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{
"title": "Freelance photojournalist targeted with pepper spray by federal officers",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-targeted-with-pepper-spray-by-federal-officers/",
"first_published_at": "2026-06-08T19:09:13.750480Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-06-08T19:09:13.750480Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-06-08T19:09:13.641043Z",
"date": "2026-05-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Newark",
"longitude": -74.17237,
"latitude": 40.73566,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1meh2\">Freelance photojournalist Madison Swart was targeted with chemical irritants by federal officers while covering protests outside a private immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on May 26, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"cja42\">Protests outside the Delaney Hall facility <a href=\"https://whyy.org/articles/new-jersey-newark-ice-detention-center-protest/\">began</a> May 22, when many detainees went on a <a href=\"https://newjerseymonitor.com/2026/05/22/delaney-hall-hunger-strike/\">hunger strike</a>. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility.</p><p data-block-key=\"e8vun\">Federal <a href=\"https://gothamist.com/news/nj-senator-pepper-sprayed-with-protestors-outside-delaney-hall-immigrant-center-in-newark\">officers</a> <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/28/nyregion/delaney-hall-newark-ice-protesters-arrest.html\">responded</a> to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests, as did <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/delaney-hall-ice-protests-dhs-restores-family-visitation/\">state</a> <a href=\"https://gothamist.com/news/newark-sets-curfew-around-ice-jail-after-more-clashes-between-cops-and-protesters\">police</a> in the days that followed.</p><p data-block-key=\"1tcrv\">The Department of Homeland Security has <a href=\"https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2059684595470094847?s=20\">denied</a> allegations of detainee mistreatment.</p><p data-block-key=\"52id2\">Swart told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers’ response were so chaotic that it was hard to recall everything that happened to her.</p><p data-block-key=\"6nj3\">“So much pepper spray was deployed,” she said, noting that the irritant used appeared to be a stronger, law-enforcement-grade product. “It’s above pepper spray, but it isn’t tear gas.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c83as\">Swart said that day was her first experience being sprayed with a chemical irritant, as she consistently keeps her distance from skirmish lines and tries to make eye contact with officers, so they are aware that she is press and not a protester.</p><p data-block-key=\"2pdhi\">“And I did that in that moment, to kind of let them know of my presence and to just see that I wasn’t a protester, I’m separate,” she told the Tracker. “But there was a gaggle of press photographers and we all got sprayed in that same moment. It was totally unnecessary.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ep1m\">“I felt like it was targeted because it was aimed at my camera.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-instagram block-instagram\"><div class=\"instagram-embed\">\n\t<div>\n <blockquote\n\tclass=\"instagram-media\"\n\tdata-instgrm-permalink=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DY0tAcjsThW/?utm_source=ig_embed\"\n\tdata-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n\t<a class=\"btn btn-secondary\" href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DY0tAcjsThW\">View post on Instagram</a>\n</blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://www.instagram.com/embed.js\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1meh2\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 1, DHS said anyone who obstructs law enforcement or disrupts its operations would be prosecuted. It did not address its use of force against members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"hoob\">“We remind members of the media to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots and remind journalists that covering unlawful activities in the field does come with risks,” the statement read. “Our officers take every reasonable precaution to mitigate those dangers to those exercising protected First Amendment rights.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/dh_-81.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"9re5q\">An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer targets freelance photojournalist Madison Swart and other press with a chemical irritant spray amid protests outside a private immigration detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, on May 26, 2026.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "New Jersey",
"abbreviation": "NJ"
},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"Department of Homeland Security",
"immigration",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Madison Swart (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photographer shoved, pepper-sprayed at New Jersey immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-shoved-pepper-sprayed-at-new-jersey-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-06-02T17:14:08.110000Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-06-03T21:13:10.297715Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-06-03T21:13:10.138850Z",
"date": "2026-05-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Newark",
"longitude": -74.17237,
"latitude": 40.73566,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t8ycr\">Photojournalist David “Dee” Delgado was pushed by federal officers and sprayed with a chemical irritant while covering a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its treatment of detainees in Newark, New Jersey, on May 26, 2026. </p><p data-block-key=\"8vfst\">Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility <a href=\"https://whyy.org/articles/new-jersey-newark-ice-detention-center-protest/\">began</a> May 22, when many detainees went on a <a href=\"https://newjerseymonitor.com/2026/05/22/delaney-hall-hunger-strike/\">hunger strike</a>. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility. </p><p data-block-key=\"f4hfb\">Federal <a href=\"https://gothamist.com/news/nj-senator-pepper-sprayed-with-protestors-outside-delaney-hall-immigrant-center-in-newark\">officers</a> <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/28/nyregion/delaney-hall-newark-ice-protesters-arrest.html\">responded</a> to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests. The Department of Homeland Security has <a href=\"https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2059684595470094847?s=20\">denied</a> allegations of detainee mistreatment.</p><p data-block-key=\"c615i\">Delgado, who was on assignment for Reuters, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that ICE officers responded to the May 26 protest with force, particularly when law enforcement vehicles were entering or leaving the facility. </p><p data-block-key=\"716bu\">Throughout the evening, he said, officers repeatedly shoved protesters and members of the media, including Delgado, as they tried to control the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"eojq3\">While Delgado was documenting ICE arresting protesters, an officer suddenly hit him with pepper spray. </p><p data-block-key=\"cqklt\">“He turned around and pointed the mace and sprayed me,” said Delgado, who was wearing press credentials and was clearly marked as press. “It completely stops you from doing the job at the moment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1o2cg\">Delgado said he was forced to stop working for about 30 minutes while he flushed the pepper spray from his eyes. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pepper-sprayed-by-ice-at-new-jersey-immigration-protest/\">one other journalist</a> was also deliberately pepper-sprayed that night. </p><p data-block-key=\"dnbs7\">Roughly two hours later, he was hit by pepper spray again when an officer deployed the irritant into the crowd, though he said that incident did not appear to target him specifically. </p><p data-block-key=\"a9q2f\">In the following days, Delgado was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-pushed-hit-with-pepper-spray-at-new-jersey-immigration-protest/\">pepper-sprayed</a> again by ICE and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-injured-by-crowd-control-munition-at-new-jersey-protest/\">injured by a crowd-control munition</a> fired by a state patrol officer. </p><p data-block-key=\"2fneo\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 1, DHS said anyone who obstructs law enforcement or disrupts its operations would be prosecuted. It did not address its use of force against members of the press. </p><p data-block-key=\"fe860\">“We remind members of the media to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots and remind journalists that covering unlawful activities in the field does come with risks,” the statement read. “Our officers take every reasonable precaution to mitigate those dangers to those exercising protected First Amendment rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1gd9\"><i>Update: This article was revised to include a statement from DHS.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2026-05-27T022858Z_1537304757_RC2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"3f8lf\">A federal officer, at left, sprays a chemical irritant during an immigration protest outside a detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, on May 26, 2026. Photojournalist David “Dee” Delgado was pepper-sprayed while covering the demonstration.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"state": {
"name": "New Jersey",
"abbreviation": "NJ"
},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"Department of Homeland Security",
"immigration",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"David \"Dee\" Delgado (Reuters)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist sprayed in the face with irritant at New Jersey protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-sprayed-in-the-face-with-irritant-at-new-jersey-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-06-04T17:30:01.281641Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-06-04T17:30:01.281641Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-06-04T17:30:01.168821Z",
"date": "2026-05-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Newark",
"longitude": -74.17237,
"latitude": 40.73566,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"h2e1q\">Photojournalist Stephanie Keith was pepper-sprayed by federal officers while covering a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its treatment of detainees in Newark, New Jersey, on May 25, 2026. </p><p data-block-key=\"ess3q\">Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility <a href=\"https://whyy.org/articles/new-jersey-newark-ice-detention-center-protest/\">began</a> May 22, when many detainees went on a <a href=\"https://newjerseymonitor.com/2026/05/22/delaney-hall-hunger-strike/\">hunger strike</a>. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility. </p><p data-block-key=\"ccn9\">Federal <a href=\"https://gothamist.com/news/nj-senator-pepper-sprayed-with-protestors-outside-delaney-hall-immigrant-center-in-newark\">officers</a> <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/28/nyregion/delaney-hall-newark-ice-protesters-arrest.html\">responded</a> to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests. The Department of Homeland Security has <a href=\"https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2059684595470094847?s=20\">denied</a> allegations of detainee mistreatment.</p><p data-block-key=\"6sois\">On May 25, Keith was on assignment for Getty Images, photographing ICE operations alongside a group of other credentialed journalists with cameras. Federal agents made eye contact with the journalists before dousing them with pepper spray. Keith’s face was coated in the irritant. </p><p data-block-key=\"f2opm\">“There was literally no respect or no accord for the fact that we were nonthreatening and just standing there doing our jobs,” Keith told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. She immediately went home to wash the pepper spray from her body. </p><p data-block-key=\"874ar\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 1, DHS said anyone who obstructs law enforcement or disrupts its operations would be prosecuted. It did not address its use of force against members of the press. </p><p data-block-key=\"8mgfc\">“We remind members of the media to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots and remind journalists that covering unlawful activities in the field does come with risks,” the statement read. “Our officers take every reasonable precaution to mitigate those dangers to those exercising protected First Amendment rights.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6o8yi\">Federal officers at a protest outside an immigration detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, on May 25, 2026. Photojournalist Stephanie Keith was pepper-sprayed by an officer while covering the demonstration. </p>",
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"name": "New Jersey",
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},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"Department of Homeland Security",
"immigration",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Stephanie Keith (Getty Images)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist thrown backward by baton-wielding officer at New Jersey protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-thrown-backward-by-baton-wielding-officer-at-new-jersey-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-06-04T18:57:54.397000Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-06-04T19:08:39.850965Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-06-04T19:08:39.718071Z",
"date": "2026-05-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Newark",
"longitude": -74.17237,
"latitude": 40.73566,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ujfg8\">Photojournalist Jonathan Fernandes was thrust backward by a federal officer with a baton while covering a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its treatment of detainees in Newark, New Jersey, on May 25, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"1f2j\">Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility <a href=\"https://whyy.org/articles/new-jersey-newark-ice-detention-center-protest/\">began</a> May 22, when many detainees went on a <a href=\"https://newjerseymonitor.com/2026/05/22/delaney-hall-hunger-strike/\">hunger strike</a>. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility.</p><p data-block-key=\"5983h\">Federal <a href=\"https://gothamist.com/news/nj-senator-pepper-sprayed-with-protestors-outside-delaney-hall-immigrant-center-in-newark\">officers</a> <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/28/nyregion/delaney-hall-newark-ice-protesters-arrest.html\">responded</a> to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests. The Department of Homeland Security has <a href=\"https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2059684595470094847?s=20\">denied</a> allegations of detainee mistreatment.</p><p data-block-key=\"8lhl\">Fernandes told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that officers were pushing back a crowd of protesters and media when he was thrown back by an officer lunging at him with a baton. Fernandes, on assignment for Documented New York, was wearing visible press credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"bkk8b\">“I was not in anyone’s way at all,” he said. “He could see my badge, that I’m holding a camera and not participating in any way.”</p><p data-block-key=\"15r09\">At a protest outside Delaney Hall <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-engulfed-with-irritant-at-new-jersey-immigration-protest/\">the following day</a>, Fernandes was pepper-sprayed by a federal officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"2q2cj\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 1, DHS said anyone who obstructs law enforcement or disrupts its operations would be prosecuted. It did not address its use of force against members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"arq9h\">“We remind members of the media to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots and remind journalists that covering unlawful activities in the field does come with risks,” the statement read. “Our officers take every reasonable precaution to mitigate those dangers to those exercising protected First Amendment rights.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"0w0j6\">Photojournalist Jonathan Fernandes, who was shoved with a police baton while covering an immigration protest outside a detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, on May 25, 2026.</p>",
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"name": "New Jersey",
"abbreviation": "NJ"
},
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"tags": [
"Department of Homeland Security",
"immigration",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jonathan Fernandes (Documented)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalists encounter chemical irritants, blocked access at New Jersey protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-encounter-chemical-irritants-blocked-access-at-new-jersey-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2026-06-04T21:24:43.701000Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-06-18T17:23:24.066420Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-06-18T17:23:23.897611Z",
"date": "2026-05-22",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Newark",
"longitude": -74.17237,
"latitude": 40.73566,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"crwl1\"><i>Protests broke out in late May 2026 in Newark, New Jersey, outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility, when many detainees went on a hunger strike. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility. The Department of Homeland Security has denied the allegations of detainee mistreatment.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"c1ju2\"><i>Federal officers and then state and local police responded to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"brtiv\"><i>Journalists on the ground described being exposed to chemical irritants fired by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and New Jersey State Police, being forced to pull back from the protest area and otherwise being impeded from documenting the protests.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"9j7ri\"><i>Although these incidents do not constitute official press freedom violations under the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s criteria, we’ve provided a roundup of them below, organized by date (our reporting on the formal press freedom violations we cataloged in Newark in May and June is</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-05-22&date_upper=2026-06-01&city=Newark&state=New+Jersey&tags=protest\"><i>here</i></a><i>).</i></p><p data-block-key=\"d2vce\"><i>This roundup will be updated as additional incidents are verified. To date, law enforcement agencies have not responded to multiple requests for comment.</i></p><p data-block-key=\"dnb7n\"><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><i>.</i></p><h4 data-block-key=\"54jfs\"><b>May 25, 2026</b></h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"2gbt7\">Photojournalist <b>Stephanie Keith</b> told the Tracker she was deliberately <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-sprayed-in-the-face-with-irritant-at-new-jersey-protest/\">pepper-sprayed</a> by federal officers.</li></ul><h4 data-block-key=\"7mokg\"><b>May 26, 2026</b></h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"e3ml8\"><b>Ben Ackman</b>, on assignment for the New Jersey Monitor, told the Tracker he was indirectly exposed to pepper spray used by ICE and was unable to work for about 30 minutes while flushing the irritant from his eyes. Also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shoved-by-federal-officer-at-new-jersey-immigration-protest/\">that day</a>, he was shoved by an agent.</li><li data-block-key=\"4s86g\">Photojournalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-for-turkish-news-agency-targeted-with-pepper-spray/\"><b>Mostafa Bassim</b></a> of Turkey’s Anadolu Agency and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/agency-photojournalist-targeted-with-pepper-spray-by-federal-officers/\"><b>Olga Fedorova</b></a> of the EPA Images photo agency were standing together when federal officers targeted them with pepper spray, aiming at their camera lenses and then spraying into both journalists’ ears when they turned their heads. Bassim also told the Tracker that the officer targeted the spray at a vent in his gas mask.</li><li data-block-key=\"dvelo\">Photographer <b>David “Dee” Delgado</b>, who was on assignment for Reuters, told the Tracker he was hit by pepper spray after a federal officer indiscriminately sprayed the crowd during an ICE charge toward a line of protesters. “He was just spraying everybody; it didn’t matter who.” Earlier <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-shoved-pepper-sprayed-at-new-jersey-immigration-protest/\">that day</a>, Delgado was deliberately pepper-sprayed by an officer.</li><li data-block-key=\"8tiu2\">Photojournalist <b>Jonathan Fernandes</b> told the Tracker he was targeted with <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-engulfed-with-irritant-at-new-jersey-immigration-protest/\">pepper spray</a> by a federal officer.</li><li data-block-key=\"54ic6\">Freelance journalist <b>Amanda Moore</b> told the Tracker she was sprayed by a chemical irritant during her evening coverage, causing measurable pain. Moore, who didn’t believe she had been targeted, said federal officers were spraying “super powerful crowd-control spray on individuals.” Later that day, a federal officer pointed a Taser at her while in pursuit of a protester.</li><li data-block-key=\"ctkjg\">Freelance photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-targeted-with-pepper-spray-by-federal-officers/\"><b>Madison Swart</b></a> told the Tracker she was in a gaggle of other news photographers — including <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-other-press-targeted-with-chemical-irritant-at-new-jersey-protest/\"><b>Neil Constantine</b></a>, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_journalists=Jonathan+Fernandes\"><b>Fernandes</b></a><b>,</b> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/agency-photojournalist-targeted-with-pepper-spray-by-federal-officers/\"><b>Fedorova</b></a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-shoved-pepper-sprayed-at-new-jersey-immigration-protest/\"><b>Delgado</b></a> — when ICE officers targeted them with chemical irritants, deliberately spraying their lenses. Swart identified the irritant as a stronger, law-enforcement-grade pepper-spray product.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-instagram block-instagram\"><div class=\"instagram-embed\">\n\t<div>\n <blockquote\n\tclass=\"instagram-media\"\n\tdata-instgrm-permalink=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DY0tAcjsThW/?utm_source=ig_embed\"\n\tdata-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n\t<a class=\"btn btn-secondary\" href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DY0tAcjsThW\">View post on Instagram</a>\n</blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://www.instagram.com/embed.js\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"xyezg\">Freelance photojournalist <b>Christian Vazquez</b> told the Tracker that while he was documenting the protest, ICE agents called out to him and other journalists by name, reading from their press credentials, in what he described as an “intimidation tactic.”</li></ul><h4 data-block-key=\"1akq3\"><b>May 27, 2026</b></h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"ful36\">Photojournalist <b>Stephanie Keith</b> told the Tracker that an ICE agent raised his baton at her as she was <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DY30p5QjqZE/\">photographing him</a>. “He lifted up the baton like he was going to bring it down like straight smack down on the top of my head.”</li><li data-block-key=\"a6660\">Photojournalist <b>Ryan Murphy</b>, on assignment for Reuters, told the Tracker that he was caught up in pepper spray fired into the crowd by ICE officers. Also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-with-baton-doused-with-irritant-at-new-jersey-protest/\">that day</a>, he was hit with a police baton and deliberately sprayed with the chemical irritant.</li><li data-block-key=\"ft66q\">Photojournalist <b>Cristina Panagi</b> told the Tracker that pepper spray fired into the crowd by ICE seeped beneath her protective goggles and caused her forehead to burn. Also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pushed-by-ice-officer-at-new-jersey-immigration-protest/\">that day</a>, she was pushed by an ICE officer.</li><li data-block-key=\"9s5v3\">Videographer <b>Theoren Papp, </b>of Level 12 Productions, told the Tracker that he was affected by pepper spray deployed by ICE. “It got in my eyes pretty decently,” said Papp, who doesn’t think the irritant was aimed at him, though he had to briefly shut down his livestream to recover.</li><li data-block-key=\"6d3d3\">Independent reporter <b>Yaakov Strasberg</b> told the Tracker that he was affected by pepper spray fired by federal officers that still lingered in the air. </li><li data-block-key=\"fjfec\">An <b>anonymous photojournalist</b> was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-camera-targeted-with-pepper-spray-by-federal-officer/\">targeted with pepper spray</a> by federal officers, who aimed the chemical irritant directly at the photographer’s camera.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"xyezg\"><b>May 28, 2026</b></h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"aqaeb\">Photojournalist <b>Mostafa Bassim</b> of Turkey’s Anadolu Agency told the Tracker that he was affected by chemical irritants sprayed indiscriminately by ICE officers outside the facility. He added that as soon as he arrived at the detention center, federal officers began shining high-powered lights directly at him. Later that day, an officer struck Bassim’s camera with a baton, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-with-baton-lens-destroyed-at-new-jersey-protest/\">splitting his lens in half</a>.</li><li data-block-key=\"1q9cv\">Photojournalist <b>David “Dee” Delgado</b> told the Tracker that he was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-pushed-hit-with-pepper-spray-at-new-jersey-immigration-protest/\">targeted with pepper-spray</a> by a federal officer and told by another officer that he followed him on Instagram. “It felt like it was more of a threat than anything,” he told the Tracker.</li><li data-block-key=\"9q6nc\">Photojournalist <b>Angelina Katsanis</b>, on assignment for The Associated Press, was pepper-sprayed in the face by an ICE officer while documenting the protests, according to an <a href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-angelina-after-delaney-hall-attack?attribution_id=sl:492f8edf-c415-4087-bac1-bd07e2c1ca8e&lang=en_US&ts=1780260895&utm_campaign=man_sharesheet_dash&utm_content=amp17_td-amp20_t1&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link\">online fundraiser posted on her behalf</a>. Two days later, she was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-with-wooden-board-while-covering-new-jersey-protest/\">hit in the knee with a wooden board</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-equipment-stolen-after-injury-at-new-jersey-protest/\">had her gear bag stolen by a police officer</a> while covering the protests.</li><li data-block-key=\"5kevl\">Photojournalist <b>Stephanie Keith</b> told the Tracker she was hit with an irritant that ICE deployed into the crowd. “It was like a garden hose worth of pepper spray on everybody.”</li><li data-block-key=\"bm1t0\">Independent photographer <b>Graham MacIndoe</b> told the Tracker that as he was documenting the protest, an ICE officer doused him with pepper spray that he fired indiscriminately. “I had goggles on and a mask, but that stuff goes everywhere,” he said. An ICE officer also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-hit-with-baton-by-federal-officer-at-new-jersey-protest/\">struck him in the chest</a> with a baton that night.</li><li data-block-key=\"3h4fo\"><b>Dean Moses</b>, amNewYork’s police bureau chief and resident photographer, was struck by pepper spray fired by an ICE officer, the outlet <a href=\"https://www.amny.com/news/delaney-hall-ice-agents-beat-protesters-05282026/\">reported</a>. Moses told the Tracker that it was “very hard to know for sure” whether the officer targeted him as a member of the press. “It was so chaotic.”</li><li data-block-key=\"595kc\">Photojournalist <b>Ryan Murphy</b>, on assignment for Reuters, told the Tracker that an ICE officer pointed a Taser directly at him. Also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-requires-stitches-after-baton-strike-at-new-jersey-protest/\">that day</a>, he was hit in the hand with a baton, needing stitches.</li><li data-block-key=\"g0js\">Independent reporter <b>Nick Valencia</b> told the Tracker that he received a notification that an Apple AirTag, a type of tracking device, had been traveling with him while documenting the protest. “I should not have my footsteps tracked for six hours unless someone was doing something nefarious,” said Valencia, who never found a physical AirTag on his person.</li><li data-block-key=\"4g7n2\"><b>Cristina Panagi</b>, an independent photojournalist, told the Tracker that she was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pepper-sprayed-by-ice-at-new-jersey-immigration-protest/\">pepper-sprayed</a> by a federal officer while covering the demonstration.</li><li data-block-key=\"59oog\">Freelance photojournalist <b>Ian Peters</b> told the Tracker that ICE agents flashed their flashlights at his camera while he was taking pictures.</li><li data-block-key=\"f19pk\"><b>Christian Vazquez</b> told the Tracker that while documenting the protest in the afternoon, an ICE agent pushed a protester into him, and he suffered a minor scrape. In the evening, he was exposed to chemical irritants that ICE agents fired “randomly.” He said the irritant got through a hole in his goggles and hit his left eye, and that he was treated by medics who flushed his eyes, as <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DY7sQuuFuQw/?img_index=11\">captured</a> by photographer Graham MacIndoe. He <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DY52QE8oyCR/\">described</a> that experience in a video posted on Instagram.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-instagram block-instagram\"><div class=\"instagram-embed\">\n\t<div>\n <blockquote\n\tclass=\"instagram-media\"\n\tdata-instgrm-permalink=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DY52QE8oyCR/?utm_source=ig_embed\"\n\tdata-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n\t<a class=\"btn btn-secondary\" href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DY52QE8oyCR\">View post on Instagram</a>\n</blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://www.instagram.com/embed.js\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"xyezg\"><b>Stephen Yang</b>, on assignment for the New York Post, told the Tracker he was also affected by the chemical irritant. “I’m still getting the pepper spray out of my equipment and clothes and bag.”</li><li data-block-key=\"84r9f\">An <b>anonymous photojournalist</b> told the Tracker they were sprayed with a chemical irritant while covering the protest that night, but could not say whether it was targeted. Later that night, a federal officer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-with-baton-flash-damaged-by-federal-officer/\">struck the photojournalist’s camera</a> with a baton, smashing its flash transmitter.</li></ul><h4 data-block-key=\"89l7u\"><b>May 29, 2026</b></h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"321i3\">New Jersey State Police ordered a three-member WNBC television news crew — reporter <b>Checkey Beckford</b> and two photojournalists wearing press credentials — out of their marked news vehicle and into a cloud of tear gas, Beckford <a href=\"https://www.nbcnewyork.com/new-jersey/delaney-hall-protest-news-crew-tear-gas/6507083/\">reported</a>. The police <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/state-police-pull-photographer-from-news-car-during-new-jersey-protest/\">pulled</a> one of the photojournalists out of the car.</li><li data-block-key=\"9oiqq\">Independent reporter <b>Nick Valencia</b> told the Tracker that strong chemical irritants seeped under his gas mask and caused him to violently choke, <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/reel/1512186563706376\">which he captured on Facebook</a>. He said state police also pointed their crowd-control munition launchers at him, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-knocked-down-by-police-fired-at-with-flash-bang-at-new-jersey-protest/\">fired a flash bang at him and pushed him</a>.</li><li data-block-key=\"1joae\"><b>Stephen Yang</b>, on assignment for the New York Post, said that he was affected by tear gas deployed by law enforcement while documenting the protest. “The tear gas certainly was very effective at stopping me from doing my job intermittently throughout that night.”</li></ul><h4 data-block-key=\"ceghv\"><b>May 30, 2026</b></h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"6s8s9\"><b>Graham MacIndoe</b> told the Tracker that he was documenting the New Jersey State Police responding to the protest when he was hit with a chemical irritant. “In the melee, my mask came off,” he said, “So I was blinded. It was terrible.” He added that the state police were firing pepper balls and flash grenades in front of the crowd, and tear gas behind them, “backing us into the tear gas.” He described the scene as “like a war zone.”</li><li data-block-key=\"6b35c\"><b>Christian Vazquez</b> told the Tracker that he was reporting as New Jersey State Police in riot gear responded to the protest in the late evening, and the situation “went from zero to 100 real quick.” The police fired chemical irritants to disperse protesters, and even though he was standing back and wearing goggles and a KN95 mask, the gas got into his airway and he started coughing. He said he was <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DY_H0U2Nfvr/\">forced</a> to flee the scene. “They didn’t care who they were aiming at,” he said. “They didn’t give any warning to disperse. It just happened.”</li></ul><h4 data-block-key=\"eivp1\"><b>May 31, 2026</b></h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"16tl\">Journalists<b> Jordan Chariton, Jon Farina, Josh Pacheco, David Snow </b>and <b>Stephen Yang </b>told the Tracker they were caught up in a police kettle, unable to leave, for roughly 10 minutes before officers announced that credentialed press had one chance to leave or face arrest. Officers arrested <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-05-31&date_upper=2026-05-31&city=newark&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">at least three journalists</a> from the kettle.</li></ul></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-instagram block-instagram\"><div class=\"instagram-embed\">\n\t<div>\n <blockquote\n\tclass=\"instagram-media\"\n\tdata-instgrm-permalink=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DZBpBiJu-Zs/?utm_source=ig_embed\"\n\tdata-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n\t<a class=\"btn btn-secondary\" href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DZBpBiJu-Zs\">View post on Instagram</a>\n</blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://www.instagram.com/embed.js\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><ul><li data-block-key=\"s0bt\"><b>Yang</b>, on assignment for the New York Post, told the Tracker that law enforcement blocked him and other members of the press from freely covering the protest for about 20 minutes. “They held us at a distance to where we could not see what was going on,” he said. “They’ll say it’s for safety, but really what they’re doing is they’re restricting press access.”</li></ul><h4 data-block-key=\"8vdo0\"><b>June 2, 2026</b></h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"e64en\">Reporter <b>Jessica Formoso</b> <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok7_CXMl6FU\">reported</a> that she and her WNYW news crew were harassed and insulted by a man while reporting from outside Delaney Hall ahead of the Newark mayor’s news conference.</li></ul><h4 data-block-key=\"6n6it\"><b>June 5, 2026</b></h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"tjo\">Freelance photojournalist <b>Ian Peters</b> told the Tracker he was affected by pepper spray fired by employees of The GEO Group, the operator of the private detention facility. “It was just spicy,” he said of the irritant, which got in his eyes and mouth.</li><li data-block-key=\"ci3e3\">Videographer <b>David Snow</b> told the Tracker he was affected by pepper spray fired into the air by The GEO Group. “They were just carelessly spraying it as they were exiting the facility in their vehicles,” said Snow, who was coughing and had difficulty breathing and seeing for several minutes. Later, Newark police blocked him from reentering the protest with his camera bag and gas mask.</li></ul><h4 data-block-key=\"3vvmm\"><b>June 7, 2026</b></h4><ul><li data-block-key=\"c4hre\">Freelance photojournalist <b>Ian Peters</b> told the Tracker that Newark police looked inside his camera bag and blocked him from carrying his gas mask into the demonstration. Officers also blocked <b>Snow</b> from bringing in a camera and asked to search his bag, but he told the Tracker he did not comply with the search. “They’re specifically targeting PPE, which is a defense,” Snow said, referring to personal protective equipment. Also that day, he was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/videographer-pushed-down-by-officer-at-new-jersey-immigration-protest/\">shoved by a Newark police officer</a>.</li></ul></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"iktlk\">Federal agents armed with crowd-control weapons aim at protesters outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center during a demonstration on May 29, 2026, in Newark, New Jersey.</p>",
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"state": {
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"targeted_institutions": [
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"Department of Homeland Security",
"immigration",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
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],
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},
{
"title": "Trump targets news media, punishing critical coverage of his second term",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-targets-news-media-punishing-critical-coverage-of-his-second-term/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-28T20:16:43.455000Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-05-28T20:32:45.927618Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-05-28T20:32:45.798941Z",
"date": "2026-05-15",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f2qh8\">President Donald Trump and his administration are continuing to take steps in his second term to punish and intimidate news outlets covering them unfavorably. We’re documenting Trump’s direct actions and public statements in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"9c5k2\">Trump’s social media posts denigrating the media are being catalogued separately in our ongoing project, the <a href=\"https://taps.pressfreedomtracker.us/\">Trump Anti-Press Social Media Tracker</a>. Read about Trump’s efforts in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-administration-allies-move-to-punish-outlets-during-first-weeks-in-office/\">2025</a>, and how his appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"b2rcv\"><i>This article was first published on May 28, 2026.</i></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f2qh8\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"esvrn\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 15\">May 15, 2026 | Trump calls journalists’ reporting on Iran war ‘treasonous’</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 6\">April 6, 2026 | Trump says news outlet must identify source or ‘go to jail’</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f2qh8\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"3vd46\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><a id=\"May 15\" name=\"May 15\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"f2qh8\">May 15, 2026 | Trump calls journalists’ reporting on Iran war ‘treasonous’</h4><p data-block-key=\"bkhgk\">President Donald Trump accused David Sanger — a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times — and others of treason for their coverage of the Iran war during a press gaggle on Air Force One on May 15, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"9nu97\">Trump, who was returning from a series of meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, held an informal press gaggle on the plane. In <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d33H5BImAI8\">footage</a> posted by Forbes, Sanger is heard asking the president what could be gained by resuming a bombing campaign against Iran.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ptbo\">“I had a total military victory. But the fake news, guys like you, write it incorrectly. You’re a fake guy and guys like you write about it incorrectly,” Trump responds. “We’ve had a total victory except by people like you that don’t write the truth. You know, you should write … I actually think it’s sort of treasonous what you write. But you and The New York Times and CNN, I would say, are the worst.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9j8sf\">As another journalist begins to ask a question, Trump turns back to Sanger, addressing him as David, and says that the reporter just writes what his editors tell him to, that he should be ashamed and that the reporting amounts to treason.</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-video block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.49999999999999%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/d33H5BImAI8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen title=\"Trump Accuses Reporters To Their Faces Of 'Treason' For Their Coverage Of The Iran War\"></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f2qh8\">Sanger defended his reporting and the importance of the new media generally during an <a href=\"https://x.com/kaitlancollins/status/2055460965500567761\">appearance on CNN</a> later that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"9hqvk\">“We all know what this is about: It’s an effort to intimidate news organizations into not doing the reporting,” Sanger told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “The president seems to conflate news he doesn’t want to hear with treason, and that’s not the case.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7json\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/NYTimesPR/status/2055372950035939766\">statement</a> posted to social media, Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander defended the newspaper’s coverage.</p><p data-block-key=\"9hjeg\">“Reporting isn’t treason. It’s foundational to a free press and the work that America’s founders wrote the First Amendment to protect,” he said. “That includes making clear when the claims of government officials and the reality of their actions don’t line up.”</p><p data-block-key=\"19equ\">The incident came just days after The Wall Street Journal <a href=\"https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trumps-complaints-about-iran-war-leaks-prompt-aggressive-doj-investigations-b5d31c13\">reported</a> that Trump had complained in April to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about leaks concerning the Iran war, and in one meeting passed a stack of news articles to Blanche with a sticky note that read “treason.”</p><p data-block-key=\"demg2\">The newspaper also revealed that it and other news outlets were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/doj-subpoenas-wall-street-journal-amid-internal-leak-investigation/\">issued subpoenas</a> earlier this year as part of ongoing leak investigations, and that Blanche had vowed to secure such legal orders for the records of journalists working on sensitive national security stories.</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"April 6\" name=\"April 6\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"f2qh8\">April 6, 2026 | Trump says news outlet must identify source or ‘go to jail’</h4><p data-block-key=\"djlil\">President Donald Trump vowed to investigate the source behind a leak concerning the downing of a U.S. fighter jet by Iran during a news conference on April 6, 2026, adding that he would not hesitate to take action against the media outlet that published the information.</p><p data-block-key=\"8vu4e\">The F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran April 3, and while the pilot was quickly rescued, the weapons systems officer could not be immediately located, triggering a frantic two-day search to find him before Iranian forces did. The incidents were covered by <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/us/politics/us-fighter-jet-iran.html\">multiple</a> <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/04/03/f-15-crash-iran-missing/\">national</a> <a href=\"https://www.axios.com/2026/04/03/iran-us-fighter-shot-down\">and</a> <a href=\"https://x.com/N12News/status/2040123744799141937\">international</a> <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-fighter-jet-shot-down-over-iran-search-underway-crew-us-official-says-2026-04-03/\">newsrooms</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"5e3cg\">Trump asserted that news reporting on the incident endangered the airman and others, and that the administration would approach the unnamed outlet that had published it as part of ongoing efforts to identify the leaker, The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/business/media/trump-jail-journalists-fighter-crew.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1bobr\">“We’re going to go to the media company that released it,” Trump said, “and we’re going to say, ‘National security — give it up or go to jail.’ And we know who, and you know who, we’re talking about.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9fmu3\">The White House did not clarify which news outlet the president was referring to, the Times reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"b91j6\">Gabe Rottman, vice president of policy at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the Times he was not aware of another instance of a president issuing such a threat.</p><p data-block-key=\"fll13\">“During times of armed conflict in a democracy,” Rottman said in a statement, “it is essential that the press be able to gather and report information in the public interest and thus provide an independent check on the official government narrative.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html 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/2026-05-21T164319Z_798006995_RC2S.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cmvxh\">President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement at the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 21, 2026.</p>",
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"CNN",
"Media",
"The New York Times"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
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"David Sanger (The New York Times)"
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},
{
"title": "Todd Blanche targets press, leakers as acting attorney general",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/todd-blanche-targets-press-leakers-as-acting-attorney-general/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-15T17:53:11.227807Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-05-15T17:53:11.227807Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-05-15T17:51:44.383357Z",
"date": "2026-05-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f7fjk\">As President Donald Trump’s second term continued in 2026, he removed <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pam-bondi-targets-journalists-leakers-as-us-attorney-general/\">Pam Bondi</a> as attorney general. Her deputy, now acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, joined Trump in efforts to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered Trump and his administration critically. We’re documenting Blanche’s efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"eb0qq\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"e754c\"><i>This article was first published on May 15, 2026.</i></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f7fjk\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"d93s\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 12\">May 12, 2026 | Acting attorney general defends DOJ subpoenas to WSJ, others</a></p>\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 7\">April 7, 2026 | Acting attorney general willing to subpoena journalists in leak investigations</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f7fjk\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"d93s\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><a id=\"May 12\" name=\"May 12\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"f7fjk\">May 12, 2026 | Acting attorney general defends DOJ subpoenas to WSJ, others</h4><p data-block-key=\"p6id\">Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the issuing of federal subpoenas to The Wall Street Journal as part of a leak investigation, after the legal orders were made public on May 11, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"7s95r\">In a May 12 social media post, Blanche <a href=\"https://x.com/DAGToddBlanche/status/2054197699486908639\">wrote</a>, “Prosecuting leakers who share our nation’s secrets with reporters, in turn risking our national security and the lives of our soldiers, is a priority for this administration.</p><p data-block-key=\"d7qvc\">“Any witness, whether a reporter or otherwise, who has information about these criminals should not be surprised if they receive a subpoena about the illegal leaking of classified material,” he continued.</p><p data-block-key=\"f7977\">A Justice Department official <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/justice-department-wall-street-journal-subpoenas/\">emphasized to CBS News</a> the same day that the subpoenas were issued as part of an investigation into the source behind the leaks, not the journalists themselves.</p><p data-block-key=\"daqon\">Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project, <a href=\"https://freedom.press/issues/national-security-lies-fuel-wall-street-journal-probe/\">condemned</a> the subpoenas and the use of “national security” as justification.</p><p data-block-key=\"auj8c\">“These subpoenas are a direct threat to the public’s right to know, and the Journal is correct to fight them,” FPF Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern said. “Since the Department of Justice has abandoned the First Amendment, it’s up to the courts to restrain the government’s attempts to crush investigative journalism.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cj4b3\">The subpoenas to the Journal are just the latest instance of the news media being caught up in or deliberately targeted in federal investigations since then-Attorney General Pam Bondi <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pam-bondi-targets-journalists-leakers-as-us-attorney-general/#April%2025\">rescinded Biden-era protections</a> for journalists in April 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"ahqkq\">Earlier this year, the DOJ <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/washington-post-subpoenaed-as-part-of-doj-leak-investigation/\">subpoenaed</a> The Washington Post, and the FBI <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/washington-post-reporters-home-searched-by-fbi-devices-seized/\">executed a search warrant</a> at the home of its reporter, Hannah Natanson, seizing her equipment. Independent photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fbi-questions-oregon-photographer-about-protesters-identities/\">Robert Scherle</a> was questioned by two FBI agents at his home seeking information about protesters. And FBI Director Kash Patel has reportedly ordered investigations into <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fbi-director-kash-patel-targets-press/#Feb%2028\">two</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fbi-director-kash-patel-targets-press/#May%206\">reporters</a> following unfavorable coverage.</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"April 7\" name=\"April 7\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"f7fjk\">April 7, 2026 | Acting attorney general willing to subpoena journalists in leak investigations</h4><p data-block-key=\"fpi77\">During his first press briefing as acting attorney general on April 7, 2026, Todd Blanche said he would not hesitate to subpoena members of the press to uncover sources behind leaks of classified information.</p><p data-block-key=\"31aph\">The previous day, President Donald Trump vowed to investigate the source behind a leak concerning the downing of a U.S. fighter jet by Iran.</p><p data-block-key=\"ch61v\">“We’re going to go to the media company that released it,” Trump said, “and we’re going to say, ‘National security — give it up or go to jail.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"1so1d\">When asked about Trump’s <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/business/media/trump-jail-journalists-fighter-crew.html\">comments</a>, Blanche <a href=\"https://www.c-span.org/program/news-conference/acting-attorney-general-todd-blanche-announces-developments-in-federal-fraud-cases/676945\">said</a> that classified information leaks will always be investigated.</p><p data-block-key=\"lc80\">“If that means sending a subpoena to the reporter, that’s exactly what we should do, and that’s exactly what we will be doing,” Blanche said. “If it means doing regular investigations to identify who within the government feels like it’s OK to leak classified information, to put lives at risk, then we’ll try to root him or her out as well.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html 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/2026-04-29T204145Z_1143287252_RC2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"jrlkd\">Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche at a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., on April 29, 2026.</p>",
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"name": "District of Columbia",
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},
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [
"Department of Justice"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"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": "2026-05-13T14:36:25.863121Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-06-16T15:37:58.001624Z",
"date": "2026-05-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text 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></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"g23md\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"2shan\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 7\">May 7, 2026 | Patel orders polygraphs for his security detail, other staff <i>(updated)</i></a></p>\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 6\">May 6, 2026 | FBI investigates reporter who wrote about Patel’s alleged excess drinking <i>(updated)</i></a></p>\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 20\">April 20, 2026 | Patel sues The Atlantic for defamation</a></p>\r\n<p><a href=\"#Feb 28\">Feb. 28, 2026 | FBI investigates reporter who wrote about Patel’s girlfriend</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j0t80\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"fu1kb\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><a id=\"May 7\" name=\"May 7\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"nubk3\">May 7, 2026 | Patel orders polygraphs for his security detail, other staff <i>(updated May 2026)</i></h4><p data-block-key=\"5o3mf\">FBI Director Kash Patel has ordered polygraphs for more than two dozen members of his security detail and other staff as part of his quest to unmask those who’ve spoken with the press, MS NOW <a href=\"https://www.ms.now/news/kash-patel-ordered-polygraphs-of-more-than-two-dozen-members-of-his-team-sources-tell-ms-now\">reported</a> on May 7, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"6t9kr\">Following an April 17 <a href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/04/kash-patel-fbi-director-drinking-absences/686839/\">article</a> by Atlantic reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick on Patel’s alleged excessive drinking, erratic behavior and absences from the agency’s headquarters, the FBI director has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fbi-director-kash-patel-targets-press/#April%2020\">sued</a> the magazine and Fitzpatrick, and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fbi-director-kash-patel-targets-press/#May%206\">opened an investigation</a> into her.</p><p data-block-key=\"9khb6\">According to MS NOW, Patel has also isolated himself from some senior bureau leaders. FBI spokesman Ben Williamson disputed those claims, telling MS NOW Patel has been regularly meeting with operational leaders. Williamson declined to comment, however, on whether Patel ordered polygraphs.</p><p data-block-key=\"fvp62\">During a hearing before the U.S. Senate on May 12, Patel vehemently <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKj-MqYPpUI\">denied</a> allegations about his conduct and that he had subordinates sit for polygraph examinations over the recent reports. “I don’t order any polygraph tests,” he insisted.</p><p data-block-key=\"4k0o0\">The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/us/politics/kash-patel-hearing-fbi-drinking.html\">reported</a> that multiple people familiar with recent polygraphs and internal investigations said that they were ordered by the director.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ara\">Patel had <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kash-patel-targets-press-leakers-as-fbi-director/#April%2028\">previously announced</a> the use of polygraphs to identify the sources behind leaks to the media in April 2025, and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tulsi-gabbard-targets-press-leakers-as-national-intelligence-director/#March%2014\">similar efforts</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/#March%2021\">have been</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kristi-noem-targets-press-leakers-as-homeland-security-secretary/#May%2020\">undertaken</a> by other agency heads.</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html 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><a id=\"May 6\" name=\"May 6\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"rxrxm\">May 6, 2026 | FBI investigates reporter who wrote about Patel’s alleged excess drinking <i>(updated May 2026)</i></h4><p data-block-key=\"5bomc\">The FBI is conducting a criminal leak investigation focused on Atlantic journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick, <a href=\"https://www.ms.now/news/fbi-investigating-leaks-to-journalist-who-wrote-explosive-article-on-kash-patel-sources\">MS NOW reported</a> on May 6, 2026, following her exclusive reporting on Director Kash Patel’s alleged excessive drinking, erratic behavior and absences from the agency’s headquarters.</p><p data-block-key=\"4l8i9\">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=\"6nvh3\">Patel <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73213220/1/patel-v-the-atlantic-monthly-group-llc/\">sued</a> The Atlantic and Fitzpatrick for defamation April 20, claiming that the article’s allegations were “designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office,” and demanding $250 million in damages.</p><p data-block-key=\"394m6\">MS NOW reported that two sources close to the matter confirmed that an investigation focusing on Fitzpatrick was underway, but during a hearing before the U.S. Senate on May 12, Patel vehemently <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/05/12/kash-patel-senate-hearing-drinking-updates--live/90027796007/#glc90049384007\">denied</a> its existence.</p><p data-block-key=\"cd1n6\">“I can tell you unequivocally, this FBI is targeting and investigating no journalists,” Patel said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5s8gp\">Such an investigation could enable federal agents to obtain her phone records, examine her social media networks and run her name through the bureau’s databases.</p><p data-block-key=\"1qvms\">In an email to subscribers, Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg wrote that such an investigation, if true, would be disturbing. But, he added, the magazine will defend itself and its staff vigorously.</p><p data-block-key=\"85qtk\">“We will not be intimidated by illegitimate investigations or other acts of politically motivated retaliation; we will continue to cover the FBI professionally, fairly, and thoroughly; and we will continue to practice journalism in the public interest,” Goldberg continued.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ckhr\">“This isn’t our first rodeo. We’ve faced extraordinary government pressure, and Trump-administration calumny, before. We live in a period in which some media organizations buckle under government pressure. I promise you that we will never give in. If a story is true, we will publish it.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"April 20\" name=\"April 20\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"j0t80\">April 20, 2026 | Patel sues The Atlantic for defamation</h4><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=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"Feb 28\" name=\"Feb 28\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"pab1u\">Feb. 28, 2026 | FBI investigates reporter who wrote about Patel’s girlfriend</h4><p data-block-key=\"3lqb1\">The FBI investigated New York Times reporter Elizabeth Williamson after she published a report on Feb. 28, 2026, that the agency’s director, Kash Patel, had provided unprecedented transportation and security resources for his girlfriend.</p><p data-block-key=\"bt8r5\">FBI agents searched databases for information on Williamson and recommended further investigation to determine whether she had broken federal stalking laws while reporting the story, the Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/us/politics/fbi-times-reporter.html\">reported</a> April 22.</p><p data-block-key=\"12r3o\">Justice Department officials, however, “determined there was no legal basis to proceed with the investigation,” and the FBI dropped the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"20o3s\">Williamson had reported that Patel’s girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, has been assigned an escort of SWAT personnel and that “Mr. Patel’s demand that rotating SWAT teams provide his girlfriend with security for singing appearances, personal engagements and errands is unprecedented in the F.B.I.”</p><p data-block-key=\"64dbu\">The day the article was published, Wilkins received a threatening, anonymous email, which she forwarded to the FBI, the Times wrote. The email’s alleged sender was later criminally prosecuted and said they had sent the email after reading Williamson’s article, according to an affidavit in the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"1lt5b\">The FBI then interviewed Wilkins, who said she felt “harassed” by Williamson’s reporting, which had involved reaching out to numerous people who knew her. Agents then launched the investigation into Williamson, citing laws against stalking and threats as justification.</p><p data-block-key=\"5m6kf\">Times Executive Editor Joseph Kahn called the investigation “alarming,” telling the paper, “The F.B.I.’s attempt to criminalize routine reporting is a blatant violation of Elizabeth’s First Amendment rights and another attempt by this administration to prevent journalists from scrutinizing its actions.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html 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": "",
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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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{
"title": "Utah politician knocks phone from reporter’s hand amid data center controversy",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/utah-politician-knocks-phone-from-reporters-hand-amid-data-center-controversy/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-12T17:10:10.562545Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-05-12T17:10:10.562545Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-05-12T17:10:10.470926Z",
"date": "2026-05-06",
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"city": "Layton",
"longitude": -111.97105,
"latitude": 41.06022,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5gvd6\">State Sen. Jerry Stevenson smacked KTVX/KUCW reporter Bayan Wang’s phone out of his hand as Wang was working on a story related to a data center project in Layton, Utah, on May 6, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"69kt1\">The <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/09/tech/ai-data-center-utah-kevin-oleary-opposition\">artificial intelligence data center development</a> was approved by Utah’s Box Elder County Commission on May 4. Stevenson, a Republican, sits on the board of Utah’s Military Installation Development Authority, which was created by the legislature to develop land to support defense-related infrastructure and which backed the data center project, KTVX <a href=\"https://www.abc4.com/news/digital-exclusives/reporter-jj-nursery-utah-senator-jerry-stevenson-box-elder-county-data-center/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1n9ou\">Opponents of the project <a href=\"https://www.abc4.com/news/northern-utah/community-reacts-data-center-box-elder/\">expressed</a> concern about the potential environmental impact and apparent lack of consultation with the local community. A social media post called for a boycott of J&J Nursery and Garden Center in Layton, a business co-founded by Stevenson, and some employees told KTVX that they had been harassed.</p><p data-block-key=\"6q6ui\">Wang, who said he was informed by a Utah Senate staff member that Stevenson was not available for comment on the story, went to J&J Nursery on May 6 seeking to speak to employees about the alleged harassment, according to a <a href=\"https://www.abc4.com/news/digital-exclusives/reporter-jj-nursery-utah-senator-jerry-stevenson-box-elder-county-data-center/\">report</a> published by the station.</p><p data-block-key=\"981r4\">“While Wang was in his vehicle in the nursery’s parking lot, he noticed a man screaming at his photographer, who was outside his news vehicle without a camera in hand,” KTVX reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"crrhi\">The reporter then approached the two individuals to find out what was happening, and tried to tell the senator that he had been in touch with staff at the nursery. Wang said Stevenson, who was wearing a Utah Senate jacket, refused to identify himself as a Utah state senator when asked.</p><p data-block-key=\"87h9t\">The reporter said he told Stevenson about the story they were working on, then took out his cellphone and started recording.</p><p data-block-key=\"8l95k\">In a video of the encounter posted by the station, Stevenson is shown asking Wang to leave, saying, “Just get your butt out of here.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3d5nd\">“Why are you being hostile to us?” Wang asked.</p><p data-block-key=\"12inb\">“Because I am tired of you,” Stevenson replied as he walked toward the reporter. He then swung his hand toward Wang, hitting the reporter’s hand and phone. Wang said his phone was knocked out of his hand onto the cement parking lot.</p><p data-block-key=\"3i5g4\">After the incident, Layton police arrived, saying they had been called by a witness reporting possible disorderly conduct by three individuals, according to KTVX. Wang showed the officer the video of the encounter.</p><p data-block-key=\"b674v\">Wang also confirmed to the officer that his phone had been damaged when it fell to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"8e5oe\">Shortly after, according to Wang, officers told him that Stevenson apologized for the incident, but still did not wish to speak with them.</p><p data-block-key=\"fqq1p\">The police also issued the KTVX crew a trespassing notice for J&J Nursery, which is private property. The Salt Lake Tribune, citing an interview with a Layton police officer, <a href=\"https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2026/05/08/police-investigating-confrontation/\">reported</a> that Stevenson had asked law enforcement to issue the notice, which is not a charge or a citation, “but a warning that if they return, they could face criminal charges.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6trb6\">Nancy Bauer, news director for KTVX/KUCW, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the news crew did not go to J&J Nursery with the intention of interviewing Stevenson, adding, “What you see on video was an unplanned encounter after Stevenson approached our team in the parking lot.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dl729\">She said the station “accepts the senator’s apology and intends to respect the trespassing warning issued at that time.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8u81l\">She added, “Bayan Wang is declining to press charges against the senator at this time.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e27t6\">Stevenson did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"vypv0\">Utah state Sen. Jerry Stevenson confronts KTVX/KUCW reporter Bayan Wang on May 6, 2026, outside a business Stevenson owns in Layton, Utah. Moments later, the lawmaker knocked to the ground the phone Wang was using to film the interaction.</p>",
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{
"title": "Andrea Lucas targets news media as equal employment opportunity chair",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/andrea-lucas-targets-news-media-as-equal-employment-opportunity-chair/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-08T16:31:27.345088Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8qzfs\">As President Donald Trump’s second term continued in 2026, his Equal Employment Opportunity Commission chair, Andrea Lucas, used her office to further Trump’s efforts to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered him and his administration critically. We’re documenting her efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"2trv6\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"andha\"><i>This article was first published on May 8, 2026.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"6van7\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 5\">May 5, 2026 | EEOC files lawsuit alleging discriminatory hiring practices at NYT</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8qzfs\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"a5fer\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><a id=\"May 5\" name=\"May 5\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"8qzfs\">May 5, 2026 | EEOC files lawsuit alleging discriminatory hiring practices at NYT</h4><p data-block-key=\"b9mr6\">The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued The New York Times on May 5, 2026, following a monthslong investigation led by Chair Andrea Lucas over the newspaper’s alleged discrimination against a white male employee.</p><p data-block-key=\"121ri\">The <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.663349/gov.uscourts.nysd.663349.1.0.pdf\">complaint</a> asserts that the Times’ diversity goals and production of annual diversity and inclusion reports demonstrate an institutional practice of discrimination against white men.</p><p data-block-key=\"dj47j\">In a social media post <a href=\"https://x.com/USEEOC/status/2051776336432099375\">announcing</a> the suit, the EEOC highlighted that a “qualified white male employee was excluded from final interviews” while only non-white males were selected, and that the role went to another candidate “with less relevant experience.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5vre3\">“No one is above the law — including ‘elite’ institutions,” Lucas said in a statement. “No matter the size or power of the employer, the EEOC under my leadership will not pull punches in ensuring evenhanded, colorblind enforcement of Title VII to protect America’s workers, including white males.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d0jj5\">Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/03/business/economy/eeoc-discrimination-claim-new-york-times.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-share\">called</a> the allegations “politically motivated,” asserting that they represent just the latest effort to leverage the tools of the federal government to pursue President Donald Trump’s personal aims.</p><p data-block-key=\"2m3t\">“Throughout this process, the E.E.O.C. deviated from standard practices in highly unusual ways, blatantly weaponizing a traditionally independent government body to serve a predetermined narrative,” Rhoades Ha told the Times. “We will defend ourselves and our values vigorously as there is not a single piece of evidence to support any claim of discrimination.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bb87v\">Kalpana Kotagal, the sole Democrat on the commission, voted against authorizing the lawsuit. In a <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kalpana-kotagal-26998b72_i-voted-against-authorizing-litigation-against-share-7457508684823212033-fCb_/\">post on social media</a>, she argued that a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility alone is not evidence of discrimination.</p><p data-block-key=\"511q2\">“These programs are critical to building and maintaining successful workplaces as well as attracting and retaining top talent,” Kotagal wrote. “I fear this litigation is driven not by the merits, but by a desire to advance the administration’s political agenda, which weakens civil rights protections for workers and undermines employer efforts to advance equal employment opportunity.</p><p data-block-key=\"2uhsl\">“Notably, this litigation is filed on the heels of New York Times reporting on the weaponization of the agency, and the diversion of limited resources toward cases that align with the administration’s priorities,” she added.</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-raw_html block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-12-18T213031Z_452698786_RC26.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ubcqd\">U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea Lucas in her office in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 18, 2025.</p>",
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"The New York Times"
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{
"title": "Journalist held in NYPD kettle while covering protest near synagogue",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-held-in-nypd-kettle-while-covering-protest-near-synagogue/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-21T18:55:51.921423Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-05-21T18:55:51.921423Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-05-21T18:55:51.819268Z",
"date": "2026-05-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"d6tsp\">Multimedia journalist A.B. Youssef was held in a police kettle while covering a protest in New York, New York, on May 5, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"ek1u\">The <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/nyregion/nyc-synagogue-protests-israel-real-estate.html\">protest</a> was taking place near a synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that was holding an event to promote real estate sales in Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the latter of which are widely believed to <a href=\"https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2019/01/chapter-3-israeli-settlements-and-international-law/\">violate</a> international law.</p><p data-block-key=\"9qgb9\">The New York City Police Department formed a buffer zone around the synagogue, prohibiting access to the block it was located on and directing pro-Palestinian and a smaller group of pro-Israel protesters, as well as press, onto surrounding avenues, according to <a href=\"https://www.amny.com/news/protest-synagogue-manhattan-nypd-strategy/\">news reports</a> and journalists who spoke to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"v65h\">Youssef told the Tracker that he and other journalists were documenting NYPD officers blocking off a sidewalk with metal barricades and pushing protesters back. The officers then formed a circle around the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-05-05&date_upper=2026-05-05&state=New+York&tags=kettle\">group of press</a> with the barricades and told them they couldn’t leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"ddn52\">“I was telling them, ‘You can’t lock us in here,’” he said. “And they just didn’t care.” He said he was wearing his New York City press credential and holding his camera gear, adding that many of the officers saw him often and knew who he was.</p><p data-block-key=\"bequ2\">Video posted on social media by two other journalists who were in the kettle, <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/taliajane.bsky.social/post/3ml5hzfbnu22d\">Talia Ben-Ora</a> and <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYAQhgfuqy4/\">Neil Constantine</a>, shows uniformed police and plainclothes public information officers placing metal barricades around a group of press, separating them from the area where the NYPD was pushing protesters back.</p><p data-block-key=\"4t1i7\">Youssef said the NYPD didn’t explain why they were penning them in, and gave conflicting instructions.</p><p data-block-key=\"a3nuj\">“They were saying, ‘Go out that way.’ And I said, ‘Where? That way is blocked too.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"do160\">He said he was kept in that area for at least 10 minutes.</p><p data-block-key=\"an0u8\">The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2026-05-21_at_1.14.40P.fe45215e.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"wh2vk\">Officers set up metal barricades around a group of press covering a pro-Palestinian protest in New York City on May 5, 2026. Journalists A.B. Youssef and Talia Ben-Ora were among those stuck in the kettle, and Ben-Ora captured video of the incident.</p>",
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"name": "New York",
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"Israel-Gaza war",
"kettle",
"protest"
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"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
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},
{
"title": "Journalist kettled while covering protest near NYC synagogue",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-kettled-while-covering-protest-near-nyc-synagogue/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-15T20:07:38.561193Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-05-15T20:07:38.561193Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-05-15T20:07:38.465257Z",
"date": "2026-05-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qtf6q\">Independent journalist Talia Ben-Ora was penned in a police kettle while covering a protest in New York, New York, on May 5, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ci7e\">The <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/nyregion/nyc-synagogue-protests-israel-real-estate.html\">protest</a> was taking place near a synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that was holding an event to promote real estate sales in Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the latter of which are widely believed to <a href=\"https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2019/01/chapter-3-israeli-settlements-and-international-law/\">violate</a> international law.</p><p data-block-key=\"2gv9f\">The New York City Police Department formed a buffer zone around the synagogue, prohibiting access to the block it was located on and directing pro-Palestinian and a smaller group of pro-Israel protesters, as well as press, onto surrounding avenues, according to <a href=\"https://www.amny.com/news/protest-synagogue-manhattan-nypd-strategy/\">news reports</a> and journalists who spoke to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"99g3s\">Ben-Ora told the Tracker that at one point, NYPD officers suddenly barricaded a sidewalk on nearby Third Avenue, pushing metal barricades into protesters and using chemical irritants to prevent them from accessing an area that had previously been open.</p><p data-block-key=\"431mq\">Members of the press were standing behind the officers, documenting the police actions. Then, “NYPD flooded that space and closed us in, not allowing press to move away, resulting in a strange press-only kettle,” Ben-Ora said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ebdpe\">In a video Ben-Ora posted on Bluesky, uniformed police and plainclothes public information officers can be seen telling press to back up from the protest, then surrounding them with metal barricades, penning them in.</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-bluesky block-bluesky\"><div class=\"bluesky-embed-container\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at://did:plc:lt7eqlk3l7u5pncvfgmcfjem/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml5hzfbnu22d\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreicittxmahpdt7e2kdk2ils3abwfsx5zijskbeccffcjbjq4ckio5y\"><p lang=\"en\">Situation deteriorated as protest marched from Lex/68 back to their original protest location. Press kettled as NYPD pushed in on protestors, other press. We are now stuck beside the SRG line. Unclear if any arrests.</p>— <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:lt7eqlk3l7u5pncvfgmcfjem?ref_src=embed\">talia jane (@taliajane.bsky.social)</a> <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:lt7eqlk3l7u5pncvfgmcfjem/post/3ml5hzfbnu22d?ref_src=embed\">2026-05-06T00:46:31.945Z</a></blockquote><script async src=\"https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qtf6q\">“They prevented us from leaving by not moving from in front of where the barricades were up against the wall, ignoring us, as other cops were pushing into the crowd,” Ben-Ora said, adding, “I didn’t get the sense that we would be arrested, just that they were freezing our movement in any direction, including away from where they were fighting protesters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aa49o\">Ben-Ora said that members of the press were allowed to leave the kettle after a few minutes, but were “still separated by a police line and barricades from the protest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e5fqi\">The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Officers_push_back_pro-Palestinia.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"phuno\">Officers push back pro-Palestinian protesters in New York City on May 5, 2026. The footage was taken by independent journalist Talia Ben-Ora moments before police penned a group of press inside metal barricades.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "New York City Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2026-05-05",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"name": "New York",
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},
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"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Talia (Jane) Ben-Ora (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist kettled while covering protest near NYC synagogue",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-kettled-while-covering-protest-near-nyc-synagogue/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-19T18:59:10.463644Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-05-19T18:59:10.463644Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-05-19T18:59:10.355317Z",
"date": "2026-05-05",
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"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tn8l8\">Photojournalist Neil Constantine was held in a police kettle while covering a protest in New York, New York, on May 5, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"d1op9\">The <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/nyregion/nyc-synagogue-protests-israel-real-estate.html\">protest</a> was taking place near a synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that was holding an event to promote real estate sales in Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the latter of which are widely believed to <a href=\"https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2019/01/chapter-3-israeli-settlements-and-international-law/\">violate</a> international law.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ft8l\">The New York City Police Department formed a buffer zone around the synagogue, prohibiting access to the block it was located on and directing pro-Palestinian and a smaller group of pro-Israel protesters, as well as press, onto surrounding avenues, according to <a href=\"https://www.amny.com/news/protest-synagogue-manhattan-nypd-strategy/\">news reports</a> and journalists who spoke to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"echgp\">Constantine, who was freelancing for NurPhoto Agency and whose New York City press credential was clearly visible, told the Tracker that at one point, NYPD officers suddenly barricaded a sidewalk on nearby Third Avenue. The officers pushed metal barricades into protesters to prevent them from accessing an area that had previously been open.</p><p data-block-key=\"cj2j9\">Members of the press were standing behind the officers, documenting the police actions. In a video Constantine posted on Instagram, uniformed police and plainclothes public information officers can be seen placing metal barricades around <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-05-05&date_upper=2026-05-05&state=New+York&tags=kettle\">a group of press</a>, separating them from the area where the NYPD was pushing protesters back.</p><p data-block-key=\"13vpv\">In the video, Constantine can be heard saying, “This is kettling,” and “We are being blocked in here right now.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-instagram block-instagram\"><div class=\"instagram-embed\">\n\t<div>\n <blockquote\n\tclass=\"instagram-media\"\n\tdata-instgrm-permalink=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DYAQhgfuqy4/?utm_source=ig_embed\"\n\tdata-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n\t<a class=\"btn btn-secondary\" href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DYAQhgfuqy4\">View post on Instagram</a>\n</blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://www.instagram.com/embed.js\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tn8l8\">Constantine told the Tracker that when journalists asked to leave the area, they were either told that they couldn’t, or were given conflicting instructions about where to go by officers who were within a few feet of one another. In addition, the officers wouldn’t answer their questions about why they were keeping them there.</p><p data-block-key=\"103kb\">He said they were kept in the kettle for around 15 minutes.</p><p data-block-key=\"90qf3\">The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Officers_use_metal_barricades_to_.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"npdwp\">Officers use metal barricades to surround a group of press covering a pro-Palestinian protest in New York City on May 5, 2026. Photojournalist Neil Constantine was among those stuck in the kettle, and captured video of the incident.</p>",
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist arrested at LA protest after being prodded with police batons",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-at-la-protest-after-being-prodded-with-police-batons/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-05T18:13:27.499366Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-06-18T15:41:48.723233Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-06-18T15:41:48.593101Z",
"date": "2026-05-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"encyi\">Independent photojournalist Nick Stern was arrested and jabbed with police batons while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"api20\">Thousands <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/la-may-day-rallies-protest-immigration-sweeps-cost-of-living\">rallied</a> in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025</a>. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"60q4q\">Stern told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the LA Police Department moved in to clear the area outside the adjacent City Hall, pushing the crowd back with batons before issuing a dispersal order that they said applied to everyone in the area, including the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"8vkln\">Some journalists left, but not Stern. “I felt it was important to stay and document what was going on,” he said, citing the California <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-pen/part-1/title-11/section-409-5/\">law that exempts</a> journalists from dispersal orders and 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=\"asav7\">Stern, who was wearing credentials and a shirt identifying himself as press, said that, without warning, officers kettled a group that included mostly journalists, sealing them inside a tightened perimeter.</p><p data-block-key=\"49ovu\">Stern, fearing he would be arrested, asked multiple times to leave but was blocked. At least two officers pushed him in the chest with batons, and one tried to swing at him. After Stern blocked the blow with his hand, a senior officer ordered Stern to turn around and put his hands behind his back.</p><p data-block-key=\"9pjf0\">In a <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/melbuer.bsky.social/post/3mkto4245u22r\">video posted to Bluesky</a>, Stern backed away from officers, spoke to them briefly, then began to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"ckoib\">“Turn around,” an officer said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6m3rs\">“Why are you telling me to turn around now?” Stern responded.</p><p data-block-key=\"8i6kp\">“You’re under arrest,” another officer replies before grabbing him, twisting his arms behind his back and placing his wrists in zip ties.</p><p data-block-key=\"9psvi\">“It seemed like a selected arrest,” Stern told the Tracker, adding that all other journalists were eventually allowed to leave the kettle. Officers first told Stern he was being arrested for assault on a police officer, then later said it was for failure to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"79aj0\">Stern’s right zip tie was tightened to the point of throbbing pain and numbness. He said officers loosened it after about 10 minutes, only after he shouted for them to. Red marks were still visible on his wrist two days later.</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-aligned_image block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n\t\n\n\n\n <img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/PFT_header_images_3.width-828.png\" width=\"828\" height=\"465\" alt=\"COURTESY NICK STERN\">\n\n\n\t\n\t<figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t<p data-block-key=\"i5b7i\">Photographer Nick Stern’s wrist about two hours after he was handcuffed by police while covering a protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t> — COURTESY NICK STERN\n\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\n\t</figcaption>\n\t\n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"encyi\">Stern was taken to jail, where he was held for two hours. He was the last of about a dozen people to be processed before being released without charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"87gqk\">“It was just a process of intimidation,” Stern said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6fl6f\">Stern, whose work has appeared in The Guardian, CNN and The New York Times, among others, is working on a documentary about protests in LA and has been involved in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_journalists=Nick%20Stern\">seven cases</a> documented by the Tracker in the city. In one, the city paid him a $150,000 settlement over his treatment by law enforcement while covering <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-with-multiple-projectiles-while-covering-la-protest/\">a 2020 protest</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"lgj6\">In April, he addressed the LAPD’s board of commissioners, <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DXaCxKekosZ/\">asking</a>: “What do I have to do … so I don’t get brutalized by LAPD?”</p><p data-block-key=\"6v7ak\">The LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/2050246004851773599\">statement</a> posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"66ci7\">In an earlier <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement</a> following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">nearly two dozen</a> press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"41p9n\">“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,” that statement said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/5-1-2026_May_Day_COHEN-19.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"0mxuw\">Photojournalist Nick Stern, at center, is arrested while documenting a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p>",
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"kettle",
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{
"title": "Student photojournalist pushed by police, thrown by CBP agent at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-photojournalist-pushed-by-police-thrown-by-cbp-agent-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-06T21:40:39.301558Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-05-08T16:50:23.559230Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-05-08T16:50:23.442888Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"16dsu\">Ethan Cohen, a student photojournalist for California State University’s Long Beach Current, was shoved by police and flung backward by a federal officer while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"a2vfc\">Thousands <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/la-may-day-rallies-protest-immigration-sweeps-cost-of-living\">rallied</a> in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025</a>. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"n4ku\">Outside the adjacent City Hall, officers with the LA Police Department formed a skirmish line and pushed Cohen, along with other journalists and protesters, down the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"bv6b3\">“I told him, ‘Hey, I can’t move back,’” Cohen said of the officer pushing him. “He seemed to be understanding at that point.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3vse2\">As the crowd thinned outside the detention center, federal officers made targeted arrests. During one arrest, Cohen told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, he crouched down to photograph the scene. Nearby, Customs and Border Protection agents grabbed photojournalist <a href=\"/all-incidents/student-photojournalist-knocked-backward-by-cbp-agent-at-la-protest/\">Blake Fagan</a> and threw him backward.</p><p data-block-key=\"4m047\">“Then they picked me up and threw me back,” said Cohen, adding that he stumbled several steps before regaining his balance. “I was yelling at the officer, ‘What are you doing?’”</p><p data-block-key=\"a9g41\">Cohen, who wore media credentials, and a vest and helmet labeling him as press, said he doesn’t know if the agent targeted him because he was a journalist or because the agent wanted to get through and create a perimeter for the arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"1udop\">“There were other press that were told verbally to get back, rather than physically picked up and thrown,” Cohen said. “Had they asked me to move back, I would have complied, but I wasn’t given any option.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2sgjv\">The encounter interrupted Cohen’s ability to photograph the arrest; he said he removed himself from the situation and began documenting the protest in another area.</p><p data-block-key=\"dold3\">DHS did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the LAPD. In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1416003060571476&set=a.221666803338447\">statement</a> posted on May 1, the department wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d483h\">In an earlier <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement</a> following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">nearly two dozen</a> press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"681eo\">“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,” that statement said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Solis_Luke_EthanCohenAssault_0501.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qqvdu\">Photojournalist Ethan Cohen, in press helmet at center right, is thrust backward by a Customs and Border Protection officer while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
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"case_number": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
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"Department of Homeland Security",
"immigration",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ethan Cohen ([California State University] Long Beach Current)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photographer detained while covering ‘May Day Strong’ rally in LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-detained-while-covering-may-day-strong-rally-in-la/",
"first_published_at": "2026-06-18T16:35:36.009573Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-06-18T16:35:36.009573Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-06-18T16:35:35.885731Z",
"date": "2026-05-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"b1cgy\">Independent photographer Steven Berumen was detained by police while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"cd48d\">Thousands <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/la-may-day-rallies-protest-immigration-sweeps-cost-of-living\">rallied</a> in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025</a>. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"42gik\">Berumen told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that during that evening, LA Police Department officers kettled a group of mostly press, sealing them inside a tightened perimeter. Berumen said he was photographing at the time and suddenly noticed he was surrounded by police. </p><p data-block-key=\"2m0od\">According to Berumen, officers told those inside the kettle that anyone who tried to leave — including press — would be arrested. Berumen did not have a press credential but was wearing a blue press vest and carrying his camera equipment. </p><p data-block-key=\"2v0te\">“It was kind of terrifying, honestly,” Berumen said. “I was worried about my camera; I was worried about my gear.” </p><p data-block-key=\"gand\">At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-05-01&date_upper=2026-05-01&city=Los+Angeles&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">six other journalists</a> were either detained or arrested in the kettle. Berumen was ultimately released after about 20 minutes, once officers collected several journalists’ names and information. </p><p data-block-key=\"144ca\">The LAPD did not return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/2050246004851773599\">statement</a> posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6scfm\">In an earlier <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement</a> following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">more than two dozen</a> press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"4d4eh\">“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,” that statement said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/IMG_0084.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"rsgit\">Police officers kettle a group of mostly press, including photographer Steven Berumen, during a workers’ rights and immigration protest on May 1, 2026, in Los Angeles, California.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2026-05-01",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
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"immigration",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
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"Steven Berumen (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Student photojournalist knocked backward by CBP agent at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-photojournalist-knocked-backward-by-cbp-agent-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-07T17:48:56.298659Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-05-07T18:08:06.137502Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-05-07T18:08:06.052004Z",
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"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e6w5c\">Student photojournalist Blake Fagan was pushed and thrown backward by federal agents while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"d6ni6\">Thousands <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/la-may-day-rallies-protest-immigration-sweeps-cost-of-living\">rallied</a> in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025</a>. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"98jtd\">Fagan was documenting the protest for California State University, Northridge’s multimedia outlet, the Daily Sundial, when he followed the demonstrators to the detention center.</p><p data-block-key=\"ee63\">At one point, a person attending the protest <a href=\"/all-incidents/photojournalist-pushed-threatened-by-individual-at-la-protest/\">shoved him</a> and tried to pull off his press badge, Fagan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. He was also pushed by a Department of Homeland Security officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ocp2\">Later, federal agents began making targeted arrests. As officers moved to arrest a demonstrator, Fagan approached the perimeter of the scene and crouched to take a photo. Suddenly, he felt a tug on the back of his vest from behind.</p><p data-block-key=\"f44lr\">“This guy just yanked me and threw me back,” said Fagan, who wasn’t able to capture the shot. “They didn’t give any verbal warning. They just did it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3dnls\">Fagan landed on his back, scraping his elbow. He said the officer who threw him was a Customs and Border Protection agent holding a shield. Seconds later, another student photojournalist, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-photojournalist-pushed-by-police-thrown-by-cbp-agent-at-la-protest/\">Ethan Cohen</a>, was also flung backward.</p><p data-block-key=\"22vl\">Fagan, who was wearing press credentials, and a vest and helmet labeling him as press, said he considered the encounter targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ma0q\">“This happens especially in LA on a pretty frequent basis, whether it’s targeted or not,” he said. “The use of force is alarming to see.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5dt4b\">DHS did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/DHS_Agent_pushes_me_as_a_credenti.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qb1t9\">A Department of Homeland Security officer is seen pushing photojournalist Blake Fagan as he covers a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"Department of Homeland Security",
"immigration",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Blake Fagan ([California State University, Northridge] Daily Sundial)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter detained in police kettle at May Day protest in LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-detained-in-police-kettle-at-may-day-protest-in-la/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-11T21:20:47.998275Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-06-18T15:42:07.239475Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-06-18T15:42:07.053988Z",
"date": "2026-05-01",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"og0qx\">L.A. Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray was detained by police while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"29vvu\">Thousands <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/la-may-day-rallies-protest-immigration-sweeps-cost-of-living\">rallied</a> in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025</a>. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"9f7hd\">Ray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that LA Police Department officers had already formed a skirmish line by the time he arrived at the detention center, where officers on motorcycles started ordering people onto the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"636pl\">One of the officers <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-ticketed-jabbed-with-police-baton-at-la-protest/\">grabbed and arrested Ray</a>, ultimately issuing the journalist a citation for being in the roadway before releasing him.</p><p data-block-key=\"dig72\">Later, LAPD officers kettled a group of mostly press, sealing them inside a tightened perimeter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-bluesky block-bluesky\"><div class=\"bluesky-embed-container\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at://did:plc:yielkdq7cgwjv2fgr6lsfoch/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkvcoisups2o\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreia25mhpzmldu5a4zxd7mvt7sjdr5bckypk5ssmgt3uwur2qjgmpoe\"><p lang=\"en\">Yesterday, LAPD officer Cisneros Escoto jabbed me in my chest w/ her baton when I calmly asked for her serial number. I was asking for her serial number because a few moments earlier she shoved me with her baton while I filmed an arrest. This happened while LAPD kettled mostly press.</p>— <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:yielkdq7cgwjv2fgr6lsfoch?ref_src=embed\">Shot On 35mm (@shoton35mm.bsky.social)</a> <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:yielkdq7cgwjv2fgr6lsfoch/post/3mkvcoisups2o?ref_src=embed\">2026-05-02T18:49:39.940Z</a></blockquote><script async src=\"https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"og0qx\">“We basically had nowhere to go, and we were surrounded by cops,” Ray said. “It was mostly just press at the end of the protest, very few protesters, so we should have never been kettled in the first place.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8lrh9\">Ray remained inside the kettle for about 15 minutes before being released and moved to a media staging area on the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"bmtf8\">“After I left, a journalist was arrested. I was able to document them taking him to a van or something to process them,” Ray said, referring to <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-at-la-protest-after-being-prodded-with-police-batons/\">photojournalist Nick Stern</a>. “But I wasn’t there when he was actually being arrested, and I would have liked to be, and it wasn’t the most ideal spot to be.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dbu4k\">Ray has been involved in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_journalists=Lexis-Olivier%20Ray\">16 incidents</a> in LA documented by the Tracker, half of which took place in the past year. He said what happened May 1 was “one of the most egregious examples” of how police have treated the press at demonstrations.</p><p data-block-key=\"f6mbk\">California <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-pen/part-1/title-11/section-409-5/\">law exempts</a> journalists from dispersal orders and 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=\"cjtn4\">Weston Rowland, an attorney representing the Los Angeles Press Club who was arrested alongside Stern, told the Tracker that the police response that day showed a blatant disregard for these legal protections.</p><p data-block-key=\"1n1qt\">“I don’t know what it’s going to take for them to understand that the freedom of the press is well protected under our constitution,” Rowland said. “In 2025 and 2026, it seems like they’re doing things that are specifically targeting the press. That’s stepping back, not forward.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1mqh8\">The LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/2050246004851773599\">statement</a> posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4d7lt\">In an earlier <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement</a> following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">more than two dozen</a> press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"8iaqd\">“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,” that statement said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"3cys4\">An officer stands with baton at the ready as police formed a kettle around press and protesters in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026. L.A. Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray was detained for about 15 minutes before being released without charges.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
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{
"title": "Photographer detained at LA immigration, workers’ rights protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-detained-at-la-immigration-workers-rights-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-06-18T16:41:19.350351Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"kb2hg\">Independent photographer Angel Perez was detained by police while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"117hq\">Thousands <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/la-may-day-rallies-protest-immigration-sweeps-cost-of-living\">rallied</a> in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025</a>. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"buko4\">Perez told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that during that evening, he was documenting demonstrators outside the detention center when LA Police Department officers ordered people to leave the area, and quickly surrounded, or kettled, a group of mostly journalists, as well as protesters and bystanders. </p><p data-block-key=\"a8r4s\">As people tried to comply with the dispersal order, officers advanced on the group and prevented them from leaving. Perez was not carrying his press credential, but was wearing his professional camera equipment. He added that several other journalists inside the kettle who were wearing credentials were also prevented from leaving. </p><p data-block-key=\"3up8v\">“We were telling them we were press, and we should be let go,” Perez said. “They had said, ‘If you stay in the kettle, and you proceed to still document what’s going on, we are going to arrest you.’” </p><p data-block-key=\"2i4mr\">Perez was detained for more than a half hour, when officers eventually released him and other members of the press individually, without explaining why they were detained in the first place. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-05-01&date_upper=2026-05-01&city=Los+Angeles&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">six other journalists</a> were either detained or arrested in the kettle. </p><p data-block-key=\"83all\">The LAPD did not return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/2050246004851773599\">statement</a> posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4qba2\">In an earlier <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement</a> following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">more than two dozen</a> press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"a3mho\">“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,” that statement said.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Reporter detained in LAPD kettle amid May Day protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-detained-in-lapd-kettle-amid-may-day-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-11T22:00:36.004996Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-06-18T15:42:30.037382Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9f3e6\">Status Coup reporter Tina-Desiree Berg was detained by police while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"bu5af\">Thousands <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/la-may-day-rallies-protest-immigration-sweeps-cost-of-living\">rallied</a> in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dkk8r\">Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the Los Angeles Police Department responded aggressively to demonstrations that day from the beginning.</p><p data-block-key=\"9gs57\">“The thing hadn’t really even gotten started yet, and 20 LAPD cars with their sirens blaring come down the street, they jump out of their vehicles with their batons and start forming a skirmish line,” Berg said. “They hadn’t even done their speeches yet. They never even marched.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fnc1n\">When some protesters made their way to the Metropolitan Detention Center, where detained immigrants are being held, Berg said she followed, hoping to film as another march came in from the city’s Boyle Heights neighborhood.</p><p data-block-key=\"4klv7\">Dozens of motorcycle officers arrived at the scene about an hour later and began ordering everyone back on the sidewalk. Suddenly, an officer walked directly to L.A. Taco reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-ticketed-jabbed-with-police-baton-at-la-protest/\">Lexis-Olivier Ray</a> and arrested him, Berg told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"668pd\">Berg said she confronted the officers, telling one that Ray had not been blocking traffic and explaining the protections afforded journalists as they cover demonstrations and other breaking news.</p><p data-block-key=\"cu8aj\">“You know what he said to me? He’s like, ‘You are not a member of the LA Press Club. You’re a professional agitator.’ And then he turned around and walked away,” Berg told the Tracker, noting that she was visibly wearing her LA Press Club credentials at the time.</p><p data-block-key=\"eq5pr\">Ray was ultimately released after being issued a citation for being in the roadway.</p><p data-block-key=\"a1gnl\">As the evening progressed, Berg and Ray found themselves among other members of the press, legal observers and protesters in a kettle, surrounded by police.</p><p data-block-key=\"2kb59\">“They told me, ‘You’re under arrest. Sit on the curb and put your hands in the air.’ And I’m like, ‘The fuck? Yeah, that’s not happening,’” she recounted. “I said, ‘Where’s your PIO? Here are my press credentials. I’m a member of the press, you can’t arrest me.’</p><p data-block-key=\"djj6k\">“And he’s like, ‘Yes I can. Get on the curb and put your hands in the air.’”</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-bluesky block-bluesky\"><div class=\"bluesky-embed-container\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at://did:plc:ru2uiz2ifeei5nqpssfy7iqq/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml2hrbds3c2z\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreifocdfindbqql2whe65wcbaqfzwyoypeevna2mnjjnlxenp74eysu\"><p lang=\"en\">From inside the arrest kettle. None of these officers have been trained properly on 409.7.</p>— <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ru2uiz2ifeei5nqpssfy7iqq?ref_src=embed\">Tina-Desiree Berg (@tinadesireeberg.com)</a> <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ru2uiz2ifeei5nqpssfy7iqq/post/3ml2hrbds3c2z?ref_src=embed\">2026-05-04T20:04:00.170Z</a></blockquote><script async src=\"https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9f3e6\">Berg told the Tracker that she was released after more than 30 minutes without charges, but that the experience was enraging.</p><p data-block-key=\"685u7\">“I just feel like I’ve been pushed to the end of my rope. The police consistently are doing this stuff and it’s unnecessary,” she said. “I’m really tired of them saying that we’re interfering in their operations when we are clearly not. We’re just filming, and we’re allowed to do that.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6vbff\">Weston Rowland, an attorney representing the Los Angeles Press Club who was arrested alongside reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-at-la-protest-after-being-prodded-with-police-batons/\">Nick Stern</a> at the protest, told the Tracker that the police response that day showed a blatant disregard for the legal protections afforded journalists covering demonstrations.</p><p data-block-key=\"ds7rt\">“I don’t know what it’s going to take for them to understand that the freedom of the press is well protected under our constitution,” Rowland said. “In 2025 and 2026, it seems like they’re doing things that are specifically targeting the press. That’s stepping back, not forward.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kuqf\">The LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/2050246004851773599\">statement</a> posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"72quu\">In an earlier <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement</a> following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">more than two dozen</a> press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"b68gn\">“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,” that statement said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"f54h2\">Status Coup reporter Tina-Desiree Berg, center right, confronts a police officer over the arrest of fellow journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray amid workers’ rights and immigration protests in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
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},
{
"title": "Photographer pushed, pinned against car by police while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-pushed-pinned-against-car-by-police-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-06T20:47:18.884361Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-05-06T20:47:18.884361Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vcg31\">Photojournalist Chris Torres was pushed against a car by police with batons while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"fr0am\">Thousands <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/la-may-day-rallies-protest-immigration-sweeps-cost-of-living\">rallied</a> in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"72rl7\">Torres, LA bureau chief for photo agency EPA Images, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was covering the protest outside City Hall when the LA Police Department formed a barricade line at an intersection. They said the line was to let buses into the nearby buildings and tow away cars blocking the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"1olhe\">As the officers pushed protesters and members of the press back, Torres said he became “trapped between the officers and one of the cars, and they continued to back me into the car and push me with their batons until I was able to find an opening and escape.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3hska\">The photographer said that while he was clearly identified as a journalist — wearing badges from the LA County Sheriff’s Department and the Press Photographers Association of Greater LA — he did not believe he was targeted as a member of the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"9rtj6\">“I think it was more just wrong place, wrong time,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"fk8i2\">The LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1416003060571476&set=a.221666803338447\">statement</a> posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fks8i\">In an earlier <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement</a> following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">nearly two dozen</a> press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"9pl7o\">“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,” that statement said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Police_line_up_as_people_rally_in.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"60r40\">Police line up as people rally in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026. Officers pushed EPA Images photographer Chris Torres against a car with their batons while he was covering the protest.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
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"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Chris Torres (EPA Images [Germany])"
],
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},
{
"title": "Livestreamer arrested during May Day protests in downtown LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/livestreamer-arrested-during-may-day-protests-in-downtown-la/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-19T18:10:45.043000Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-06-18T15:40:47.718551Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-06-18T15:40:47.503840Z",
"date": "2026-05-01",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ht03g\">Livestreamer Gonzalo Gonzalez was arrested and charged with failure to disperse while documenting workers’ rights and immigration protests in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"f65bt\">Thousands <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/la-may-day-rallies-protest-immigration-sweeps-cost-of-living\">rallied</a> in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"buiqm\">Gonzalez, who broadcasts live and publishes videos through his YouTube channel EastLos Audits, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he arrived shortly before noon to document a planned rally in front of City Hall. After around 30-45 minutes, LA Police Department officers arrived, establishing a skirmish line.</p><p data-block-key=\"d1grr\">“I went live from that point, and they started pushing the crowd on Spring Street toward the front of City Hall,” he said. “I stayed live for about an hour or so, and I got behind the police line, the scrimmage line, because I already know: If I’m in front of it, I’m going to get shoved and pushed, and I don’t want to do that.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8737r\">Gonzalez, who doesn’t carry press credentials, told the Tracker that he identified himself as media to the officers, who recognized and treated him as such.</p><p data-block-key=\"f8ase\">Officers ultimately pushed the crowd of protesters back to clear an employee entrance for a nearby courthouse, and the demonstrators then marched out of the area, Gonzalez said. He ended his live reporting and left once the police dispersed their skirmish line.</p><p data-block-key=\"fnvlm\">Several hours later, the livestreamer was in his vehicle and ready to end his reporting day when he heard over his police scanner that officers were planning to corral demonstrators near the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrant detainees are being held and which has been a focal point for protests over the past year.</p><p data-block-key=\"e2al9\">“When I got there, they already had the crowd pushed out on Alameda,” Gonzalez said, referring to the street in front of the detention center. “So again, I get behind the skirmish line, and there’s a lot of media there. But in front of the skirmish line, there’s media too.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d7eid\">Gonzalez said he continued to identify himself as press, complying when an officer directed him to cross the street and then back again, as she looked for a way to have him join other journalists covering the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"9l2m2\">He continued to <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExRI2PwjEVk\">broadcast live</a> as officers began to corral the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"crq7\">“I started documenting all that, and I want to get as close as I can so I can document, because I don’t just want to catch video, I also want to catch audio, to hear what they’re saying,” Gonzalez told the Tracker. “I get on the street because I can get a better view and audio from the street, which is only, I would say, about three or four feet off the sidewalk.”</p><p data-block-key=\"379d3\">Despite other members of the press being permitted to walk in the street — which officers had shut down — a lieutenant approached Gonzalez and ordered him to get back onto the sidewalk. Gonzalez told the Tracker he tried to explain to the officer that he was just documenting, but was told that he was too close to the officers’ emergency scene. He compiled, asking the officer his name while stepping backward and onto the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"1sot7\">“I understand that we have the right to be there,” Gonzalez told the Tracker. “And again, I can see media, mainstream media, on the street. So it irritated me that he wanted us on the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"ce5n\">“So I was being a little bit of a jerk back, I’m not going to lie,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5790b\">As his interaction with the lieutenant became more heated, the officer directed another to arrest Gonzalez and take him in.</p><p data-block-key=\"8stup\">He told the Tracker that he was initially informed that he was going to be charged with obstruction, but his citation lists his violation as a failure to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"fgk51\">A <a href=\"https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/penal-code/pen-sect-409-7/\">subclause</a> of that part of the California penal code specifically exempts journalists from unlawful assembly dispersal, protects them from interference or obstruction by law enforcement, and bars them from being charged with failure to disperse, curfew violations or resisting arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"bpgur\">At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-05-01&date_upper=2026-05-01&city=Los+Angeles&tags=protest&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">four other journalists</a> were detained in the kettle Gonzalez was documenting, one of whom — independent photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-at-la-protest-after-being-prodded-with-police-batons/\">Nick Stern</a> — was arrested but later released without charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"te7o\">Gonzalez said he was held in police custody for a little over two hours before he was released, and a hearing in his case is scheduled for May 27.</p><p data-block-key=\"3k55n\">The LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/2050246004851773599\">statement</a> posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1rmit\">In an earlier <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement</a> following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">more than two dozen</a> press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"b5fu8\">“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,” that statement said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Gonzalez_-_CA_arrest_05012026.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"yeoh1\">Officers prevent press from approaching a kettled crowd of protesters and journalists in downtown Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026. Livestreamer Gonzalo Gonzalez was arrested while filming the police action and charged with failure to disperse.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
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"detention_date": "2026-05-01",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
"updates": [
"(2026-05-27 20:54:00+00:00) City attorney declines to pursue charges against Los Angeles livestreamer"
],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
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{
"title": "Independent journalist detained in LAPD kettle at May Day protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-detained-in-lapd-kettle-at-may-day-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-12T13:27:10.843071Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-06-18T15:42:45.503580Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-06-18T15:42:45.376731Z",
"date": "2026-05-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tcf3n\">Independent journalist Mel Buer was detained by police while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"4e1mk\">Thousands <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/la-may-day-rallies-protest-immigration-sweeps-cost-of-living\">rallied</a> in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025</a>. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"6visv\">Buer told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that as the evening went on, LAPD officers kettled a group of mostly press, sealing them inside a tightened perimeter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-bluesky block-bluesky\"><div class=\"bluesky-embed-container\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at://did:plc:36qxymynrrlueovhitpmrfbu/app.bsky.feed.post/3mktmpaeqas2r\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreih662pb3pkvvgsk3pdk4naov3guejwotbrjccafsufmro3q5dotzq\"><p lang=\"en\">Kettled, half of us are press. NLG lawyer, press freedom lawyer. This is insane.</p>— <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:36qxymynrrlueovhitpmrfbu?ref_src=embed\">Mel Buer (@melbuer.bsky.social)</a> <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:36qxymynrrlueovhitpmrfbu/post/3mktmpaeqas2r?ref_src=embed\">2026-05-02T02:43:42.584Z</a></blockquote><script async src=\"https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tcf3n\">“There was a real moment where I genuinely thought I’d end up in a police car,” Buer wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"3tj9d\">She added that the kettle was tighter than the one <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-kettled-prevented-from-leaving-la-protest/\">she was detained in</a> amid protests in March, and the officers were unfamiliar. “They had already cited Lex, and didn’t seem interested in even having a dialogue, even with the ACLU lawyer attached to the press freedom case in the kettle with us,” she continued, referencing journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-ticketed-jabbed-with-police-baton-at-la-protest/\">Lexis-Olivier Ray</a> and LA Press Club attorney Weston Rowland.</p><p data-block-key=\"7aitp\">Journalists <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-detained-in-police-kettle-at-may-day-protest-in-la/\">Tina-Desiree Berg</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-at-la-protest-after-being-prodded-with-police-batons/\">Nick Stern</a> were also among those detained; both Stern and Rowland were arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"5oo6b\">“When Nick was arrested, and then the ACLU lawyer, I was the only press left in the kettle, and they hadn’t asked me to leave yet,” Buer told the Tracker. “Couldn’t confidently say I was safe until they walked me out of the kettle.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9s0vg\">Buer estimates that she was detained for 30-45 minutes.</p><p data-block-key=\"7jfco\">Rowland told the Tracker that the police response that day showed a blatant disregard for the legal protections afforded journalists covering demonstrations.</p><p data-block-key=\"4svbj\">“I don’t know what it’s going to take for them to understand that the freedom of the press is well protected under our constitution,” Rowland said. “In 2025 and 2026, it seems like they’re doing things that are specifically targeting the press. That’s stepping back, not forward.”</p><p data-block-key=\"frgj1\">The LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/2050246004851773599\">statement</a> posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"12id9\">In an earlier <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement</a> following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">more than two dozen</a> press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"4m10\">“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,” that statement said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/signal-2026-05-07-13-57-35-907-2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"bdyf8\">An officer stands in a skirmish line after clearing press and protesters from outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026. Journalist Mel Buer was later detained in an LAPD kettle and released without charges.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2026-05-01",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"case_statuses": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mel Buer (Independent)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist pushed, threatened by individual at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pushed-threatened-by-individual-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-07T17:58:53.278114Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-05-07T18:10:23.168256Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-05-07T18:10:23.074082Z",
"date": "2026-05-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ql24v\">Student photojournalist Blake Fagan was shoved by an individual who also tried to yank off his press credentials while he was covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"ccb0a\">Thousands <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/la-may-day-rallies-protest-immigration-sweeps-cost-of-living\">rallied</a> in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025</a>. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ki4q\">Fagan was documenting the protest for the Daily Sundial, the multimedia outlet for California State University, Northridge, when he followed the demonstration to the detention center.</p><p data-block-key=\"9fqev\">There, an individual — who had previously sent Fagan a series of threatening messages on social media and accused him of taking a picture of his girlfriend — grabbed Fagan’s media credentials, looked at his name and tried pulling them from his neck. The man also yelled at other press in the area.</p><p data-block-key=\"aec13\">“He didn’t hit me, but he kept pushing me, saying I needed to be respectful,” Fagan said. “I didn’t know what he was talking about; I didn’t even have my camera raised, I was just standing there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c1g53\">Also <a href=\"/all-incidents/student-photojournalist-knocked-backward-by-cbp-agent-at-la-protest/\">that day</a>, Fagan was pushed by a Department of Homeland Security officer and flung backward by a federal agent, landing on his back.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/May_1_Tia_Podlubnyy_credit_of_Fag.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"izwio\">Photojournalist Blake Fagan, at left, is confronted by an individual who later pushed him and attempted to remove his press credential during a protest in Los Angeles on May 1, 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,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Blake Fagan ([California State University, Northridge] Daily Sundial)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Reporter ticketed, jabbed with police baton at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-ticketed-jabbed-with-police-baton-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2026-05-05T18:05:41.109000Z",
"last_published_at": "2026-06-18T15:41:21.669339Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2026-06-18T15:41:21.533204Z",
"date": "2026-05-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pqy16\">L.A. Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray was cited by police, kettled and shoved with a police baton while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p><p data-block-key=\"clcmp\">Thousands <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-01/la-may-day-rallies-protest-immigration-sweeps-cost-of-living\">rallied</a> in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">June 2025</a>. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"14u3c\">Ray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that LA Police Department officers had already formed a skirmish line by the time he arrived at the detention center, where officers on motorcycles started ordering people onto the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"2s501\">In <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/shoton35mm.bsky.social/post/3mkybnkvcts2i\">a video</a> posted to the social platform Bluesky, an officer can be seen grabbing him and taking his ID. The officer then issued him a citation for being in the roadway, warning him that he would be taken to jail if he refused to sign it.</p><p data-block-key=\"afp5n\">“I’m with the media,” Ray says <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/shoton35mm.bsky.social/post/3mktxe7q3s22c\">in a separate video</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dcgpn\">“It doesn’t matter,” the officer replies.</p><p data-block-key=\"44nui\">Ray said that he showed the officer his press badge, but the officer insisted that he had asked him multiple times to get off the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"9j6aq\">“He definitely singled me out,” Ray said. “I was the only person who was cited that I know of, out of a dozen or so people who were all in the street.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ajm9c\">Later, while Ray was documenting an arrest, an officer jabbed him in the stomach and chest. When he approached her to ask for her serial number, she pushed him again with her baton.</p><p data-block-key=\"lh8l\">“Back up,” she tells him in another <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/shoton35mm.bsky.social/post/3mkvcoisups2o\">Bluesky video</a>, as other officers seem to document the scene with cameras. She then gives him her information.</p><p data-block-key=\"9vqfs\">Later, LAPD officers kettled a group of mostly press, sealing them inside a tightened perimeter.</p><p data-block-key=\"dm8vm\">“We basically had nowhere to go, and we were surrounded by cops,” Ray said. “It was mostly just press at the end of the protest, very few protesters, so we should have never been kettled in the first place.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eaavn\">Ray remained inside the kettle for about 15 minutes before being released and moved to a media staging area on the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"b0ubs\">“After I left, a journalist was arrested. I was able to document them taking him to a van or something to process them,” Ray said. “But I wasn’t there when he was actually being arrested, and I would have liked to be, and it wasn’t the most ideal spot to be.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"w-block-aligned_image block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n\t\n\n\n\n <img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/SCHRECK_20260501_8776.width-828.jpg\" width=\"828\" height=\"828\" alt=\"COURTESY CARRIE SCHRECK\">\n\n\n\t\n\t<figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t<p data-block-key=\"bx42n\">Reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray holds up the traffic ticket he received while reporting on a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t> — COURTESY CARRIE SCHRECK\n\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\n\t</figcaption>\n\t\n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"w-block-rich_text block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pqy16\">Ray has been involved in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_journalists=Lexis-Olivier%20Ray\">14 incidents</a> in LA documented by the Tracker, most recently on March 28, when he was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pushed-by-police-threatened-with-arrest-at-la-protest/\">kettled, pushed and threatened with arrest</a>. He said what happened May 1 was “one of the most egregious examples” of how police have treated the press at demonstrations.</p><p data-block-key=\"a4d3f\">California <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-pen/part-1/title-11/section-409-5/\">law exempts</a> journalists from dispersal orders and 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=\"6uj9d\">LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment, but in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/2050246004851773599\">statement</a> posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6pmg6\">In an earlier <a href=\"https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/chief-of-police-statement-no-kings-3-0-protest-in-downtown-los-angeles-nr26067mb/\">statement</a> following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2026-03-28&date_upper=2026-03-28\">nearly two dozen</a> press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.</p><p data-block-key=\"f7coq\">“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=\"3en1y\">Reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray, at left, is detained and cited by police for stepping into the street while documenting a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
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"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
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]
