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 2023-11-28 14:01:18.624780+00:00,2024-03-14 16:18:27.388432+00:00,Student journalist reports being pushed while filming Princeton protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-reports-being-pushed-while-filming-princeton-protest/,2024-03-14 16:18:27.307061+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Alexandra Orbuch (The Princeton Tory),,2023-11-09,False,Princeton,New Jersey (NJ),40.34872,-74.65905,"
Student journalist Alexandra Orbuch said she was pushed and stepped on by a fellow student while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest at Princeton University in New Jersey on Nov. 9, 2023.
Orbuch wrote on social media that she was covering a student-led “Walkout for Palestine” in her capacity as a reporter for The Princeton Tory. Orbuch also serves as its editor-in-chief and has authored multiple news articles on antisemitism and op-eds in support of Israel and Zionism.
“I stood at a distance, gathering footage and audio of the protestors, but protesters continued to stalk and harass me,” she wrote. Footage from the incident shows participants deliberately using signs and flags to block Orbuch’s camera.
As the event continued, Orbuch wrote that one individual became emboldened and ultimately pushed her and stepped on her foot.
I repeatedly told him that his level of closeness made me extremely uncomfortable, and I attempted to move away a number of times. He refused to leave me alone. It escalated to the point that he pushed me and stepped on my foot. Free speech is one thing. Assault is another. pic.twitter.com/YA3HyVdrgB
— Alexandra Orbuch (@OrbuchA) November 10, 2023
The Princeton Committee on Palestine posted a statement to social media claiming that the protester that Orbuch publicly identified had kept a respectful distance and that Orbuch ran into him, then baselessly accused him of assault.
Orbuch did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Charlie Kratovil, founder and editor of New Jersey newspaper New Brunswick Today, received a cease-and-desist notice after he raised questions during a city council meeting on May 3, 2023, about where a city official lives. Kratovil subsequently filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city and the official seeking protections from possible criminal or civil penalties.
Kratovil told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Anthony Caputo, who serves as the civilian director of police and sits on the board of commissioners for the Parking Authority, has been “extraordinarily absent.”
“Our police director has been really elusive. He has not attended a council meeting in 15 years,” Kratovil said. “I’ve had important questions to ask him over the years, and he typically doesn’t engage, certainly doesn’t have press conferences or anything like that.”
Kratovil told the Tracker he had learned through a public records request that in 2022 Caputo changed the residence on his voter registration to Cape May. The small town at the southernmost tip of New Jersey is more than two hours drive from New Brunswick.
After Kratovil attempted to reach Caputo for comment about his residence — including during a Parking Authority board meeting — the journalist said he raised the issue at a public meeting attended by the New Brunswick City Council.
Kratovil stated the name of the street listed on Caputo’s voter profile and handed copies — which contained the full address — to the council members, asking whether there are residency requirements for the positions Caputo fills. According to the lawsuit filed on Kratovil’s behalf by the New Jersey chapter of the ACLU, the council members did not provide an answer and said they would have to look into it.
Caputo wrote Kratovil on official city letterhead the following day, copying a Middlesex County prosecutor and the New Brunswick city attorney, to assert that he is protected from disclosure of his home address or telephone number under Daniel’s Law. The state statute makes it a crime to post addresses or phone numbers of judges, prosecutors, law enforcement, and their families on public websites.
“I do hereby request that you cease the disclosure of such information and remove the protected information from the internet or where otherwise made available,” Caputo’s letter states. “I trust you will be guided accordingly.”
A recording of the public meeting subsequently released by the city was edited to mute the audio not only of Kratovil stating the street of Caputo’s home but his entire line of questioning about the police director’s residency.
ACLU of New Jersey, in its lawsuit filed July 12, argued that the city of New Brunswick and Caputo have attempted to chill Kratovil’s journalism after he reported lawfully obtained information that is in the public interest.
“Government should not threaten news reporters with prosecution or civil liability if they write a news story or share information about something questionable going on with a public servant’s address,” the lawsuit states.
The suit seeks an injunction against the city to protect Kratovil from any attempts to pursue civil or criminal penalties against him for alleged violations of Daniel’s Law.
In a court filing reviewed by the Tracker, attorneys for the city confirmed that Caputo is indeed registered to vote in Cape May, but asserted that he rents an apartment in East Brunswick where he stays during the week.
Caputo did not respond to a voicemail requesting comment as of press time.
An initial hearing in the lawsuit is scheduled for Aug. 23.
A portion of the cease-and-desist notice sent to New Brunswick Today editor Charlie Kratovil after he raised questions during a public meeting about where a civilian police official lives.
",None,None,None,None,False,MID-L-003896-23,['APPEALED'],Civil,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,,,, 2024-01-10 21:01:18.198096+00:00,2024-01-10 21:01:18.198096+00:00,"Jersey City Times sues mayor, city after removal from press list",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/jersey-city-times-sues-mayor-city-after-removal-from-press-list/,2024-01-10 19:52:06.174286+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,,,2021-05-20,False,Jersey City,New Jersey (NJ),40.72816,-74.07764,"The Jersey City Times was removed from Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop’s press list after publishing a May 20, 2021, story critical of Fulop’s claims that his administration had reduced crime in the city. As a result, the local news site stopped receiving media advisories, news releases and invitations to news conferences and other official events, the outlet said.
The Times and its publisher and editor-in-chief, Aaron Morrill, subsequently sued the city, Fulop and his press secretary, Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione, in federal court on Dec. 18, 2023, alleging that the outlet had been denied access in retaliation for the 2021 report.
Morrill told the Times, which has been covering Jersey City news since he founded the site in 2019, that the outlet had a “relatively good relationship” with the mayor’s office until May 2021. “After the story, it was radio silence. We received no media advisories, press releases, nothing.”
The Times noted in its suit that in 2019, Wallace-Scalcione had offered to meet with the outlet and said its reporters “are fantastic to work with.” However, after the May 2021 article, both the mayor and his press secretary were critical of the Times’ coverage. Citing emails obtained via public records requests, the suit quoted Fulop describing the Times as “not a real news outlet,” and Wallace-Scalcione alleging that the outlet had a “political agenda against the Mayor.”
The mayor’s office did not respond to Morrill’s emails asking that the Times be restored to the press list, according to the suit. This continued until Jennifer Borg, a lawyer with Yale Law School’s Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic who is representing the outlet, sent a protest letter to the city’s attorneys on April 7, 2022.
In the months after that letter was sent, the Times said it began to receive news releases again — often about events after they occurred — but still failed to receive media advisories and invitations to official events such as news conferences.
Attorneys for the Times sent a follow-up letter on July 25, 2023, stating that the city’s actions violated the outlet’s constitutional rights and asking again for it to be restored to the press list. It did not receive a response.
The Times’ attorneys sent another letter to the city on Nov. 24, 2023. Then, on Dec. 14, the city’s attorneys responded, stating that the Times “is already added to the press list for the City of Jersey City and will receive future press releases and media advisories.” However, according to the suit, the Times did not receive an emailed invitation to a news conference that was sent to other news organizations the next day.
The Times said it continued to receive “only sporadic and belated notices of local events” and did not receive “a single invitation to a press conference or event to which other members of the press have been invited.”
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, accused the defendants of violating the First and 14th Amendment rights of both the Times and of Morrill, who wrote the May 2021 story, and of violating their due process rights and their rights under New Jersey’s constitution.
It alleges that the defendants treated the Times differently than other news organizations that retained access to the mayor’s office and that it retaliated against the outlet based on its critical reporting. It also noted that the city did not publish criteria for the press list.
The suit asks for the plaintiffs to be restored to the press list and that they be provided with the same “information and access” as other news organizations and journalists.
Wallace-Scalcione, in a statement emailed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, called the lawsuit “frivolous” and said the Times “was notified before the lawsuit that they were on the email list to receive all press releases and have been.”
Morrill told the Tracker in an email that two days after the suit was filed he received his first media advisory from the mayor’s office since May 2021, but that it was “unclear” if this would continue.
Morrill also described the detrimental effects of the outlet’s removal from the press list, saying, “It’s impossible to know how many leads for stories might have come from attending the events we missed or how many contacts we might have made.”
He added, “Having to reconstruct a story about the opening of a new homeless shelter or what was said at a press conference from press reports isn’t the kind of journalism we want to do. Being hours and sometimes days behind because you weren’t there hurts us in the eyes of our readers and hurts our site traffic to boot.”
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop delivers the State of the City address on April 5, 2023. The Jersey City Times sued Fulop, his press secretary and the city on Dec. 18, 2023, after the outlet was removed from the press list in May 2021.
",None,None,None,None,False,2:23-cv-23197,['ONGOING'],Civil,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,"['GOVERNMENT_EVENTS', 'PRESS_CREDENTIAL']",Jersey City Times,,,,Local government: Mayor 2020-06-09 13:52:37.487049+00:00,2023-08-18 19:30:04.313530+00:00,"Asbury Park Press journalist arrested covering protests, released the next day",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/asbury-park-press-journalist-arrested-covering-protests-released-next-day/,2023-08-18 19:30:04.165304+00:00,rioting: failure to disperse (charges dropped as of 2020-06-02),,"(2020-07-13 07:14:00+00:00) Reporter sues New Jersey police following investigation that cleared officers of wrongdoing, (2023-06-08 10:27:00+00:00) Reporter settles civil suit against New Jersey police","Arrest/Criminal Charge, Assault",,,,Gustavo Martínez Contreras (Asbury Park Press),,2020-06-01,False,Asbury Park,New Jersey (NJ),40.22039,-74.01208,"Gustavo Martínez Contreras, a multimedia journalist with the New Jersey daily Asbury Park Press, was arrested while covering an anti-police violence protest in Asbury Park on the night of June 1, 2020. He was released after spending the night in custody.
The city of Asbury Park had imposed an 8 p.m. curfew ahead of planned protests, part of the national wave of unrest since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody on May 25. The curfew, which explicitly excluded credentialed media, did not stop protesters from marching, according to the Asbury Park Press.
Throughout the night, Martínez posted videos of the protest in Asbury Park on Twitter. In his last video, Martínez captured his own arrest while livestreaming.
The video, posted around 10 p.m., shows a suddenly tense scene compared to his previous footage. Asbury Park police began to enforce the curfew by advancing in riot gear and making arrests. A police officer shoved Martínez, apologized with no explanation, and returned attention to protesters.
Minutes later on the feed, Martínez filmed police arresting two young protesters when two police officers approached him shouting “Go home” and “This shit is fucking over.” A third police officer off-screen said “Fuck him, he’s the problem” and tackled Martínez to the ground. “You're under arrest. Put your fucking hands behind your back," the officer said. The video then cut out.
In a personal account on the Press website, Martínez wrote that one police officer yelled “take down his fucking phone” and slapped it out of his hand. Police escorted him to a van transporting arrested protesters.
On the way to the van, an officer asked Martínez what was hanging around his neck, Martínez wrote. His press badge, he replied. It was one of several times Martínez identified himself as a journalist to the police before, during, and after his arrest.
The van took the prisoners to Belmar Police Department. Martínez told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that a plainclothes officer asked him if he knew about or had any interaction at the protest with the radical left-wing activist movement antifa, a group President Donald Trump vowed to declare a terrorist organization, even though he reportedly may lack the legal authority to do so. Martínez said he was familiar with the group because of his work as a journalist. He said the officer warned him to avoid antifa because it is a terrorist organization.
Martínez was released the following morning after five hours in custody, he wrote. Police returned his belongings, including his phone, backpack, safety goggles, and helmet.
Martínez had been booked on charges of failing to obey an order to disperse, according to a summons posted on the Monmouth County Prosecutor Office’s Facebook page. The charges were quickly dropped by morning. The police request to dismiss the charge, also posted on the prosecutor’s Facebook page, claimed that Martínez had failed to identify as a reporter, which Martínez disputes.
The Asbury Park Police and the Belmar Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Twitter, New Jersey State Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal pledged to “figure out why this happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again [because] in America, we don’t lock up reporters for doing their job.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases here.
The news media was barred from attending a public meeting on Newark, New Jersey’s ongoing lead contamination crisis on Aug. 27, 2019, by Mayor Ras Baraka’s communications team.
The meeting was called to “enlist members of the public as volunteers to canvas city homeowners for their participation in the planned replacement of lead-tainted service lines leading to individual properties,” NJTV News reported.
Though the mayor’s office had issued a press release in advance of the meeting, when media representatives arrived at Newark City Hall, they were told the press was not invited and were asked to leave.
Mark Bonamo, editor of TAPinto Newark, told NJTV News, “When we showed up at the door, we were generally all shocked and surprised that we were not let in to what we believed was going to be a public meeting in the public’s house: City Hall.”
In a statement, Newark’s Director of Communications Frank Baraff said that the press was excluded in an effort to “encourag[e] an open dialogue with volunteers” and “so that residents will not shy away from helping us in these efforts.”
Media attorney and Rutgers law professor Bruce Rosen told NJTV News that the decision to exclude the press was unconstitutional: “Constitutionally, it’s a public forum. He invited the public and the media is part of the public. In fact, the media is a representative of the public.”
On Aug. 28, Baraka’s administration announced that in the future it would not block the press from meetings about the lead water crisis, TAPinto reported. The statement read, in part, “At future meetings, there will be media availability.”
As Rosen noted to TAPinto, uncertainty about the meaning of “media availability” remains.
The mayor’s office was not immediately available for comment.
Newark's mayor Ras Baraka addresses the media in this 2014 file photo.
",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'],Media,,,,Local government: Mayor 2019-08-13 15:53:10.647664+00:00,2023-10-27 21:31:24.285492+00:00,"Private security guard assaults journalist, confiscates camera during summit",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/private-security-guard-assaults-journalist-confiscates-camera-during-summit/,2023-10-27 21:31:24.178980+00:00,,,(2019-08-20 13:05:00+00:00) Ryan speaks out; Hearing delayed to no-show,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,camera: count of 1,Charlie Kratovil (New Brunswick Today),,2019-08-03,False,New Brunswick,New Jersey (NJ),40.48622,-74.45182,"Charlie Kratovil, founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, filed a police report alleging assault by a private security guard after being forcibly removed from covering an event on Aug. 3, 2019.
The NBT news team was invited to cover an education summit hosted by the non-profit Project Ready. Kratovil was covering the event on behalf of a reporter who could not, he tweeted, and planned to record the gala ceremonies and post the video to the outlet’s YouTube channel without any editing. Kratovil said he was there for the keynote speech, given by White House correspondent and CNN analyst April Ryan.
Kratovil told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that when he checked in and set up his camera at about 6:45 p.m., the public relations officials did not inform him that there would be any limitations or restrictions on filming the proceedings. Kratovil said that he was able to film the first hour and a half of the event without issue.
When Rep. Donald Payne took the stage to introduce Ryan at approximately 8:30 p.m., Kratovil tweeted, he was approached by a man who said he was “with the speaker,” and asked Kratovil to identify himself. He did so and said he had received approval to cover the event. The man left, Kratovil wrote, but returned and threatened to “take down” his camera if Kratovil did not do so himself.
Kratovil refused.
Over the next several minutes, Kratovil debated with the man, later identified as Ryan’s private security guard Joel Morris, and several public relations officials who began to gather around his table, according to his account.
“I maintained a firm position re: video recording, saying I wouldn’t take action until I could get more info on the man who threatened to mess w/ my camera,” Kratovil tweeted. “I told them ‘If he doesn’t give me his name & tell me on the record why I can’t [video], I’m not turning off the camera.’”
In Kratovil’s video, security guard Morris can be seen approaching Ryan onstage, who pauses her speaking, appears to look at Kratovil’s camera and nods. Ryan remains silent as Morris then walks towards Kratovil’s camera, grabs it and walks off.
In the video, which keeps recording, Ryan resumes speaking as Morris grabs the camera and is heard trying to explain the interruption. “When I speak, I don’t have news covering my speech,” Ryan said, adding that she wanted to have an “unfettered conversation with you all.”
However, New Brunswick-based reporter Chuck O’Donnell from TAPInto, a network of local news websites, was allowed to remain in the room.
Kratovil told the Tracker that he quickly gathered up his belongings and followed after Morris.
According to a police report about the incident filed by Kratovil, Morris walked to the front lobby and turned over Kratovil’s camera to the security staff at the hotel’s front desk. The camera was shortly returned to Kratovil.
Kratovil shared with the Tracker a surveillance recording from the lobby that shows Kratovil holding his camera and moving away from Morris. In the video, Kratovil can be heard saying, “This guy is chasing me.” Morris quickly moves around behind him, and appears to grab and twist Kratovil’s left arm behind his back while pushing him out of the frame.
The police report noted the injury.
“According to Kratovil,” Officer Ryan Daughton wrote in the police report, “the privately hired Security Guard utilized some kind of compliance hold and subsequently caused pain to Kratovil’s left wrist. I offered Kratovil medical attention and he refused the same.”
Kratovil told the Tracker that he ended up seeking care at an urgent care a few days after the incident, where they advised him to treat his shoulder injury as a sprain. He said he plans to press charges.
While giving the keynote speech at an event in New Jersey, White House correspondent April Ryan is informed of video recording by a member of her private security (back to the camera). The camera was then confiscated.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private security,None,None,False,False,None,None,private security,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,robbery,,, 2018-08-27 16:35:00.310889+00:00,2023-11-21 18:17:25.761523+00:00,Woman hits New Jersey reporter covering court hearing,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/woman-hits-new-jersey-reporter-covering-court-hearing/,2023-11-21 18:17:25.557843+00:00,,,"(2019-03-17 00:00:00+00:00) Woman who attacked reporter in New Jersey courtroom gets probation, fines",Assault,,,,Taylor Tiamoyo Harris (NJ Advance Media),,2018-08-03,False,New Brunswick,New Jersey (NJ),40.48622,-74.45182,"Taylor Tiamoyo Harris, a reporter for New Jersey newspaper chain NJ Advance Media, was covering courtroom proceedings on Aug. 3, 2018, when a woman struck her in the face.
Harris was covering the sentencing hearing for Tejay Johnson, a former Rutgers University football player who had been found guilty of committing a string of home invasion robberies in 2015. Harris had received permission from the judge to take pictures during the courtroom proceedings.
As Johnson was being taken away in handcuffs, Harris said she was sitting and facing forward when she was attacked from behind.
“[The attacker] pulled my hair and hit my face,” she told Freedom of the Press Foundation. “There was a red mark, which went away, but it was scary for me, because I didn’t see it happen and couldn’t defend myself.”
Harris said that immediately after she was attacked, officers surrounded her and took her to another room, where she filled out a statement about the assault. She said that her company, NJ Advance Media, walked her through what she should do.
According to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, a woman named Trudy Smith, faces a municipal charge of simple assault in connection with the attack on Harris.
Harris believes that she was assaulted because she took pictures during the court proceedings.
“She attacked me because she saw me taking pictures, because I was a reporter, and this took me a while to process,” she said.
Days later, Harris tweeted about the incident.
Yes, on Friday while covering a court sentencing, a woman who I had never met or even saw decided to assault me from behind while I was sitting face forward in the courtroom because she saw that I was a reporter.
— Taylor Harris (@ladytiamoyo) August 8, 2018
Harris said that this is the first time that she’s been assaulted while reporting.
“I’ve been out on assignments, courtrooms, at murder scenes… Nothing like this has happened to me before,” she said.
Ann Gerhart, a senior editor-at-large for The Washington Post, and Michael Sokolove, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, were questioned about their politics and work by a Customs and Border Protection officer when returning to the United States on June 16, 2018.
Sokolove told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and his spouse, Gerhart, had landed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey after a trip to the Caribbean island of Anguilla. Sokolove said that they both had listed “journalist” as their profession on their immigration forms, as usual.
They approached the customs desk together and handed the CBP officer their immigration forms, Gerhart said. She told the Tracker that the officer asked the usual questions of “Where were you?” and “What do you do?” But when they said they were journalists, Gerhart said, he asked who they worked for.
When they told him their media organizations, Gerhart said the agent responded that it was a “dangerous time to be a journalist.”
A remark, Gerhart said, she didn’t read as sympathetic.
Sokolove said that the officer might have asked a few other questions about their work, but that the next thing he remembers distinctly is the officer asking them what they thought of President Donald Trump.
“We both said a version of, ‘It’s not our job to have opinions about President Trump or to express them. We’re journalists, we just report the news,’” Sokolove told the Tracker. “Then I made the mistake of saying, ‘I think this family separation [policy] is really troublesome.’ I think that’s the word I used: I said I was troubled by it.”
At that point, Sokolove said, the officer became “very aggressive.”
“He said, ‘Well, I think you really ought to give him a chance and this country has to come together.’ And he just started expressing his own political views that the press was too aggressive with the president, too critical of the president, and we really ought to ‘fall in line and come together.’”
Gerhart told the Tracker that they passed through the checkpoint without further incident, but after the interaction “I was initially flabbergasted and then after that I was shaken by it.”
“I was quite taken aback to be coming back into the United States as a US-citizen—or really anyone—and be asked for what I took to be some kind of political fealty, if you will.”
Sokolove said the interaction left him shocked as well.
“I just found it appalling,” Sokolove said, “that upon coming back into this country with my U.S. passport that because I was a journalist I would be asked by an immigration officer what I thought about the president and then told exactly how we ought to be writing about him.”
Michael Sokolove, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, and Ann Gerhart, a senior editor-at-large for The Washington Post, were questioned about their politics and work by a Customs and Border Protection officer when returning to the United States on June 16, 2018.
Sokolove told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and his spouse, Gerhart, had landed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey after a trip to the Caribbean island of Anguilla. Sokolove said that they both had listed “journalist” as their profession on their immigration forms, as usual.
They approached the customs desk together and handed the CBP officer their immigration forms, Gerhart said. She told the Tracker that the officer asked the usual questions of “Where were you?” and “What do you do?” But when they said they were journalists, Gerhart said, he asked who they worked for.
When they told him their media organizations, Gerhart said the agent responded that it was a “dangerous time to be a journalist.”
A remark, Gerhart said, she didn’t read as sympathetic.
Sokolove said that the officer might have asked a few other questions about their work, but that the next thing he remembers distinctly is the officer asking them what they thought of President Donald Trump.
“We both said a version of, ‘It’s not our job to have opinions about President Trump or to express them. We’re journalists, we just report the news,’” Sokolove told the Tracker. “Then I made the mistake of saying, ‘I think this family separation [policy] is really troublesome.’ I think that’s the word I used: I said I was troubled by it.”
At that point, Sokolove said, the officer became “very aggressive.”
“He said, ‘Well, I think you really ought to give him a chance and this country has to come together.’ And he just started expressing his own political views that the press was too aggressive with the president, too critical of the president, and we really ought to ‘fall in line and come together.’”
Gerhart told the Tracker that they passed through the checkpoint without further incident, but after the interaction “I was initially flabbergasted and then after that I was shaken by it.”
“I was quite taken aback to be coming back into the United States as a US-citizen—or really anyone—and be asked for what I took to be some kind of political fealty, if you will.”
Sokolove said the interaction left him shocked as well.
“I just found it appalling,” Sokolove said, “that upon coming back into this country with my U.S. passport that because I was a journalist I would be asked by an immigration officer what I thought about the president and then told exactly how we ought to be writing about him.”
In early June 2018, the city of Jersey City removed over 240 community newspaper distribution boxes from the city’s streets. In a tweet, Jersey City mayor Steven Fulop announced that the city was removing the newspaper boxes because they were cluttering the city's sidewalks.
For #JerseyCity residents: We continue to remove these from the streets as many are non functioning, they clutter the sidewalks, and many just become trash cans. We have 240 so far w/more to do. If we accidentally took one that has permits to be there please reach out to DPW pic.twitter.com/ecfVn4L4rn
— Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) June 4, 2018
The city’s new policy came as a surprise to newspaper publishers.
Anthony Ibarria, general manager of Hispanic weekly paper El Especialito, told Gothamist that no one called the paper before seizing its boxes.
Peter Rugh, an associate editor at The Indypendent — a community paper based in Brooklyn with a paper box in Jersey City — told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that his publication was not contacted prior to the removal of its box, even though it prominently displays contact information.
“News boxes have been on the streets for decades unperturbed, including the first five years the mayor has been in office,” he said.
Rugh sees the removal of the boxes as a threat to press freedom.
“[The removal] sets a dangerous precedent — not only for the press but for the public who rely on the coverage we provide to stay informed and make decisions regarding, among other things, who to vote for,” he said. “People say print is dying but remaining a print publication allows us to reach an audience who might never stumble upon us online, many of whom do not have regular access to the web. It should be very troubling to people that the mayor has created a newspaper blackout because he didn't like the way the dispensers look.”
The mayor has said that newspapers with special permits will be able to keep their newspaper boxes on the street — but there is currently no way for newspapers to apply for permits for newspaper boxes.
Fulop did not respond to a request from Freedom of the Press Foundation for comment, but Jersey City Press Secretary Hannah Peterson confirmed that the city has not yet implemented a formal permitting process for newspaper boxes.
She said that the Jersey City city council plans to pass a measure in the future to establish a permit process.
Peterson defended the city’s new policy, saying that the boxes were cluttering the streets and also posed a potential “security risk” since dangerous items could be hidden in them.
“The same way that the city is concerned with open trash cans in terms of large amounts of people gathering, you don’t anywhere where anything could be hidden,” she said.
Peterson said she did not know whether the city had received complaints from the public that the boxes cluttered the streets or posed a security risk. She did not provide an answer when asked whether the city intends to take similar measures for other facilities in public spaces like clothing donation boxes and planters.
She did not provide an explanation as to why news organizations were not notified about the city’s new policy.
NJ Advance Media photographer Andrew Mills and reporter Stephen Stirling were chased onto a highway and threatened by a man they were covering for a story in Hackettstown, New Jersey, on Feb. 7, 2018.
That day, Mills and Stirling visited the neighborhood of funeral director Joseph Fantasia. His company, which contracted with government agencies to transport the dead, had been accused of mishandling bodies for over two years. In June, the Office of the State Medical Examiner severed its ties with Fantasia’s company, but it still holds contracts with other agencies. Stirling told Freedom of the Press Foundation the news team wanted to photograph Fantasia and determine whether he was still working in the funeral industry.
The journalists waited in their car outside of Fantasia’s house for several hours before he emerged. Once Fantasia exited the house, Stirling told FPF, he “got into his car and drove at us.”
Stirling said that Fantasia drove his black Cadillac Escalade down the road, pulled up next to the journalists’ car window, and began yelling obscenities.
Stirling said that after he identified himself as a reporter and made several attempts to interview Fantasia, Mills made the decision to leave out of concern for their safety. Mills declined to comment.
Stirling said that Fantasia chased them around the neighborhood and then a second black SUV, driven by Fantasia’s neighbor, joined the chase. Both SUVs followed Stirling and Mills onto nearby Route 46.
“At this point, we were on the phone with 911,” Stirling said. “Joe’s car pulled up alongside and got in front of us, and the other car got behind us, so we were boxed in.”
Stirling said that Fantasia’s neighbor’s SUV then moved to the side of their car and slowed down. Stirling said this gave them no choice but to stop, blocking the flow of traffic across the entire highway.
A police report of the incident obtained by FPF reads, “At this time the driver of the Escalade later identified as Joseph Fantasia exited his vehicle, began to approach the Nissan Altima and was yelling in their direction.”
“They were moving at us aggressively, but thankfully, we didn't have the chance to see what could have happened next — but it wouldn’t have been good,” Stirling said.
Luckily, Stirling said, one of the cars behind them held two off duty police officers. The officers pulled up alongside the cars, identified themselves, and ordered all three cars to pull over down the road.
“They put their car in between ours and both of theirs, and they made sure on-duty police officers were on their way,” Stirling said. “They stayed until they arrived. I don’t know what would have happened if they weren’t there. They made the best out of what was a bad, scary situation.”
The altercation was written up as a road rage incident, but neither Fantasia nor his neighbor were arrested or charged for the incident.
“If there's anything that bothers me as a citizen about this, that’s it,” Stirling said. “Two off duty police officers saw what happened. It’s disappointing that not even a reckless driving citation was issued — it’s hard for me to feel like that doesn’t send a bad message.”
On March 5, Stirling’s article about Fantasia was published.
NJ Advance Media reporter Stephen Stirling and photographer Andrew Mills were chased onto a highway and threatened by a man they were covering for a story in Hackettstown, New Jersey, on Feb. 7, 2018.
That day, Stirling and Mills visited the neighborhood of funeral director Joseph Fantasia. His company, which contracted with government agencies to transport the dead, had been accused of mishandling bodies for over two years. In June, the Office of the State Medical Examiner severed its ties with Fantasia’s company, but it still holds contracts with other agencies. Stirling told Freedom of the Press Foundation the news team wanted to photograph Fantasia and determine whether he was still working in the funeral industry.
“We wanted to photograph him, and see if he was still working in the funeral industry, or going into a funeral home,” Stirling told FPF.
The journalists waited in their car outside of Fantasia’s house for several hours before he emerged. Once Fantasia exited the house, Stirling said, he “got into his car and drove at us.”
Stirling said that Fantasia drove his black Cadillac Escalade down the road, pulled up next to the journalists’ car window, and began yelling obscenities.
Stirling said that after he identified himself as a reporter and made several attempts to interview Fantasia, Mills made the decision to leave out of concern for their safety. Mills declined to comment.
“Joe [Fantasia] has a history of violent threats—that’s part of what we documented,” Stirling said.
Stirling said that Fantasia chased them around the neighborhood and then a second black SUV, driven by Fantasia’s neighbor, joined the chase. Both SUVs followed Stirling and Mills onto nearby Route 46.
“At this point, we were on the phone with 911,” Stirling said. “Joe’s car pulled up alongside and got in front of us, and the other car got behind us, so we were boxed in.”
Stirling said that the second SUV then moved to the side of their car and slowed down. Stirling said this gave them no choice but to stop, blocking the flow of traffic across the entire highway.
A police report of the incident obtained by FPF reads, “At this time the driver of the Escalade later identified as Joseph Fantasia exited his vehicle, began to approach the Nissan Altima and was telling in there direction.”
“They were moving at us aggressively, but thankfully, we didn't have the chance to see what could have happened next — but it wouldn’t have been good,” Stirling said.
Luckily, Stirling said, one of the cars behind them held two off duty police officers. The officers pulled up alongside the cars, identified themselves, and ordered all three cars to pull over down the road.
“They put their car in between ours and both of theirs, and they made sure on-duty police officers were on their way,” Stirling said.
“They stayed until they arrived. I don’t know what would have happened if they weren’t there. They made the best out of what was a bad, scary situation.”
The altercation was written up as a road rage incident, but neither Fantasia nor his neighbor were arrested or charged for the incident.
“If there's anything that bothers me as a citizen about this, that’s it,” Stirling said. “Two off duty police officers saw what happened. It’s disappointing that not even a reckless driving citation was issued — it’s hard for me to feel like that doesn’t send a bad message.”
On March 5, Stirling’s article about Fantasia was published.