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 2022-05-23 17:34:40.680776+00:00,2022-11-08 20:33:56.111096+00:00,Reuters reporter’s phone confiscated on Pentagon trip to Europe,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reuters-reporters-phone-confiscated-on-pentagon-trip-to-europe/,2022-11-08 20:33:56.045820+00:00,,,(2022-05-23 13:02:00+00:00) Air Force rescinds new policy that led to Reuters reporter’s phone being confiscated on Pentagon trip to Europe,Equipment Search or Seizure,,cellphone: count of 1,,Idrees Ali (Reuters),,2022-05-22,False,Prince George County,Maryland (MD),None,None,"
A Reuters reporter had his phone confiscated and was prohibited from using any electronic devices during a flight to Oslo, Norway, on May 22, 2022, while traveling with the Department of Defense.
Idrees Ali, who has been a foreign correspondent covering the Pentagon since 2015 and is not a U.S. citizen, was told of a new policy on May 19 that would impact his ability to use his cellphone during the eight-hour flight to Oslo with Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. As of publication, the Pentagon has not responded to a request for comment or for a copy of the policy to review.
According to Politico, the policy states that non-U.S. citizens traveling with government officials who have “top-secret” security clearance are prohibited from using any devices during the flight. As a foreign correspondent, Ali has traveled to secure locations in the past with top government officials, including trips to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Officials for the Pentagon had been “working on a resolution” with Ali before the departure date, but after arriving at Joint Base Andrews airport on the 22nd, Ali was told that no resolution to the issue was found and he would not be allowed to use his cellphone or laptop computer for the flight duration.
Shortly after taking off, a DoD official instructed Ali to hand over his phone. Ali documented the incident on Twitter and shared a photo of the pouch he placed his phone in before it was confiscated.
Yesterday on an official trip with Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Hicks, my phone was confiscated by a DoD official, locked up and I was stopped from using electronics because of a new policy that bars non-US reporters from using devices on govt planes. (Pic taken by US citizen) pic.twitter.com/2cREYUp5Qd
— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) May 23, 2022
Officials returned the cellphone to Ali after landing in Oslo. Reporters, including Ali, are set to visit the United Kingdom and Germany as Hicks meets with military and government leaders.
DoD and Air Force officials did not respond to requests for comment from the Tracker, but in a statement to Politico, Air Force spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the policy was under review and would not impact Ali for the remainder of the trip.
“We respect the role of a free press and welcome them aboard our flights. We regret the inconvenience we caused this reporter, and we will be reviewing the policy going forward,” Ryder said.
In an emailed statement to the Tracker, a Reuters spokesperson said the news agency had “expressed our concern about the rule change regarding members of the press who are non-U.S. citizens being able to access electronic devices during travel with the U.S. Department of Defense. The matter has now been resolved.”
Fce
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,returned in full,False,politician,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,,,, 2022-09-20 17:27:03.869205+00:00,2024-02-29 17:34:26.937427+00:00,"Nebraska high school newspaper, class shuttered after publishing LGBTQ content",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nebraska-high-school-newspaper-class-shuttered-after-publishing-lgbtq-content/,2024-02-29 17:34:26.849773+00:00,,,"(2022-11-11 09:46:00+00:00) Nebraska school district reinstates high school newspaper, shuttered after LGBTQ issue, with caveats, (2023-03-31 14:43:00+00:00) A former student reporter, state high school press association file suit against Nebraska school district for shuttering student newspaper, (2023-10-16 12:49:00+00:00) Judge dismisses lawsuit against Nebraska school district for shuttering student newspaper",Other Incident,,,,,,2022-05-22,False,Grand Island,Nebraska (NE),40.92501,-98.34201,"A high school student newspaper and related class in Nebraska were shuttered by school administrators in May 2022, after student journalists featured LGBTQ content in their end-of-year issue, a move press freedom advocates condemned as censorship.
The Grand Island Independent reported that Northwest Public Schools administrators abruptly announced an end to The Viking Saga, a 54-year-old student publication in Grand Island, just three days after the newspaper published its June issue on May 16.
According to the Independent, which publishes the school newspaper, an email sent by a school employee to cancel printing services on May 22 said the news program was slashed because the school board and superintendent were “unhappy with the last issue's editorial content.”
The Saga adviser declined to comment to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. The student journalists told the Independent that Saga staff had been reprimanded in April by district officials who said to use only birth names in bylines and articles.
Marcus Pennell, a college freshman and former Saga student journalist, wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post that the Saga staff decided to highlight LGBTQ issues after the reprimand.
“The Saga’s staff disagreed with the policy,” Pennell wrote. “So with our next issue, we knew we wanted to make a statement.”
The June issue’s LGBTQ content, according to Pennell, was three articles and, next to the paper’s nameplate, two rainbow icons.
“Every other story in the paper was dedicated to honoring Northwest’s expansive student life.”
Saga student journalists reached out to the Student Press Law Center, which condemned the censorship and worked with the students. Mike Hiestand, SPLC senior legal counsel, told the Tracker that this incident is part of a recent string of attacks on student journalism.
“The very first question I have to ask when a student journalist calls is ‘Where are you calling from?’ because it makes all of the difference in the world right now,” Hiestand said. “It’s really unfortunate, but the law does vary significantly from state-to-state.”
Laws that specifically protect students’ First Amendment rights, known as “New Voices” laws, are the best protection for student journalists, Hiestand said. New Voices legislation was introduced in Nebraska in 2019, but did not pass.
On Aug. 29, the ACLU of Nebraska issued a letter to district superintendent Jeff Edwards, calling the elimination of the Saga an infringement on the student’s constitutional rights and demanding the newspaper’s reinstatement.
Edwards wrote in an Aug. 31 statement that the Saga was temporarily paused, not canceled, and that the decision wasn’t based on a single reason. Neither the superintendent nor the school principal responded to a request for comment by the Tracker.
Since 2017, the Tracker has documented seven high school newspapers censored or subjected to prior review for their coverage of controversial topics.
If not reinstated, the 2022-2023 school year will mark the first time that the Saga hasn’t published since its 1968 launch. Last academic year, the student publication finished third at the Nebraska School Activities Association State Journalism Championship.