Iowa judge seizes memory card from student photojournalist for violating court rules during murder trial

May 21, 2021
A district court judge seized a memory card from a photojournalist for The Daily Iowan, the University of Iowa student newspaper, after she photographed jurors in a Davenport, Iowa, murder trial, in violation of court rules, on May 21, 2021, The Associated Press reported.The photojournalist, whom the judge asked media not to identify, took pictures of jurors as they were being shown photographs of the body of a slain woman during the murder trial of Cristhian Bahena Rivera, according to …

Univision journalist arrested, his phone seized while reporting in Arizona

April 30, 2021
Local police officers arrested Univision Arizona news anchor León Felipe González Cortés and seized his cell phone while he was reporting in Gilbert, Arizona, on April 30, 2021.González was in Gilbert, about 20 miles southeast of Phoenix, to report on the death of one policeman and critical injury of another the previous day. The officers were hit by a man driving a stolen pickup truck, who was being chased by police, according to The Arizona Republic. The man was later …

Intercept reporter told “You are not a journalist” when stopped by border officials

April 30, 2021
Ryan Devereaux, who reports for The Intercept, was stopped and told “You are not a journalist” by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official at the Arizona border with Mexico on April 30, 2021, as he returned from covering a protest in Nogales, Mexico.Devereaux, who was traveling with photojournalist Ash Ponders, said that after a long wait at the border, officials called Ponders first for processing. According to Devereaux, Ponders and a CBP official were deep in a long conversation …

Photojournalist stopped, strip searched while crossing back into U.S.

April 30, 2021
Photojournalist Ash Ponders, whose work has appeared in The Intercept, The New York Times and other publications, was stopped for secondary screening and searched at the U.S. border after reporting on a protest in Nogales, Mexico, on April 30, 2021.Ponders told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they were strip searched by an admitting officer from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Arizona at the Morley Gate in Nogales on the Arizona/Mexico border. Ponders’ phone was taken away, and …

Social media journalist arrested, injured while covering Wisconsin protest

October 8, 2020
Independent social media journalist Brendan Gutenschwager was one of four journalists arrested or detained while covering a protest in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin on Oct. 8, 2020.The protest followed a Milwaukee County prosecutor’s Oct. 7 announcement that his office would not bring charges against a Wauwatosa police officer who shot and killed Black teenager Alvin Cole on Feb. 2. Cole, 17, had refused to put down a gun and ran away from police following a disturbance at a Wauwatosa mall. The Wauwatosa …

Freelance journalist arrested while covering Wauwatosa, Wisconsin protests

October 8, 2020
Freelance journalist Blair Nelson was arrested while covering a protest in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, on Oct. 8, 2020.Demonstrations began after a Milwaukee County prosecutor said on Oct. 7 his office wouldn’t bring charges against a Wauwatosa police officer who shot and killed Black teenager Alvin Cole on Feb. 2. Police said Cole refused orders to put down a gun after he ran away from police following a disturbance at a mall. The protests came as demonstrations against police violence and racial …

Journalist arrested while covering a Portland protest, equipment confiscated and damaged

September 26, 2020
A journalist with Full Revolution Media said he was arrested by police while covering a protest on the night of Sept. 26, 2020, in downtown Portland, Oregon.The protest was among the many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.Law enforcement officers in …
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