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{
"title": "FBI Director Kash Patel targets press",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fbi-director-kash-patel-targets-press/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-20T19:46:25.941424Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-20T19:46:25.941424Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-20T19:33:50.611447Z",
"date": "2026-04-20",
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"city": "Washington",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j0t80\">As President Donald Trump’s second term continued in 2026, his FBI director, Kash Patel, took steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered Trump and his administration critically. We’re documenting Patel’s efforts in 2026 in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"e52s8\">Also read about <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kash-patel-targets-press-leakers-as-fbi-director/\">Patel’s efforts in 2025</a>, and how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\"> to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage</a> and more.</p><p data-block-key=\"fekh9\"><i>This article was first published on April 20, 2026.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"b94kq\"></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=\"#April 20\">April 20, 2026 | Patel sues The Atlantic for defamation</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j0t80\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"fu1kb\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"April 20\" name=\"April 20\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j0t80\"><b>April 20, 2026 | Patel sues The Atlantic for defamation</b></p><p data-block-key=\"epb33\">Attorneys for FBI Director Kash Patel sued The Atlantic and its reporter, Sarah Fitzpatrick, on April 20, 2026, accusing them of defaming him in an article about Patel’s alleged erratic behavior and poor job performance.</p><p data-block-key=\"dm0qg\">Fitzpatrick’s <a href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/04/kash-patel-fbi-director-drinking-absences/686839/\">article</a>, published April 17, reported that Patel’s conduct on the job has included “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences,” and that more than two dozen sources, including current and former FBI officials, “described Patel’s tenure as a management failure and his personal behavior as a national-security vulnerability.”</p><p data-block-key=\"75ll2\">Patel’s lack of availability has exacerbated bureaucratic delays at the FBI, Fitzpatrick reported, and his alleged excessive drinking may have led to his sharing inaccurate information about active law enforcement investigations.</p><p data-block-key=\"n8v5\">Fitzpatrick quoted a statement from the FBI, attributed to Patel, responding to her list of questions: “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court—bring your checkbook.”</p><p data-block-key=\"30ekd\">The day the article was published, Patel’s attorney Jesse Binnall <a href=\"https://x.com/jbinnall/status/2045287437325254768/photo/1\">posted</a> a letter on social platform X that he said he had sent to The Atlantic and Fitzpatrick, alleging that Fitzpatrick’s questions had contained false claims and threatening legal action if those claims were published.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0j4l\">Three days later, Patel’s attorneys filed their <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73213220/1/patel-v-the-atlantic-monthly-group-llc/\">complaint</a> in federal court for defamation, claiming that the article’s allegations were “designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office,” and that the article’s publication was done with “actual malice,” and demanded $250 million in damages.</p><p data-block-key=\"oghf\">“The statements,” the complaint argued, “falsely assert that the Director of the FBI—the nation’s chief federal law-enforcement officer—is a habitual drunk, unable to perform the duties of his office, is a threat to public safety, is vulnerable to foreign coercion, has violated DOJ ethics rules, is unreachable in emergencies, has required the deployment of ‘breaching equipment’ to extract him from locked rooms, allows alcohol to influence his public statements about criminal investigations, and behaves erratically in a manner that compromises national security.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c97un\">The Atlantic <a href=\"https://x.com/TheAtlanticPR/status/2046239419422675189\">responded</a> to the suit on X, writing: “We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend <i>The Atlantic</i> and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.”</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/FBI_Director_Kash_Patel_testifies.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"y8qlo\">FBI Director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington, D.C., on March 18, 2026.</p>",
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"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
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"targeted_institutions": [
"The Atlantic"
],
"tags": [
"Department of Justice",
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sarah Fitzpatrick (The Atlantic)"
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{
"title": "Photographer pushed, jabbed by police baton at LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-pushed-jabbed-by-police-baton-at-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-15T19:26:02.851677Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-15T19:26:02.851677Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-15T19:26:02.672098Z",
"date": "2026-04-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"x420s\">Independent photographer Enrique Dominguez was shoved by officers and poked with a police baton while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"34lnt\">The protest, which included <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-04-11/anti-ice-sex-toy-protest-outside-la-detention-center-leads-to-arrests\">a few dozen</a> participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"fss94\">Dominguez, who was not wearing a press badge but has since received one from the National Press Photographers Association, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was taking pictures of the protest and is working on a documentary film.</p><p data-block-key=\"31i1r\">While on the scene, the LA Police Department started forcing members of the press backward, away from the detention center. Dominguez said he tried to take a picture of a woman being arrested at a certain angle, but he was diverted after an officer pushed him, followed by several others.</p><p data-block-key=\"cc4le\">“They pushed us more aggressively when we started taking pictures of them arresting everybody,” Dominguez said. “The police started jabbing me with their batons and started pushing me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6l7lp\">At one point, an officer pointed at him and told him that he would be detained next. Dominguez said he just walked away.</p><p data-block-key=\"7obk8\">California <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-pen/part-1/title-11/section-409-5/\">law</a> allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police, including use of force. A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\">federal preliminary injunction</a> against the city is in place to uphold those protections.</p><p data-block-key=\"dpptk\">In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d4q94\">The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fc7ij\">LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">said in a statement</a> after a March 28 “No Kings” rally weeks earlier — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">at least a dozen</a> press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"dn9fa\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2026-04-14_at_12.36.36.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7k78o\">Police push press back at an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. Independent photographer Enrique Dominguez was shoved by officers and poked with a police baton while documenting the demonstration.</p>",
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"immigration",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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{
"title": "Journalist shoved by LAPD, threatened with arrest at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-by-lapd-threatened-with-arrest-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-14T19:06:30.525585Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-15T17:10:44.755447Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-15T17:10:44.625337Z",
"date": "2026-04-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4e6pl\">Independent journalist Mel Buer was pushed by police and warned she would be detained while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"dtqas\">The protest, which included <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-04-11/anti-ice-sex-toy-protest-outside-la-detention-center-leads-to-arrests\">a few dozen</a> participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"5f8n3\">Buer told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was filming outside the detention center when the LA Police Department started making arrests. Officers pushed about a half-dozen reporters down the street, away from the police action.</p><p data-block-key=\"d7eon\">“I was shoved pretty hard by an officer,” said Buer, who recalled her ribs hurting for about two hours after. “My colleagues say I took a baton to the ribs, but I don’t remember feeling it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c3tt\">In a video Buer <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/melbuer.bsky.social/post/3mjauuoftec2a\">posted on Bluesky</a>, police moved in to arrest a protester. Other officers then positioned themselves in front of members of the media and aggressively advanced on them, using their batons and yelling for them to back up. One journalist was kicked.</p><p data-block-key=\"27i1s\">“You have been advised to leave, all the members of press. You are subject to arrest — all of you. Now,” an officer told them, adding, “You cannot get in the way of arrests.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1ku7t\">“We’re not,” one journalist said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6aj1v\">“You’re coming over here when we’re making arrests,” the officer replied.</p><p data-block-key=\"an4e1\">California <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-pen/part-1/title-11/section-409-5/\">law</a> allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police while doing so. A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\">federal preliminary injunction</a> against the city is in place to uphold those protections.</p><p data-block-key=\"8o3iu\">While the statute states press may access closed areas during emergencies, it does not extend that access to designated crime scenes or secured perimeters established by law enforcement. In <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/melbuer.bsky.social/post/3mjav33gqlc2a\">one video,</a> an officer using a megaphone told the media they were subject to arrest, and the area had been declared an emergency operation.</p><p data-block-key=\"9g8qa\">Police make the designated area broad — across a block or more — to prevent press from crossing the line during a dispersal, Buer said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6i7e5\">Buer, who two weeks earlier had been <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-kettled-prevented-from-leaving-la-protest/\">caught in a police kettle</a> and threatened with arrest, told the Tracker that her main frustration is the confusing and often contradictory directives provided to the press at protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"9gafh\">“There’s no main point of contact telling us where to go. Everyone’s giving different directions, and when we don’t move out of the way fast enough, they use their batons and shove us,” Buer said. “I should not be shoved by an officer in such a way when I’m attempting to film what is happening.”</p><p data-block-key=\"buto4\">In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9atbt\">The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6msto\">LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">said in a statement</a> after a March 28 “No Kings” rally weeks earlier — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">at least 11</a> press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"fmjrd\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4jnld\"><i>Update: This story was revised to include comment from an LAPD spokesperson.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"yhwl8\">Police respond to a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. Journalist Mel Buer was pushed by an officer while documenting the demonstration.</p>",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist kicked in chest by police at LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-kicked-in-chest-by-police-at-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-16T16:27:29.045336Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-16T16:27:29.045336Z",
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"date": "2026-04-11",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yjnfx\">Independent photojournalist Nick Stern was kicked in the chest by a police officer while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"6mg7d\">The protest, which included <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-04-11/anti-ice-sex-toy-protest-outside-la-detention-center-leads-to-arrests\">a few dozen</a> participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"3sutk\">Stern told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that once the LA Police Department called a dispersal order, they directed journalists at first to leave the area. They then told the press to go onto the other side of the street on the sidewalk to photograph.</p><p data-block-key=\"arogm\">“We were then charged by some of the same officers,” he said. “Contrary to what they told us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8d82a\">Stern, who was identified as press on his T-shirt and was wearing a press badge around his neck, said a majority of the people remaining were media. At one point, a group of officers ran up to arrest a woman and as they did so, a number of journalists moved forward to document it. Police pushed them with batons.</p><p data-block-key=\"b07em\">“We then as a group were shuffling back,” Stern said.</p><p data-block-key=\"a49t7\">Still trying to get a shot, Stern held his camera up high, over the officers’ heads.</p><p data-block-key=\"2hbea\">“As they were pushing us, one officer then kicked me in the chest with his right leg.”</p><p data-block-key=\"593vv\">Stern said that officer was then pulled back by a senior officer, seemingly reprimanded for his action, which was <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXE1sg0AZfM/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">captured on a video</a> the journalist posted to one of his social media accounts.</p><p data-block-key=\"378uh\">“Everytime we go and argue our rights as journalists, they’re nodding their heads, and we go back out on the streets, and it’s all forgotten,” Stern told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"cjh8p\">California <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-pen/part-1/title-11/section-409-5/\">law</a> allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police, including use of force. A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\">federal preliminary injunction</a> against the city is in place to uphold those protections.</p><p data-block-key=\"7s440\">In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1tl0c\">The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5e45b\">LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">said in a statement</a> after a March 28 “No Kings” rally weeks earlier — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">at least a dozen</a> press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ocl6\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"jd91l\">Police push press back at an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. Photojournalist Nick Stern was kicked by an officer while documenting the demonstration.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"name": "California",
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{
"title": "Reporter pushed by police while covering LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pushed-by-police-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-15T20:08:05.946686Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-15T20:08:05.946686Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-15T19:42:33.964655Z",
"date": "2026-04-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rnr5e\">Status Coup reporter Tina-Desiree Berg was pushed back by police and later shoved by an officer while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"8urd7\">The protest, which included <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-04-11/anti-ice-sex-toy-protest-outside-la-detention-center-leads-to-arrests\">a few dozen</a> participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"7bkll\">Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that an LA Police Department captain directed members of the media to document from the sidewalk, which they did.</p><p data-block-key=\"3572i\">“I had my back to the police line, and the next thing I know, we were just being bombarded,” she said. “A group of cops just all ran forward into us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5jsma\">Berg, who was clearly identified as press, said she confronted officers for assaulting the media after they had complied with orders to document from the sidewalk. As she was talking to one media relations lieutenant, he told her, “That’s it, I’m done,” before shoving her through the police line.</p><p data-block-key=\"d06p4\">“I’ve never had a media relations person behave like that,” Berg told the Tracker. “It’s just so offensive.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3mqlq\">In a <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/acatwithnews.bsky.social/post/3mjawia32ak2c\">video</a> posted by journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-pushed-struck-with-police-baton-at-la-immigration-protest/\">Sean Beckner-Carmitchel</a> on Bluesky, officers positioned themselves in front of the media and aggressively advanced on them, using their batons and yelling for them to back up and leave the area. One journalist was kicked.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ne2o\">“You have been advised to leave, all the members of press. You are subject to arrest — all of you. Now,” an officer told them, adding, “You cannot get in the way of arrests.”</p><p data-block-key=\"em8rm\">“We’re not,” one journalist said.</p><p data-block-key=\"b6ljr\">“You’re coming over here when we’re making arrests,” the officer replied.</p><p data-block-key=\"ell92\">California <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-pen/part-1/title-11/section-409-5/\">law</a> allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police while doing so. A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\">federal preliminary injunction</a> against the city is in place to uphold those protections.</p><p data-block-key=\"7rcmc\">While the statute states press may access closed areas during emergencies, it does not extend that access to designated crime scenes or secured perimeters established by law enforcement. In <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/melbuer.bsky.social/post/3mjav33gqlc2a\">another video</a>, posted by journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-by-lapd-threatened-with-arrest-at-la-protest/\">Mel Buer</a>, an officer invoked that portion of the law, telling the media the area had been declared an emergency operation and they were subject to arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"84pbt\">“Here’s the thing that upsets me: It’s never consistent,” Berg said. “Sometimes you have situations on the same day where police handle things appropriately, know what the law says, and then you’ll have the opposite happen in the course of the same protest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"81lho\">In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.”</p><p data-block-key=\"43cpn\">The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ff7d9\">LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">said in a statement</a> after a March 28 “No Kings” rally weeks earlier — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">at least a dozen</a> press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"1o9rg\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Journalist_Tina-Desiree_Berg_cent.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"k1llr\">Journalist Tina-Desiree Berg, center, and other members of the press are pushed back by police while covering an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. She was later shoved across a police line by an officer.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest"
],
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"Assault"
],
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{
"title": "Journalist pushed, struck with police baton at LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-pushed-struck-with-police-baton-at-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-14T21:04:32.849098Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-15T17:13:44.600693Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-15T17:13:44.170932Z",
"date": "2026-04-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xufn7\">Independent journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was shoved by police and battered with a baton while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"9st5a\">The protest, which included <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-04-11/anti-ice-sex-toy-protest-outside-la-detention-center-leads-to-arrests\">a few dozen</a> participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"8mtp4\">Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was covering the protest outside the detention center when an LA Police Department helicopter called for the crowd below to disperse. Shortly after, officers arrived at the scene and began pushing protesters and members of the press down the street, away from the detention center.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ds2f\">Beckner-Carmitchel was shoved at least three times in the back, shoulders and chest, and hit with a police baton at least twice in the arm. One officer aimed his projectile launcher at him.</p><p data-block-key=\"kkrk\">“So many of my shots were out of focus because you need a half a second to focus,” he said. “And if you’re constantly being shoved, that’s extremely difficult.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2jhh5\">In a video Beckner-Carmitchel <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/acatwithnews.bsky.social/post/3mjawia32ak2c\">posted to Bluesky</a>, officers positioned themselves in front of the media and aggressively advanced on them, using their batons and yelling for them to back up and leave the area. One journalist was kicked.</p><p data-block-key=\"8q1ru\">“You have been advised to leave, all the members of press. You are subject to arrest — all of you. Now,” an officer told them, adding, “You cannot get in the way of arrests.”</p><p data-block-key=\"595mg\">“We’re not,” one journalist said.</p><p data-block-key=\"p68i\">“You’re coming over here when we’re making arrests,” the officer replied.</p><p data-block-key=\"2lsav\">California <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-pen/part-1/title-11/section-409-5/\">law</a> allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police while doing so. A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\">federal preliminary injunction</a> against the city is in place to uphold those protections.</p><p data-block-key=\"elgrt\">While the statute states press may access closed areas during emergencies, it does not extend that access to designated crime scenes or secured perimeters established by law enforcement.</p><p data-block-key=\"5huf6\">In <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/melbuer.bsky.social/post/3mjav33gqlc2a\">one video</a> posted by journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-by-lapd-threatened-with-arrest-at-la-protest/\">Mel Buer</a>, an officer using a megaphone told the media they were subject to arrest, and the area had been declared an emergency operation.</p><p data-block-key=\"8orr9\">“You can’t just declare an entire street your base of operations,” Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker. “They’re making it so they don’t have to accommodate journalists.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ag7go\">Beckner-Carmitchel, who <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-caught-in-police-kettle-threatened-with-arrest-at-la-protest/\">two weeks earlier</a> had been caught in a police kettle and threatened with arrest, said officers were pushing and using their batons against members of the media who were on the sidewalk, where police had directed them.</p><p data-block-key=\"5n8n8\">“We have a job to do,” Beckner-Carmitchel said. “If you don’t want us to interfere, then don’t shove us in the place where you put us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c7le8\">In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ak3jv\">The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2sf0l\">LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">said in a statement</a> after a March 28 “No Kings” rally weeks earlier — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">at least 11</a> press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"39muj\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.</p><p data-block-key=\"b1sr3\"><i>Update: This story was revised to include comment from an LAPD spokesperson.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2026-04-14_at_12.36.11.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"2pyrp\">An officer tells press they need to leave or be subject to arrest at an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. Journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was pushed by police and hit with batons while covering the demonstration.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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],
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],
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},
{
"title": "Army veteran charged under Espionage Act for sharing classified details",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/army-veteran-charged-under-espionage-act-for-sharing-classified-details/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-20T14:47:07.346573Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-20T14:47:07.346573Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-20T14:46:56.830505Z",
"date": "2026-04-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Raleigh",
"longitude": -78.63861,
"latitude": 35.7721,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0jycw\">Courtney Williams, a retired Army employee with the elite Delta Force, was indicted on April 8, 2026, by a federal grand jury in Raleigh, North Carolina, for allegedly sharing classified information with a journalist, in violation of the Espionage Act.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ko3k\">The journalist went on to write a book and article alleging sexual harassment and discrimination in the secretive unit, according to news reports and <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73161477/united-states-v-williams/\">court documents</a> reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Although the reporter’s name and the specific military unit are not named in the court filings, the dates and other details coincide with the work of investigative journalist Seth Harp about Delta Force.</p><p data-block-key=\"5anh0\">Williams was <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-army-employee-and-top-secret-clearance-holder-arrested-and-charged-leaking-classified\">arrested</a> April 7 and <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/fort-bragg-classified-leak-courtney-williams-release-2fef4cd6c955549e24908934eed08fe3\">appeared</a> in federal court in Raleigh on April 13 to face four counts of felony communicating and disclosing national defense information, under <a href=\"https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/reports-research/FOLDER_052/41708279074759.pdf\">Section 793(d)</a> of the Espionage Act. Each count carries a prison term of up to 10 years, along with monetary fines.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ci4a\">U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Meyers ordered Williams to remain under house arrest with a monitoring device at her home in Wagram, North Carolina, awaiting trial.</p><p data-block-key=\"lqkp\">According to the <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nced.226824/gov.uscourts.nced.226824.1.0_1.pdf\">criminal complaint</a>, Williams was hired as a defense contractor in 2010 and became an employee of the Department of Defense months later. She then held top-secret security clearance while working for a special military unit at Fort Bragg until 2016.</p><p data-block-key=\"947j\">The complaint alleges that Williams shared tactics, member names and other classified information related to the Army unit with a journalist. Williams spent more than 10 hours on phone calls and exchanged more than 180 text messages with the journalist between 2022 and 2025, the complaint states.</p><p data-block-key=\"3mije\">“The tradecraft, tactics, and techniques used by the U.S. military unit in this case are classified and should be shared only with those with proper clearances and a need to know in order to protect American lives and safeguard classified National Defense information,” Reid Davis, the FBI special agent in charge in North Carolina, said <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-army-employee-and-top-secret-clearance-holder-arrested-and-charged-leaking-classified\">in a statement</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"bo4li\">Harp’s 2025 book, “The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces,” included Williams’ claims of mistreatment while working for Delta Force at Fort Bragg. Ahead of the book release, Harp also highlighted Williams’ story in a <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/08/12/fort-bragg-delta-force-women-military-hegseth-00495824\">Politico</a> article, “‘My Life Became a Living Hell’: One Woman’s Career in Delta Force, the Army’s Most Elite Unit.”</p><p data-block-key=\"irrk\">Williams eventually filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, reaching a settlement and retiring from the Army in 2018, according to Harp’s Politico article.</p><p data-block-key=\"5k8ql\">In an April 8 <a href=\"https://x.com/sethharpesq/status/2042026904409031136\">post on the social platform X</a>, Harp hailed Williams as a “courageous whistleblower” who “exposed rampant gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the US Army’s Delta Force.”</p><p data-block-key=\"708of\">“Unlike many of my sources, she was adamant that she be quoted by name and made no attempt to conceal her identity because her actions were entirely above-board, legitimate, and admirable,” he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"9uufk\">Harp himself was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-anna-paulina-luna-targets-press-while-on-house-oversight-committee/\">threatened</a> with a subpoena in January by a member of Congress for his reporting on the U.S. military operation in Venezuela.</p><p data-block-key=\"7fgsa\">“This is very clearly a retaliatory, anti-transparency prosecution and nothing more,” Seth Stern, chief of advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation — of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project — <a href=\"https://freedom.press/issues/fpf-statement-on-charges-against-source-who-spoke-to-journalist-seth-harp/\">said</a> of Williams’ case. “The notion that an administration that casually posts genocide threats during its illegal wars is worried about national security risks from whistleblowers who expose sexual harassment is absurd.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/A_portion_of_a_criminal_complaint.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"y3rx3\">A portion of a criminal complaint filed on April 3, 2026, in federal court in Raleigh, North Carolina, charging Army veteran Courtney Williams with leaking classified material to a journalist. Williams was arrested April 7 and indicted the next day.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": true,
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"state": {
"name": "North Carolina",
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"Seth Harp (Independent)"
],
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"tags": [
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"Espionage Act"
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"Leak Case"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist caught in police kettle, threatened with arrest at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-caught-in-police-kettle-threatened-with-arrest-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-10T18:34:43.534211Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-10T18:34:43.534211Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-10T18:34:43.432530Z",
"date": "2026-03-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mf6wx\">Independent journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was caught up in a police kettle and threatened with arrest, after having been hit with a crowd-control munition, while covering a protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"1q8ks\">LA’s “No Kings” protest was one of some 3,300 <a href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/no-kings-protests-recap-more-than-8-million-turned-out-across-all-50-states-organizers-say-135920433.html\">demonstrations</a> against Trump administration policies that took place that day across the U.S., drawing more than 8 million people nationwide, organizers said.</p><p data-block-key=\"c4b95\">After the main protest march, people gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">in June 2025</a>. The LA Police Department said 75 people were <a href=\"https://ktla.com/news/local-news/75-arrested-during-downtown-los-angeles-no-kings-protest/\">arrested</a> after officers issued a dispersal order and declared an unlawful assembly.</p><p data-block-key=\"3cssv\">Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that when he arrived at the detention center to cover the protest, he saw people kicking the fence and federal agents deploying chemical irritants on the crowd. He said he was affected slightly by the gas before he put his mask on.</p><p data-block-key=\"65pm7\">He posted a <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/acatwithnews.bsky.social/post/3mi5wafuxs22t\">video</a> on Bluesky showing a federal agent tossing a canister toward members of the press outside the center’s gate.</p><p data-block-key=\"2tp88\">The journalist also said he was hit in the leg by a tear gas canister but did not believe it was intentional.</p><p data-block-key=\"5qoni\">“If I’m getting the gnarly shot, and I’m hit by a nondirectional, less-lethal, it is what it is, right? Obviously, I’d rather not. But let me put it this way: I would love to get to a point where that’s what I’m complaining about,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"624ld\">Beckner-Carmitchel said that eventually, the LAPD arrived at the scene, pushed protesters back and sealed off both ends of the street, forming a kettle — a tactic used to surround and control a crowd. They told everyone there they were under arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"5d57m\">Soon after, the police began asking if there were members of the media present, and for those who identified as press to show credentials. Beckner-Carmitchel, who was carrying a pass issued by the LA Press Club, as well as his professional Sony camera, said he raised his hand, but asked if he could stay to document.</p><p data-block-key=\"apc90\">“They kept telling me, ‘You have to leave, or you’ll get arrested.’ And I kept telling them, ‘Hey, look, I’m just trying to get a few shots. I’m off to the side. I’ll leave when it makes sense to leave.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"dn48b\">He added that his movement was restricted, “and that ultimately counts as preventing me from doing my job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9qotb\">“Eventually we were able to negotiate a spot that made sense for media to be that wasn’t in the kettle itself,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5v56l\">Beckner-Carmitchel was one of <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28&tags=kettle\">several journalists</a> detained in the kettle that day; some who showed media credentials were allowed to leave, while others who did not have formal credentials were held for longer.</p><p data-block-key=\"dvddm\">He noted, “My biggest concern was them appearing to be determining who is and is not press, against department policy.”</p><p data-block-key=\"727jd\">A September <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/LAPC-v.-City-of-LA-Order-Granting-PI-9-11-2025.pdf\">preliminary injunction</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\">barred</a> LAPD officers from interfering with journalists covering protests, including by arresting, detaining or citing them solely for failing to disperse, or by identifying media members solely based on whether they have a credential.</p><p data-block-key=\"4mn5l\">In a written <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement shared April 2</a>, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that police were responding to acts of violence and vandalism and eventually issued a dispersal order. Anyone identifying as a “duly authorized” member of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those facing arrest for failure to disperse, according to the statement.</p><p data-block-key=\"ep9r8\">McDonnell added that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment, including those involving media members, would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"7l52a\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"a6ppm\">Journalists dodge a tear gas canister set off by federal agents at a demonstration in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026. Later that day, independent journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was kettled by police and threatened with arrest.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
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{
"title": "Journalist manhandled, his reporting obstructed, by police at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-manhandled-his-reporting-obstructed-by-police-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-01T17:15:44.397209Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-07T20:36:41.814599Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"l10i2\">Connor Sheets, an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times, was forcibly removed by a police officer from the scene of a protest he was covering in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"dad3i\">The demonstration followed a “No Kings” protest held earlier in the day in LA, <a href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/no-kings-protests-recap-more-than-8-million-turned-out-across-all-50-states-organizers-say-135920433.html\">one of thousands</a> across the U.S. that organizers said drew more than 8 million people against Trump administration policies.</p><p data-block-key=\"4a7ff\">After the main march, people gathered outside downtown LA’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">in June 2025</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ekqkb\">Sheets told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he arrived at the detention center as the LA Police Department began <a href=\"https://ktla.com/news/local-news/75-arrested-during-downtown-los-angeles-no-kings-protest/\">making arrests</a>. Officers pushed both protesters and journalists out of the area, blocking off a long stretch of street and preventing them from approaching or observing the arrests as they unfolded.</p><p data-block-key=\"5n4nk\">“There was an arrest operation going on for literally hours, and we could only see what they were allowing us to see, which was certain views and from a significant distance,” Sheets said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ab6u\">In a video Sheets posted to the social platform X, an officer said they were blocking off the area because, “We’re going to do some mass arrests right now, that’s why. Our main thing is your safety.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">LAPD escorted me by the literal collar out of the area in front of MDC where one officer told me they are about to conduct “mass arrests.” This is minutes later. About 15 journalists on this side alone are being blocked from accessing the area. <a href=\"https://t.co/Rn9R6GYfzK\">pic.twitter.com/Rn9R6GYfzK</a></p>— Connor Sheets (@ConnorASheets) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ConnorASheets/status/2038064381129531829?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 29, 2026</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=\"hmsga\">Sheets, wearing two press badges and clearly identifiable as media, asked to speak with a police supervisor. A public information officer later escorted him and a group of other journalists, but told them they could not stop to film.</p><p data-block-key=\"3engo\">Later, while hanging back to take pictures of the arrests, another officer approached Sheets and told him he could not remain in the area.</p><p data-block-key=\"evl06\">“He grabbed me by my collar from the back and roughly escorted me away,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"d91oo\">Sheets added that he was physically — but not painfully — pushed forward to a designated press area, where journalists were trying to assert their rights under California state law to cover protests and be exempted from dispersal orders without threat of arrest or interference by police. A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\">federal preliminary injunction</a> is in place against the city to uphold those protections.</p><p data-block-key=\"6c7ai\">In <a href=\"https://x.com/ConnorASheets/status/2038065047801573766?s=20\">a video Sheets posted</a> to X, a police sergeant tells the reporters, “I’m not going to let you walk and film between officers working; the injunction does not require that or allow that.”</p><p data-block-key=\"krsh\">In a written <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement shared April 2</a>, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that police were responding to acts of violence and vandalism and eventually issued a dispersal order. Anyone identifying as a “duly authorized” member of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those facing arrest for failure to disperse, according to the statement. McDonnell added that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment, including those involving media members, would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"28g4s\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.</p><p data-block-key=\"csh82\"><i>Update: This story was revised to include a comment from the LAPD’s police chief.</i></p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"612wx\">Police prevent a group of journalists from filming near where officers were making arrests at a protest in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026. That day, officers forcibly removed reporter Connor Sheets to a distant designated press area.</p>",
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{
"title": "Journalist kettled, prevented from leaving LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-kettled-prevented-from-leaving-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-08T18:13:01.132660Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-08T20:59:16.568177Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-08T20:59:16.427130Z",
"date": "2026-03-28",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i320i\">Journalist Mel Buer was caught in a kettle with journalists and threatened with arrest while documenting a protest in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026. </p><p data-block-key=\"a3v8b\">The protest followed a “No Kings” demonstration held earlier in the day in LA, <a href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/no-kings-protests-recap-more-than-8-million-turned-out-across-all-50-states-organizers-say-135920433.html\">one of thousands</a> across the U.S. that organizers said drew more than 8 million people against Trump administration policies.</p><p data-block-key=\"bs0lv\">After the main march, people gathered outside downtown LA’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">in June 2025</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dgvs5\">Buer told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was reporting at the federal detention center when Department of Homeland Security officers indiscriminately fired into the crowd with chemical irritants, which seeped behind her goggles.</p><p data-block-key=\"f65hh\">“I was kind of blind for a bit there and unable to see,” Buer recalled. Later that night, she noticed pepper ball residue on her shoes but did not recall feeling any impact from a projectile.</p><p data-block-key=\"8fag3\">Later, the LA Police Department called for a dispersal order and began making arrests. Officers formed a kettle, a tactic used to surround and control a crowd, and instructed credentialed press to leave the kettle and continue documenting from the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"7t3k9\">“They absolutely prevented us from doing our jobs,” Buer said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8pms4\">Buer and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28&tags=kettle\">other journalists</a> stayed in the kettle to document the arrests, asserting their rights under California law, which allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police while doing so. A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\">federal preliminary injunction</a> against the city is in place to uphold those protections.</p><p data-block-key=\"82g12\">“I would call the entire situation just confusing,” Buer said. “It seemed like not a single officer knew what the law said, what the protocol was, or how to handle the situation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f6k7c\">In <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/shoton35mm.bsky.social/post/3midf7g74ac2y\">a video</a> that reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray, who was also in the kettle, posted to the social platform Bluesky, an officer points at him and tells him to leave the area.</p><p data-block-key=\"94nl6\">“We’re giving you an opportunity for legitimate media to leave, because we’re going to make arrests,” the officer said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1nfjt\">Ray replied, “But you’re not going to arrest media, are you?”</p><p data-block-key=\"3b1n4\">“Yes, we are. We gave you a dispersal order. We asked you to leave.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1tcfp\">The journalists were held in the kettle for at least 30 minutes, said Buer, who was eventually allowed to leave after police negotiated the exit of media with Adam Rose, press rights chair of the LA Press Club. Rose is also deputy director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project.</p><p data-block-key=\"6u0kq\">“I had a credential; they were checking credentials to let people leave, which again is illegal,” Buer told the Tracker. “You’re not required to have a press pass in order to be a member of the media in California.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d886c\">In a written <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement shared April 2</a>, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that police were responding to acts of violence and vandalism and eventually issued a dispersal order. Anyone identifying as a “duly authorized” member of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those arrested for failure to disperse, according to the statement. McDonnell added that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"59lsp\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7dphh\">While covering another LA immigration protest in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-shoved-detained-while-covering-la-protest/\">August 2025</a>, Buer was kettled, detained and zip-tied by officers.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"s94lo\">Police responding to a protest in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026. Journalist Mel Buer was kettled and prevented from leaving an area while documenting the demonstration.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
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{
"title": "Reporter pushed by police, threatened with arrest at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pushed-by-police-threatened-with-arrest-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-07T16:29:04.041935Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"w2sgh\">Lexis-Olivier Ray, a reporter with L.A. Taco, was pushed by police and threatened with arrest while documenting a protest in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"6sh3k\">The protest followed a “No Kings” demonstration held earlier in the day in LA, <a href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/no-kings-protests-recap-more-than-8-million-turned-out-across-all-50-states-organizers-say-135920433.html\">one of thousands</a> across the U.S. that organizers said drew more than 8 million people against Trump administration policies.</p><p data-block-key=\"avrf6\">After the main march, people gathered outside downtown LA’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">in June 2025</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"61nr6\">Ray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that shortly after he arrived, people at the protest began kicking and pushing at the gate at the detention center. Federal agents responded by firing pepper balls and tear gas into the crowd, though Ray said he was mostly shielded by his gas mask.</p><p data-block-key=\"6pt8a\">Later in the afternoon, the LA Police Department pushed the crowd away from the detention center and down the street. While walking backward and filming, an officer shoved Ray into a metal gate. At the time, he was among other journalists, clearly marked as press and wearing visible credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"dm3uo\">Police began making arrests and formed a kettle, a tactic used to surround and control a crowd. Officers instructed credentialed press to leave the kettle and continue documenting from the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"68v38\">“I wasn’t interested in doing that; I wanted to be able to document arrests from inside the kettle, where I could get a better view,” Ray told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"1u17e\">In <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/shoton35mm.bsky.social/post/3midf7g74ac2y\">a video Ray posted</a> to the social platform Bluesky, an officer points at him and tells him to leave the area.</p><p data-block-key=\"ckm87\">“We’re giving you an opportunity for legitimate media to leave, because we’re going to make arrests,” the officer said.</p><p data-block-key=\"djpic\">Ray replied, “But you’re not going to arrest media, are you?”</p><p data-block-key=\"c6muv\">“Yes, we are. We gave you a dispersal order. We asked you to leave.”</p><p data-block-key=\"chted\">The officer ignored Ray’s assertion of his rights as a journalist under California law, which allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police while doing so. A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\">federal preliminary injunction</a> against the city is also in place to uphold those protections.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1k7n\">“Either they don’t seem to be clear on the law, or they just ignored it,” Ray told the Tracker. “It didn’t feel like I could move around freely, that I could leave, and I was very clearly told that I was going to be arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fdc74\">Ray was in the kettle for about a half hour. He was eventually allowed to leave after police negotiated the exit of members of the press with Adam Rose, press rights chair of the LA Press Club. Rose is also deputy director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project.</p><p data-block-key=\"fv6rs\">In a written <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement shared April 2</a>, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that police were responding to acts of violence and vandalism and eventually issued a dispersal order. Anyone identifying as a “duly authorized” member of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those facing arrest for failure to disperse, according to the statement. McDonnell added that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment, including those involving media members, would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ua58\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said. </p><p data-block-key=\"6nphu\">Ray was similarly kettled and threatened with arrest at another protest in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pelted-with-projectiles-kettled-at-la-protest/\">January 2026.</a></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"0vue6\">Police kettle protesters and members of the media at a demonstration in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026. Reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray was pushed by an officer and threatened with arrest while covering the demonstration.</p>",
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},
{
"title": "Press obstructed, hit with chemical irritants at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/press-obstructed-hit-with-chemical-irritants-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-10T20:26:09.488688Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-15T15:42:40.817580Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-15T15:42:40.565549Z",
"date": "2026-03-28",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"l5znv\"><i>Multiple journalists covering a March 28, 2026, protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, were hit with tear gas and other chemical irritants, corralled by police and, in some cases, blocked from documenting arrests as they unfolded.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"ermeq\"><i>The protest followed a “No Kings” demonstration held earlier in the day in LA,</i> <a href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/no-kings-protests-recap-more-than-8-million-turned-out-across-all-50-states-organizers-say-135920433.html\"><i>one of thousands</i></a> <i>held nationwide against the Trump administration’s policies, drawing over 8 million people, organizers said.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"2k52e\"><i>In downtown LA, at least 75 people were</i> <a href=\"https://ktla.com/news/local-news/75-arrested-during-downtown-los-angeles-no-kings-protest/\"><i>arrested</i></a><i> near the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, according to the LA Police Department. The site has become a focal point for demonstrations since the start of sweeping immigration enforcement actions</i> <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\"><i>in June</i></a><i>.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"21bic\"><i>The obstructions described by reporters on the ground echo incidents documented during protests in</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/at-la-area-protests-in-june-press-denied-access-exposed-to-chemical-irritants-more/\"><i>June 2025</i></a><i> and</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporters-affected-by-chemical-irritants-coverage-impeded-at-la-protests/\"><i>January 2026</i></a><i>.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"bfrb0\"><i>Although these incidents do not meet the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s standards for official documentation of press freedom violations, they have been compiled below. This roundup will be updated as additional incidents are verified. And you can see our reporting on the March 28 violations in LA</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28&city=los+angeles&state=California\"><i>here</i></a><i>.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"5nr95\"><i>LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, in a</i> <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\"><i>written statement</i></a><i> shared April 2, said that police were responding to acts of violence and vandalism and eventually issued a dispersal order. Anyone identifying as a “duly authorized” member of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those facing arrest for failure to disperse, according to the statement. McDonnell added that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment, including those involving media members, would be investigated and addressed.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"f29vf\"><i>“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"acjv8\"><i>A September</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\"><i>preliminary injunction</i></a><i> barred LAPD officers from interfering with journalists covering protests, including by arresting, detaining or citing them solely for failing to disperse.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"bhma9\"><i>The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment about the cases of journalists who faced press violations on March 28.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"41l5p\"><i>To learn more about how the Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit our</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/frequently-asked-questions/\"><i>FAQ page.</i></a></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"8o8aq\"><b>Sean Beckner-Carmitchel</b>, an independent journalist, said in a <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/acatwithnews.bsky.social/post/3mi5wafuxs22t\">post on Bluesky</a> that a DHS officer “threw a chemical irritant container directly at a press gaggle” standing outside the detention center. He told the Tracker that he was affected briefly by the irritant before he could put on his gas mask. He was also hit in the leg with a nondirectional canister round, and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-caught-in-police-kettle-threatened-with-arrest-at-la-protest/\">caught up in a police kettle</a> and threatened with arrest that day.</li><li data-block-key=\"6kiim\">Status Coup reporter <b>Tina-Desiree Berg</b> told the Tracker that the chemical irritants deployed into the air by federal officers left a rash on her leg. “I had to throw my T-shirt out as well,” she said. “It was so soaked in chemical irritants I removed it while still there. Thank goodness I had double-layered that day. It was absolutely insane.”</li><li data-block-key=\"8i1th\"><b>Mel Buer</b>, an independent journalist, told the Tracker that she was inundated with tear gas after DHS officers threw canisters into the crowd of what appeared to be mostly press. “It just enveloped them; a lot of people couldn’t see, a lot of people were throwing up, a lot of people ran into the street, unable to breathe,” she said. “I was kind of blind for a bit.” Also that day, she discovered pepper ball residue on her shoe, and was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-kettled-prevented-from-leaving-la-protest/\">caught in a kettle with journalists and threatened with arrest</a>.</li><li data-block-key=\"5nmi\">Independent journalist <b>Henry Cherry</b> told the Tracker that he was impacted by tear gas fired by federal officers after the gas seeped through his mask. “I would have to get off the line for a second so I could breathe,” he said. “It’s so permeating, and this was a stronger batch of tear gas than I had ever come across before.” Cherry was also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-with-munitions-at-la-protest/\">struck with projectiles.</a></li><li data-block-key=\"9iiq7\">Independent photographer <b>Enrique Dominguez </b>told the Tracker he was affected by tear gas while documenting the protest. “It affected my lungs and my eyes; I couldn’t breathe properly for a couple minutes,” he said. “I was able to regain my breath after being carried out by street medics.” </li><li data-block-key=\"2pmaq\"><b>Ryanne Mena</b>, a reporter with the Los Angeles Daily News, told the Tracker that she was affected by tear gas fired by federal agents, which seeped behind her protective goggles. “My eyes were burning, and I was totally debilitated. It was really painful. That day, Mena was also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-shoved-lunged-at-by-police-at-la-protest/\">pushed by a police officer</a>.</li><li data-block-key=\"deoti\"><b>Mena</b> and Los Angeles Times reporter <b>Connor Sheets</b> told the Tracker they were among about a dozen journalists who were sequestered to a designated area while officers made arrests, and were not allowed to get close enough to document the process. Journalist <b>Kevin Foster</b> posted <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reels/DWmlbq5kuMB/\">a video on Instagram</a> saying he and other press were prevented from documenting the arrests. “There’s no way that we can effectively document what is happening there,” he said. “They want to do this mass arrest in secret.” Photojournalist <b>Jake Crandall</b> told Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project, that he was also part of the group being obstructed. <b>Berg</b> <a href=\"https://www.statuscoupsubstack.com/p/cops-attack-gas-no-kings-protesters\">reported for Status Coup</a> that an officer, with her hand stretched out to block reporters, shouted, “Press must stay!” In a video Sheets <a href=\"https://x.com/ConnorASheets/status/2038065047801573766\">posted</a> to the social platform X, an officer said they were blocking off the area because, “We’re going to do some mass arrests right now, that’s why. Our main thing is your safety.”</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here’s an LAPD sergeant explaining why they won’t let us closer to the arrests being made outside MDC. <a href=\"https://t.co/2eUwVbeLb8\">pic.twitter.com/2eUwVbeLb8</a></p>— Connor Sheets (@ConnorASheets) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ConnorASheets/status/2038065047801573766?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 29, 2026</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\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"l5znv\"><b>Jose Ossa</b>, a student filmmaker at California State University, Dominguez Hills, who was documenting the protest, told the Tracker that his eyes and respiratory system were affected by the residue of a chemical irritant in the air when he approached the detention center, even though he was wearing a mask and goggles. He had to retreat from the area twice before the air cleared. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-detained-zip-tied-while-documenting-la-protest/\">Later that day</a>, he and fellow student <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-documentarian-detained-zip-tied-while-covering-la-protest/\"><b>Giovanni Cruz</b></a> were detained in a police kettle and zip-tied by LAPD.</li><li data-block-key=\"aq2b4\"><b>Nick Stern</b>, an independent photographer, told the Tracker that he was affected by tear gas deployed by federal agents outside the detention center. “I actually got lungs full of tear gas, which pretty much incapacitated me for five to 10 minutes,” he said.</li><li data-block-key=\"avksg\">Independent journalist <b>Dexter Thomas</b> told the Tracker he was affected by tear gas fired by federal agents at the detention center. The chemical irritant got in his eyes, temporarily blinding him. In <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DWfJTkwjlpa/\">a video</a> he posted to Instagram, he can be heard coughing as the gas fills the street. “I’m good; I just got to wait it out,” he said in the clip. Also that day, he was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-caught-in-police-kettle-at-la-protest/\">caught in a police kettle and threatened with arrest</a>.</li></ul></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2026-03-29T021423Z_838652794_RC2T.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"9smi4\">Police clear the street near a federal immigration detention center after a “No Kings” protest against Trump administration policies in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"student journalism"
],
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{
"title": "Journalist caught in police kettle at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-caught-in-police-kettle-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-08T20:55:05.428485Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-08T20:55:05.428485Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-08T20:54:52.275353Z",
"date": "2026-03-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"y7zlq\">Independent journalist Dexter Thomas was caught in a kettle and threatened with arrest while documenting a protest in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"1g6n8\">The protest followed a “No Kings” demonstration held earlier in the day in LA, <a href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/no-kings-protests-recap-more-than-8-million-turned-out-across-all-50-states-organizers-say-135920433.html\">one of thousands</a> across the U.S. that organizers said drew more than 8 million people against Trump administration policies.</p><p data-block-key=\"71qq0\">After the main march, people gathered outside downtown LA’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">in June 2025</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ltju\">Thomas told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was filming the protest at the detention center, where federal officers deployed tear gas that got into his eyes. Later, the LA Police Department began pushing people down the street and eventually declared an unlawful assembly.</p><p data-block-key=\"cu34u\">As police began making arrests, they formed a kettle — a tactic used to surround and control a crowd — and instructed credentialed press to leave the kettle and continue documenting from the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"2mrkf\">“They tried to say where press could be, which we were not going to abide by that,” Thomas said. “We don’t need to stand on the sidewalk, that’s not the law.”</p><p data-block-key=\"75l0d\">Thomas and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28&tags=kettle\">other journalists</a> stayed in the kettle to document the arrests, asserting their rights under California law, which allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police while doing so. A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\">federal preliminary injunction</a> against the city is in place to uphold those protections.</p><p data-block-key=\"8sc42\">In <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/shoton35mm.bsky.social/post/3midf7g74ac2y\">a video</a> that reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray, who was also in the kettle, posted to the social platform Bluesky, an officer said they were going to arrest media members who did not abide by the dispersal order.</p><p data-block-key=\"5c082\">“They were saying, ‘You can’t leave now,’” said Thomas, who recalled being in the kettle, unable to exit, for about a half hour. “You had your opportunity, and that’s no longer available to you.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aoffp\">Thomas was eventually allowed to leave after police negotiated the exit of media with Adam Rose, press rights chair of the LA Press Club. Rose is also deputy director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project.</p><p data-block-key=\"dspch\">The experience left Thomas frustrated; he said he felt that officers were trying to renegotiate the law in real time.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qu6t\">“What they can do is make your life very difficult by actually arresting you and taking your equipment,” he said. “And if I have filmed something which needs to be seen, and they take my equipment, then I have a problem.”</p><p data-block-key=\"blv36\">In a written <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement shared April 2</a>, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that police were responding to acts of violence and vandalism and eventually issued a dispersal order. Anyone identifying as a “duly authorized” member of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those facing arrest for failure to disperse, according to the statement.</p><p data-block-key=\"f4khh\">McDonnell added that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment, including those involving media members, would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"2s160\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ao3gm\">Thomas was similarly kettled and threatened with arrest at another protest in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-threatened-with-arrest-at-la-immigration-protest/\">January 2026.</a></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2026-04-07_at_5.22.59P.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hwk1l\">A frame grab from a subtitled video showing law enforcement responding to a protest in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026. Later that day, journalist Dexter Thomas was among press facing arrest as they were kettled by police.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
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"kettle",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
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},
{
"title": "Student journalist detained, zip-tied while documenting LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-detained-zip-tied-while-documenting-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-06T18:12:01.029004Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-08T13:29:48.984057Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-08T13:29:48.778070Z",
"date": "2026-03-28",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"to186\">Jose Ossa, a student filmmaker, was detained in a police kettle and placed in zip ties while he was documenting a protest outside an immigration detention center in downtown Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"7vtd1\">LA’s “No Kings” protest was one of some 3,300 <a href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/no-kings-protests-recap-more-than-8-million-turned-out-across-all-50-states-organizers-say-135920433.html\">demonstrations</a> against Trump administration policies that took place that day across the U.S., drawing more than 8 million people nationwide, organizers said.</p><p data-block-key=\"9kgh6\">After the main protest march, people gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">in June 2025</a>. The LA Police Department said 75 people were <a href=\"https://ktla.com/news/local-news/75-arrested-during-downtown-los-angeles-no-kings-protest/\">arrested</a> after officers issued a dispersal order and declared an unlawful assembly.</p><p data-block-key=\"896p\">Ossa, a student in film and TV production at California State University, Dominguez Hills, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and fellow student <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-documentarian-detained-zip-tied-while-covering-la-protest/\">Giovanni Cruz</a> went to the protest to capture B-roll footage for a documentary about photography as social activism they’re working on for a course.</p><p data-block-key=\"47abd\">Ossa was carrying a cinema camera, and Cruz was carrying a Fujifilm photo camera, clearly indicating that both were there to document the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"alt0f\">Ossa said they went to the area near the detention center to try to meet up with a photographer they had interviewed as part of their film project. But as they approached the adjacent intersection, Ossa said his eyes and later his respiratory system were affected by the residue of a chemical irritant in the air, even though he was wearing a mask and goggles. They had to retreat from the area twice before the air cleared.</p><p data-block-key=\"89iql\">They eventually were able to approach the gate of the detention center, where protesters had gathered, and saw that police behind the gate had started to come out and were throwing individuals to the ground and detaining them, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"birh5\">The LAPD then started setting up blockades that penned in the protesters and press who were in front of the detention center, Ossa said. Police began to push inward from both directions, effectively sandwiching the crowd, and then closed off the group in a semicircle to form a kettle.</p><p data-block-key=\"4pv8v\">Ossa said that police allowed some, but not all, members of the press who were in the kettle to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"b417u\">Ossa, holding his cinema camera and student ID, made his way to the front and informed the same officer twice that he and Cruz were students and were there to film a documentary. He asked if they were allowed to leave, but got little reaction from the officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"dtbos\">Around 15 minutes later, Ossa went to the side of the kettle and relayed the same information to a row of four officers, again asking to leave. The officers did not respond.</p><p data-block-key=\"60kbg\">“There was no effort made to get me and my classmate, Giovanni, out of there, even though we were members of the press. We were clearly there to document.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e5tc1\">Ossa said he and Cruz remained in the kettle as police grabbed and arrested others, further compressing the group. He said he was growing more anxious as the night wore on and the situation remained volatile, and was especially concerned about the implications of an arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"8442q\">Eventually, the two students were the only people remaining in the kettle. The police called Ossa over and aggressively told him to put down his camera and backpack, and to put his hands behind his back. They continued to repeat the commands even though he was complying, Ossa said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bo99b\">They then roughly put his hands in zip ties, asking him questions about the camera he was carrying — which belonged to his professor — including how much it cost.</p><p data-block-key=\"ac82i\">He said a lead officer questioned him about why they were there. Ossa explained again, in detail, that he and Cruz were students making a documentary.</p><p data-block-key=\"8l5if\">After around five minutes, that officer said the two students could go, indicating that he was doing them a favor, Ossa said. The officer told the student journalist that he could have confiscated the camera and detained them.</p><p data-block-key=\"4pp8l\">In a written <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement shared April 2</a>, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that police were responding to acts of violence and vandalism and eventually issued a dispersal order. Anyone identifying as a “duly authorized” member of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those facing arrest for failure to disperse, according to the statement. </p><p data-block-key=\"4hruj\">McDonnell added that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment, including those involving media members, would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"famdj\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said. </p><p data-block-key=\"b0eg7\">A September preliminary injunction <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\">barred</a> LAPD officers from interfering with journalists covering protests, including by arresting, detaining or citing them solely for failing to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"50pgn\">The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28&city=Los+Angeles\">multiple cases</a> of journalists who faced press violations that day by the LAPD and federal agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"77ptq\"><i>Update: This story was revised to include a comment from the LAPD’s police chief. </i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP26088065481118.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6n0k2\">Police arrest protesters in downtown Los Angeles, California, after a “No Kings” rally on March 28, 2026. Jose Ossa, a film student documenting the protest, was detained in a police kettle and put in zip ties before being released.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
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"detention_date": "2026-03-28",
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"kettle",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
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"Jose Ossa (California State University, Dominguez Hills)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist hit with munitions at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-with-munitions-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-01T21:01:10.982441Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-07T20:48:20.660177Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-07T20:48:20.572822Z",
"date": "2026-03-28",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gtyvj\">Independent photojournalist Henry Cherry was struck with multiple projectiles while covering a protest outside an immigration detention center in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"en2v3\">The protest followed a “No Kings” demonstration held earlier in the day in LA, <a href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/no-kings-protests-recap-more-than-8-million-turned-out-across-all-50-states-organizers-say-135920433.html\">one of thousands</a> across the U.S. that organizers said drew more than 8 million people against Trump administration policies.</p><p data-block-key=\"ab1v1\">After the main march, people gathered outside downtown LA’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">in June 2025</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ei98g\">Cherry told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that after arriving to cover the protest, he was struck with crowd-control munitions in the feet and helmet, even though he was clearly identified as press, with a press vest, press helmet and credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"7lb08\">“I was clearly identified as media; they could have not hit me,” he said, adding that he felt targeted as a journalist and didn’t venture further into the fray for fear of getting injured or detained. “They’ve seen me before. I recognized them, and they recognized me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5ub5h\">He also said that despite having goggles and a respirator mask, he was affected by the chemical irritants, as Department of Homeland Security officers deployed tear gas canisters, then sprayed pepper balls into the crowd as protesters attempted to toss the canisters back.</p><p data-block-key=\"bd3r1\">“I would have to get off the line for a second so I could breathe,” he told the Tracker. “It’s so permeating.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c1792\">DHS did not respond to a request for comment. On the night of the protest, the agency <a href=\"https://x.com/DHSgov/status/2038082883814936848?s=20\">wrote on the social platform X</a> that people at the protest were throwing things at officers, two of whom were receiving medical care after being hit. It did not address the use of munitions against members of the press.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"dpo57\">Federal officers at a protest outside a federal building March 28, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. Photojournalist Henry Cherry was struck with projectiles while covering the demonstration.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"Department of Homeland Security",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
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"Henry Cherry (Independent)"
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{
"title": "Reporter pushed, hit with projectiles and obstructed from reporting at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pushed-hit-with-projectiles-and-obstructed-from-reporting-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-13T17:51:47.532176Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-13T17:51:47.532176Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-13T17:51:47.380642Z",
"date": "2026-03-28",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rok2h\">Kevin Foster, an independent journalist, was shoved by police and struck with crowd-control munitions while covering a protest in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"7rue6\">The protest followed a “No Kings” demonstration held earlier in the day in LA, <a href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/no-kings-protests-recap-more-than-8-million-turned-out-across-all-50-states-organizers-say-135920433.html\">one of thousands</a> across the U.S. that organizers said drew more than 8 million people against Trump administration policies.</p><p data-block-key=\"9f1tb\">After the main march, people gathered outside downtown LA’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">in June 2025</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ckv1i\">In <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/reel/1661619764869279\">a video</a> Foster posted to Facebook, he shows clips of himself being shot at with pepper balls fired by Department of Homeland Security officers, one of which he said was aimed at eye level, and another that hit the sleeve of his upper left arm.</p><p data-block-key=\"a764a\">In another video, <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWdfjv3AYxQ/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==\">posted on Instagram</a>, Foster said he was hit in the chest with a pepper ball, leaving chemical irritant on his shirt and the lanyard holding his press badge. He did not respond to a request for comment, and it’s unclear if the pepper ball was fired by DHS or if his badge was damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"9h7a4\">Foster, who was wearing a helmet clearly marked as press, also showed himself being shoved by an LA Police Department officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"76eq7\">“Their line was disorganized. He could’ve just tapped me,” he wrote in text accompanying the video.</p><p data-block-key=\"a3h4q\">In a separate <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reels/DWmlbq5kuMB/\">video</a> Foster posted to Instagram, an officer tells him and other reporters to move to the sidewalk. It also shows L.A. Taco reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pushed-by-police-threatened-with-arrest-at-la-protest/\">Lexis-Olivier Ray</a> being pushed by an officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qdsm\">Later, the LAPD called for a dispersal order and began making arrests. Officers formed a kettle, a tactic used to surround and control a crowd, and instructed credentialed press to leave the kettle and continue documenting from the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"4eu43\">Some journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28&tags=kettle\">stayed in the kettle</a> to document the arrests, asserting their rights under California law, which allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police while doing so. A <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\">federal preliminary injunction</a> against the city is in place to uphold those protections.</p><p data-block-key=\"4gr1u\">In the Facebook video, Foster said he left the arrest area because he assumed he’d be detained otherwise. In the Instagram video, Foster, walking and wearing a gas mask, said, “We’re not allowed to document what’s going on. They want to do this mass arrest in secret?”</p><p data-block-key=\"8i1k7\">In <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reels/DWcz3K0iFr1/\">another video</a>, Foster said reporters argued with police for about half hour about letting them get closer, and at one point were told that they had good enough lenses to document from a far distance.</p><p data-block-key=\"9qc6d\">“We’re just trying to do our jobs and get down there,” Foster said. “What are we supposed to do if they don’t let us do our jobs?”</p><p data-block-key=\"7jrh0\">DHS did not reply to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"eqk99\">In a written <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement shared April 2</a>, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that police were responding to acts of violence and vandalism and eventually issued a dispersal order. Anyone identifying as a “duly authorized” member of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those arrested for failure to disperse, according to the statement.</p><p data-block-key=\"5c12i\">McDonnell added that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"3qisb\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"2r1hp\">Police responding to a protest in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026. Journalist Kevin Foster was shoved by police and struck with crowd-control munitions while covering the protest.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"name": "California",
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"chemical irritant",
"Department of Homeland Security",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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],
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},
{
"title": "Student journalist cornered by LAPD, escorted from protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-cornered-by-lapd-escorted-from-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-14T20:52:26.199261Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-14T20:52:26.199261Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-14T20:52:26.080621Z",
"date": "2026-03-28",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2s404\">Violet Garcia, editor-in-chief of The Bull Magazine at Los Angeles Pierce College, was blocked by police, ordered to show press credentials and led from a protest that she was covering in downtown Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"65sns\">The protest followed LA’s “No Kings” demonstration, <a href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/no-kings-protests-recap-more-than-8-million-turned-out-across-all-50-states-organizers-say-135920433.html\">one of some 3,300</a> against Trump administration policies that took place that day across the U.S., drawing more than 8 million people nationwide, organizers said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4hsu4\">After the main march, people gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">in June 2025</a>. The LA Police Department said 75 people were <a href=\"https://ktla.com/news/local-news/75-arrested-during-downtown-los-angeles-no-kings-protest/\">arrested</a> after officers issued a dispersal order and declared an unlawful assembly.</p><p data-block-key=\"dt0du\">Garcia told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she arrived to cover the events near the detention center, along with three other student journalists and photographers from the magazine. She was carrying a press pass issued by Pierce College and professional camera equipment.</p><p data-block-key=\"e0k40\">Garcia said they entered an area near the intersection of Temple and Alameda streets at around 7 p.m. after showing credentials to an officer, whom she described as “collaborative.” The officer told them, however, that they entered at their own risk.</p><p data-block-key=\"4p5p9\">The journalist said the area was heavily barricaded and separate from larger crowds, and that she saw protesters assisting others who had been affected by chemical irritants.</p><p data-block-key=\"cdls5\">“While I was filming a woman questioning officers about their conduct toward her, a group of media members was suddenly confronted by different, visibly armed officers,” Garcia said, adding that the officers “shouted orders for press to show credentials yet again.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bbns\">The conflict escalated, Garcia said, when some journalists resisted showing passes, citing their First Amendment rights, and the LAPD “would no longer allow any of us to leave prior to showing our credentials again, whether we wanted to leave that instant or not.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cn8gl\">“They kept us in a circular group, holding guns in their arms in front of their torsos, and were now screaming orders, not at protesters but at the media. Some who tried to walk away were stopped and forced to wait,” the journalist recounted.</p><p data-block-key=\"2mrdq\">Officers then began “escorting” press out two at a time, she said, walking them back to an intersection a block away. The police warned that they were going to begin arresting people and deploying chemical irritants.</p><p data-block-key=\"86l45\">Garcia said that she, her staff and other journalists in the group began to mildly feel the effects of tear gas nearby, but couldn’t see where it was coming from. “Our eyes were stinging, and then it went a little bit past stinging, and they were burning and tearing up, but we were still able to see. Our noses were starting to burn a little bit as well. And then some of my colleagues started to describe a foul taste,” Garcia, who was wearing a KN95 mask, explained.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ogil\">“Some further protested being sent out, citing that, as press, we had a right to stay and document. The LAPD reiterated it didn’t matter who; if we were in the way, they would spray,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"2tsvh\">“Although I was not officially detained, I felt I had no other option. I was physically blocked and stuck in the area. My choices were to move myself or let them move me, regardless of my rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9fqk2\">She and her fellow student journalists were ultimately escorted out and then denied reentry to that area, without further explanation.</p><p data-block-key=\"8n5g3\">In a written <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement shared April 2</a>, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that police were responding to acts of violence and vandalism and eventually issued a dispersal order. Anyone identifying as a “duly authorized” member of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those facing arrest for failure to disperse, according to the statement.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ua2l\">McDonnell added that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment, including those involving media members, would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"7e23h\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ijhp\">The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28&city=Los+Angeles\">numerous other instances</a> of journalists being obstructed, detained and assaulted while covering the March 28 protest in LA.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP26090269978170.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"nn7yw\">Police arrest a protester outside an immigration detention center in downtown Los Angeles on March 28, 2026. Violet Garcia, editor-in-chief of Los Angeles Pierce College’s The Bull Magazine, was surrounded by police and escorted away from the protest.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
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"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"kettle",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
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"Violet Garcia (The [Los Angeles Pierce College] Bull Magazine)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter shoved, lunged at by police at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-shoved-lunged-at-by-police-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-01T17:06:27.347262Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-07T20:31:37.384321Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-07T20:31:37.280223Z",
"date": "2026-03-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6xxmy\">Ryanne Mena, a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News, was pushed by one police officer and lunged at by another while covering a protest in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"ec5c\">The protest followed a “No Kings” demonstration held earlier in the day in LA, <a href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/no-kings-protests-recap-more-than-8-million-turned-out-across-all-50-states-organizers-say-135920433.html\">one of thousands</a> across the U.S. that organizers said drew more than 8 million people against Trump administration policies.</p><p data-block-key=\"b76u3\">After the main march, people gathered outside downtown LA’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">in June 2025</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ci8c\">Mena, who was wearing a press badge, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was near the detention center when federal agents began deploying tear gas and chemical irritants. By the time she put on her safety goggles, the irritant had already seeped into her eyes.</p><p data-block-key=\"eh3fc\">“I was totally debilitated; it was really painful,” Mena said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1dsu8\">Later on, the LA Police Department started pushing protesters away. In one video Mena shared with the Tracker, officers are seen telling her to move.</p><p data-block-key=\"e4loe\">“I’m a journalist; I don’t have to go,” Mena said.</p><p data-block-key=\"99r8f\">“No, you’ve got to go,” an officer responded before pushing her.</p><p data-block-key=\"87a5c\">“Don’t push me,” Mena said. “It’s literally the law. I can be here. I’m a journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2gbgl\">Shortly after, as she moved toward the sidewalk to film from a different vantage point, another officer lunged at her with a baton. Video of the encounter was <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWdfzNPgtgo/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==\">later posted to Instagram.</a> In a separate video Mena shared with the Tracker, the same officer can be heard warning her not to follow too closely behind him.</p><p data-block-key=\"40med\">Also that day, Mena and about a dozen other journalists were sequestered to a designated area while <a href=\"https://ktla.com/news/local-news/75-arrested-during-downtown-los-angeles-no-kings-protest/\">officers made arrests</a>. News media were not allowed to get close enough to document the process.</p><p data-block-key=\"fhduk\">“I couldn’t report an accurate number of arrests that evening. I couldn’t document how those arrests were taking place,” Mena said. “And that’s a pretty important part of the story.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cvak1\">In a written <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement shared April 2</a>, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that police were responding to acts of violence and vandalism and eventually issued a dispersal order. Anyone identifying as a “duly authorized” member of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those facing arrest for failure to disperse, according to the statement. McDonnell added that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment, including those involving media members, would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"2148b\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said. </p><p data-block-key=\"b8qpn\"><i>Update: This story was revised to include a comment from the LAPD’s police chief. </i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2026-03-29T021500Z_1360071449_RC2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ptu7l\">A police line at a “No Kings” protest against Trump administration policies on March 28, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. Reporter Ryanne Mena was pushed by an officer while covering the demonstration.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ryanne Mena ([Los Angeles] Daily News)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Student documentarian detained, zip-tied while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-documentarian-detained-zip-tied-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-04-06T18:21:11.932195Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-04-08T13:31:24.912532Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-04-08T13:31:24.688904Z",
"date": "2026-03-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jff78\">Film student Giovanni Cruz was detained in a police kettle and placed in zip ties while he was documenting a protest outside an immigration detention center in downtown Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"eibhf\">LA’s “No Kings” protest was one of some 3,300 <a href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/live/no-kings-protests-recap-more-than-8-million-turned-out-across-all-50-states-organizers-say-135920433.html\">demonstrations</a> against Trump administration policies that took place that day across the U.S., drawing more than 8 million people nationwide, organizers said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bnnrk\">After the main protest march, people gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">in June 2025</a>. The LA Police Department said 75 people were <a href=\"https://ktla.com/news/local-news/75-arrested-during-downtown-los-angeles-no-kings-protest/\">arrested</a> after officers issued a dispersal order and declared an unlawful assembly.</p><p data-block-key=\"8jtev\">Cruz and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-detained-zip-tied-while-documenting-la-protest/\">Jose Ossa</a>, students in film and TV production at California State University, Dominguez Hills, went to the protest to capture B-roll footage for a documentary about photography as social activism they’re working on for a course, Ossa told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"7e33q\">Cruz was carrying a Fujifilm photo camera, and Ossa was carrying a cinema camera, clearly indicating that both were there to document the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"5lr4i\">Ossa said they went to the area near the detention center to try to meet up with a photographer they had interviewed as part of their film project. But as they approached the adjacent intersection near the detention center, his eyes and later his respiratory system were affected by the residue of a chemical irritant in the air, even though he was wearing a mask and goggles. They had to retreat from the area twice before the air cleared.</p><p data-block-key=\"fofmu\">Cruz told the Tracker that he was briefly affected by the irritant, but was protected by his mask and goggles.</p><p data-block-key=\"19jfp\">They eventually were able to approach the gate of the detention center, where protesters had gathered, and saw that police behind the gate had started to come out and were throwing individuals to the ground and detaining them, Ossa said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5r675\">The LAPD then started setting up blockades that penned in the protesters and press who were in front of the detention center, Ossa said. Police began to push inward from both directions, effectively sandwiching the crowd, and then closed off the group in a semicircle to form a kettle.</p><p data-block-key=\"8iuqm\">Ossa said that police allowed some, but not all, members of the press who were in the kettle to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"2vsfq\">Ossa, holding his cinema camera and student ID, made his way to the front and informed the same officer twice that he and Cruz were students and were there to film a documentary. He asked if they were allowed to leave, but got little reaction from the officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"cu2cm\">Around 15 minutes later, Ossa went to the side of the kettle and relayed the same information to a row of four officers, again asking to leave. The officers did not respond.</p><p data-block-key=\"a52gg\">“There was no effort made to get me and my classmate, Giovanni, out of there, even though we were members of the press. We were clearly there to document.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bvrki\">Ossa said he and Cruz remained in the kettle as police grabbed and arrested others, further compressing the group.</p><p data-block-key=\"39kp4\">Eventually, the two students were the only people remaining in the kettle, Ossa said. The police put Cruz and Ossa in zip ties.</p><p data-block-key=\"c52jp\">Ossa said a lead officer questioned him about why they were there. Ossa explained again, in detail, that he and Cruz were students making a documentary.</p><p data-block-key=\"embiu\">After around five minutes, that officer said the two students could go, indicating that he was doing them a favor, Ossa said. The officer told the student journalist that he could have confiscated the camera and detained them.</p><p data-block-key=\"1dm88\">In a written <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement shared April 2</a>, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that police were responding to acts of violence and vandalism and eventually issued a dispersal order. Anyone identifying as a “duly authorized” member of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those facing arrest for failure to disperse, according to the statement. </p><p data-block-key=\"bllf9\">McDonnell added that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment, including those involving media members, would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"dimh\">“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said. </p><p data-block-key=\"5kitq\">A September preliminary injunction <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-finger-injured-amid-protests-in-downtown-la/\">barred</a> LAPD officers from interfering with journalists covering protests, including by arresting, detaining or citing them solely for failing to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ahbr\">The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28&city=Los+Angeles\">multiple cases</a> of journalists who faced press violations that day by the LAPD and federal agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"98skt\"><i>Update: This story was revised to include a comment from the LAPD’s police chief. </i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/protest-Cruz.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"3u8ih\">Police detain protesters and members of the press in a police kettle in Los Angeles, California, after a “No Kings” rally on March 28, 2026. Giovanni Cruz, a film student documenting the protest, was detained and put in zip ties before being released.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2026-03-28",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"kettle",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Giovanni Cruz (California State University, Dominguez Hills)"
],
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},
{
"title": "FCC Chair Brendan Carr targets news outlets",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fcc-chair-brendan-carr-targets-news-outlets/",
"first_published_at": "2026-03-16T19:53:37.411255Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-03-16T19:53:37.411255Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-03-16T19:53:37.313879Z",
"date": "2026-03-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ttem9\">As President Donald Trump’s second term continued in 2026, his Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, took steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered Trump and his administration critically. We’re documenting Carr’s efforts in 2026 in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"4vslk\">Also read about <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/brendan-carr-targets-news-outlets-as-chair-of-the-fcc/\">Carr’s efforts in 2025</a>, and how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage</a> and more.</p><p data-block-key=\"2jglf\"><i>This article was first published on March 16, 2026.</i></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ttem9\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"1pbra\"></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=\"#March 14\">March 14, 2026 | FCC chair threatens licenses of broadcasters for Iran war coverage</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ttem9\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"19vq8\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"March 14\" name=\"March 14\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ttem9\"><b>March 14, 2026 | FCC chair threatens licenses of broadcasters for Iran war coverage</b></p><p data-block-key=\"ckhdh\">Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr on March 14, 2026, threatened broadcasters with the loss of their licenses for what he characterized as “running hoaxes and news distortions” in their accounts of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.</p><p data-block-key=\"5s57v\">In a social media <a href=\"https://x.com/brendancarrfcc/status/2032855414233047172?s=46&t=cupRzX3UnU15_MPKyWvF6g\">post</a>, Carr quoted a screenshot of a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump, in which the president alleged that The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and “other Lowlife ‘Papers’ and Media” want the U.S. to lose the <a href=\"https://apnews.com/live/iran-war-israel-trump-03-16-2026\">war with Iran</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"eeaa8\">Although Trump did not mention any TV news outlets by name, Carr noted, “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.” The FCC chair then added that those broadcasters “have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions - also known as the fake news - have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up. <br><br>The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they… <a href=\"https://t.co/7bBgnsbalw\">https://t.co/7bBgnsbalw</a></p>— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/2032855414233047172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 14, 2026</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=\"ttem9\">“The American people have subsidized broadcasters to the tune of billions of dollars by providing free access to the nation’s airwaves,” he continued. “It is very important to bring trust back into media, which has earned itself the label of fake news.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8kn89\">According to the <a href=\"https://www.fcc.gov/broadcast-news-distortion\">FCC</a>, while over-the-air local broadcast television stations are subject to the agency’s jurisdiction with respect to “news distortion,” newspapers are not.</p><p data-block-key=\"ck449\">In a Truth Social <a href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116235861005528220\">post</a> the next day, Trump said he was “thrilled” to see that Carr was looking into the licenses of “some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic ‘News’ Organizations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ces97\">Trump added: “They get Billions of Dollars of FREE American Airwaves, and use it to perpetuate LIES, both in News and almost all of their Shows, including the Late Night Morons, who get gigantic Salaries for horrible Ratings, and never get, as I used to say in The Apprentice, ‘FIRED.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"bobq3\">In a March 16 <a href=\"https://x.com/AGomezFCC/status/2033615599864013019\">statement</a>, Anna Gomez, the FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, noted that the agency “licenses local broadcast stations, not networks, and no licenses are up for renewal until 2028.” She added that Carr’s threats “are grounded in neither reality nor law and would not survive judicial scrutiny, just as other recent attempts by this Administration to push beyond constitutional limits have repeatedly failed in court.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dedlg\">“The concern over the chilling effect of these actions, however, is very real,” she said.</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/AP26014791736344.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"obh49\">Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr testifies at a House hearing in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 14, 2026.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
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"name": "District of Columbia",
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"Media"
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"Chilling Statement"
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},
{
"title": "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth targets news outlets, leakers",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers/",
"first_published_at": "2026-02-17T18:03:13.887855Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-03-18T16:19:50.993617Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-03-18T16:19:50.897035Z",
"date": "2026-03-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9b0q7\">As the second year of President Donald Trump’s second term began, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continued taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have covered Trump and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting Hegseth’s efforts in 2026 in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"thla\">Read about Hegseth’s efforts in 2025 to chill coverage <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/\">here</a>, and how Trump’s other appointees and allies in Congress are striving to intimidate reporters, 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=\"4outl\"><i>This article was first published on Feb. 17, 2026.</i></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9b0q7\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"8jq7u\"></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=\"#March 9\">March 9, 2026 | Pentagon sets increased oversight, content limits for military newspaper</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#Jan 15\">Jan. 15, 2026 | Defense Department announces overhaul of military newspaper, calling it ‘woke’</a>\r\n</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9b0q7\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"bm868\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"March 9\" name=\"March 9\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"moywj\"><b>March 9, 2026 | Pentagon sets increased oversight, content limits for military newspaper</b></p><p data-block-key=\"7q35q\">The Department of Defense laid out plans to expand oversight of military newspaper Stars and Stripes in a March 9, 2026, memo, as part of a “modernization” of the outlet that left some press freedom observers alarmed over the potential loss of independence.</p><p data-block-key=\"3bvdp\">The memo, sent by Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg and first <a href=\"https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-03-13/pentagon-modernization-plan-stars-and-stripes-21051529.html\">reported</a> by Stars and Stripes, outlines an “interim policy” governing the outlet that takes effect immediately.</p><p data-block-key=\"8s0f0\">The memo states that Stars and Stripes will continue to “operate with editorial independence.” But it prohibits the outlet’s use of wire service stories, comic strips and editorial cartoons due to the “digital availability of such content globally,” unless an exception is granted by the assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs.</p><p data-block-key=\"a88r0\">According to the memo, the “primary justification for Stripes’ continued existence is to deliver content, specifically relevant to Service members and their families, that is not usually covered by commercial media.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1o8nu\">It continued, “Accordingly, there is no operational need to serve as a reprint vehicle for commercial news publications that are otherwise readily accessible.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8o3io\">Jacqueline Smith, Stars and Stripes’ ombudsman who is charged by Congress with defending the outlet’s editorial independence, told the outlet that without access to wire service content, the paper would lose the ability to provide reporting on topics such as national sports and entertainment, which “contribute to the morale of troops.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5ifde\">Among other changes, the memo states that the outlet “should” republish Defense Department public affairs materials — clearly labeled as such — as deemed necessary by the publisher, and requires the outlet’s ombudsman to send information previously sent directly to Congress through the department’s Legislative Affairs Office first.</p><p data-block-key=\"81tc\">It also bans reporters from making Freedom of Information Act requests in an official capacity, though it does allow for them to make submissions “in their individual capacities” when not acting on behalf of the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"1a5rr\">The policy changes came in the wake of a <a href=\"https://x.com/seanparnellasw/status/2011802849903009991?s=46\">January social media post</a> by Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell, in which he announced plans to overhaul Stars and Stripes and “refocus its content away from woke distractions.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3grph\">Stars and Stripes reported that its leadership and staff were not informed of the changes directly, but instead learned of them when the memo was found in a search of the Defense Department website.</p><p data-block-key=\"e4g8l\">Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes’ editor-in-chief, said in a statement published by the outlet, “It is unlikely that the Pentagon was aware of the extensive modernization that Stars and Stripes had already begun.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5atj0\">He added, “Over the past year, the changes to our digitally produced news and information have resulted in significant increases in pageviews, engagement and subscribers.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c98k\">The Pentagon memo also states that all content must be consistent with “good order and discipline,” a phrase used in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.</p><p data-block-key=\"6t5m8\">In an <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/03/14/nx-s1-5748020/pentagon-tightens-controls-over-stars-and-stripes-after-calling-it-woke\">interview with NPR</a>, Slavin expressed concern about that aspect of the policy as it applied to staff who are members of the military. “If they were to complete a story that the Defense Department did not like, and did not find ‘consistent with good order and discipline,’ would they be in legal jeopardy?” Slavin said. “We don’t know the answer to that.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1ihho\">Smith, the ombudsman, told <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/03/13/pentagon-memo-stars-stripes/\">The Washington Post</a> in an interview that the memo “threatens Stars and Stripes’ continued editorial independence, and it does so at the detriment of the troops who rely on the newspaper for complete coverage and continued accurate coverage that is not propaganda.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aulgt\">Tim Richardson, journalism and disinformation program director at PEN America, <a href=\"https://pen.org/press-release/alarm-over-pentagon-move-to-impose-restrictions-on-stars-and-stripes-editorial-independence/\">said</a>, “We are alarmed that a Pentagon memo claims to preserve the independence of Stars and Stripes while simultaneously imposing new restrictions that undermine it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7dc4r\">He called on Congress to “reaffirm First Amendment protections for Stars and Stripes’ editorial independence and ensure the decades-long firewall between the Pentagon and the newsroom remains firmly intact.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d8fi6\">Parnell, in a March 13 statement reported by Stars and Stripes, said that the Defense Department is returning the outlet to “its original mission: an independent news source for service members stationed overseas that is by the warfighter and for the warfighter.”</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\">\r\n<i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"Jan 15\" name=\"Jan 15\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"9b0q7\">Jan. 15, 2026 | Defense Department announces overhaul of military newspaper, calling it ‘woke’</h4><p data-block-key=\"5vfqn\">The Department of Defense announced plans on Jan. 15, 2026, to take over editorial decision-making for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, in a move that jeopardizes its long-held editorial independence.</p><p data-block-key=\"idmh\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/seanparnellasw/status/2011802849903009991?s=46\">statement</a> posted to social media, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell defended the move as “returning Stars & Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"140gb\">“We will modernize its operations, refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members,” he continued. “It will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2q9uv\">While the newspaper is partially funded by the Pentagon and its staffers are department employees, the outlet <a href=\"https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-01-15/pentagon-refocus-stars-and-stripes-content-20415816.html\">reported</a> that it is directed to emulate the best practices of commercial news organizations and provide a free flow of “news and information to its readership without news management or censorship.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b3d3r\">Stars and Stripes Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin wrote in a Jan. 15 note to staff that the military deserves independent news.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ih8b\">“The people who risk their lives in defense of the Constitution have earned the right to the press freedoms of the First Amendment,” Slavin wrote. “We will not compromise on serving them with accurate and balanced coverage, holding military officials to account when called for.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1prks\">The Daily Wire <a href=\"https://www.dailywire.com/news/pentagon-refocuses-stars-stripes-on-reporting-for-our-warfighters\">reported</a> that department officials told the outlet that Stars and Stripes’ content will no longer be written by its civilian staff but by active-duty service members. Half the newspaper’s content will be generated by the Pentagon, including materials written by the department and images captured by combat cameras.</p><p data-block-key=\"a8srp\">Stars and Stripes reported that its ombudsman, Jacqueline Smith, said the changes would amount to “unnecessary control and the perception of propaganda.” The ombudsman is a congressionally mandated position tasked with ensuring the outlet’s editorial independence.</p><p data-block-key=\"9q4s1\">“That is public relations, not independent journalism,” she said. “The other ‘fifty percent’ of the content would hold no credibility.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5gce4\">The news came the day after The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/01/14/stars-and-stripes-trump-loyalty-test/\">reported</a> that applicants for positions at the newspaper were being asked, “How would you advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7ttls\">Leadership at Stars and Stripes wasn’t aware of the questions until asked about them, Smith told the Post, later confirming that they had been added by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management without notifying them.</p><p data-block-key=\"ci8hr\">“Asking prospective employees how they would support the administration’s policies is antithetical to Stripes’ journalistic and federally mandated mission,” Smith told the Post. “Journalistically, it’s against ethics, because reporters or any staff member — editors, photographers — should be impartial.”</p><p data-block-key=\"boqov\">Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee told Stars and Stripes that any efforts to infringe on the newspaper’s editorial independence amounted to an attack on the First Amendment, with several voicing support for the newspaper. None of the Republican lawmakers contacted by Stars and Stripes responded to requests for comment.</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\">\r\n<i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2026-01-07T171026Z_1872362065_RC2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"mi657\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to the media in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 7, 2026.</p>",
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{
"title": "Spanish-language journalist arrested by ICE in Tennessee",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/spanish-language-journalist-arrested-by-ice-in-tennessee/",
"first_published_at": "2026-03-10T20:59:13.419612Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-03-19T21:28:45.251477Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-03-19T21:28:45.108397Z",
"date": "2026-03-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Nashville",
"longitude": -86.78444,
"latitude": 36.16589,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2vrcj\">Spanish-language reporter Estefany Rodríguez was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 4, 2026 — one day after reporting on ICE arrests in the area.</p><p data-block-key=\"q3f1\">Rodríguez has worked for the Hispanic news outlet Nashville Noticias since 2022 and began regularly covering immigration arrests for the outlet in November 2025, <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72364939/14/florez-v-ladwig/\">federal court records show</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ork5\">On the morning of March 4, immigration agents followed Rodríguez and her husband as they drove to the gym in her work car, which bore the Nashville Noticias logo, <a href=\"https://nashvillenoticias.com/comunicado-oficial-de-nashville-noticias-sobre-la-detencion-de-nuestra-colega-reportera-estefany-rodriguez-por-agentes-de-ice/\">the station reported</a>. When they parked, several men surrounded the car and demanded Rodríguez be taken into custody.</p><p data-block-key=\"flao8\">During the encounter, Rodríguez noted that one ICE agent had a photograph of her work car on his cellphone, her attorney wrote in a court filing.</p><p data-block-key=\"b7j2i\">After her arrest, Rodríguez filed a complaint against the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and other federal officials, arguing that her detention violated her constitutional rights. Her attorneys wrote that she was illegally detained, without a warrant or due process, and in retaliation for her reporting on ICE operations.</p><p data-block-key=\"fqs4j\">Rodríguez’s attorneys filed an emergency petition in federal court seeking a writ of habeas corpus, asking a judge to review whether her detention was lawful and to order her immediate release. According to court documents, Rodriguez was most recently being held in Alabama.</p><p data-block-key=\"dqosf\">The federal government <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72364939/9/florez-v-ladwig/\">disputed Rodríguez’s claims in court filings</a>, asserting she was arrested under a valid warrant issued two days earlier and that her visa had expired in September 2021, leaving her in the country without legal status.</p><p data-block-key=\"3t9au\">Rodríguez had entered the United States legally in 2021 on a tourist visa, but later applied for political asylum, fearing persecution for her reporting on armed militia groups if she returned to her native Colombia. While her asylum case was pending, she received a work permit in 2022 and applied for a green card after marrying a U.S. citizen in January 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"7v5fv\">That same month, ICE asked her to appear at its field office, but the appointment was canceled and later rescheduled due to a winter storm. In February, agents said they could not find a record of her appointment and issued a new reporting date for March 17, according to court records.</p><p data-block-key=\"4hnd5\">Rodríguez’s case comes amid broader concerns about journalists covering immigration enforcement. In a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/spanish-language-reporter-arrested-at-atlanta-area-protest-faces-deportation/\">separate case</a>, Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara was deported in October after being arrested four months earlier while covering a “No Kings” protest in Atlanta, Georgia.</p><p data-block-key=\"7fd3l\">After Rodríguez was arrested, <a href=\"https://www.freepress.net/news/coalition-41-press-freedom-groups-calls-immediate-release-nashville-based-journalist-arrested\">a coalition of 41 press freedom groups</a> called for her immediate release.</p><p data-block-key=\"dgmus\">“Rodriguez’s detention is part of a broader erosion of democratic norms and human rights in the United States in which immigration authorities are increasingly being used to chill free expression and First Amendment rights,” the coalition wrote in a statement.</p><p data-block-key=\"biruh\">The <a href=\"https://nahj.org/nahj-denounces-ice-detainment-of-nashville-reporter/\">National Association of Hispanic Journalists</a> said it “denounces immigration tactics that detain journalists and any efforts to interfere with news coverage of immigration enforcement.”</p><p data-block-key=\"67e4c\">In a statement, Nashville Noticias wrote it respects the laws of the U.S. and “hopes that this situation will be resolved favorably for our colleague so that she can be released soon, as she needs to reunite with her young daughter and husband.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b3q7t\">District Judge Eli Richardson will decide whether to grant Rodriguez’s emergency request for release. He has ordered the government to file a response justifying her arrest and detention. A hearing is set for March 17.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2026-03-10_at_1.38.19P.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"mxmvx\">Reporter Estefany Rodríguez, who was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 4, 2026, is seen in an earlier reporting assignment.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"(2026-03-19 14:02:00+00:00) Spanish-language reporter freed from ICE facility after Tennessee arrest"
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"categories": [
"Other Incident"
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{
"title": "Photographers barred from Pentagon briefings after ‘unflattering’ photos",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographers-barred-from-pentagon-briefings-after-unflattering-photos/",
"first_published_at": "2026-03-13T18:28:34.243974Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-03-13T18:28:34.243974Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-03-13T18:23:53.865501Z",
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"longitude": -77.10428,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6iepk\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth barred photojournalists from attending Pentagon news briefings at the Pentagon’s Arlington, Virginia headquarters, about the Iran war and the United States’ role in the conflict, beginning on March 4, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"4mgkq\">The decision came after Hegseth’s staff deemed recently published photos of him at a briefing “unflattering,” <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/03/11/hegseth-press-briefings-photos-iran/\">The Washington Post reported.</a> The photos were taken March 2, days after a joint military strike on Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.</p><p data-block-key=\"97t7m\">The briefing also marked the first time Hegseth had spoken from the Pentagon briefing room podium since June 26, according to the Post. Several news organizations — including The Associated Press, Reuters and Getty Images — had sent photographers to cover the briefing from Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.</p><p data-block-key=\"7f6lt\">After the news outlets published the photos, which were shared and licensed globally, members of Hegseth’s staff told colleagues they did not like the way he looked in them. His aides then decided to exclude photographers from the next two briefings at the Pentagon, held on March 4 and March 10, the Post reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"e461a\">Since then, only the Defense Department’s staff photographers have been permitted into the briefings.</p><p data-block-key=\"bqgrn\">In a statement to the newspaper, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson wrote: “In order to use space in the Pentagon Briefing Room effectively, we are allowing one representative per news outlet if uncredentialed, excluding pool. Photographs from the briefings are immediately released online for the public and press to use. If that hurts the business model for certain news outlets, then they should consider applying for a Pentagon press credential.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5jcdt\">In a statement, the National Press Photographers Association denounced the Defense Department’s decision, saying it appeared to be retaliatory and raised First Amendment concerns. It called upon the Pentagon to restore the photographers’ access.</p><p data-block-key=\"2eorf\">“Excluding photographers from Pentagon briefings because officials did not like how published images portrayed them shows an astonishingly poor sense of priorities in the midst of a war and is, for a public servant, not a good look,” the association’s President Alex Garcia said. “A free press cannot function if government officials decide that only favorable images of public officials may be created or distributed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dsr1\">Since being named secretary, Hegseth has frequently clashed with the press, including <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/\">targeting news outlets and media leaks</a>. He also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-restricts-journalists-access-inside-pentagon/\">issued new restrictions</a> that mandated journalists pledge to obtain approval for releasing information gathered at the Pentagon, even if unclassified, and threatened to revoke their credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"5obbn\">Instead of complying with the pledge by the October deadline, dozens of correspondents left their offices and surrendered their press badges. The New York Times has sued the government over the policy, arguing it violates the constitutional protections of press freedom and due process.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1hsri\">Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth holds a news briefing on the Iran conflict at Pentagon headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, on March 2, 2026. After photos of the briefing were published, press photographers were barred from briefings starting March 4.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
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},
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"tags": [
"Department of Defense"
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"Federal government: Agency"
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},
{
"title": "Documentarian pushed by deputy at Minnesota immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/documentarian-pushed-by-deputy-at-minnesota-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-03-06T19:55:41.938842Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-03-06T19:55:41.938842Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-03-06T19:55:41.776945Z",
"date": "2026-03-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Fort Snelling",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t5glc\">Independent documentarian Adriano Kalin was pushed by a Hennepin County sheriff’s deputy while documenting a protest outside a federal building in the Minneapolis suburb of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on March 1, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"cpl9p\">The Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, which houses an Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center, has been a focal point of protests. Demonstrations intensified in January after federal immigration agents shot and killed two Minneapolis residents, <a href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/minnesota-ice-shooting-live-updates-rcna252852\">Renee Good</a> and <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-minnesota-protester-alex-pretti-15ade7de6e19cb0291734e85dac763dc\">Alex Pretti</a>, and wounded a man in separate incidents. Both the city of Minneapolis and the state have <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/12/us/minneapolis-immigration-officers-mobilizing-protests\">sued the Trump administration</a>, arguing the unprecedented deployment of federal agents violates constitutional rights.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ktp4\">Kalin told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was documenting demonstrators who were gathering the morning of March 1 at the federal building. He was wearing a press badge, and a vest and a helmet identifying himself as a member of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"e9p6s\">In the north parking lot, where he started reporting, law enforcement allowed Kalin and other journalists to do their job. However, the atmosphere changed as the protest grew larger in the south parking lot and officers began declaring the gathering unlawful, Kalin said. The law enforcement present included members of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department, the Minnesota State Patrol and the state’s Department of Natural Resources.</p><p data-block-key=\"4bfur\">“The line between protester and press started kind of diffusing, if you will, and they didn’t care if you were press,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4kd8i\">Kalin said Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies were indiscriminately aggressive, even against members of the press as they tried to document arrests and other police activity.</p><p data-block-key=\"330dq\">“The sheriff’s department were like, ‘No, you need to move,’ and shoving press,” Kalin said. “And we were saying, ‘We have a job to do, we’re strictly documenting.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"f7ocq\">According to Kalin, a large deputy who had been shouting at media members eventually shoved him toward protesters and told him he couldn’t be there. Although officers were shouting at members of the press, Kalin said he didn’t feel specifically targeted when he was pushed.</p><p data-block-key=\"c5q9l\">The photographer said the situation made it harder to safely capture images of events as they unfolded.</p><p data-block-key=\"5s422\">“It definitely made it more difficult for me to do my job,” he said. “I had to walk very fast and take the photo and pray that I got it because I was kind of getting rushed, and I was worried for myself, if I was going to get arrested.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1gqr1\">The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2026-03-01T203559Z_332832351_RC2R.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"18912\">Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies at an immigration protest outside the Whipple Federal Building on March 1, 2026, in Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Documentarian Adriano Kalin was shoved by a deputy while covering the demonstration.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
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"immigration",
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"Assault"
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"Adriano Kalin (Independent)"
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},
{
"title": "Photographer indicted after Minnesota church protest coverage",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-indicted-after-minnesota-church-protest-coverage/",
"first_published_at": "2026-03-03T20:25:27.065892Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-03-03T20:26:45.113377Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-03-03T20:26:44.988163Z",
"date": "2026-02-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"iymyh\">Shane Ryan Bollman, a documentary photographer known professionally as Junn Bollmann, was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles, California, on Feb. 27, 2026, after a grand jury indicted him the previous day on charges connected to his coverage of a protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service in January.</p><p data-block-key=\"411hu\">Demonstrations in the Twin Cities area had been taking place since the beginning of January, following the <a href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/2000-federal-agents-sent-to-minneapolis-area-to-carry-out-largest-immigration-operation-ever-ice-says\">expansion</a> of an immigration enforcement crackdown, known as Operation Metro Surge, and federal officers’ fatal shooting of two Minneapolis residents — <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000010631041/minneapolis-ice-shooting-video.html\">Renee Good</a> and <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/us/politics/second-ice-shooting-minneapolis.html\">Alex Pretti</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7aba\">Multiple members of the press followed demonstrators as they entered Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18 to voice their opposition to ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions. <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DTqqE2NjiR6/\">Protest organizers said</a> the church was targeted because one of the pastors was allegedly an interim director for the local ICE field office.</p><p data-block-key=\"9l7s5\">The <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.231102/gov.uscourts.mnd.231102.144.0.pdf\">indictment</a> alleges Bollmann was present at a pre-demonstration meeting at a nearby shopping center, but the photographer is not included among those accused of engaging in “various chants,” “hostile and aggressive gestures” or any other activities while at the church.</p><p data-block-key=\"dh4bt\">He was, however, charged the same as the church protesters — conspiring to deprive rights and interfering with someone’s religious freedom in a house of worship.</p><p data-block-key=\"6rvff\">Independent journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-arrested-charged-over-minnesota-protest-coverage/\">Georgia Fort</a> and former CNN anchor <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/don-lemon-arrested-charged-over-covering-minnesota-church-protest/\">Don Lemon</a> were also indicted in January for their coverage and were named in the superseding indictment.</p><p data-block-key=\"aqrm4\">Federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations arrested Bollman on Feb. 27 outside his LA apartment, transferring him from the city’s Roybal Federal Building to the U.S. Marshals Service building and back before his arraignment and release, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"ci14j\">CPJ reported that the photographer’s electronic devices — including his cellphone, camera and laptop — were seized during his arrest and had yet to be returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"cagdr\">Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project, condemned the Lemon and Fort arrests at the time as “naked attacks on freedom of the press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"21e3f\">“The unmistakable message is that journalists must tread cautiously because the government is looking for any way to target them,” said Seth Stern, FPF’s chief of advocacy. “The answer to this outrageous attack is not fear or self-censorship. It’s an even stronger commitment to journalism, the truth, and the First Amendment.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP26058572690197.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"a9235\">Photographer Junn Bollmann was arrested in Los Angeles on Feb. 27, 2026, after he was indicted on civil rights charges for his coverage of a protest that disrupted services at Cities Church, above, in St. Paul, Minnesota, in January.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Homeland Security Investigations",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2026-02-27",
"detention_date": "2026-02-27",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"status_of_seized_equipment": "in custody",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "computer"
}
],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"Department of Homeland Security",
"Department of Justice",
"immigration",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Junn Bollmann (Independent)"
],
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]
