los-angeles-protests-anthony-albanese-responds/428fdfbe-4358-4ba0-8414-40cc4e0254dd\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"4afg2\">“She was clearly identified. There was no ambiguity,” Albanese said. “We don’t find it acceptable that it occurred, and we think that the role of the media is particularly important.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Tomasi_CA_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"5oht3\">Lauren Tomasi, a reporter for Australia’s 9News, was reporting live on protests in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025, when an officer suddenly turned and shot her in the leg with a crowd-control munition.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Lauren Tomasi (9News [Australia])"
],
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{
"title": "Reporter’s bag searched while covering LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporters-bag-searched-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-10T19:01:00.054007Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-10T20:45:27.168200Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-10T20:45:27.083940Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1iaw9\">Freelance journalist Joey Scott had his equipment bag searched by a sheriff’s deputy while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"bl9tt\">The weekend protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"b55ea\">Scott told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and another reporter, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sheriffs-deputy-searches-journalists-bag-during-la-immigration-protest/\">Lexis-Olivier Ray</a> of L.A. Taco, were attempting to cross a law enforcement skirmish line to escape tear gas and flash-bang grenades when they were stopped by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy. Although other journalists were allowed to pass, the deputy insisted on searching their bags, Scott said.</p><p data-block-key=\"erafo\">Scott said both he and Ray displayed their press badges — Scott’s issued by the Industrial Workers of the World Freelance Journalists Union — but still had to show the contents of their bags to cross. In <a href=\"https://x.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1931921864504590699\">videos</a> the pair posted to the social platform X, the deputy, who identified himself as a sergeant, can be seen shining a light into Ray’s bag.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In order for us to leave the tear gas we had to move pass the LASD skirmish line. LASD told us to they had to search our bags in order for us to leave. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ShotOn35mm</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/xY4YLwUKF5\">pic.twitter.com/xY4YLwUKF5</a></p>— Joey (@joeyneverjoe) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1931921864504590699?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2025</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=\"1iaw9\">He told the Tracker he feared refusing the search would have resulted in being forced back into the tear gas, his devices being seized or his detention or arrest. Scott, who has covered numerous protests over the past five years, said this experience was among the most intense.</p><p data-block-key=\"a4uk0\">The trauma of these encounters builds over time, he said. “You go out and the thing that goes through your mind is: Is this the night that I get arrested? Is this the night that I get severely hurt?”</p><p data-block-key=\"96h29\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cj343\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25159739066258.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"sogfe\">Law enforcement at a immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025. Freelance journalist Joey Scott had his equipment bag searched while covering the protest.</p>",
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"status_of_seized_equipment": "searched without seizure",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "equipment bag"
}
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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"immigration",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Joey Scott (Freelance)"
],
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{
"title": "Reporter pushed by police officers at LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pushed-by-police-officers-at-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-13T17:00:12.432886Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-13T17:00:12.432886Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-13T17:00:12.344826Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f2gcz\">E. Tammy Kim, a contributing writer at The New Yorker, was pushed by officers while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025, <a href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/immigration-protests-threaten-to-boil-over-in-los-angeles\">she reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"3lc2n\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"47g7a\">In her piece for The New Yorker, Kim wrote that she encountered around 20 National Guard members — “in camouflage, armed, helmeted, clutching shields” —outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants were being held. Behind them were a half-dozen tactical vehicles.</p><p data-block-key=\"cbt0t\">“The scene did more to provoke than soothe,” she wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"am0mi\">More than 100 officers from the Los Angeles Police Department, outfitted in black riot gear, shot off tear gas, Kim reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"f6br4\">“A pair of officers shoved me repeatedly and pushed me forward on the sidewalk with their batons,” Kim wrote. “When I identified as press, one said, ‘I don’t care.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"1f5ll\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to the department’s social media accounts. In a statement posted <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1932838116722982997/photo/2\">to social platform X</a>, the department said it had worked through the night to restore public safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"1s6rl\">Kim could not immediately be reached for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cnwn4\">Authorities stand outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025. A New Yorker reporter said she was shoved repeatedly by a pair of police officers that day.</p>",
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "NY Times reporter hit by crowd-control munition during LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ny-times-reporter-hit-by-crowd-control-munition-during-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-12T19:06:49.875275Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-12T19:06:49.875275Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-12T19:06:49.786695Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ogxed\">Livia Albeck-Ripka, a reporter for The New York Times, was struck by a round of crowd-control munitions while covering an immigration enforcement protest on June 8, 2025, in downtown Los Angeles, California, <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000010217680/a-look-at-the-crackdown-on-the-la-protests.html\">the newspaper reported.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"449ml\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"3m84v\">In a video posted to the <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000010217680/a-look-at-the-crackdown-on-the-la-protests.html\">Times website</a>, Albeck-Ripka said that around midnight, she saw a line of officers, who very quickly began firing crowd-control munitions in her direction.</p><p data-block-key=\"49cnd\">“I was hit below my rib cage. It was a pretty intense, instant pain. I felt winded,” she said. “I was really lucky because I was not seriously injured. I just have a nasty bruise.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8ksru\">Albeck-Ripka acknowledged in the video that there had been some incidents of violence by individuals who lit cars on fire and threw rocks and scooters, but said that the majority of protesters were peaceful.</p><p data-block-key=\"afl7f\">“In the instance that munitions were fired at myself and my colleagues, there were very few people on the street,” she said. “It was very late at night, and we were standing quite some distance from the officers.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dln68\">Albeck-Ripka did not specify which law enforcement agency deployed the shots, or whether she and her colleagues were targeted by the officers for being media members. Albeck-Ripka did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"eo6l8\">In statements issued to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, some of the local and federal agencies at the protest urged caution for journalists covering these events, defended their actions against threats of violence and emphasized training officers to respect the rights of clearly identified press.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hceen\">In this image montage, New York Times reporter Livia Albeck-Ripka recounts her experience getting hit by a crowd-control munition while covering an immigration enforcement protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p>",
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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{
"title": "Radio reporter hit with crowd-control munition, tear-gassed at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/radio-reporter-hit-with-crowd-control-munition-tear-gassed-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-30T18:04:51.276920Z",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xv9nw\">Pete Demetriou, a reporter for radio station KNX, was hit in the leg with a crowd-control munition and tear-gassed while covering an immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"ddrc6\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"8fm2d\">In a June 9 interview with <a href=\"https://www.audacy.com/knxnews/news/local/reporter-recounts-being-shot-by-rubber-bullet-during-protest\">KNX</a>, Demetriou recalled that he and his security detail, Jose Aceves, were caught up in two separate incidents the previous day.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ij3g\">In the first incident, Demetriou said the situation escalated when a few protesters threw full water bottles and soda cans at National Guard troops and Department of Homeland Security agents near the rear entrance of the Federal Building, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was bringing detainees.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rhvu\">Within seconds, the federal officers responded with pepper spray and tear gas to push the crowd back.</p><p data-block-key=\"fc9sk\">“You’ve got a mist and then all of a sudden, you got a white cloud of smoke coming at you,” Demetriou recalled, “Your eyes close, your nose shuts down, your throat locks up. You can’t do anything but try to struggle to breathe.”</p><p data-block-key=\"96d8f\">Demetriou and Aceves got into their car, grabbed bottles of water and turned on recycled air to recover.</p><p data-block-key=\"50pct\">Demetriou said at that point, his main objective was to regroup and get back on the air. “I can’t do my job if I can’t tell people what’s going on.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b9djp\">They soon went back out to continue covering the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"7qf4i\">In the second incident, Demetriou told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Los Angeles Police Department officers had formed a skirmish line to try to prevent protesters from going onto a street leading to the U.S. 101 freeway. Police fired dispersal rounds and impact rounds.</p><p data-block-key=\"2sku9\">Demetriou was struck with a 40 mm impact round. He was broadcasting live when he was hit.</p><p data-block-key=\"fsqel\">“Sorry, got a little bit dicey here, folks. I just took a hit to the leg with a 40-millimeter impact round. It’s blue, hard rubber,” Demetriou said during the broadcast.</p><p data-block-key=\"fitkh\">When anchor Rob Archer asked how he could stay on the air after getting hit, Demetriou replied, “You stay on the air because you have to. It’s your job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4t8qo\">Asked in the KNX interview whether the officer deliberately aimed at him, Demetriou said “Probably not.” He added that he received only minor irritation from the impact.</p><p data-block-key=\"44htq\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the Tracker to the department’s social media accounts, where statements and comments would be posted. The account does not appear to have posted any comment concerning Demetriou or <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2025-06-08&date_upper=2025-06-08&assailant=LAW_ENFORCEMENT&categories=Assault\">multiple other journalists assaulted</a> while documenting protests that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"90uge\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added, “President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"26di0\">Protesters confront a line of police near the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025. KNX radio reporter Pete Demetriou was hit with a crowd-control munition and tear-gassed while covering the protest.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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},
{
"title": "Sheriff’s deputy searches journalist’s bag during LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sheriffs-deputy-searches-journalists-bag-during-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-10T20:43:52.603461Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-10T21:40:05.228651Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-10T21:40:05.127348Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"271ck\">A sheriff’s deputy searched L.A. Taco investigative journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray’s bag while he was reporting on an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"19bod\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"3l1hp\">Ray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporters-bag-searched-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/\">another reporter, Joey Scott,</a> were trying to leave the protest and because of the excessive tear gas being deployed nearby, determined that the best course of action was to cross the law enforcement skirmish line.</p><p data-block-key=\"3b1ki\">“I saw two other journalists pass through just by showing their press passes,” Ray said.</p><p data-block-key=\"600lf\">But despite seeing their press badges, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy, who identified himself as a sergeant in a <a href=\"https://x.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1931921864504590699\">video Scott posted</a> to the social platform X, insisted the pair stop to have their bags searched.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In order for us to leave the tear gas we had to move pass the LASD skirmish line. LASD told us to they had to search our bags in order for us to leave. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ShotOn35mm</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/xY4YLwUKF5\">pic.twitter.com/xY4YLwUKF5</a></p>— Joey (@joeyneverjoe) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1931921864504590699?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2025</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=\"271ck\">“If you’d like to go this way, I want to inspect your backpack,” the deputy said. “If not, you can go that way. It’s up to you.”</p><p data-block-key=\"92kbc\">Shining his flashlight into Ray’s bag, the deputy directed him to continue opening the pockets of his backpack, according to <a href=\"https://x.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1931924134356984146\">another video of the incident,</a> posted by Ray. At one point, the deputy acknowledged that the pair were journalists, but said the request was reasonable and for the sake of other law enforcement officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7036\">“I’ve never been searched,” Ray is heard telling the deputy in the video.</p><p data-block-key=\"7lqhl\">“Nobody is asking to search you. I’m asking you to open your backpack to make sure you don’t have a bomb in there. Do you have a bomb in there?” the deputy asked.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nm6f\">Ray told the officer that he had no weapons.</p><p data-block-key=\"5u8h9\">“Journalists cross police lines all the time, they don’t get searched. It’s not practical to,” Ray told the deputy in the video Scott posted.</p><p data-block-key=\"bftp3\">“It is in this instance,” the deputy replied.</p><p data-block-key=\"dn5a9\">Ray told the Tracker that police don’t have the capability to search every journalist that goes through a skirmish line, and expressed concern that this could have a chilling effect on reporters.</p><p data-block-key=\"ado2\">“I could see law enforcement agencies potentially using these bag searches as a way to gain information about journalists or just to intimidate them or discourage them from crossing their lines,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"44n7u\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9qb45\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"13f6u\">Ray was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-with-pepper-balls-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/\">struck by pepper balls fired by federal law enforcement</a> while covering another protest in downtown Los Angeles the previous day.</p><p data-block-key=\"c96mb\">The Tracker has documented other incidents in which Ray was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-repeatedly-shoved-while-covering-la-reproductive-rights-protests/\">shoved,</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-taco-reporter-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\">detained,</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-tackled-equipment-damaged-while-covering-dodgers-celebrations/\">tackled</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-covering-protests-los-angeles-assaulted/\">struck with a baton</a> while covering protests in Los Angeles since 2020.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"q5t30\">People console a man suffering from the effects of tear gas during an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025. Lexis-Olivier Ray, who took the photo, had his bag searched while covering the protest.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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},
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],
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],
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},
{
"title": "TV news vehicle vandalized during LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tv-news-vehicle-vandalized-during-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-11T20:34:01.150422Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-12T18:37:18.920285Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-12T18:37:18.821506Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0bm3z\">At least one news van belonging to KTLA was seen being tagged with graffiti live on air during a news broadcast of an immigration enforcement protest on June 8, 2025, in downtown Los Angeles, California, the outlet <a href=\"https://ktla.com/news/local-news/waymos-lit-on-fire-ktla-van-defaced-as-los-angeles-protests-spin-out-of-control/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7mcr\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"5b99c\">During the live broadcast, reporter Rachel Menitoff addresses viewers while someone spray paints the KTLA news van behind her.</p><p data-block-key=\"b3jss\">“Discouraging to see this, people painting over our van,” Menitoff said. She then detailed the fear and anger felt by protesters over the immigration raids that sparked the public demonstrations.</p><p data-block-key=\"4aihv\">“This is the reason for these protests, but over the last couple of hours it’s kind of devolved into violence and chaos, and people have shared with us that their message is kind of getting lost as a result,” she said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As KTLA 5 reporter <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RachelMenitoff?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@RachelMenitoff</a> reported on the unrest near the federal building amid the ICE raids, our cameras caught a vandal spray painting our news van. This is among the many vehicles and property being damaged: <a href=\"https://t.co/PS0jAlUPdC\">https://t.co/PS0jAlUPdC</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/nCdCSUt0jK\">pic.twitter.com/nCdCSUt0jK</a></p>— KTLA (@KTLA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KTLA/status/1931902521423036803?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2025</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=\"0bm3z\">Neither Menitoff nor KTLA immediately responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qhrco\">In this image montage, KTLA reporter Rachel Menitoff delivers a live broadcast as the station’s van is vandalized behind her during an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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},
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"KTLA"
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"protest"
],
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],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter pushed, mic lost while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pushed-mic-lost-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-24T16:23:12.151599Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-24T16:23:12.151599Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-24T16:23:12.048399Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"82szv\">Michelle Zacarias, a reporter for Caló News, was pushed by a Los Angeles Police Department officer and her microphone knocked off and lost while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1dq5c\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and later the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"1gatf\">Zacarias told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that around 3 p.m. on June 8, she was following a protest march that started near the City Hall and was moving toward the nearby Federal Building. She was near the front of the march, wearing a press pass around her neck, and holding her camera and cellphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"di3fp\">As the crowd approached the Federal Building, Zacarias said she could see and smell tear gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"armli\">The LAPD created a line of scrimmage to meet the marchers on the sidewalk and started to push them back with their batons, yelling at them to clear the area. Zacarias, who said she is an amputee and visibly wears a prosthetic right leg, identified herself as media but the police continued to push her and others.</p><p data-block-key=\"8qr1c\">“I was pushed back by a police officer and kettled into a large crowd,” said Zacarias, “despite being both a reporter and disabled.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6bs6i\">As she was pushed back, the marchers became squashed together. At that point, she had to push her way out of the crowd to escape the confrontation. She said she sustained a minor lip injury from being pushed by an officer’s baton but felt well enough to continue reporting the rest of the day.</p><p data-block-key=\"5l00t\">Zacarias added that when she was pushed by police, an officer hit the microphone that was clipped to her chest, knocking it off. She said the microphone was lost and she had to buy a replacement.</p><p data-block-key=\"dk49s\">The incident was captured in footage filmed by Zacarias and <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKqGqKoSdXS/\">posted</a> on Instagram by Caló News. She <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DKqEo8shkjh/\">described the incident</a> in a separate Instagram post.</p><p data-block-key=\"fq6vr\">“I can say with certainty there was a clear disregard for media personnel and our rights to document,” she told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"b555c\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the Tracker to the department’s social media accounts, where statements and comments would be posted. The account does not appear to have posted any comment concerning Zacarias’ assault.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zfcmh\">In this image montage, Caló News reporter Michelle Zacarias, left, describes being pushed by Los Angeles Police Department officers, right, while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown LA on June 8, 2025.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"categories": [
"Assault",
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],
"targeted_journalists": [
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},
{
"title": "Reporter hit by crowd-control munition while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-hit-by-crowd-control-munition-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-25T18:36:18.514385Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-25T18:36:18.514385Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-25T18:36:18.392663Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jaisp\">Sergio Olmos, an investigative reporter for CalMatters, was struck in the chest by a crowd-control munition fired by police officers while covering an immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"dkqk9\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"a2dqt\">Olmos told <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2025/06/09/journalists-injured-la-protests/\">The Washington Post</a> that he was wearing a press pass and <a href=\"https://x.com/MrOlmos/status/1931816889992573095\">shooting</a> video of a protest a few blocks from a complex of federal buildings when Los Angeles Police Department officers shot crowd-control munitions at demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"4e60f\">In a video of the incident <a href=\"https://x.com/mrolmos/status/1931881207073264118\">posted</a> by the reporter on the social platform X, police can be seen firing into the crowd, and then the camera angle moves to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"55qh3\">Olmos told the Post that he was hit with what he believed was a 40 mm sponge grenade. “I got hit in the chest and it’s a moment of, ‘What the f---?’” He said he put his camera down momentarily to check that he was OK.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A less lethal round hits this reporter in the chest <a href=\"https://t.co/7fQWGOcihp\">pic.twitter.com/7fQWGOcihp</a></p>— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1931881207073264118?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2025</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=\"jaisp\">In an <a href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletter/california-legislature-news-roundup-2025-newsletter/\">interview</a> in CalMatters, Olmos said that on the day he was hit, police fired more less-lethal rounds in a single day of protests than he’d ever seen.</p><p data-block-key=\"ekm9t\">“California law enforcements are trained not to shoot these less-lethal rounds at the head and neck area because they can cause severe injuries. And you’re not supposed to use them to disperse people. But the LAPD is using them to move crowds back, which goes against their training,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"6l1ns\">Olmos did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"3s0ra\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to the department’s social media accounts, where statements and comments would be posted. The account does not appear to have posted any comment concerning Olmos’ assault.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"dmu6q\">A Los Angeles Police Department officer fires a crowd-control munition near the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA on June 8, 2025. CalMatters reporter Sergio Olmos was struck with a round while covering an immigration protest that day.</p>",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist struck in head, leg with crowd-control munitions amid LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-in-head-leg-with-crowd-control-munitions-amid-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-02T14:01:29.843029Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-02T14:01:29.843029Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-02T14:01:29.659355Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uvxq9\">Freelance photojournalist Ted Soqui was shot by federal officers in the face and shin with a pepper ball and rubber bullet while covering anti-deportation protests in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"e41ko\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"as83l\">According to a June 18 <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70581520/1/los-angeles-press-club-v-kristi-noem/\">lawsuit</a> filed by the Los Angeles Press Club against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Soqui had been documenting the protests at LA’s Federal Building each day from around 11 a.m. until early evening.</p><p data-block-key=\"3pipv\">On June 8, Soqui was reporting alongside other journalists, standing approximately 15 feet from both demonstrators and federal officers, according to the suit. The photojournalist, who has covered protests throughout his decades-long career, said the protest was tense but that escalation did not seem imminent.</p><p data-block-key=\"ud5n\">As DHS officers pushed back protesters, Soqui was struck in the left cheekbone with a pepper ball and in the right shin with a rubber bullet.</p><p data-block-key=\"alclp\">There was no marked perimeter, audible dispersal order or warning that DHS agents would use force, according to the lawsuit, and the shootings of Soqui were “misuses of militarized weapons.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3fhgh\">“The way federal agents used pepper balls here can cause significant and serious harm,” it continued.</p><p data-block-key=\"3l6ov\">Although the incident left Soqui feeling “shaken and upset,” according to the lawsuit, he still returned the following day to continue reporting and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shot-with-rubber-bullets-by-federal-officers-at-la-protest\">was struck again</a> with multiple crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"b9qac\">Soqui did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. While his experiences were detailed in the LA Press Club’s lawsuit, he is not listed as a plaintiff.</p><p data-block-key=\"2in1i\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added, “President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ayig7\">Protesters face off with police in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025. Freelance photojournalist Ted Soqui was shot with crowd-control munitions that day while covering the protests against immigration enforcement raids.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"name": "California",
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist struck by pepper pellets, tear-gassed while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-by-pepper-pellets-tear-gassed-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-13T21:26:51.738360Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-13T21:26:51.738360Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-13T21:26:51.645435Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1ue4w\">An unidentified photojournalist was part of the KNBC television crew struck with pepper balls and caught in tear gas while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025, the outlet reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"793p6\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"c64hr\">In a <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKp4fugB0Am/?igsh=aGxzbmFzbXo2Zm5p\">video</a> posted by KNBC TV’s Mekahlo Medina on social media, the reporter said that at about 8:30 p.m. on June 7, a mix of Los Angeles Police Department officers and federal agents pushed through crowds of protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants were being held. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-by-pepper-pellets-and-tear-gas-while-covering-la-protest/\">Medina said he and his crew were shot by pepper pellets</a> and affected by tear gas, and later took cover behind a news truck.</p><p data-block-key=\"bbi1k\">“A rough night in downtown LA as journalists, along with protesters, shot at with pepper pellets and tear gas,” Medina said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ddg6t\">In <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKoDXJguulB/?igsh=ejdmeG80eHZiMnd6\">another video</a>, he said that one of the station’s photographers was also hit by the projectiles, which he said were deployed by the LAPD. Medina did not return the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"brv5o\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the Tracker to the department’s social media accounts. In a statement posted to X, the department said it was responding to “significant acts of violence, vandalism, and looting” and worked through the night to restore public safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"fls9a\">“Multiple deployments of less-lethal munitions were necessary to manage the crowds and prevent further harm to people or property,” the statement read, before adding that its professional standards bureau would be investigating allegations of excessive force used during the protests.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"085sb\">Police outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025. At a protest the night before, an unidentified KNBC photographer was struck with pepper balls.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Unidentified photojournalist 37 (KNBC)"
],
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{
"title": "Reporter struck by pepper pellets and tear gas while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-by-pepper-pellets-and-tear-gas-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-13T18:07:05.550562Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-13T21:27:50.630858Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-13T21:27:50.546176Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"267cz\">Reporter Mekahlo Medina and his KNBC television crew were struck with pepper balls and tear gas while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025, the outlet reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"bq3bq\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"9hg9i\">In a <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKp4fugB0Am/?igsh=aGxzbmFzbXo2Zm5p\">video</a> posted on social media by Medina, the reporter said that at about 8:30 p.m. on June 7, a mix of Los Angeles Police Department officers and federal agents pushed through crowds of protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants were being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"dedfo\">Medina — who was wearing a press vest — said approximately 20 minutes later he and his crew were shot by pepper pellets and affected by tear gas, and later took cover behind a news truck.</p><p data-block-key=\"eo3ni\">“A rough night in downtown LA as journalists, along with protesters, shot at with pepper pellets and tear gas,” Medina said, showing white powder on his press vest, as well as on the back of a man he identified as his security guard.</p><p data-block-key=\"9todd\">In <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKoDXJguulB/?igsh=ejdmeG80eHZiMnd6\">another video</a>, Medina said that one of his photographers was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-by-pepper-pellets-tear-gassed-while-covering-la-protest/\">also hit by the projectiles</a>, which he said were deployed by the LAPD.</p><p data-block-key=\"d1o5b\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to the department’s social media accounts. In a statement posted to X, the department said it was responding to “significant acts of violence, vandalism, and looting” and worked through the night to restore public safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"crslm\">“Multiple deployments of less-lethal munitions were necessary to manage the crowds and prevent further harm to people or property,” the statement read, before adding that its professional standards bureau would be investigating allegations of excessive force used during the protests.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">LAPD Releases Information Related to Recent Protests <a href=\"https://t.co/XDNnngM5ty\">pic.twitter.com/XDNnngM5ty</a></p>— LAPD PIO (@LAPDPIO) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDPIO/status/1932838116722982997?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 11, 2025</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=\"267cz\">Also on June 7, Medina was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/officer-pushes-reporter-in-press-vest-at-la-immigration-protest/\">pushed by a federal agent</a> with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He did not immediately return a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/combined.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"sqwdo\">KNBC TV reporter Mekahlo Medina was struck with pepper balls and tear gas during a protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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"name": "California",
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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{
"title": "Reporter struck in head with munition by federal officers at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-in-head-with-munition-by-federal-officers-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-02T20:39:44.087317Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-02T20:39:44.087317Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-02T20:19:25.022279Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Compton",
"longitude": -118.22007,
"latitude": 33.89585,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0lsrk\">Ryanne Mena, a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News, was shot in the head with a rubber bullet by federal officers while documenting anti-deportation protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"comqe\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"6khgm\">Demonstrations the following day were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times<a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/what-actually-happened-at-the-paramount-home-depot\"> reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7t2f9\">Mena told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she arrived at approximately 3:30 p.m. and began interviewing a few individuals who had been injured by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputies, who had fired crowd-control munitions at the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"qorf\">“Then 4:30 p.m. rolls by and I’m like, ‘OK, things are relatively mellow. I think I’m going to get ready to head out,” she said. “Then I see three to four dozen federal officers emerge from this warehouse area across the street from the Home Depot that was raided earlier in the morning.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8r3af\">Mena noted that there weren’t many protesters around and she hadn’t observed any antagonistic behavior from the protesters, but officers began firing crowd-control munitions at the crowd without issuing a warning, sending her and independent journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel running for safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"do35h\">“We’re kind of just trying to find a place to go where we won’t get hit, but we didn’t have a lot of time,” Mena told the Tracker. “So they began shooting at the crowd and I think we were both shot in the head at almost the exact same time: I’m hit with a rubber ball bullet to my head an inch above my right ear.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media right\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Mena_assault_67.width-828.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"1280\" alt=\"COURTESY RYANNE MENA\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"2hrmn\">Los Angeles Daily News reporter Ryanne Mena was photographed moments after she was struck in the head with a rubber bullet fired by federal officers responding to anti-deportation protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — COURTESY RYANNE MENA\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0lsrk\">She added that the munition hit the thick edge of her baseball cap, which may have lessened the impact.</p><p data-block-key=\"p7hg\">Beckner-Carmitchel was struck in the forehead with some type of canister, he told the Tracker. The journalists were almost immediately surrounded by tear gas, Mena said, which was particularly debilitating because she has asthma.</p><p data-block-key=\"54tvc\">“I just kind of grab Sean’s arm and he leads us around the corner so we can get away from all the tear gas and the firing,” she told the Tracker. “And then we wash our eyes out and document each other’s injuries.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8k0eo\">She said that she was wearing two press credentials — one issued by her news outlet and one by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. “It was very clear I was there working as a journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sesl\">Mena, who had also been <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-with-pepper-ball-by-federal-officers-at-la-protest\">shot with a pepper ball</a> by federal officers the previous day, said that she got a severe headache later that day and threw up that evening. She ultimately went to an urgent care center two days later and was diagnosed with a concussion.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ang1\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added, “President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1r8c8\"><a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2025-06-07&date_upper=2025-06-07&city=Compton&state=California\">Multiple journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the demonstrations in Compton and Paramount that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"dm66c\">Mena told the Tracker that she had been cleared by her newsroom to go back out to cover protests June 12, and her willingness to cover demonstrations and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids was in no way diminished.</p><p data-block-key=\"24u7s\">“This is not going to turn me at all from this coverage,” she said. “It’s motivating me to go even harder with my reporting, because it is so important what’s going on and they’re not going to silence the press.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"q46q1\">In this skewed screenshot from footage taken at a June 7, 2025, anti-deportation protest in Compton, California, Los Angeles Daily News reporter Ryanne Mena is seen ducking for cover after she was shot in the head with a rubber bullet by federal officers.</p>",
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{
"title": "Munition strikes photojournalist at LA protest, shrapnel surgically removed",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/munition-strikes-photojournalist-at-la-protest-shrapnel-surgically-removed/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-12T20:52:23.427380Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-12T20:52:23.427380Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-12T20:52:15.369716Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
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"city": "Compton",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ymu58\">Independent photojournalist Nick Stern required surgery after he was struck in the leg with a crowd-control munition while documenting protests in the California cities of Compton and Paramount on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1439m\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"3sf9v\">Demonstrations the following day were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/what-actually-happened-at-the-paramount-home-depot\">reported</a>. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies formed a police line blocking the bridge that led to the Home Depot and connected Paramount to the adjacent city of Compton.</p><p data-block-key=\"aqj53\">Stern told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he and his colleague Tina-Desiree Berg arrived to document the mounting protest at around 3 p.m., and found a standoff along the skirmish line.</p><p data-block-key=\"ato9p\">“Things went backward and forward,” Stern said. “The Sheriff’s Department firing projectiles, throwing these kinds of stun grenades, firing pepper pellets at people. People responding by throwing things like bottles of water and small bits of concrete.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9r6sn\">He said it continued until night fell, at which point the deputies moved their line back. Meanwhile, some demonstrators had assembled a makeshift barricade to protect themselves from the crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"faeo0\">Shortly before 9 p.m., Stern said, he was documenting protesters holding Mexican flags illuminated by the shining headlights of the deputies’ vehicles in the distance when he felt a sudden, immense pain.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ddpr\">“I felt this incredible, painful impact into my right side. I immediately put my hand down there and in the dark I saw this kind of solid object that appeared to be part of my leg,” Stern told the Tracker. “I hobbled away shouting, ‘I’ve been hit! I’ve been hit!’”</p><p data-block-key=\"dfgaj\">He said a group of protesters carried him to safety and a medic <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DKov0doxoEH/?hl=en&img_index=1\">worked to stabilize him</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6trej\">“A medic came over, cut my pants off with some scissors, put a pad onto the wound — which was about a two-inch diameter, circular hole in my leg — and then tightly wrapped a bandage around it,” Stern said. “I was sitting on the pavement and I actually passed out, and the medics brought me back round, which is fucking terrifying, if I’m honest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cmjts\">Berg was then able to transport Stern to the emergency room with him lying in the back seat while his wound continued to gush blood. At the hospital, Stern said, the doctors thoroughly examined him.</p><p data-block-key=\"fs8e\">“They looked over my entire body — from the soles of my feet to the top of my head and under my arms — to see if they could find an exit wound for a bullet, because they figured it may well have been a live round,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ntq5\">In a <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/tinadesireeberg.com/post/3lr7gxv4fsc25\">post</a> on the social platform Bluesky, Berg later confirmed that doctors surgically removed what appears to be a portion of a stun grenade that was embedded deep in Stern’s leg.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Stern_CA_assult_67.width-828.jpg\" width=\"828\" height=\"512\" alt=\"COURTESY NICK STERN\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"j6ury\">Independent photojournalist Nick Stern was struck in the leg with a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025. A nearly three-inch piece of a stun grenade was surgically removed from his thigh.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — COURTESY NICK STERN\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ymu58\">Stern, who has documented protests in Los Angeles for at least five years, said that what he witnessed at these demonstrations was different.</p><p data-block-key=\"arhnp\">“I was covering the George Floyd protests in 2020, and law enforcement in Los Angeles was heavily criticized for their use of these devices because they weren’t trained on them,” he said. “But to see what they were doing out on the streets the past few days, last week is absolutely horrific. Effectively — if what we assume is correct, about this device that hit me — they’re firing explosive munitions toward people.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ab9jo\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it was still reviewing footage of Stern’s assault and that “it is not clear at this time whether our department was involved in this incident.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dj8ja\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer added. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"59cqa\">Stern said that while he has been released from the hospital, he has a long road to recovery — including extensive physical therapy — ahead of him.</p><p data-block-key=\"7h2c2\">After police shot Stern with multiple munitions and struck him with batons <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-with-multiple-projectiles-while-covering-la-protest/\">amid the 2020 protests</a>, the photojournalist filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department and reached a $150,000 settlement in 2024. He told the Tracker he thinks he has no choice but to pursue that same recourse.</p><p data-block-key=\"4inn3\">“This whole kind of lawsuit culture in the U.S. is quite alien for me, as a British person, and is one that I don’t necessarily, deep down, agree with, but there seems to be no other accountability,” Stern said. “I think, as a member of the public, as a citizen, as a journalist, whatever: It has to be a multipronged approach. It has to be done by official complaints, it has to be done by lobbying politicians, it has to be done by lawsuits.</p><p data-block-key=\"272dk\">“The system needs to change by whatever means we can change it.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"701n8\">Protesters help independent photographer Nick Stern after he was struck in the leg with a crowd-control munition while documenting a protest in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025. A portion of a stun grenade was later surgically removed from his thigh.</p>",
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{
"title": "Reporter struck with pepper balls while covering LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-with-pepper-balls-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-10T21:37:27.667375Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-02T18:13:33.954752Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-02T18:13:33.682442Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8eeh9\">Lexis-Olivier Ray, an investigative reporter for L.A. Taco, was struck with multiple pepper balls while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rt2n\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"64coj\">On the evening of June 7, protesters <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/08/us/la-immigration-protests-photos-map.html\">gathered</a> <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-aide-calls-los-angeles-anti-ice-protests-an-insurrection-2025-06-07/\">outside</a> the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where immigrants were being held. The Los Angeles Police Department declared an unlawful assembly, ordering demonstrators to disperse. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was also present, as well as officers from multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.</p><p data-block-key=\"1j6lu\">Ray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, where detainees were <a href=\"https://abc7.com/post/immigrant-advocates-demand-investigation-reports-ice-holding-families-downtown-la/16678054/\">allegedly being held,</a> when federal law enforcement began dispersing the crowd using pepper balls. He said he was unsure which agency the officers belonged to.</p><p data-block-key=\"9fol7\">Ray then relocated to a nearby sidewalk on Alameda Street, where reporters had set up tripods and several TV news trucks were parked.</p><p data-block-key=\"dejt1\">Eventually, the federal officers moved up their skirmish line toward Alameda Street, continuing to fire volleys of the projectiles in the direction of the press. Ray was struck multiple times, once in the middle finger and at least once on his back, he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ueo4\">“It seemed so blatant, we weren’t around any protesters, we were clearly media,” Ray said. “They didn’t seem to care that we were media. They treated us like we were protesters and didn’t respect our First Amendment rights as journalists.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hbam\">The gaggle of press continued to back away as officers followed them, eventually establishing another skirmish at Alameda Street and Temple Street, according to Ray, who said his backpack, which was covered in pepper ball residue, served as a shield.</p><p data-block-key=\"3i15l\">“I definitely am worried about the implications of covering other protests like that,” Ray said. “If the media wasn’t there, the public wouldn’t have an understanding of what happened that night.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3odn0\">The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to the Tracker’s request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"740o2\"><a href=\"https://x.com/ICEgov/status/1931472857554645294\">In a June 7 post on X,</a> ICE said: “Our officers and agents continued to enforce immigration law in LA, despite the violent protesters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cg7b4\">On June 8, a sheriff’s deputy searched the bags of <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sheriffs-deputy-searches-journalists-bag-during-la-immigration-protest/\">Ray</a> and freelance journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporters-bag-searched-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/\">Joey Scott</a> while they were reporting on another immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles.</p><p data-block-key=\"6su1a\">The Tracker has documented other incidents in which Ray was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-repeatedly-shoved-while-covering-la-reproductive-rights-protests/\">shoved,</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-taco-reporter-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\">detained,</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-tackled-equipment-damaged-while-covering-dodgers-celebrations/\">tackled</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-covering-protests-los-angeles-assaulted/\">struck with a baton</a> while covering protests in Los Angeles since 2020.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"v5ira\">Law enforcement officers stand on a freeway in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025, following an immigration protest the previous night. L.A. Taco investigative journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray was struck with pepper balls while reporting on the protest.</p>",
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"(2025-06-18 16:29:00+00:00) LA journalist sues DHS over protest assault"
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{
"title": "Journalist shot with crowd-control munitions at immigration protest near LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shot-with-crowd-control-munitions-at-immigration-protest-near-la/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-10T17:35:47.250407Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-26T15:03:38.820222Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-26T15:03:38.630290Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
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"city": "Compton",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1ajt6\">Ben Camacho, co-founder of and journalist for The Southlander, was shot twice with crowd-control munitions by law enforcement while covering protests in the California cities of Compton and Paramount on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"6l681\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"n50m\">Demonstrations the following day were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/what-actually-happened-at-the-paramount-home-depot\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ubk2\">Camacho told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that by the time he and a colleague arrived at around 4:30 p.m., Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies had formed a police line blocking the bridge that led to the Home Depot and connected Paramount to the adjacent city of Compton.</p><p data-block-key=\"9fgrg\">“Folks were doing a street takeover at the intersection nearby, which is nothing out of the ordinary for Compton,” Camacho said. “Closer to the police line, people were definitely organizing, protesting. There were people that were kind of ducked behind a semi-truck and throwing things — whether it’s cement, bricks or rocks — toward the cops.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6ji9u\">He said he documented the back-and-forth between deputies and demonstrators for nearly four hours, and was carrying his professional camera as well as wearing an official press credential, gas mask and ballistic goggles. Throughout that time, deputies would throw flash bangs and tear gas toward the crowd, Camacho said, and sporadically shoot pepper balls.</p><p data-block-key=\"5n6cl\">“When 9 p.m. hit, there was a flash bang that was thrown into a small group of people that was a bit closer to the police line,” he told the Tracker. “I was keeping an eye on those people because my colleague was there, and I wanted to make sure he was OK.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5gpkn\">While Camacho said his colleague was uninjured, independent photojournalist Nick Stern — who had also been documenting near the group — was struck in the leg with a munition which caused a two-inch gash and embedded in his leg. The Tracker has documented that incident <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/munition-strikes-photojournalist-at-la-protest-shrapnel-surgically-removed/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dqbtg\">After helping Stern to a nearby sidewalk, Camacho walked back toward the demonstration and began posting an update to his live reporting on social media.</p><p data-block-key=\"89kre\">“I’m on my phone standing there when I hear the rubber bullet launcher go off, and suddenly I’m just in pain,” Camacho recounted. “Something just hit my leg really hard, right on my kneecap, and I bent over and just started screaming.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3p6ca\">He said he flagged down a passerby to help him move to safety, but less than 30 seconds after he was first struck he was hit again, directly on his elbow.</p><p data-block-key=\"79vv1\">“It felt like my brain was on fire. I was screaming like I’ve never screamed before,” Camacho said. “And now the crowd was running — there was a full on stampede. So I’m now shot twice, I’m in some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt and I have to keep moving because otherwise I’m going to get trampled and possibly killed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ahk1l\">Camacho said he was eventually able to catch his breath and make his way back to the street takeover at the intersection. He then reached his colleague, who helped him back to his car and the pair left the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"8qfhr\">“The next day, I went to urgent care nearby where they took x-rays just to make sure I didn’t have any shrapnel. They patched me up and they said I was going to be OK, and I’ve been resting since then,” he said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Was shot twice by LASD at the Paramount/Compton protest this evening while reporting/photographing (with a press pass around my neck). Unsure what hit me both times but they hit like a sledgehammer and without immediate warning. Elbow is all wrapped with gauze and knee is weak.</p>— bencamach0.bsky.social (@bencamach0) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bencamach0/status/1931591257257636008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 8, 2025</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=\"1ajt6\">He told the Tracker that the fact he was directly struck twice in such quick succession is “eerie.”</p><p data-block-key=\"72udv\">“That, to me, just feels really off. Because there were many, many other people around me,” Camacho said. “And to shoot the same person twice within the span of 30 seconds at the most, that feels targeted.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d39se\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"826v4\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3iers\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"peuz5\">Law enforcement stand during a protest in Paramount, California, on June 7, 2025, after federal immigration authorities conducted operations. Southlander journalist Ben Camacho was shot with crowd-control munitions twice while covering protests that day.</p>",
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"(2025-06-18 13:31:00+00:00) LA journalist sues sheriff’s department after immigration protest assault"
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"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "Officer pushes reporter in press vest at LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/officer-pushes-reporter-in-press-vest-at-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-12T20:32:40.594582Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-13T18:09:10.535257Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-13T18:09:10.450096Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4t5wi\">Mekahlo Medina, a reporter for KNBC, was pushed by a federal agent while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025, according to videos posted by the <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKoMRBzSay1/\">outlet</a> and the <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKp4fugB0Am/?igsh=aGxzbmFzbXo2Zm5p\">journalist</a> on social media.</p><p data-block-key=\"fi7k7\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"2sir0\">In the <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKp4fugB0Am/?igsh=aGxzbmFzbXo2Zm5p\">video</a> posted by Medina, the reporter said that at 8:30 p.m. on June 7, a mix of Los Angeles Police Department officers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents pushed through crowds of protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants were being held. Medina — who was wearing a press vest — and his crew were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-by-pepper-pellets-and-tear-gas-while-covering-la-protest/\">shot by pepper pellets and tear gas</a>, and later took cover behind a news truck, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"et2ku\">The video shows police officers and federal agents in tactical gear moving forward, shouting “Move!” and “Get out!”</p><p data-block-key=\"h0pc\">Medina can be heard shouting “We’re all press. Press, press!” as one CBP agent aggressively pushes him.</p><p data-block-key=\"djo1l\">In the video, Medina told his audience that local journalism organizations have met with the LAPD in the past on how to cover protests and allow the media to exercise its First Amendment right for freedom of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"fo17r\">“But as we rewatched the video of officers pushing journalists through, you can see this wasn’t LAPD, those were federal agents,” Medina said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8r36i\">In an emailed statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, wrote: “We remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots. We have seen rioters throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, setting fires, and other violent acts. President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles."</p><p data-block-key=\"jh0\">Medina did not immediately return a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"wduo9\">Mekahlo Medina, while wearing a press vest and identifying himself as a member of the media, was shoved by a federal agent during a protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p>",
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"protest"
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{
"title": "Photographer injured as federal agents use tear gas at LA-area protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-injured-as-federal-agents-use-tear-gas-at-la-area-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-27T20:42:26.675534Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-27T20:42:26.675534Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-27T20:42:26.567287Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
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"city": "Paramount",
"longitude": -118.15979,
"latitude": 33.88946,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vdfmg\">Photojournalist Jonathan Alcorn was struck with a tear gas canister after federal agents fired the crowd-control munition during an anti-deportation protest in Paramount, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ul7e\"><a href=\"https://jalcornphoto.photoshelter.com/index\">Alcorn</a>, on assignment for Zuma Press, was covering one of the Los Angeles-area protests that <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around the city at workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"bmnjg\">According to <a href=\"https://www.aclusocal.org/sites/default/files/lapressclubvnoem_complaint.pdf\">a complaint</a> filed in a federal court by the LA Press Club, the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America and others, Alcorn was wearing a press pass and carrying his camera gear while covering the suspected Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid of a Home Depot in Paramount on June 7.</p><p data-block-key=\"7q4cs\">Alcorn, who has been a photojournalist for nearly 40 years, immediately heard and saw Customs and Border Protection agents firing a large number of crowd-control munitions, including tear gas canisters, at protesters, the court document stated.</p><p data-block-key=\"ethgk\">Soon after, he was barraged by the munitions and took cover behind an SUV.</p><p data-block-key=\"8bm59\">“When he peeked above the SUV, Mr. Alcorn was targeted by CBP officers, who fired tear gas canisters that rolled under the vehicle,” according to the complaint. “Officers were targeting him because he was the only person behind the vehicle.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aolar\">While fleeing the area due to the intensity of the gas, a federal agent shot Alcorn near his elbow. He was later diagnosed with a hematoma and burn on his arm, added the complaint.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2025-06-27_at_1.32.44PM.width-828.png\" width=\"318\" height=\"239\" alt=\"SCREENSHOT\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"rxlhx\">An image from court records shows injuries suffered by photographer Jonathan Alcorn. He was struck by a tear gas canister shot at the car he was taking shelter behind while covering a protest in Paramount, California.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — SCREENSHOT\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vdfmg\">“Despite his injury, Alcorn continued taking pictures because he believed it was important to cover the unfolding events,” the document stated, before alleging he was targeted by an agent because he was a clearly identifiable photojournalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"420vt\">“Even though he posed no threat to officers, they nonetheless shot multiple tear gas canisters at him,” the complaint said. “Although he is afraid of again being targeted and injured by federal officials, Mr. Alcorn will continue to cover what is happening in Los Angeles.”</p><p data-block-key=\"20bdi\">In an emailed statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, wrote: “We remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots. We have seen rioters throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, setting fires, and other violent acts. President Trump and Secretary (Kristi) Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles."</p><p data-block-key=\"eefv8\">When contacted by the Tracker, Alcorn declined to comment about his experience. But in a comment posted to the social platform Facebook, he confirmed he was struck in the arm while fleeing federal agents firing off crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"ego6s\">“I’m a little sore but fine otherwise. Numerous other journalists have been struck as well,” he wrote. “Be safe my fellow journalists and everybody else out on the streets. Times have changed out in the field for journalists in the states.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/504284613_10231491800612739_90637.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6cuqu\">Law enforcement personnel fire crowd-control munitions during an immigration protest on June 7, 2025, in Paramount, California. Photojournalist Jonathan Alcorn was struck and injured by a tear gas canister while covering the demonstration.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "Reporter struck with pepper ball by federal officers at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-with-pepper-ball-by-federal-officers-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-02T20:35:00.645401Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-02T20:35:00.645401Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-02T20:20:15.210829Z",
"date": "2025-06-06",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xrx3h\">Ryanne Mena, a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News, was shot by federal officers with a pepper ball while documenting anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"bus4c\">A series of protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> that day in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"7marb\">Mena told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she and independent journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel had covered the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in the fashion district downtown and the resulting protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"a9bcq\">She said that by 6 p.m., protesters had made their way to the Metropolitan Detention Center, where detainees were being held. Mena said that the protest was growing but the majority of demonstrators were doing so peacefully, until an individual threw a desk chair toward an entrance to the MDC.</p><p data-block-key=\"6g8dm\">“Moments later, federal agents came out and began shooting pepper ball bullets at the crowd,” she told the Tracker. “Once I heard that going off, I backed up because I didn’t want to get hit.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1pr29\">As she tried to find somewhere safe to continue reporting, Mena said she was <a href=\"https://x.com/ryannemena/status/1931396162726314106\">shot on her left upper thigh</a> with one of the crowd-control munitions.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media right\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Mena_assault_66_bruise.width-828.jpg\" width=\"828\" height=\"520\" alt=\"COURTESY RYANNE MENA\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"fmy84\">Los Angeles Daily News reporter Ryanne Mena was shot by federal officers with a pepper ball while covering anti-deportation protests in downtown LA on June 6, 2025. The impact left a large bruise on her upper left thigh.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — COURTESY RYANNE MENA\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xrx3h\">“I screamed out profanity because it really hurt,” Mena said. “After being hit with that pepper ball bullet, I called my editor and notified her about what happened and continued on.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1t13l\">She said that she was wearing two press credentials — one issued by her news outlet and one by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department — and was carrying a notebook and pen.</p><p data-block-key=\"67d0p\">“It was very clear what I was doing there,” Mena added.</p><p data-block-key=\"2a2bc\">She told the Tracker that the following day, following an ICE raid at a Home Depot in nearby Paramount, she was shot again by federal agents while covering protests, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-in-head-with-munition-by-federal-officers-at-la-protest\">struck in the head with a rubber bullet</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6oqg0\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added, “President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"xnsc8\">Los Angeles Daily News reporter Ryanne Mena photographed the chemical residue left on her pants after federal officers shot her with a pepper ball while she was covering anti-deportation protests in downtown LA on June 6, 2025.</p>",
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{
"title": "Flash bang strikes TV crew at LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/flash-bang-strikes-tv-crew-at-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-16T20:16:14.959328Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-16T20:16:14.959328Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-16T20:16:14.866059Z",
"date": "2025-06-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0miss\">KTLA photographer Ken Koller was struck with a flash-bang grenade while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"cj631\">It was the start of numerous protests in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"218nu\">In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ken.koller.3/posts/pfbid0mC5iDDg81t4eyLSBN2VurjDY3vCirGVPr7N6R17K4r4ASFJ3XuZwedW3AWPuSJ57l\">Facebook post</a>, Koller shared that he was in urgent care, watching footage on TV of the moment he was struck by a flash bang. In comments under the post, he wrote that following the federal raids, a convoy of officers was surrounded by protesters, prompting them to throw flash bangs into the crowd. He also posted a video showing officers tossing the devices out of a vehicle and into the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"2c7dc\">“No damage to my eardrum. Still hurts, basically the shockwave from the explosion basically hit me like a punch, so the area around my ear is inflamed,” he wrote. “Dr says a couple days and it should be OK.”</p><p data-block-key=\"631tp\">Neither Koller nor KTLA could immediately be reached for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25158058663145.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"4iqjc\">Department of Homeland Security police after a federal immigration operation on June 6, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. KTLA photographer Ken Koller said he got hit by a flash bang that day while covering a protest over the operation.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ken Koller (KTLA)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist shot in the face with pepper balls by federal officers",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shot-in-the-face-with-pepper-balls-by-federal-officers/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-24T19:54:53.053788Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-24T19:54:53.053788Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-24T19:50:52.883218Z",
"date": "2025-06-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6zusf\">Independent journalist Anthony Cabassa was shot twice in the face with pepper balls by federal law enforcement agents while documenting anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"bac8t\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> that day in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. Demonstrators clashed with both local law enforcement officers and federal agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"9vjab\">Cabassa <a href=\"https://x.com/AnthonyCabassa_/status/1931159815947985222\">posted</a> at around 6:30 p.m. on the social platform X that he had been struck near his left eye with a crowd-control munition containing a chemical irritant. “I’m also bleeding,” he added. “Things got violent.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I just got a police tear gas pellet straight into my left eye . I’m also bleeding. Things got violent. Video to come <a href=\"https://t.co/qIWKhIoOpi\">pic.twitter.com/qIWKhIoOpi</a></p>— Anthony (@AnthonyCabassa_) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AnthonyCabassa_/status/1931159815947985222?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 7, 2025</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=\"6zusf\">The following morning, Cabassa <a href=\"https://x.com/AnthonyCabassa_/status/1931354604429771209\">posted the footage</a> he captured before he was shot by Department of Homeland Security officers. He wrote that he was caught in the crossfire after something was thrown at the agents, noting that two pepper balls struck him in the face.</p><p data-block-key=\"346er\">Cabassa, who did not respond to requests for comment, emphasized in a <a href=\"https://x.com/AnthonyCabassa_/status/1931398124687552660\">later post</a> that he was only present to cover the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"ml1\">“I am a journalist, I have been documenting protests in LA since 2017. I had a tripod with one camera in my left hand, and another camera recording on my right,” he wrote. “All I was doing was filming. Journalism is not a crime.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1rus9\">In an emailed statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker on June 11, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, wrote: “We remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots. We have seen rioters throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, setting fires, and other violent acts. President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25158095400959.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"uazpx\">Protesters gather at the Federal Building in LA on June 6, 2025, after immigration raids at workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gather. Federal officers shot journalist Anthony Cabassa in the face with pepper balls amid the demonstrations.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Anthony Cabassa (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Trump, his administration move to punish outlets during second term",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-administration-allies-move-to-punish-outlets-during-first-weeks-in-office/",
"first_published_at": "2025-01-30T20:43:36.335430Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-05T16:31:05.585375Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-05T16:27:39.818468Z",
"date": "2025-06-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"63pix\">From the first weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term, he and his administration have taken steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered them unfavorably. We’re documenting Trump’s direct actions in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"coqi2\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cv9ql\"><i>This article was first published on March 14, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"aq2uo\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#June 3\">June 3, 2025 | White House asks Congress to repeal $1.1 billion in funding to public media</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 1\">May 1, 2025 | Trump signs executive order eliminating funding to NPR, PBS</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 14\">April 14, 2025 | White House plans to formally ask Congress to cut PBS, NPR funding</a> \r\n<p><a href=\"#March 14-2\">March 14, 2025 | Trump signs executive order gutting government-funded news outlets</a> \r\n<p><a href=\"#March 14-1\">March 14, 2025 | Trump says negative press coverage ‘illegal’ during speech at DOJ</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3ocum\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"a5gu5\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"June 3\" name=\"June 3\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"mev26\">June 3, 2025 | White House asks Congress to repeal $1.1 billion in funding to public media</h4><p data-block-key=\"1a7qc\">The Trump White House budget office asked Congress on June 3, 2025, to cancel $1.1 billion in funding already approved for public broadcasting, multiple media outlets reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"cmc15\">The request, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-administration-allies-move-to-punish-outlets-during-first-weeks-in-office/#April%2014\">drafted in April</a>, calls for the elimination of two years’ worth of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which in turn partially funds NPR and PBS. Only a simple majority vote is needed to approve the request.</p><p data-block-key=\"7tu6a\">The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/06/03/trump-asks-congress-repeal-9-billion-npr-pbs-global-aid/\">reported</a> that Russell Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget, proposed the cuts in a letter to Trump, writing, “federal spending on CPB subsidizes a public media system that is politically biased and is an unnecessary expense to the taxpayer.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fvecm\">Trump, individuals in his administration and allies in Congress have repeatedly targeted public broadcasters since his return to office in January.</p><p data-block-key=\"3j4la\">Trump <a href=\"https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1904610620659687944\">said</a> during a March 25 meeting with U.S. ambassadors that he would “love” to eliminate funding for the public broadcasters. In April, he <a href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114264549657133828\">called on Republicans in Congress</a> to defund and disassociate themselves from “THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY,” and the White House <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/04/the-npr-pbs-grift-has-ripped-us-off-for-too-long/\">asserted in an official statement</a> that NPR and PBS are publishing “trash” and have engaged in a “grift.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e3e7g\">In May, Trump attempted to illegally fire three CPB board members and just days later signed an executive order instructing the private nonprofit corporation to cease federal funding for the outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"dve0t\">NPR <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2025/05/27/npr-lawsuit-trump-executive-order-funding-cuts/\">sued</a> to halt the order, calling it “textbook retaliation.” NPR CEO Katherine Maher <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/05/27/g-s1-69017/npr-and-katherine-maher-ceo-of-npr-statement\">wrote</a>, “The intent could not be more clear — the Executive Order aims to punish NPR for the content of news and other programming the President dislikes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"43olm\">Within Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-targets-press-as-doge-subcommittee-chair/\">has led a campaign</a> against the broadcasters and Rep. Ronny Jackson <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-ronny-jackson-targets-press-as-member-of-congress/#March%2027\">introduced a bill</a> to eliminate all direct and indirect government funding for NPR and PBS.</p><p data-block-key=\"6dfi1\">In a <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5352827/npr-pbs-public-media-trump-rescission-funding\">statement</a> published when the draft recision request became public, NPR said eliminating funding for CPB would have a devastating impact on communities that rely on public broadcasting each day.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hho\">“We serve the public interest,” the outlet wrote. “It’s not just in our name — it’s our mission.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"May 1\" name=\"May 1\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"8udpj\">May 1, 2025 | Trump signs executive order eliminating funding to NPR, PBS</h4><p data-block-key=\"4s8m1\">President Donald Trump signed an <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/ending-taxpayer-subsidization-of-biased-media/\">executive order</a> on May 1, 2025, instructing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to cease federal funding for NPR and PBS, citing their alleged “biased and partisan news coverage.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3limi\">In a <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/05/president-trump-finally-ends-the-madness-of-npr-pbs/\">news release</a> the following day, the White House accused the news outlets of using “millions of dollars in taxpayer funds each year to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"a70ca\">Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, issued a <a href=\"https://cpb.org/pressroom/Corporation-Public-Broadcasting-Statement-Regarding-Executive-Order-Public-Media\">statement</a> pushing back against the executive order, citing provisions expressly forbidding government actors from attempting to direct the corporation’s work.</p><p data-block-key=\"d2077\">“CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority,” Harrison wrote. “Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eoev4\">Trump’s executive order came just days after he directed a staff member to email three of CPB’s five board members to alert them that they had been removed from their positions. The board as a whole and the targeted members — Diane Kaplan, Laura Ross and Thomas Rothman — <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.279991/gov.uscourts.dcd.279991.1.0.pdf\">sued</a> Trump on April 29, seeking a judicial declaration that the order is unenforceable, as the president has no power to remove them.</p><p data-block-key=\"edl4d\">“Put simply, Congress conceived CPB as a vehicle for infusing federal money into public broadcasting without the introduction of government direction or control,” the suit states. “Moreover, Congress protected the CPB from the executive branch by withholding from CPB any form, pure or quasi, of legislative, judicial, or regulatory power.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9mfat\">White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers dismissed CPB’s assertions in a <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/04/29/nx-s1-5381045/cpb-board-members-trump-lawsuit-npr-pbs\">statement to NPR</a>. “As numerous courts have repeatedly affirmed, the Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority,” Rogers said. “The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”</p><p data-block-key=\"73dcs\">District Judge Randolph Moss has <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69966304/corporation-for-public-broadcasting-v-trump/\">ordered</a> both sides to file arguments on CPB’s motion, which seeks a temporary restraining order to prevent Trump’s order from taking effect.</p><p data-block-key=\"aqc9u\">Trump’s executive order and attempt to remove CPB board members were the latest attacks on public broadcasting by his administration or allies in Congress. Earlier, the White House <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-administration-allies-move-to-punish-outlets-during-first-weeks-in-office/#April%2014\">drafted a recision request</a> to revoke $1.1 billion in approved funding for the corporation, FCC Chair Brendan Carr <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/brendan-carr-targets-news-outlets-as-chair-of-the-fcc/#Jan%2029\">launched investigations</a> into PBS and NPR over their advertising and sponsorship practices, and Reps. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-ronny-jackson-targets-press-as-member-of-congress/#March%2027\">Ronny Jackson</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-targets-press-as-doge-subcommittee-chair/\">Marjorie Taylor Greene</a> have demeaned the outlets and threatened their funding.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"April 14\" name=\"April 14\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"qezxr\">April 14, 2025 | White House plans to formally ask Congress to cut PBS, NPR funding</h4><p data-block-key=\"bfp4o\">The Trump White House plans to formally ask Congress to cancel $1.1 billion in funding already approved for public broadcasting, multiple news outlets reported on April 14, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"94l7i\"><a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5352827/npr-pbs-public-media-trump-rescission-funding\">According to NPR</a>, the White House has drafted a rescission request that calls for the elimination of two years’ worth of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which in turn partially funds NPR and PBS.</p><p data-block-key=\"fnilc\">The administration intends to send it to Congress when lawmakers return from a two-week recess on April 28. Only a simple majority vote is needed to approve the request.</p><p data-block-key=\"2oum8\">In a <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/04/the-npr-pbs-grift-has-ripped-us-off-for-too-long/\">statement</a> published April 14, which did not mention the draft request, the White House asserted that NPR and PBS are publishing “trash” and have engaged in a “grift.”</p><p data-block-key=\"79mab\">“For years, American taxpayers have been on the hook for subsidizing National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news,’” the statement said. “As President Trump has stated, taxpayer funding of NPR’s and PBS’s biased content is a waste.”</p><p data-block-key=\"di1s6\">Trump <a href=\"https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1904610620659687944\">said</a> during a March 25 meeting with U.S. ambassadors that he would “love” to eliminate funding for the public broadcasters, and in an April 1 <a href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114264549657133828\">social media post</a> called on Republicans in Congress to “DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY.”</p><p data-block-key=\"a2fle\">In a statement published by NPR, the outlet said, “Eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would have a devastating impact on American communities across the nation that rely on public radio for trusted local and national news, culture, lifesaving emergency alerts, and public safety information.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ri6t\">“We serve the public interest. It’s not just in our name — it’s our mission.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 14-2\" name=\"March 14-2\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"3ocum\">March 14, 2025 | Trump signs executive order gutting government-funded news outlets</h4><p data-block-key=\"8bsve\">In a late-night executive order, President Donald Trump eliminated all functions not required by law for the United States Agency for Global Media, along with a half-dozen other federal agencies, referring to them as “unnecessary governmental entities.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1cbav\">The USAGM oversees Voice of America and the office that manages Radio and TV Martí, as well as provides funding for private international broadcasters Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.</p><p data-block-key=\"2frfm\">Michael Abramowitz, director of Voice of America, confirmed in a March 15 <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/abramowitzmj/posts/pfbid02ocNQehfifbHeAAv5qDWW55BSkwEhB9L91UyxfsJBApKw38j2fzY4DdLkc7SorUJUl\">statement</a> on his personal Facebook page that he and nearly the entire staff of the news organization — more than 1,300 journalists, producers and support staff — had been suspended.</p><p data-block-key=\"fn0a6\">“I am deeply saddened that for the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced,” Abramowitz wrote. “VOA needs thoughtful reform, and we have made progress in that regard. But today’s action will leave Voice of America unable to carry out its vital mission.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9ji7j\">No articles have been published on the VOA website since around 2 p.m. on March 15. The Independent <a href=\"https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-media-voice-america-bloody-saturday-b2716583.html\">reported</a> that by the following night, many of the employees placed on leave had been fired, including <a href=\"https://x.com/liamjscott/status/1901416015352811693\">press freedom reporter Liam Scott</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"e5i1s\">NPR <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/03/15/nx-s1-5329244/bloody-saturday-voiceofamerica-radio-free-asia-europe-trump-kari-lake\">reported</a> that USAGM also severed its contracts with the private international broadcasters it funds.</p><p data-block-key=\"8n9hf\">In a March 15 <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/03/the-voice-of-radical-america/\">news release</a>, the White House railed against “The Voice of Radical America,” and said Trump’s executive order “will ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4pou4\">Elon Musk, head of the new Department of Government Efficiency, had <a href=\"https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1888574212316582230?lang=en\">called</a> for the USAGM news outlets to be shut down in early February, writing, “It’s just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B/year of US taxpayer money.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5f0g7\">Grant Turner, a former senior executive at USAGM, called the cuts “Bloody Saturday” and told NPR, “It took decades to build this goodwill and an audience of hundreds of millions every week. Seeing arsonists just set fire to it all is awful.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cmu5k\">Steve Capus, the president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said in a statement shared with NPR, “The cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s grant agreement would be a massive gift to America’s enemies.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 14-1\" name=\"March 14-1\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"3ocum\">March 14, 2025 | Trump says negative press coverage ‘illegal’ during speech at DOJ</h4><p data-block-key=\"5mqt4\">President Donald Trump called the critical news coverage of his administration “illegal” and “corrupt” during a speech at the Department of Justice on March 14, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"5d8fd\">Amid his <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i41Av4eYO8\">nearly hourlong remarks</a>, Trump said that many judges, including those on the Supreme Court, “take tremendous abuse” from news outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and broadcast networks, likening the coverage to judicial interference. “It’s truly interference in my opinion and it should be illegal and it probably is illegal in some form,” Trump said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ecl8u\">He went on to claim that CNN and MSNBC are “political arms of the Democrat Party.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vpnv\">“These networks and these newspapers are really no different than a highly paid political operative and it has to stop, it has to be illegal,” Trump said.</p><p data-block-key=\"d5tm7\">As Trump decried his perceived enemies in the media, justice system and nonprofit sector, he advanced the DOJ as a tool to exact his personal vengeance. He asserted that he is the chief law enforcement officer — which The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/trump-bondi-patel-justice-fbi-retribution-ec275e730c6e75f2d6ee29eeec30fa07\">reported</a> is technically Attorney General Pam Bondi — and as such will demand “full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-03-15T003457Z_176944555_RC29.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7bspe\">President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One as he departs from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on March 14, 2025.</p>",
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"Media",
"Middle East Broadcasting Networks",
"National Public Radio",
"PBS News",
"Radio Free Asia",
"Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty",
"Radio y Televisión Martí",
"Voice of America"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
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{
"title": "Pete Hegseth targets news outlets, leakers as defense secretary",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-03T16:34:25.156292Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-09T19:43:46.106389Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-09T19:43:46.009663Z",
"date": "2025-05-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yzj9y\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joined Trump in taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting Hegseth’s efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ommm\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9v0ko\"><i>This article was first published on March 21, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"9vs77\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 26\">May 26, 2025 | Defense Department attempts to bar CNN reporter from foreign trip</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#March 21\">March 21, 2025 | Defense Department announces investigation into media leaks</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yzj9y\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"d7qmh\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"May 26\" name=\"May 26\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"2y7xj\">May 26, 2025 | Defense Department attempts to bar CNN reporter from foreign trip</h4><p data-block-key=\"3ccj7\">The Pentagon attempted to bar CNN national security reporter Haley Britzky from traveling as the designated television pool journalist during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s trip to Singapore, Status <a href=\"https://www.status.news/p/pete-hegseth-pentagon-press-access?utm_source=www.status.news&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=hegseth-s-safe-space&_bhlid=8583a82fd7bcd379f720c4d09a22a59a6348c18a\">reported</a> on May 26, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"91gov\">“Pentagon officials—apparently irked by some of her tweets, despite their innocuous nature—relayed to CNN brass that she was not welcome,” Oliver Darcy wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"fh3o\">On May 24, Britzky highlighted her Signal username in a post on the social platform X amid the Department of Defense’s efforts to crack down on leaks, including by <a href=\"/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-restricts-journalists-access-inside-pentagon/\">limiting press access</a> to areas of the Pentagon.</p><p data-block-key=\"6vnlm\">Arthur Schwartz, one of Hegseth’s closest advisers, <a href=\"https://x.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1926304038817013807\">reposted</a> Britzky, adding, “Any reporters that are encouraging DoD employees to bypass DoD Public Affairs and violate the terms of their employment with the government should be permanently banned from the Pentagon. Start with this one.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Any reporters that are encouraging DoD employees to bypass DoD Public Affairs and violate their terms of their employment with the government should be permanently banned from the Pentagon. Start with this one. <a href=\"https://t.co/aFvzPcufyw\">https://t.co/aFvzPcufyw</a></p>— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1926304038817013807?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 24, 2025</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=\"2y7xj\">Status reported that the move to exclude Britzky from Hegseth’s Singapore trip triggered an immediate backlash: Multiple other outlets indicated that if she was excluded they would boycott the trip.</p><p data-block-key=\"6qect\">“They don’t get to decide who covers them,” one correspondent told Status.</p><p data-block-key=\"7839n\">The Pentagon relented, and Britzky <a href=\"https://x.com/halbritz/status/1928406436192620655\">traveled</a> with Hegseth as originally planned.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 21\" name=\"March 21\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"yzj9y\">March 21, 2025 | Defense Department announces investigation into media leaks</h4><p data-block-key=\"bnd2m\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office sent a <a href=\"https://media.defense.gov/2025/Mar/21/2003674265/-1/-1/0/EFFORTS-TO-COMBAT-UNAUTHORIZED-DISCLOSURES-OSD002809-25-RES-FINAL.PDF\">memo</a> on March 21, 2025, initiating an investigation into “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6s70m\">“This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense,” wrote Joe Kasper, Hegseth’s chief of staff. “I expect to be informed immediately if this effort results in information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure, and that such information will be referred to the appropriate criminal law enforcement entity for criminal prosecution.”</p><p data-block-key=\"76lla\">The memo also noted that department employees will be subject to polygraph exams “in accordance with applicable law and policy.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ebe2s\">The memo came hours after Elon Musk, head of the new Department of Government Efficiency, <a href=\"https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1902977556329931052\">posted on social media</a> calling The New York Times’ reporting on the planned content of his briefing at the Pentagon “pure propaganda.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cjh0\">“I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT,” Musk wrote. “They will be found.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e5n7v\">Musk’s meeting with members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ultimately did not take place, Reuters <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/elon-musk-calls-prosecutions-pentagon-staff-who-leaked-new-york-times-2025-03-21/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ceird\">A Times spokesperson told Reuters that leak investigations are “meant to chill communications between journalists and their sources and undermine the ability of a free press to bring out vital information that may otherwise be hidden.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-03-21T163635Z_985503578_RC2S.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"of4rh\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth looks on as President Donald Trump (not pictured) delivers remarks in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. on March 21, 2025.</p>",
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"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Media",
"The New York Times"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Haley Britzky (CNN)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Pete Hegseth restricts journalists’ access inside Pentagon",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-restricts-journalists-access-inside-pentagon/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-09T18:26:52.644672Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-09T18:26:52.644672Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-09T18:26:52.568897Z",
"date": "2025-05-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Arlington",
"longitude": -77.10428,
"latitude": 38.88101,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"y20kh\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced new restrictions on journalists’ access while inside the Pentagon complex in Arlington, Virginia, on May 23, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1b34s\">In a <a href=\"https://media.defense.gov/2025/May/23/2003721693/-1/-1/1/UPDATED-PHYSICAL-CONTROL-MEASURES-FOR-PRESS-MEDIA-ACCESS-WITHIN-THE-PENTAGON.PDF\">memo</a>, Hegseth said journalists would now be required to have official approval and escorts from the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs to enter certain areas, including the offices of the secretary, his top aides and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Those areas had previously been freely accessible to credentialed reporters.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3ru7\">Hegseth cited the protection of national security and classified national intelligence information as the justification for the changes. “While the Department remains committed to transparency, the Department is equally obligated to protect CNSI and sensitive information — the unauthorized disclosure of which could put the lives of U.S. Service members in danger.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1hthd\">The Pentagon Press Association in a <a href=\"https://x.com/idreesali114/status/1926070207333740620\">statement</a> condemned the changes, saying it “is extremely concerned by the decision to restrict movement of accredited journalists within the Pentagon through non-secured, unclassified hallways.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8edfd\">It noted that its members have “had access to non-secured, unclassified spaces in the Pentagon for decades, under Republican and Democratic administrations, including in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks,” without any security issues arising.</p><p data-block-key=\"7s3q6\">“This decision eliminates the media’s freedom to freely access press officers for the military services who are specifically hired to respond to press queries,” the association added.</p><p data-block-key=\"87ci2\">On January 31, the Defense Department had <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/31/media/pentagon-press-rotation-defense-department\">announced</a> a new media “rotation” policy that removed major news outlets — including The New York Times and Politico — from their dedicated office space in the Pentagon and replaced them with primarily conservative outlets, such as One America News Network and Breitbart.</p><p data-block-key=\"9v68t\">The White House has also sought to restrict press access by <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-wrests-control-of-presidential-press-pool-from-correspondents/\">taking over</a> the presidential press pool and attempting to <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ap-reporters-barred-from-white-house-events-over-editorial-style-policy/\">ban the Associated Press</a> from covering the president in retaliation for its editorial policy.</p><p data-block-key=\"7p3ci\">Since taking office, Hegseth has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/\">joined</a> President Donald Trump and other members of his administration in taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have produced critical coverage.</p><p data-block-key=\"28da5\">The Defense Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP17268664061269.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ufyd9\">The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, is seen from above. On May 23, 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth restricted journalists’ access while inside the building.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Federal government: Agency"
],
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"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
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"Change in policy or practice"
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},
{
"title": "Andrew Ferguson targets news media as FTC chair",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/andrew-ferguson-targets-news-media-as-ftc-chair/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-23T16:48:42.006809Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-23T16:48:42.006809Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-23T16:46:03.259173Z",
"date": "2025-05-21",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hxo03\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson joined Trump in taking steps to intimidate news media that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting Ferguson’s efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"cucrp\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"be50\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"c6jfn\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 21\">May 21, 2025 | FTC chair announces investigation into Media Matters for America</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hxo03\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"64jt0\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"May 21\" name=\"May 21\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"hxo03\">May 21, 2025 | FTC chair announces investigation into Media Matters for America</h4><p data-block-key=\"e184p\">Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson opened an investigation on May 21, 2025, into Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Media Matters for America concerning its alleged illegal collusion with advertisers, The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/technology/ftc-investigates-media-matters.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"arjhq\">In November 2023, the media watchdog published a <a href=\"https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/musk-endorses-antisemitic-conspiracy-theory-x-has-been-placing-ads-apple-bravo-ibm-oracle\">report</a> written by its investigative reporter Eric Hananoki that found advertisements for major brands appeared next to pro-Nazi posts on the social platform X. <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/technology/elon-musk-twitter-x-advertisers.html\">Several</a> major companies subsequently <a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/17/23965928/apple-x-ads-elon-musk-antisemitic-posts\">paused</a> their advertising on the platform.</p><p data-block-key=\"7icj1\">Elon Musk, the owner of X, promptly <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.383454/gov.uscourts.txnd.383454.1.0_1.pdf\">sued</a> Media Matters and Hananoki in federal court, alleging they had manipulated the platform’s algorithms to harm X’s relationship with advertisers. The suit is ongoing, and in 2025, Musk became a senior adviser to Trump and the de facto head of the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency.</p><p data-block-key=\"53g6j\">In late 2023 and early 2024, Republican attorneys general in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/texas-attorney-general-subpoenas-media-matters-after-report-on-x/\">Texas</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/missouri-attorney-general-subpoenas-media-matters-after-report-on-x/\">Missouri</a> issued civil investigative demands — a form of subpoena — to the nonprofit for documents related to its reporting. Media Matters ultimately won preliminary injunctions blocking the requests.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hk06\"><a href=\"https://www.status.news/p/ftc-investigates-media-matters-elon-musk\">According to Status</a>, Musk’s targeting of the outlet has contributed to budgetary strain that forced Media Matters to lay off employees and scale back its work in 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"5l3pc\">The FTC investigation marks an escalation in the targeting of the nonprofit, and the agency has ordered Media Matters to turn over scores of internal records, including communications, budget documents and any evidence of coordination with other advocacy groups, Status reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"ehi5f\">Ferguson has previously detailed his concern over “colluding” in advertising, the Times reported, in which coordinated advertising boycotts could threaten the “free exchange of ideas.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7osul\">In a statement to Status, a spokesperson for Media Matters described the FTC probe as a political hit job.</p><p data-block-key=\"ad2nu\">“The Trump administration has been defined by naming right-wing media figures to key posts and abusing the power of the federal government to bully political opponents and silence critics,” the representative said. “It’s clear that’s exactly what’s happening here, given Media Matters’ history of holding those same media figures to account. These threats won’t work; we remain steadfast to our mission.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-02-08T195338Z_960488062_RC2I.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1cd2d\">Andrew Ferguson, commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, speaks at a conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Feb. 8, 2025.</p>",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media Matters for America"
],
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"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
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}
]
