first_published_at,last_published_at,title,slug,latest_revision_created_at,charges,legal_orders,updates,categories,links,equipment_seized,equipment_broken,targeted_journalists,authors,date,exact_date_unknown,city,state,latitude,longitude,body,introduction,teaser,teaser_image,primary_video,image_caption,arrest_status,arresting_authority,release_date,detention_date,unnecessary_use_of_force,case_number,case_statuses,case_type,status_of_seized_equipment,is_search_warrant_obtained,actor,border_point,target_us_citizenship_status,denial_of_entry,stopped_previously,did_authorities_ask_for_device_access,did_authorities_ask_about_work,assailant,was_journalist_targeted,charged_under_espionage_act,subpoena_type,subpoena_statuses,name_of_business,third_party_business,legal_order_target,legal_order_type,legal_order_venue,status_of_prior_restraint,mistakenly_released_materials,type_of_denial,targeted_institutions,tags,target_nationality,workers_whose_communications_were_obtained,politicians_or_public_figures_involved 2023-12-13 22:28:17.348484+00:00,2023-12-14 18:55:39.462192+00:00,California journalist barred from press conference with district attorney,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/california-journalist-barred-from-press-conference-with-district-attorney/,2023-12-14 18:55:39.301641+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,Emilie Raguso (The Berkeley Scanner),,2023-11-29,False,Berkeley,California (CA),37.87159,-122.27275,"
Journalist Emilie Raguso, who operates the crime and safety news site The Berkeley Scanner, was barred from attending a press conference on Nov. 29, 2023, with Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price. Three days later, the DA’s office announced that Raguso’s exclusion from the media list was an “oversight” and that she was “welcome” at future press events.
Raguso told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that though she launched The Scanner in 2022, she has covered crime and courts for more than a decade. But after she published an article in January including criticisms of Price, her office made it clear that it was displeased with Raguso’s coverage.
Raguso said that she was one of the few journalists who attended Price’s first press conference in March, and that everything had seemed to go normally.
“Afterward, people started getting in touch with me, saying, ‘She wanted to throw you out of that press conference,’” Raguso said, adding that she believed it was because of her prior reporting. “Fortunately some people who worked for her at the time were able to convince her that that was not appropriate.”
Throughout the summer, Raguso said she was removed from the DA’s media list multiple times, but was readded when she raised the issue. In October, she was told that the list — and her request to be included — was under review.
When Raguso learned from other journalists that Price was to hold a press conference on the morning of Nov. 29, she planned to attend.
“I thought there was a possibility they wouldn’t let me in, but I didn’t think it was a strong possibility because they don’t have a legal reason to do that,” Raguso said.
When Raguso arrived at the press conference, she was barred at the door due to unspecified “safety issues.” Raguso said that two individuals from the DA’s office recognized her as press but said that her credentials provided by the Oakland Police Department were insufficient. She added that nearly half a dozen other journalists were allowed in that day without being asked to show their credentials, and some without even signing a check-in sheet.
I was just turned away from an announced press conference with elected @AlamedaCountyDA Pamela Price. Every other member of the media who came was let in without any checking of credentials. @FACoalition @rcfp @SPJ_NorCal pic.twitter.com/GInIcGHlpM
— The Berkeley Scanner (@BerkeleyScanner) November 29, 2023
When Raguso saw Price exiting an elevator, she petitioned the district attorney directly to intervene and allow her to attend the press conference, but Price declined to do so.
A statement released by Price’s office the following day referred to Raguso as an “uninvited person” and The Scanner as simply a “blog.” It also asserted that the employees were enforcing credentialing standards that are “long-standing and predate the election of District Attorney Pamela Price.”
Following public outcry — including a letter penned by the First Amendment Coalition — Price’s office on Dec. 2 released a statement that Raguso would be added back to the media list and allowed to attend future press conferences. It said that Raguso’s removal from the media list, as well as that of local news website the Bay City News, had been an “oversight.”
The statement also noted that Price would be leading an effort to establish new media guidelines, saying that “this critical work is long overdue.” Price’s office did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Raguso told the Tracker that the main concern now is how the DA’s office will handle other reporters’ access moving forward. “Will people need to provide a credential? Or will people need to be on your email list to come to your press events? I asked that and they haven’t answered,” Raguso said.
She added that she thinks the DA’s office could retaliate against her in this way because the Scanner is a one-person operation.
“But they didn’t realize that there are so many people in the journalism world and in the First Amendment world and in the broader community who believe strongly in the First Amendment,” Raguso said, “and who understand that the government does not get to define and decide who gets to report the news.”
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price's office barred journalist Emilie Raguso from her Nov. 29, 2023, press conference citing “security concerns.” Price later announced that Raguso could attend future press events.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,['GOVERNMENT_EVENTS'],,,,,Law enforcement: Prosecutors 2023-12-13 22:29:27.018536+00:00,2023-12-14 18:55:28.254595+00:00,California journalist restored to district attorney’s media list,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/california-journalist-restored-to-district-attorneys-media-list/,2023-12-14 18:55:28.158715+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,Emilie Raguso (The Berkeley Scanner),,2023-10-20,False,Berkeley,California (CA),37.87159,-122.27275,"Journalist Emilie Raguso, who operates the crime and safety news site The Berkeley Scanner, was removed from the media list of the Alameda County, California, district attorney multiple times in 2023 in alleged retaliation for her coverage. Raguso was reinstated after the office came under public scrutiny for barring her from a November press conference.
Raguso told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that though she launched The Scanner in 2022, she has covered crime and courts for more than a decade. But since she published an article in January that included criticisms of DA Pamela Price’s administration, Raguso said Price has declined all of her requests for comment or interviews and otherwise attempted to obstruct her coverage.
“From then on, they were really uninterested in talking with me and were pretty antagonistic about some things,” Raguso said. “So I’ve continued to try to get interviews and include their perspective, but it’s been challenging.”
Raguso added that when she attended Price’s first press conference in March, she thought everything had proceeded normally. She said she later learned from multiple individuals that Price had wanted to remove her, but some of her employees were able to convince Price not to.
In emails shared with the Tracker, an employee at the DA’s office told Raguso in June that her removal from the media list was a simple error, part of a general effort to remove out-of-date recipients, and that she had been added back. By October, however, Raguso realized that she had once again stopped receiving notice of upcoming press events.
Raguso told the Tracker that she emailed the DA’s office on Oct. 20 to be readded to the mailing list and to clarify why she kept being removed. She received a response to her inquiry on Nov. 1, when Communications Director Haaziq Madyun wrote to her that the mailing list was “under review.”
When Raguso attempted to attend Price’s Nov. 29 press conference, however, she was barred at the door due to unspecified “safety issues.” Following public outcry — including a letter penned by the First Amendment Coalition — Price’s office released a statement that Raguso would be added back to the media list and allowed to attend the DA’s press conferences.
“During several transitions of the DAO communications staff over the summer, the DAO media list was modified and reduced to a limited number of news outlets,” the statement said. “Miss Raguso, among others, including the Bay City News Service, was not included in the updated media list, an oversight now being corrected.”
Bay City News Service Managing Editor Dan McMenamin told the Tracker that it was not aware it had stopped receiving emails from the DA’s office until Raguso was barred from the press conference. When contacted by the news outlet, the DA’s office initially said it had an incorrect — and nonexistent — email address for it on record, McMenamin said.
The DA’s statement also noted that Price would be leading an effort to establish “clear and transparent media credentials guidelines that balance the need for public safety alongside accommodating today’s journalists. This critical work is long overdue.” Price’s office did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Raguso told the Tracker that apparent hostility from Price’s office and supporters has affected her reporting.
“I have worked hard to be professional and careful in all my dealings with the DA's office,” Raguso said, “and have taken pains to skip quite a few stories that were absolutely newsworthy — solely because of the complaints by her supporters that the coverage has been unfair or overly critical.”
The office of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, who is pictured above, repeatedly removed journalist Emilie Raguso from its media list in 2023 in alleged retaliation for critical coverage.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,['PRESS_CREDENTIAL'],,,,,Law enforcement: Prosecutors 2021-03-12 14:54:54.945842+00:00,2023-12-08 19:34:12.028965+00:00,Broadcast cameraman robbed at gunpoint in Berkeley,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/broadcast-cameraman-robbed-at-gunpoint-in-berkeley/,2023-12-08 19:34:11.799028+00:00,,,"(2020-10-26 00:00:00+00:00) Gunman who robbed camera operator sentenced to jail, probation","Assault, Equipment Damage",,,camera: count of 1,Unidentified photojournalist 7,,2020-08-10,False,Berkeley,California (CA),37.87159,-122.27275,"According to a local news report, an unidentified broadcast cameraman was robbed at gunpoint while loading gear into a news vehicle in Berkeley, California, on Aug. 10, 2020.
CBS affiliate KPIX 5 reported that the incident took place outside Congregation Netivot Shalom. In security camera footage time-stamped 5:01 p.m. and published by KPIX, an individual can be seen approaching the journalist as he loads a camera into a news vehicle. After the individual draws a gun and points it at the journalist, the journalist attempts to hand the camera off before placing it on the ground. The individual then picks it up and runs away.
According to KPIX, the camera was valued at $25,000. The Tracker was unable to verify the identity of the journalist or station.
On Sept. 10, Berkeley police arrested a man identified as Jimmy Ray, having found items in his home that connected him to the robbery, according to a department news release. It is unclear whether the camera itself was found and, if so, in what condition it was in.
According to the news release, Ray was charged the following day on several counts, including robbery.
When contacted for comment, the Berkeley Police Department was unable to provide further details about the condition of the camera or the cameraman's identity.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office and the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST, sent letters to two Berkeley-based reporters threatening them with legal action — including criminal charges — if they did not destroy a document obtained through a public records request.
Reporters Jason Paladino and Robert Lewis, both affiliated with UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program, received a list on Jan. 8, 2019, in response to California Public Records Act requests to POST, filed December 2018. The list included 12,000 names of current and former California police officers, as well as police applicants, who were convicted of crimes.
On Jan. 29, Becerra’s office and POST sent Paladino and Lewis very similar letters only hours apart. The letters said the list they received was “confidential” and disclosed “inadvertently”. It also stated that the possession of the spreadsheet was a misdemeanor, and demanded that the records be destroyed.
“If you do not intend to comply with our request, the Department can take legal action to ensure that the spreadsheets are properly deleted and not disseminated,” reads the letter from Becerra’s office.
Both Lewis and Paladino confirmed to Freedom of the Press Foundation that they have no intention of destroying the list.
David Snyder, an attorney at the First Amendment Coalition, noted the presence of two distinct legal threats in the letter: criminal charges for possessing the list, and a court order, such as an injunction, to prevent publication of it.
“As for the first, which says that it’s a misdemeanor to possess the list, the Supreme Court has made clear that if a journalist or anyone else lawfully receives information, they are protected from civil liability for publishing it,” Snyder said.
In a statement provided to Freedom of the Press Foundation, a spokesperson for the California Department of Justice repeated that the information Paladino and Lewis obtained is confidential and was released only inadvertently.
“It’s not like someone clicked ‘send’ on the wrong thing! They did that the first time!” Paladino told Freedom of the Press Foundation, noting that POST released an unrelated document to the reporters before correcting the mistake and sending the responsive record.
Paladino and Lewis have not published the list itself, though a report in the East Times Bay about the legal threat used several examples of California police officers convicted of crimes.
“Part of the reason we haven’t published is to do due diligence,” Lewis said.
Freedom of the Press Foundation followed up with the attorney general’s office to clarify whether it recognized any of the serious First Amendment concerns with the letter, and received a statement through a spokesperson from Attorney General Becerra. His response included no reference to the First Amendment:
“We always strive to balance the public’s right to know, the need to be transparent and an individual’s right to privacy. In this case, information from a database that’s required by law to be confidential was released erroneously, jeopardizing personal data of individuals across our state. No one wants to shield criminal behavior; we’re subject to the rule of law.”
The office of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, shown in an August 2018 file photo, has threatened two reporters with legal action for possessing a document obtained through a public records request.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,public records,,, 2018-01-12 17:48:33.609454+00:00,2020-03-19 20:04:38.408887+00:00,Berkeleyside reporter Emilie Raguso subpoenaed to testify in criminal trial,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/berkeleyside-reporter-emilie-raguso-subpoenaed-testify-criminal-trial/,2020-03-19 20:04:38.311791+00:00,,LegalOrder object (12),,Subpoena/Legal Order,Victory for FAC’s Subpoena Defense Initiative (https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/2018/01/victory-facs-subpoena-defense-initiative/) via First Amendment Coalition,,,Emilie Raguso (Berkeleyside),,2017-12-15,True,Berkeley,California (CA),37.87159,-122.27275,"Emilie Raguso, senior reporter for Berkeleyside, was subpoenaed in December 2017 to testify in a criminal trial about statements made by one of her sources. Raguso fought the subpoena, and it was dropped on Jan. 2, 2018.
Raguso had been reporting on a man named William Turner, who had a string of arrests for crimes involving children, including public indecency and harassing a child.
Raguso told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that an investigator with the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office contacted her, both through email and Facebook, to ask her about statements that one of Raguso's victims had made. Raguso had used the victim’s statements in her reporting.
In mid-December 2017, she said, the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office investigator showed up at her apartment and issued her a subpoena to testify in Turner’s criminal trial. Raguso had been covering the case for months but, as a result of the subpoena, was unable to hear and report on the testimony of the main victim in the case.
“It will impact and limit how I am able to cover the story, which does not serve the community,” she said of the subpoena.
Raguso wrote in a Dec. 26 declaration that as a journalist, she must remain objective and detached from active participation in stories that she covers.
“My participation as a witness will also compromise my ability and effectiveness in covering future stories about Defendant Turner — whom I have been covering for some time now — thereby further affecting my ability to do my job in the future.”
Her attorneys filed a motion to quash the subpoena on Dec. 27, arguing that California’s “press shield law” protected Raguso from being compelled to testify about unpublished information.
“The subpoena that was issued by the public defender in this case to Emilie was not in any way limited to just published material,” Zachary Colbeth, Raguso’s attorney, told the Freedom of the Press Foundation in an email. “We also believe that had Emilie been compelled to testify, both the public defender and the prosecution would have inevitably wandered, or been tempted to wander, into seeking testimony about unpublished materials.”
The subpoena was dropped on Jan. 2, 2018. According to Colbeth, the public defender's office withdrew the subpoena after questioning the alleged victim in the case, making the motion to quash the subpoena moot.
“It was disturbing to me how aggressive they were in trying to get me to testify,” Raguso said. “To bring me in as a third party seemed like an inappropriate role for a journalist to have.”
Mike Kessler was covering a demonstration on Aug. 27, 2017, in Berkeley, California, when a group of protesters stole his camera and phone and attempted to break them. His phone was not damaged, but his camera was completely destroyed.
In an essay for The New Republic, Kessler described what happened:
Suddenly, from behind, someone knocked my camera out of my right hand, then did the same to my phone, which was in my left. I turned around to see a black leather boot stomping my phone (it survived—thanks, Otter case!), while another antifa picked up my camera, hurled it into the air, and got in my face. “No fucking pictures!”
The New Republic
Kessler said in an interview with the Freedom of the Press Foundation that his camera, a Canon G12, was complete destroyed. He also said that he saw three people trying to extract the memory card from his camera.
"After the crowd thinned out and police came, I saw three people attempting to get the SD card out of my camera," he said. "The camera itself was totally mangled. The guts of the camera were hanging out. I saw the battery on the ground later. They had smashed the body of the camera in such a way that prevented the SD card from being removed."
Thomas Hawk, an independent photojournalist who witnessed the incident, confirmed Kessler's account of what happened.
A protester swings Mike Kessler's camera before smashing it on the ground, on Aug. 27, 2017, in Berkeley, California.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"anti-fascism, protest",,, 2017-09-12 17:49:38.481835+00:00,2021-10-20 20:33:42.183715+00:00,Documentary production assistant has phone knocked out of hands by protesters,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/documentary-production-assistant-has-phone-knocked-out-hands-protesters/,2021-10-20 20:33:42.129110+00:00,,,,Assault,The Ugly Side of Antifa (http://leightonwoodhouse.com/the-ugly-side-of-antifa/) via L@W,,,Nathan Hope (Independent),,2017-08-27,False,Berkeley,California (CA),37.87159,-122.27275,"An unidentified protester ordered freelance production assistant Nathan Hope to stop filming and knocked a phone out of his hands during protests in Berkeley, California, on Aug. 27, 2017.
Hope, who was assisting a production crew that day for a documentary about the alt right, said that it was one of a series of threats and intimidation that the crew experienced that day at the hands of people whom he described as anti-fascist or black bloc protesters.
The black bloc protesters arrived at a largely peaceful protest in Berkeley’s Civic Center Park. The protest was part of a “Rally Against Hate” in response to a much smaller group of right-wing protesters, according to press reports.
Hope told Alex Ellerbeck, a reporter with the Committee to Protect Journalists, that he was filming a group of protesters assaulting an unidentified man at the time that the incident occurred.
Hope said that one protester, wearing a bandana to disguise their identity, ordered him to stop filming and then knocked his phone of his hands. Hope said that the phone was not damaged after being knocked to the ground, but the video was interrupted. He stopped filming shortly afterwards.
Two other journalists working on the documentary project said that they also received threats while filming on that day.
Leighton Woodhouse, an independent documentary filmmaker, said that anti-fascist protesters approached him and told to stop filming.
“The only reason we didn’t get administered a beat down is because when we were ordered (not asked) to point our cameras elsewhere, we only pushed our right to film them so far,” Woodhouse wrote in a blog post on his website L@W.
“Nobody threatened us directly, but there was an implicit threat of violence because as it happened, people were being beaten up,” Woodhouse told Ellerbeck.
He said that fear of violence affected how he reported on the protest and that there were times when they stopped filming or filmed from farther away. He said that there were three or four confrontations in which he was ordered to stop filming and that protesters would block the cameras with shields and would sometimes escort reporters away from the scene.
Armando Aparicio, Woodhouse’s partner on the documentary project, told Ellerbeck that one protester put a shield in his face and followed him everyone that he went. He said that protesters were screaming that they did not want to be in his video. Aparicio said that he put a cap on his lens and stepped back after being threatened.
Both Woodhouse and Aparicio said that the protesters seemed to have a conflicted relationship with the media. The protest took place in a public sphere and banners and signs seemed designed to be captured by the press, but at the same time protesters seemed to be afraid of having their identities captured on camera.
“There is a fear of doxing [having identities publicly revealed] both by the alt right and law enforcement,” said Aparicio.
“We were in a public park,” Woodhouse wrote on his blog. “It was a big news event, where everybody knew there would be media. Activists in the Black Bloc were concealed by sunglasses and ski masks to protect their identity for exactly this reason. They carried flags and banners, to make themselves a spectacle. Yet for their personal security, many of them decided that it was their right to command photographers not to take their pictures, to physically block them from doing so, and if they persisted, to smash their equipment and assault them.”
A screengrab from a video shot by Nathan Hope shows a protester trying to block him from filming an assault.
,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"anti-fascism, protest",,, 2017-09-15 23:37:35.608578+00:00,2020-03-18 19:49:11.706887+00:00,KTVU reporter assaulted while covering protest in Berkeley,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ktvu-reporter-assaulted-while-covering-protest-berkeley/,2020-03-18 19:49:11.526480+00:00,,,,Assault,"Police identify 13 people arrested in Berkeley demonstrations (http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-bay-area-protests-police-identify-13-people-arrested-in-1503900705-htmlstory.html) via Los Angeles Times, Tweet from KTVU (https://twitter.com/KTVU/status/901914750954618880), Tweet from Leigh Martinez (https://twitter.com/LeighMartinezTV/status/901916110781419521)",,,Leigh Martinez (KTVU),,2017-08-27,False,Berkeley,California (CA),37.87159,-122.27275,"Leigh Martinez, a freelance reporter for KTVU, was covering an anti-fascist protest in Berkeley, California, on Aug. 27, 2017, when a protester knocked her phone out of her hand.
In a video of the altercation shared by KTVU on its Facebook and Twitter accounts, one protester is shown attempting to block Martinez’s ability to film the march with a poster. A second protester approaches Martinez, saying, “Hey, can you not film this right now?” The protester then knocks Martinez's phone out of her hand. The protester was later arrested on suspicion of battery.
Martinez could not be reached for comment, but KTVU wrote on Facebook that Martinez says “the incident happened after an altercation with her photographer.”
In a response to KTVU photojournalist Randee Deason on Twitter, Martinez tweeted, “Yes, I’m okay. She hit my wrist. I was able to continue working.”
Screengrab from KTVU video showing protesters trying to block Leigh Martinez
,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"anti-fascism, protest",,, 2017-10-12 00:26:27.957864+00:00,2023-10-27 21:18:59.477807+00:00,Protesters in Berkeley steal local TV reporter's phone and dunk it in water,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/protesters-berkeley-steal-local-tv-reporters-phone-and-dunk-it-water/,2023-10-27 21:18:59.354915+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",Tweet from Thom Jensen (https://twitter.com/ThomNBCBayArea/status/902056981279551488),,cellphone: count of 1,Thom Jensen (KNTV),,2017-08-27,False,Berkeley,California (CA),37.87159,-122.27275,"Thom Jensen, a freelance reporter for NBC affiliate KNTV, had his phone taken by protesters while covering an anti-fascist demonstration on Aug. 27, 2017, in Berkeley, California.
Lizzie Johnson, a reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle, tweeted a video that shows protesters chasing Jensen and yelling, “Take his camera, take his phone!”
"Take his camera, take his phone," they are shouting at a journalist. #berkeley pic.twitter.com/hvsQ5eXalE
— Lizzie Johnson (@lizziejohnsonnn) August 27, 2017
Thomas Hawk, an independent photojournalist who also covered the rally, told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he saw Jensen arguing with a group of protesters after they took his phone.
Jensen later tweeted that the protesters who took his phone submerged it in a water-filled barricade. He said that he got the phone back and it continued to work.
My phone was taken & submerged in one of the water-filled barricades. Thankfully it had a waterproof case & find my iPhone works under water https://t.co/rOTfQmbeyK
— Thom Jensen (@ThomNBCBayArea) August 28, 2017
Thom Jensen, a freelance journalist for KNTV, argues with protesters after they steal his phone, in Berkeley, California, on Aug. 27, 2017.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"anti-fascism, protest",,, 2017-10-25 20:19:54.224957+00:00,2023-10-27 21:19:30.865060+00:00,Independent journalist Dave Minsky beaten and attacked with pipe by protesters in Berkeley,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-dave-minsky-beaten-and-attacked-pipe-protesters-berkeley/,2023-10-27 21:19:30.723187+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage","Video from KNTV helicopter of protesters chasing and beating Dave Minsky (https://twitter.com/nbcbayarea/status/901975197976289280) via KNTV, Antifa Broke My Camera (https://newrepublic.com/article/144659/antifa-broke-camera) via The New Republic, Photographers: Beware Violent Antifa Protestors (https://petapixel.com/2017/08/29/photographers-beware-violent-antifa-protestors/) via PetaPixel",,"camera lens: count of 1, cellphone: count of 2, camera: count of 1, work product: count of 1",Dave Minsky (Independent),,2017-08-27,False,Berkeley,California (CA),37.87159,-122.27275,"Dave Minsky — an independent journalist and photographer who freelances for Reuters, Vice, the Miami New Times and the Santa Barbara News-Press — was beaten by masked protesters on Aug. 27, 2017, while covering an anti-fascist protest in Berkeley, California.
Minsky told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he was in Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park to cover an aborted white nationalist protest in Berkeley, which turned into a anti-fascist demonstration.
He said that he was carrying two iPhones, a reporter’s notebook in the back pocket and a DSLR camera with a zoom lens around his neck. He was using the iPhone in his left hand to livestream the anti-fascist protest on Instagram, while using the iPhone in his right-hand to take pictures of police officers in riot gear and anti-fascist protesters.
According to Minsky, he was taking photographs of the scene when a masked protester approached him and tried to grab his phone.
“This individual came up to me and tried to swat the phone out of my right hand,” he said. “You know, I moved my hand out of the way as he did that that and apparently that enraged him and so he started kind of like coming after me, and that’s when I started backing up.”
Minsky said that another protester tried to trip him as he moved backward towards the edge of the park, which caused him to lose his balance and fall down. Once he was on the ground, he said, a group of protesters began to beat him.
“Two, three people started tried to grab my phones out of my hands, grab the [camera] off my neck,” he said. “They were hitting me in the face and kicking me in the face and the torso, in the ribs and more people joined in — you know, I think at this point there were four, five, maybe six people.”
Minsky said that he tried to flee the scene, but a group of protesters chased him down. One of the masked protesters swung a pipe at him.
“She came up to me, and she cracked me in the ribs with a pipe … then that’s when two other people kind of tackled me and started hitting me in the head and trying to take my phone and my DSLR, and at one point someone ripped the lens right off my camera.”
Eventually, two Oakland police officers approached Minsky and escorted him away from the protesters. His shirt was ripped in half and he was missing one of his two iPhones, his camera’s 70-200mm zoom lens and his reporter’s notebook.
Minsky said that he was examined by EMTs and put in ambulance, but that he refused to go to the hospital because he did not have health insurance.
“I refused medical attention,” he said. “I don’t have medical insurance. … After the police brought me to the sidewalk and the EMTs looked at me, I was put in the back of the ambulance. I continually told them, you know, ‘I don’t want medical attention, please leave me here, it’s fine.’”
After being let out of the ambulance, Minsky said, he bought a new shirt at Walgreens and then returned to the park to continue covering the protest, only to find that it had already ended.
Minsky later noticed a sharp pain in his chest and had difficulty breathing — a possible sign of a bruised or broken rib.
“I didn’t realize I was hit on the ribs until after I started driving home,” he said. “It became very apparent that it was hard to breathe and there was a sharp pain in my right rib cage and at one particular spot. I was touching it, and it felt really tender and hurt really bad. You know, it was difficult to breathe and it still kind of hurts.”
Minsky said that the pain in his ribs lasted about a week and that he still finds it difficult to breathe, especially when he is lying down or trying to sleep. He said that his wife, a physician’s assistant, believes that his rib is broken, but that he does not know for sure because he has not had a chest X-ray.
https://t.co/DItm9Zkx0J pic.twitter.com/2vCMu40lNE
— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) August 28, 2017
A masked demonstrator strikes photographer Dave Minsky with a pipe in Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, in Berkeley, California, on August 27, 2017.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"anti-fascism, protest, white nationalism",,, 2017-11-30 01:25:22.044017+00:00,2022-09-09 13:29:33.120827+00:00,Photojournalist Brooke Anderson struck with baton by Berkeley police officer while covering protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-brooke-anderson-struck-baton-berkeley-police-officer-while-covering-protest/,2022-09-09 13:29:33.048511+00:00,,,,Assault,"Pacific Media Guild press release about the incident (http://www.newsguild.org/mediaguild3/?p=6998), One of Anderson's photos of the protest (http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/2-arrests-in-protest-of-Berkeley-City-Council-11236336.php#photo-13127958) via San Francisco Chronicle",,,Brooke Anderson (Independent),,2017-06-20,False,Berkeley,California (CA),37.87159,-122.27275,"Brooke Anderson, an independent photojournalist, was hit with a baton and had her camera pushed into her face by police while covering a protest at a city council meeting in Berkeley, California, on June 20, 2017.
Anderson told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that she attended a special Berkeley City Council held meeting at Longfellow Middle School as a credentialed photographer. During the meeting, as the city council moved to vote not to end its participation in a controversial police training program called Urban Shield, a group of activists unfurled a banner in protest and were quickly arrested by police.
Anderson said she followed a group of the activists took photographs of the interactions between the protesters and the police. (Three of her photographs were later used by the San Francisco Chronicle as part of its coverage of the protest and aftermath.)
“The police started screaming, ‘Get back, get back,’” Anderson said. “But there wasn’t really anywhere to go because the crowd was so dense.”
She said that she walked backwards, while facing the police and showing them her press badge.
“I said multiple times, ‘I’m a journalist, I’m documenting, I’m not interfering,’” she said.
At this point, she said, a police officer hit her right arm — which was already bandaged due to an unrelated injury — and her camera multiple times with a baton.
“He hit my camera and then pushed it into my face,” she said.
She was left with bruises on her arm and face.
Anderson is a member of the Pacific Media Guild, which is part of the News Guild-CWA union. After the incident, Pacific Media Guild executive officer Carl Hall sent a letter to Berkeley mayor Jesse Arreguin and police chief Andrew Greenwood, documenting what had happened to Anderson and requesting a meeting. Anderson also spoke about her experiences at a subsequent Berkeley City Council meeting.
According to Anderson, the Berkeley police have so far refused to meet with her or with a representative of her union.
Anderson said that her experience has made her concerned about the Berkeley police department’s tactics and training.
“I repeatedly identified myself as a journalist,” Anderson said. “It’s not as if they didn’t care — but they acted as if it was their intention to prevent me from documenting.”
Brooke Anderson
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,protest,,,