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{
"title": "Two charged with placing incendiary device under Utah news vehicle",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-charged-with-placing-incendiary-device-under-utah-news-vehicle/",
"first_published_at": "2025-09-15T16:59:04.188289Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-15T16:59:04.188289Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-15T16:58:05.034777Z",
"date": "2025-09-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Salt Lake City",
"longitude": -111.89105,
"latitude": 40.76078,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"87el5\">The FBI has charged two Utah men with allegedly placing an incendiary device under a news vehicle from broadcast station KSTU in Salt Lake City on Sept. 12, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"14ipc\">KSTU <a href=\"https://www.fox13now.com/news/crime/fbi-arrests-2-after-incendiary-device-left-under-fox-13-news-vehicle\">reported</a> that the device was determined to be real and, according to officials, the bomb had been lit but “failed to function.” No injuries were reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"aiab6\">As a result of the device’s type and location, it was deemed a “significant threat to public safety,” according to the television station, and the investigation was taken over by the FBI.</p><p data-block-key=\"a91jt\">Two suspects — identified as Adeeb Nasir and Adil Justice Ahmed Nasir of the nearby suburb of Magna — were arrested late Sept. 13. According to jail records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, both face multiple felony charges, including attempted aggravated arson, threat of terrorism, possessing weapons of mass destruction and possessing an incendiary device.</p><p data-block-key=\"e45np\">It was not immediately clear whether the news vehicle was deliberately targeted or what the suspects’ motives may have been.</p><p data-block-key=\"ftbpo\">In a statement published by the news outlet, KSTU Station Manager Leona Wood said, “FOX 13 News is working closely with law-enforcement and our risk management team, with the safety of our employees as our top priority.”</p><p data-block-key=\"86uoc\">Neither KSTU, the FBI nor the Salt Lake City Police Department responded to requests for comment as of press time.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"sthz8\">Utah broadcaster KSTU reported a bomb was placed under one of the TV station’s news vehicles in Salt Lake City on Sept. 12, 2025. The incendiary device “failed to function” and no injuries were reported. Two men have since been arrested by the FBI.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Utah",
"abbreviation": "UT"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"KSTU"
],
"tags": [
"bomb / bomb threat"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
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},
{
"title": "TV reporter harassed, camera damaged while reporting in California",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tv-reporter-harassed-camera-damaged-while-reporting-in-california/",
"first_published_at": "2025-09-12T18:49:13.443959Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-12T18:49:13.443959Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-12T18:49:13.220915Z",
"date": "2025-09-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chico",
"longitude": -121.83748,
"latitude": 39.72849,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6flmx\">KNVN reporter Nathan Espindula’s news camera was damaged when a man harassed him with racial slurs while he was reporting in Chico, California, on Sept. 4, 2025, the television station <a href=\"https://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/action-news-now-reporter-harassed-in-altercation-after-live-broadcast/article_24a98d28-202a-4c09-9186-61237b8e5948.html\">reported.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"2q07d\">Espindula had just finished a live segment around 6 a.m. when a man approached, threatening him and shouting racist terms for a Hispanic individual.</p><p data-block-key=\"6uu73\">“I started hearing someone yelling slurs at me, and as soon as I noticed that, I ran into the car and locked the car,” Espindula told KNVN. “And then the individual approached me, yelling and going across the car.”</p><p data-block-key=\"443ak\">Espindula said the man threatened to find out where he lives and continued shouting racist and profane insults, which Espindula recorded on his phone. His camera equipment was damaged during the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"4mi2a\">Espindula did not respond to a U.S. Press Freedom Tracker request for comment. But as a fellow reporter noted on the station’s account of the incident, “What began as a routine live report on a community event turned into a frightening confrontation for one of our colleagues.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5rngs\">The suspect, identified as Kiano Sen Saechao, has pleaded not guilty to a <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-pen/part-1/title-11-6/chapter-2/section-422-6/\">felony civil rights violation</a> for the property damage, which is classified as a hate crime, according to Butte County court records.</p><p data-block-key=\"b03lt\">A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 25.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"k0aqf\">Nathan Espindula, seen above in a standup shot, said his news camera was damaged by a man who harassed him with racial slurs while he was reporting in Chico, California, on Sept. 4, 2025.</p>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
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"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
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"Nathan Espindula (KNVN)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist ejected from Capitol Hill news conference on Epstein files",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-ejected-from-capitol-hill-news-conference-on-epstein-files/",
"first_published_at": "2025-09-09T15:56:34.552853Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-09T15:56:34.552853Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-09T15:52:41.455719Z",
"date": "2025-09-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"v73f2\">Independent journalist Michael Tracey says he was ejected from a Capitol Hill news conference in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 3, 2025, after he asked a question about the credibility of a Jeffrey Epstein accuser.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ajsh\">Tracey told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the office of Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, had invited him to attend the news conference. Tracey is based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes about U.S. politics on <a href=\"https://www.mtracey.net/\">Substack</a>. He said he confirmed that he would attend the event the day before.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ii2a\">The news conference, held outside the Capitol, aimed to pressure lawmakers to vote for the release of the files from the Justice Department’s Epstein investigation. Multiple U.S. representatives from both parties were joined by a group of Epstein’s accusers, who told of the sexual abuse they say they faced from the convicted sex offender, who took his own life in 2019 while in federal custody facing sex trafficking charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"91j55\">At the news conference, Tracey questioned attorney Bradley Edwards about his late client Virginia Giuffre, who had been one of the most vocal Epstein accusers before her death by suicide in April 2025. In 2022, Giuffre had <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/us/alan-dershowitz-virginia-giuffre-allegations-dropped\">dropped</a> her allegations of sexual abuse against attorney Alan Dershowitz, saying she “may have made a mistake.” (Dershowitz had denied the allegations.)</p><p data-block-key=\"cmlum\">“I asked Bradley Edwards, why should the public regard this person as having unimpeached credibility?” Tracey said. “You’re supposed to ask critical or skeptical questions.” Edwards did not answer the question, according to <a href=\"https://x.com/mtracey/status/1963317647015379179#m\">video</a> of the encounter, and moved on to another journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"5o6d4\">Khanna then interjected and addressed Tracey’s question. After the journalist asked a follow-up, Tracey said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, urged the U.S. Capitol Police to eject him.</p><p data-block-key=\"bp9pk\">Capitol Police officers obliged, Tracey said, and escorted him away. Neither Greene’s office nor the police responded to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"9vmnl\">“They threw me out. They threatened me with arrest,” said Tracey, who added that he did not resist. “I was ejected based on the content of the question.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25246685916005.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"30nh4\">Rep. Thomas Massie speaks at a Capitol Hill news conference in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 3, 2025, calling for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Journalist Michael Tracey was removed after he questioned an Epstein accuser’s credibility.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"Federal government: Legislature"
],
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"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
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"Michael Tracey (Independent)"
],
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"Government event"
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},
{
"title": "Investigative reporter told to stop contacting police in California city",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/investigative-reporter-told-to-stop-contacting-police-in-california-city/",
"first_published_at": "2025-09-10T19:07:49.551228Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-10T19:07:49.551228Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-10T18:21:10.296179Z",
"date": "2025-08-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Santa Ana",
"longitude": -117.86783,
"latitude": 33.74557,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fd63c\">Ben Camacho, an investigative reporter and co-founder of The Southlander, was ordered to stop reaching out for comment from police officers in Santa Ana, California, in a cease and desist letter sent by the city’s police union on Aug. 27, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"8c5eb\">Camacho told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he is one of the few journalists who has done investigative reporting on the Santa Ana Police Officers’ Association and has written numerous articles critical of the police department.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ovpu\">When he received the email from the union, Camacho said, “I just kind of immediately laughed at it and then sent it to my attorneys.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mq75\">The letter, reviewed by the Tracker, alleged that Camacho had “begun to harass and attempt to intimidate certain members of the SAPOA,” but did not identify affected officers nor specific instances of the unacceptable conduct.</p><p data-block-key=\"2a2qg\">“You have telephoned certain officers and emailed them demanding they answer your questions and to respond to your frivolous requests,” it continued. “This must stop.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1ao83\">Camacho said that, while he doesn’t know for sure what prompted the letter, he had worked on several recent stories involving two Santa Ana Police Department officers who are under investigation by the California Attorney General’s Office for their shooting of an unarmed individual in December 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"d8jes\">“As I continued to look into the officers involved, I later learned that one of those officers, one month after killing one person, he was involved in another incident where he shot and killed somebody, although this person had a knife. Still, a police shooting,” Camacho said. “That sparked my interest because it surprised me that he’s under investigation, yet he’s still on active duty.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f7cvk\">After going through his normal reporting process, Camacho said he published an article about the back-to-back shootings in June 2025. Later that month, the same officer was also involved in the beating of an unarmed teenager.</p><p data-block-key=\"56plu\">Camacho told the Tracker he was able to obtain a copy of an incident report through public records requests, and reached out to the officer in June through his city email address.</p><p data-block-key=\"750u7\">“I emailed him once or twice, just to see if he would comment. And then I ended up just sending him my questions after not hearing back, on just the off chance that he later wants to reply,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5p0bj\">Camacho reached out for comment again at the beginning of August, after the family of the victim shot by police in December 2024 announced its plans to file a federal lawsuit against the two officers, as well as the city.</p><p data-block-key=\"dt5sm\">“I didn’t hear back. I think I emailed them once more the next day. In that email, I indicated to the one that I did have a phone for, that ‘I’m going to call you in about an hour if I don’t hear back, it’s just because I’m on deadline. Keep an eye out for my number in the signature and let me know if you are refusing to comment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5jdu1\">The officer answered when he called, Camacho said, but after he identified himself and said he was a reporter for Caló News — the outlet he was on assignment for that day — the call abruptly ended.</p><p data-block-key=\"6hve\">“I didn’t know if it was a call drop or if he hung up, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and called back, but then it went straight to voicemail,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"1gt0r\">Camacho said he went through a similar process trying to contact a third officer involved in a traffic stop at issue in a lawsuit quickly settled by the city in July.</p><p data-block-key=\"5j6d8\">“The cease and desist doesn’t specify who or what or when or where, but of recent interactions, those are the three,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"cj2as\">In a letter to the police union in response, Camacho’s attorney Shakeer Rahman wrote that its demands were “ridiculous.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8eeg5\">“There is no lawful basis to gag a person from ever communicating with government officials, let alone from communicating with an entire police force. That would be unconstitutional,” Rahman wrote. “And it is a bedrock journalistic practice to offer a person an opportunity to comment on forthcoming news reporting about them.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9pj0e\">Camacho told the Tracker that it was a clear attempt to stop him from continuing to report on the police department entirely.</p><p data-block-key=\"rt56\">“They’re framing journalism as a criminal act,” he said. “They’re framing my reasonable efforts to reach someone and make sure that they truly have a chance to comment or answer questions as a criminal act. That is not just anti-First Amendment, that is anti-democracy. And I think it’s a symptom of a larger problem we’re seeing right now under the rise of really harsh authoritarianism.</p><p data-block-key=\"4gqak\">“But this is not my first rodeo, I’ve dealt with bigger fish,” he added, referring to a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/los-angeles-sues-journalist-in-attempt-to-claw-back-photos-of-police-officers/\">pair of</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/los-angeles-sues-journalist-in-attempt-to-claw-back-photos-of-police-officers/\">lawsuits</a> filed against him by the city of Los Angeles.</p><p data-block-key=\"3l5mt\">The Santa Ana Police Officers’ Association did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"r86ds\">Attorneys for the Santa Ana Police Officers’ Association in California sent a cease and desist letter to investigative reporter Ben Camacho on Aug. 27, 2025, alleging that he had harassed various officers when he attempted to contact them.</p>",
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{
"title": "San Francisco journalist grabbed, pepper-sprayed by federal agents",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-francisco-journalist-grabbed-pepper-sprayed-by-federal-agents/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-28T13:05:27.174720Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-08T13:17:19.560179Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-08T13:17:19.441981Z",
"date": "2025-08-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Francisco",
"longitude": -122.41942,
"latitude": 37.77493,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lid1d\">Eddie Kim, a reporter for the Gazetteer San Francisco, was grabbed by the throat, pushed and sprayed with a chemical irritant while reporting on protests outside an immigration court in San Francisco, California, on Aug. 20, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"f6mbl\">Protests in California began in early June in response to federal raids of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gather, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. While concentrated in Los Angeles, protests have continued throughout the state, centered around operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"c0t55\">In an account for the Gazetteer, Kim <a href=\"https://sf.gazetteer.co/i-reported-from-an-ice-action-on-sansome-and-all-i-got-was-a-face-full-of-pepper-spray\">wrote</a> that he arrived at the San Francisco Immigration Court at 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 20 after he was alerted that a detainee was being transferred.</p><p data-block-key=\"duau0\">“By the time I got there, a melee was already unfolding among law enforcement agents, protesters, drivers, and passersby,” he wrote. “With agents hitting bikes with batons, cars honking, a bus stuck in the road, and pedestrians filming and shouting, tensions were through the roof.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dq4dv\">Kim told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that officers impeded his ability to report on the scene almost as soon as he arrived.</p><p data-block-key=\"8bbsq\">“From the moment I got there and started recording to the moment I got pepper-sprayed was just about six-and-a-half minutes,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"adm62\">Kim said that as he crossed the street to get to the other side of the vehicles, a Department of Homeland Security officer rushed toward him and told him to get out of the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"7oikb\">“Then when I said, ‘I am a member of the press and documenting the scene,’ they basically put their hands on my chest,” he told the Tracker. “As they were pushing, I felt his fingers kind of grabbing me around my face and throat, and I got shoved that way.</p><p data-block-key=\"52m87\">“And once I was getting near the sidewalk, somebody else — a Customs and Border Protection agent with a baton and vest — came up toward me and, holding his baton horizontal with two hands, shoved me in the chest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"669ud\">Kim told the Tracker that — with officers from multiple federal agencies milling around the vehicles — the scene was disorderly at best, judging from years of covering demonstrations.</p><p data-block-key=\"bnmep\">“There are ways to create formations, create lines, to keep people back. There are dispersal orders that can be used. There are more coherent warnings that are given,” Kim said. “But it was so chaotic, so disorganized, that it really started to look like individuals — individual ICE agents, individual DHS, CBP officers — were making their own decisions on what to do.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2o1ht\">As demonstrators continued their attempts to block the ICE transport vans from departing, federal agents responded aggressively, a stark change from the law enforcement response June 24 when, Kim <a href=\"https://sf.gazetteer.co/a-front-row-view-to-an-ice-abduction-turns-into-chaos-at-jackson-square\">reported</a>, agents had adopted a more defensive approach to the protesters gathered outside ICE’s San Francisco headquarters.</p><p data-block-key=\"58urk\">“The language and behavior was more aggressive and, in many cases, preemptive,” Kim wrote. “Several protesters were thrown to the ground. Some people were pepper-sprayed without provocation.</p><p data-block-key=\"bn4gc\">“One of those people was me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"93nhb\">Kim wrote that he was following a loose formation of federal agents as they walked away once ICE transport vans were able to successfully leave the area. While several people on the sidewalk began shouting “Shame!” and insults at the agents, he said it seemed that the action had slowed.</p><p data-block-key=\"21o3f\">A lone ICE agent then grabbed a protester’s bike, attempting to yank it away. As Kim moved forward to film the interaction, the agent retrieved his pepper gel — a concentrated form of chemical irritant — and sprayed the protester and then Kim in the eyes.</p><p data-block-key=\"5tp6t\">“The searing pain came as quickly as the attack itself. I fell to the ground near Sansome and Pine streets, more surprised than seriously hurt,” Kim wrote. “I felt the thick liquid smearing on my face as I attempted to wipe away as much of it as possible.”</p><p data-block-key=\"80u5c\">He added that multiple people nearby came to his aid, flushing his eyes with water. Kim told the Tracker that he wasn’t able to see properly for 20 minutes, at which point he was able to walk to the Gazetteer office nearby, where he spent another hour recovering.</p><p data-block-key=\"5k2lh\">“What happened to me, the cyclist protester, and others is a sign that individual federal agents are now willing to proactively employ brute force against people who are not attacking them or even entering their personal space,” he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"f1iho\">Kim told the Tracker that he is working with his editor to determine how to pursue a formal complaint against the officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"c8po6\">ICE and its San Francisco Field Office acknowledged receipt when reached via email, but did not respond as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"t1ic\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with additional comments and details from Eddie Kim.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zlcun\">Eddie Kim, a reporter for the Gazetteer San Francisco, wrote about his experience being assaulted and sprayed with a chemical irritant while covering an immigration protest outside a courthouse in San Francisco’s Financial District on Aug. 20, 2025.</p>",
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"Eddie Kim (Gazetteer San Francisco)"
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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": "2025-08-19T21:08:32.360533Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-19T21:02:56.263897Z",
"date": "2025-08-15",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
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"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=\"#Aug 15\">Aug. 15, 2025 | Media Matters granted preliminary injunction against FTC</a></p>\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=\"Aug 15\" name=\"Aug 15\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"hfa7u\">Aug. 15, 2025 | Media Matters granted preliminary injunction against FTC</h4><p data-block-key=\"3f5g2\">Media Matters for America was granted a preliminary injunction on Aug. 15, 2025, protecting the nonprofit from being forced to hand over a trove of newsgathering and editorial materials to the Federal Trade Commission.</p><p data-block-key=\"9t520\">The FTC, under Chair Andrew Ferguson, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/andrew-ferguson-targets-news-media-as-ftc-chair/#May%2021\">opened</a> an investigation in May into Media Matters over its alleged collusion with companies that paused their advertising on the social platform X after the media watchdog <a href=\"https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/musk-endorses-antisemitic-conspiracy-theory-x-has-been-placing-ads-apple-bravo-ibm-oracle\">reported</a> that ads for major brands were appearing next to pro-Nazi posts.</p><p data-block-key=\"fc3ot\">The agency ordered the nonprofit 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=\"ijf1\">In a <a href=\"https://www.status.news/p/ftc-investigates-media-matters-elon-musk\">statement to Status</a>, a spokesperson for Media Matters described the FTC probe as a political hit job, and the nonprofit <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.281859/gov.uscourts.dcd.281859.1.0.pdf\">filed a lawsuit</a> June 23 to halt the order.</p><p data-block-key=\"dcajg\">“Media Matters faces an ongoing campaign of retribution for exercising its First Amendment rights,” attorneys for the nonprofit wrote. “Now the Federal Trade Commission seeks to punish Media Matters for its journalism and speech in exposing matters of substantial public concern—including how X.com has enabled and profited from extremist content that proliferated after Elon Musk took over the platform formerly known as Twitter.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eompq\">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=\"b8nnj\">District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.281859/gov.uscourts.dcd.281859.34.0_1.pdf\">ruled</a> in favor of Media Matters on Aug. 15, writing that the case “presents a straightforward First Amendment violation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e5f6a\">“It should alarm all Americans when the Government retaliates against individuals or organizations for engaging in constitutionally protected public debate,” she continued. “And that alarm should ring even louder when the Government retaliates against those engaged in newsgathering and reporting.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6ct2n\">Sooknanan issued an order barring the FTC from implementing or enforcing the request for the nonprofit’s files and communications.</p><p data-block-key=\"47u4v\">Angelo Carusone, chairman and president of Media Matters, praised the decision in a <a href=\"https://www.mediamatters.org/justice-civil-liberties/media-matters-wins-preliminary-injunction-against-retaliatory-ftc\">statement</a>, citing the importance of standing up to what he described as “intimidation from the Trump administration.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4n238\">“This case is not just about the campaign to punish and silence Media Matters,” Carusone wrote. “It is a critical test for whether the courts will allow any administration - from any political party - to bully media and non-profit organizations through illegal abuses of power. We will continue to stand up and fight for the First Amendment rights that protect every American.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9938q\">Attorneys for the agency appealed the ruling Aug. 18 and it will be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.</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 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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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
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"Chilling Statement"
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},
{
"title": "Journalist shoved by LAPD while covering pro-immigrant car caravan",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-by-lapd-while-covering-pro-immigrant-car-caravan/",
"first_published_at": "2025-09-09T14:52:47.181380Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-09T14:52:47.181380Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-09T14:48:43.786253Z",
"date": "2025-08-12",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ykzr6\">Freelance journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was shoved by a police officer while covering a pro-immigrant car caravan in downtown Los Angeles, California, on Aug. 12, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"d24av\">Protests in LA began in early June in response to federal raids of workplaces and areas in and around the city where immigrant day laborers gather, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown.<a href=\"https://laist.com/brief/news/federal-agents-westlake-home-depot-penske-moving-van\"> Raids</a> at<a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-08-08/federal-agents-target-day-laborers-in-raids-at-van-nuys-home-depot\"> Home Depots</a> in early August took place seemingly in defiance of a<a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70594806/87/pedro-vasquez-perdomo-v-kristi-noem/\"> July 11 court order</a> temporarily prohibiting federal agents from using discriminatory profiling.</p><p data-block-key=\"4v2rv\">Beckner-Carmitchel <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/acatwithnews.bsky.social/post/3lwa5vuyewc2j\">reported</a> that the caravan, organized by several unions and immigrant rights groups, made its way from MacArthur Park toward the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown.</p><p data-block-key=\"dmaf1\">“As the car caravan arrived on Alameda and Temple, they were met by an LAPD blockade,” Beckner-Carmitchel <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/acatwithnews.bsky.social/post/3lwabglj5y22j\">wrote</a>. “A union representative attempted to negotiate with an officer, who repeatedly is saying ‘we don’t want any conflict’ on this street.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qq0s\">Beckner-Carmitchel was following as Los Angeles Police Department officers then approached the driver of the lead vehicle — a semitruck pulling a band in an unwalled trailer — when another officer suddenly turned and shoved him, the journalist <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/acatwithnews.bsky.social/post/3lwabzfvft22j\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"devse\">He was able to continue <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/acatwithnews.bsky.social/post/3lwb2hhk7h22m\">covering</a> <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/acatwithnews.bsky.social/post/3lwb6dwti4k2z\">protests</a> as they continued into the night.</p><p data-block-key=\"c5drb\">Two days later, Beckner-Carmitchel <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/acatwithnews.bsky.social/post/3lwfxpqqyac2q\">wrote</a> that he had been diagnosed with a rib fracture, likely as a result of being <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-with-baton-detained-amid-la-immigration-protest/\">struck with a baton</a> on Aug. 8.</p><p data-block-key=\"e36rb\">“It hurts a *lot* and I pride myself on being a pretty tough soldier in the journalism industry. But I’ll likely be out of commission for at least a few days,” he wrote. “Extremely frustrating that there are things I could be writing about, photographing or filming and instead I’ll be sitting on my couch.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fgg5u\">The LAPD did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"bl1i7\">A police officer turns toward freelancer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel moments before shoving the journalist, who was reporting on a pro-immigrant car caravan in downtown Los Angeles, California, on Aug. 12, 2025.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"tags": [
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"categories": [
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},
{
"title": "Journalist shoved by officer during LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-by-officer-during-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-26T17:25:12.707939Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-26T17:25:12.707939Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-26T17:25:12.489984Z",
"date": "2025-08-12",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"k06ne\">Lexis-Olivier Ray, an investigative reporter with L.A. Taco, was shoved by a police officer and blocked from filming parts of an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on Aug. 12, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"e1bmn\">Protests in LA began in early June in response to federal raids of workplaces and areas in and around the city where immigrant day laborers gather, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. <a href=\"https://laist.com/brief/news/federal-agents-westlake-home-depot-penske-moving-van\">Raids</a> at <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-08-08/federal-agents-target-day-laborers-in-raids-at-van-nuys-home-depot\">Home Depots</a> in early August took place seemingly in defiance of a <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70594806/87/pedro-vasquez-perdomo-v-kristi-noem/\">July 11 court order</a> temporarily prohibiting federal agents from using discriminatory profiling.</p><p data-block-key=\"2lglk\">In a video posted to the social platform <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/acatwithnews.bsky.social/post/3lwavv3jwnc2f\">Bluesky</a>, an LA police officer can be seen demanding that Ray move back while he identifies himself as media and holds his badge up.</p><p data-block-key=\"9s83d\">“Get back, get on the sidewalk,” the officer said before pushing him. “Walk faster.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dk8g4\">Ray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the Los Angeles Police Department had blocked off parts of the area in advance of a planned vigil near the Metropolitan Detention Center. When he asked officers at the scene why the streets were closed, he said he was unable to get a clear explanation.</p><p data-block-key=\"6mhak\">After protesters arrived from a march that began several miles away at MacArthur Park, police ordered cars out of the intersection and began clearing the street in front of the detention center. That’s when a motorcycle officer approached him.</p><p data-block-key=\"5bf07\">“I was filming them from what was a pretty safe, reasonable distance,” Ray said. “One officer, he got in my face, initially told me to back up, and then he shoved me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8ts33\">Ray said he and other journalists had difficulty crossing police lines and accessing areas where confrontations between protesters and law enforcement were unfolding. Officers, he said, forced reporters to remain in one area and restricted their movement.</p><p data-block-key=\"9s6re\">“It was pretty clear that if we didn’t, we’d be arrested,” he said. “There’s definitely things that we missed because we were not able to move around freely.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2u9ue\">The LAPD did not respond to an emailed request for comment. In a statement posted earlier to the <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDCentral/status/1954195124831097112\">social platform X</a>, the department’s Central Division said it will continue to support the First Amendment rights of all people. “However, if violence or criminal activity occurs, laws will be enforced,” it read.</p><p data-block-key=\"4c7nl\">The LA Press Club filed a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.974511/gov.uscourts.cacd.974511.63.1_3.pdf\">motion</a> Aug. 13 to hold the city of LA in contempt for violating a temporary restraining order in place to protect journalists while they’re covering protests, citing the Aug. 8 <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2025-08-08&date_upper=2025-08-08&city=Los+Angeles&categories=Assault\">assaults</a> of journalists, as well as the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2025-08-08&date_upper=2025-08-08&city=Los+Angeles&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">detention</a> of multiple members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"dtsg\">“Defendants’ actions evince a blatant disregard for the First Amendment and an unwillingness or an inability or both on the part of the City to take steps necessary to ensure compliance with this Court’s Injunction,” the motion read. “What will it take to get the LAPD to respect the constitutional rights of journalists?”</p><p data-block-key=\"52v7k\">In June, 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> (over which he later sued), and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sheriffs-deputy-searches-journalists-bag-during-la-immigration-protest/\">a sheriff’s deputy searched his backpack</a>. 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 and gatherings in LA.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cs90o\">A Los Angeles Police Department officer shoved journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray, at center, during an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on Aug. 12, 2025.</p>",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist struck with baton, detained amid LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-with-baton-detained-amid-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-18T15:07:13.664152Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-18T15:07:13.664152Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-18T15:06:59.500763Z",
"date": "2025-08-08",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pkclc\">Freelance photojournalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was pushed, struck with a baton and detained by police while documenting anti-deportation protests in downtown Los Angeles, California, on Aug. 8, 2025. He was ultimately released without being charged.</p><p data-block-key=\"bqp3i\">Protests in LA began in early June in response to federal raids of workplaces and areas in and around the city where immigrant day laborers gather, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. <a href=\"https://laist.com/brief/news/federal-agents-westlake-home-depot-penske-moving-van\">Raids</a> at <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-08-08/federal-agents-target-day-laborers-in-raids-at-van-nuys-home-depot\">Home Depots</a> in early August took place seemingly in defiance of a <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70594806/87/pedro-vasquez-perdomo-v-kristi-noem/\">July 11 court order</a> temporarily prohibiting federal agents from using discriminatory profiling.</p><p data-block-key=\"84jdc\">On Aug. 8, two days after an immigration raid in the parking lot of a Home Depot in LA’s Westlake neighborhood, protesters gathered at the store and marched to the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown. The demonstrators and the journalists covering them encountered a violent response from Los Angeles Police Department officers, violating <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70553115/44/los-angeles-press-club-v-city-of-los-angeles/\">a court order</a> protecting the press from arrest, assault or other interference.</p><p data-block-key=\"3fefd\">In a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.974511/gov.uscourts.cacd.974511.63.6.pdf\">declaration</a> filed in connection with a Los Angeles Press Club lawsuit against the city, Beckner-Carmitchel said he covered the protest and subsequent march, and was carrying a professional camera and had his press credential on a lanyard attached to his pants.</p><p data-block-key=\"ep9qi\">He wrote that approximately 100 demonstrators gathered outside the detention center and protested “in a spirited, non-violent way.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cn0vq\">“At some point, I saw the LAPD officers form a line in the street in front of the MDC and start screaming at the protesters to ‘Move back’ as officers marched with their batons drawn,” Beckner-Carmitchel wrote. “As the LAPD line moved toward the protesters, I saw officers shove quite a few people to the ground. I did not hear any instructions for media. I saw LAPD officers strike multiple journalists with batons, and shove and push journalists in the street in a span of a few minutes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"32lui\">During a pause in the officers’ advance, Beckner-Carmitchel wrote that he approached the police line and asked to speak to a supervisor or public affairs officer, but was told to move back. He tried again, saying that he wanted to remind them of the <a href=\"https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/penal-code/pen-sect-409-7/\">penal code</a> that protects journalists covering protests, given that multiple members of the press had already gotten hurt.</p><p data-block-key=\"8nu7f\">“An LAPD officer responded by shoving me and hitting me in my ribs on my left side with his baton. I still have sore ribs a day later and a small bruise,” he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"5eqm5\">The use of force continued for nearly an hour before officers formed a kettle, a tactic used to surround and control a crowd, around a small group of journalists and demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"f7vt1\">Beckner-Carmitchel asked for a supervisor or public information office nearly a dozen times and was cuffed while live on YouTube, with an officer telling him he could “bitch” however he wanted. He was held for one to two hours, he wrote, and when asked for his identifying information, he “pointedly told the officer that my ID was in my wallet in my right pocket, beneath my press pass.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rp4q\">He was then given a card that read, “Detained during an illegal assembly. Failed to disperse after multiple dispersal orders.” A lieutenant eventually approached him to ask if he was media and, when he said yes, to show her his press credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"8la6f\">“Lt. Stelter lectured me and the other journalists who had been detained that we were at fault because we stayed in the crowd of protesters,” Beckner-Carmitchel wrote, adding that he was released without charges. “When I was in the process of being uncuffed and allowed to leave, I began filming again, and an officer told me I was still under detainment and was not permitted to film.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2vru9\"><a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-assaulted-detained-while-covering-la-protest/\">Two</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pushed-detained-by-police-at-la-immigration-protest/\">journalists</a> without physical press badges were taken to a police station and later released.</p><p data-block-key=\"6raqc\">The LAPD did not respond to an emailed request for additional comment. In a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDCentral/status/1954033509586309303\">statement</a> posted to the social platform X, the department’s Central Division wrote that an unlawful assembly was declared “due to the aggressive nature of a few demonstrators.”</p><p data-block-key=\"98fbi\">“The protest went into the late night hours with people refusing to disperse,” it <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDCentral/status/1954195124831097112\">continued</a>. “Central Division will continue to support 1st Amendment rights of all people. However, if violence or criminal activity occurs, laws will be enforced.”</p><p data-block-key=\"11emg\">Beckner-Carmitchel disputed the department’s characterization of the protest. “From my vantage point, I did not see the protesters act violently or throw anything at officers when the officers arrived,” he wrote in his declaration. “I did not hear any declaration of an unlawful assembly or dispersal order at this point. As the LAPD line moved toward the protesters, I saw officers shove quite a few people to the ground.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2jrjh\">The LA Press Club filed a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.974511/gov.uscourts.cacd.974511.63.1_3.pdf\">motion</a> Aug. 13 to hold the city of Los Angeles in contempt for violating the temporary restraining order it had obtained as part of its lawsuit, citing the Aug. 8 <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2025-08-08&date_upper=2025-08-08&city=Los+Angeles&categories=Assault\">assaults</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2025-08-08&date_upper=2025-08-08&city=Los+Angeles&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">detentions</a> of Beckner-Carmitchel and other members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"75oph\">“Defendants’ actions evince a blatant disregard for the First Amendment and an unwillingness or an inability or both on the part of the City to take steps necessary to ensure compliance with this Court’s Injunction,” the motion read. “What will it take to get the LAPD to respect the constitutional rights of journalists?”</p><p data-block-key=\"7ta0i\">In an Aug. 14 <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/acatwithnews.bsky.social/post/3lwfxpqqyac2q\">post on social media</a>, Beckner-Carmitchel wrote that he had been diagnosed with a rib fracture, likely as a result of being struck with a baton on Aug. 8.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rd29\">“It hurts a *lot* and I pride myself on being a pretty tough soldier in the journalism industry. But I’ll likely be out of commission for at least a few days,” he wrote. “Extremely frustrating that there are things I could be writing about, photographing or filming and instead I’ll be sitting on my couch.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"c258y\">Journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, center in red, was detained alongside other members of the press while documenting immigration protests in Los Angeles on Aug. 8, 2025. Officers also pushed and struck him in the ribs with a baton that evening.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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],
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"categories": [
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"Assault"
],
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"Sean Beckner-Carmitchel (Freelance)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist struck with baton, press credential damaged at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-with-baton-press-credential-damaged-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-13T16:29:05.478101Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-28T17:45:37.456528Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-28T17:45:37.351185Z",
"date": "2025-08-08",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ey72h\">Independent photojournalist Nick Stern was pushed by police and then, after retrieving his damaged press credentials, struck in the face with a baton in Los Angeles, California, while covering anti-deportation protests on Aug. 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7qo4\">Protests in LA began in early June in response to federal raids of workplaces and areas in and around the city where immigrant day laborers gather, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. <a href=\"https://laist.com/brief/news/federal-agents-westlake-home-depot-penske-moving-van\">Raids</a> at <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-08-08/federal-agents-target-day-laborers-in-raids-at-van-nuys-home-depot\">Home Depots</a> in early August took place seemingly in defiance of a <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70594806/87/pedro-vasquez-perdomo-v-kristi-noem/\">July 11 court order</a> temporarily prohibiting federal agents from using discriminatory profiling.</p><p data-block-key=\"2tv46\">On Aug. 8, two days after an immigration raid in the parking lot of a Home Depot in LA’s Westlake neighborhood, protesters gathered at the store and marched to the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown. The demonstrators and the journalists covering them encountered a violent response from Los Angeles Police Department officers, violating <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70553115/44/los-angeles-press-club-v-city-of-los-angeles/\">a court order</a> protecting the press from arrest, assault or other interference.</p><p data-block-key=\"9vohr\">Stern told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that it was the first demonstration he had gone to cover since his leg was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/munition-strikes-photojournalist-at-la-protest-shrapnel-surgically-removed/\">severely injured</a> while documenting a protest in Compton on June 7, and he planned to be very cautious.</p><p data-block-key=\"a60ai\">“It’s been incredibly frustrating for me watching this go down and not being able to get there and document it,” he said. “My plan was to go and, if it looked like things were getting sideways or if an unlawful assembly order was called, to either leave the area or get to an area which I considered very safe.</p><p data-block-key=\"d1rt6\">“I wasn’t given that option,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"8qb8t\">After the crowd began its march toward downtown, Stern said he instead drove the two miles, as he is still recovering from an emergency surgery and is incapable of walking the distance.</p><p data-block-key=\"3h28e\">Three police vehicles arrived, and LAPD officers exited with batons and crowd-control weapons drawn.</p><p data-block-key=\"4na8q\">“Within a matter of minutes, dozens of police started to form skirmish lines,” he said. “There was no unlawful assembly or dispersal order called. They just started laying into people.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ff474\">Stern told the Tracker he attempted to move away from the line and was pushed from behind by police, then fell into a group of people and onto the ground. When he got up, he realized that the cord holding his press credential around his neck had broken and his press pass was on the ground behind the advancing officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"6gkgs\">“I went back to retrieve it, and said, ‘I’m press, I need to get my badge. It’s down there on the ground.’ The first cop just pushed me aside,” Stern said. After telling another officer the same, a third picked it up and passed it to Stern.</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/Stern_assault_88_-_1.width-828.jpg\" width=\"633\" height=\"907\" alt=\"COURTESY NICK STERN\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"vqjgv\">Independent photojournalist Nick Stern’s Los Angeles Press Club credential, still caked with blood after an LAPD officer struck him in the face with a baton amid immigration protests in downtown LA on Aug. 8, 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 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=\"ey72h\">“I then showed the cop who was immediately in front of me my press ID again, at which point one of the cops then brought a baton across my face, causing a laceration to my chin,” he recounted.</p><p data-block-key=\"5rtq6\">Multiple journalists covering the protest told the Tracker that Stern appeared dazed from the strike. Soon afterward, he and three colleagues left together to find an open urgent care center, but were unsuccessful.</p><p data-block-key=\"4qfha\">Stern said that his wife — a nurse and wound care specialist — later examined his injury and said that while it should have received stitches, it had stopped bleeding and would heal with strong antibiotic cream.</p><p data-block-key=\"1r5vl\">The LAPD did not respond to an emailed request for additional comment. In a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDCentral/status/1954033509586309303\">statement</a> posted to the social platform X, the department’s Central Division wrote that an unlawful assembly was declared “due to the aggressive nature of a few demonstrators.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dtdua\">“The protest went into the late night hours with people refusing to disperse,” it <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDCentral/status/1954195124831097112\">continued</a>. “Central Division will continue to support 1st Amendment rights of all people. However, if violence or criminal activity occurs, laws will be enforced.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3of9t\">Stern disputed the department’s characterization of the protest. “It was peaceful: There were people with drums, people chanting, people with banners. I saw no acts of violence, no acts of criminal damage or vandalism or conflict or anything,” Stern told the Tracker. “We just met this line of brutality.</p><p data-block-key=\"a2ft4\">“In 2020, with the George Floyd, Black Lives Matter protests, LAPD and law enforcement were universally condemned about their brutality, their tactics, their lack of planning, their lack of strategy and the way they were brutalizing people. And since then, they’ve gotten worse.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fa14h\">The Los Angeles Press Club filed a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.974511/gov.uscourts.cacd.974511.63.1_3.pdf\">motion</a> Aug. 13 to hold the city of Los Angeles in contempt for violating the temporary restraining order in place to protect journalists while they’re covering protests, citing the Aug. 8 <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2025-08-08&date_upper=2025-08-08&city=Los+Angeles&categories=Assault\">assaults</a> of Stern and others, as well as the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2025-08-08&date_upper=2025-08-08&city=Los+Angeles&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">detention</a> of multiple members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"6gjne\">“Defendants’ actions evince a blatant disregard for the First Amendment and an unwillingness or an inability or both on the part of the City to take steps necessary to ensure compliance with this Court’s Injunction,” the motion read. “What will it take to get the LAPD to respect the constitutional rights of journalists?”</p><p data-block-key=\"ba5ui\"><i>Editor's Note: This article was updated Aug. 14, 2025, to include details of the contempt motion filed by the LA Press Club and Status Coup.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qoprl\">A Los Angeles police officer uses a baton to strike photojournalist Nick Stern, bottom left, as Stern holds up his press credentials amid immigration protests on Aug. 8, 2025. Stern was pushed and struck in the face, and his credentials were damaged.</p>",
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"Equipment Damage"
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}
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