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 2024-02-14 20:29:52.987531+00:00,2024-02-14 20:29:52.987531+00:00,Alabama radio station ceases transmission after broadcast tower stolen,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/alabama-radio-station-ceases-transmission-after-broadcast-tower-stolen/,2024-02-14 20:29:52.705116+00:00,,,,Equipment Damage,,,"broadcast tower: count of 1, radio transmitter: count of 1",,,2024-02-02,False,Jasper,Alabama (AL),33.83122,-87.27751,"
A 200-foot AM radio tower for Jasper, Alabama, broadcaster WJLX was stolen “without a trace” on Feb. 2, 2024, according to the station.
“I’ve been around the business my whole life, I’ve been in it professionally for 26 years and I’ve never heard of an entire tower being stolen,” WJLX General Manager Brett Elmore told Birmingham television station WABM.
WJLX, which is now unable to broadcast on its AM frequency, said it has since had to shut down its broadcast operations entirely, including its FM station. The Federal Communications Commission told WJLX on Feb. 8 that it could not operate its FM transmitter while the AM station is off the air. It will continue to stream its programming only via the internet and its apps, it said.
Elmore has also filed a request with the FCC for WJLX to remain silent for now without losing its license, The Washington Post reported. The paper said if stations remain silent for more than one year, the FCC considers them expired.
The station’s absence was a cause for worry for Sharon Tinely, president of the Alabama Broadcasters Association, who told WABM, “What if there were a crisis going on right now that the community needs to hear information from local sources on a local radio station and they can’t.”
“This is a huge loss,” Elmore told the Guardian. “People have reached out and asked how they can help, but I don’t know how you can help unless you have a 200ft tower and an AM transmitter.”
The tower was uninsured, according to Elmore, and replacing it could cost $60,000-plus. WJLX has set up a GoFundMe account and so far raised over $8,000.
That station said it was alerted to the theft when a landscaping cleanup crew arrived at the tower site to clean up the property, only to find it completely cleared out by the thieves. “I couldn’t believe it,” Elmore recalled.” I asked him [the landscaper] if he was sure he was at the right place. He responded, ‘the tower is gone. Wires are scattered everywhere.’”
The radio tower was located in a wooded area, behind a local poultry plant, The Guardian reported. Elmore told the paper that thieves had cut the tower’s wires and somehow removed it, while also taking the station’s AM transmitter from a nearby building.
Elmore said he believes the thieves may have targeted the tower to sell the metal and also told The Guardian that about six months ago, a nearby radio station had its air conditioning unit, copper pipes and other materials stolen.
The station has filed charges with the Jasper Police Department and the case is currently under investigation.
“This is a federal crime and whoever did this it’s not worth your time, effort or energy,” Elmore told WABM. “Because when we find you, you are going to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
WJLX’s AM radio tower disappeared on Feb. 2, leaving behind a concrete slab and cut wires.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,unknown,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],WJLX,robbery,,, 2023-11-01 18:09:18.890354+00:00,2024-02-29 17:20:41.283727+00:00,Alabama reporter faces felony charge for article on grand jury investigation,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/alabama-reporter-faces-felony-charge-for-article-on-grand-jury-investigation/,2024-02-29 17:20:41.176804+00:00,"publishing: revealing, disclosing or divulging grand jury information (charges pending as of 2023-10-27)",,(2023-10-30 13:02:00+00:00) Alabama reporter placed under prior restraint as condition of bail,"Arrest/Criminal Charge, Prior Restraint",,,,Don Fletcher (Atmore News),,2023-10-27,False,Atmore,Alabama (AL),31.02379,-87.49387,"Atmore News reporter Don Fletcher was arrested in Atmore, Alabama, on Oct. 27, 2023, and charged with a felony for his reporting on an ongoing grand jury investigation, the newspaper reported.
Fletcher authored an article on Oct. 25 concerning an Escambia County investigation into allegations of mismanagement of federal COVID relief funds by the county Board of Education. The article referenced statements made by District Attorney Steve Billy at an Oct. 12 school board meeting confirming that the superintendent would not be brought before a grand jury.
The article also reported that the outlet had obtained documents stating that Billy had issued a subpoena seeking copies of checks labeled as “COVID” payments or bonuses.
Atmore News reported on Facebook that both Fletcher and the newspaper’s publisher and co-owner Sherry Digmon were arrested on Oct. 27, charged with revealing, disclosing or divulging grand jury information, a felony, and released about six hours later after paying $10,000 bonds.
When reached by phone, Fletcher confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the two had an initial hearing on Oct. 30 but directed all further inquiries to their attorney, Earnest White. White declined to comment when reached on Oct. 31.
Veronica “Ashley” Fore, a bookkeeper for the county school system, was also arrested and is charged with providing grand jury information to the media, according to WALA-TV. It was not immediately clear how Fore obtained the information.
Neither District Attorney Billy nor the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to requests for comment.
Atmore News reporter Don Fletcher and publisher Sherry Digmon were arrested on Oct. 27, 2023, and charged with felonies for reporting on an ongoing grand jury investigation in Escambia County, Alabama.
",arrested and released,Escambia County Sheriff’s Office,2023-10-27,2023-10-27,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,pending,False,[],,,,, 2023-11-01 18:17:04.716394+00:00,2024-02-29 17:20:58.675278+00:00,Alabama publisher charged over report on grand jury investigation,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/alabama-publisher-charged-over-report-on-grand-jury-investigation/,2024-02-29 17:20:58.568535+00:00,"publishing: revealing, disclosing or divulging grand jury information (charges pending as of 2023-10-27)",,(2023-10-30 13:04:00+00:00) Alabama publisher placed under prior restraint as condition of bail,"Arrest/Criminal Charge, Prior Restraint",,,,Sherry Digmon (Atmore News),,2023-10-27,False,Atmore,Alabama (AL),31.02379,-87.49387,"Atmore News co-owner and publisher Sherry Digmon was arrested in Atmore, Alabama, on Oct. 27, 2023, and charged with a felony for publishing an article on an ongoing grand jury investigation, the newspaper reported.
A reporter for the paper, Don Fletcher, authored an article on Oct. 25 concerning an Escambia County investigation into allegations of mismanagement of federal COVID relief funds by the county Board of Education. The article referenced statements made by District Attorney Steve Billy at an Oct. 12 school board meeting confirming that the superintendent would not be brought before a grand jury.
The article also reported that the outlet had obtained documents stating that Billy had issued a subpoena seeking copies of checks labeled as “COVID” payments or bonuses.
Atmore News reported on Facebook that both Digmon and Fletcher were arrested on Oct. 27, charged with revealing, disclosing or divulging grand jury information, a felony, and released about six hours later after paying $10,000 bonds.
Fletcher, who took a call to the newsroom from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, confirmed that he and Digmon had an initial hearing on Oct. 30 but directed all further inquiries to their attorney, Earnest White. White declined to comment when reached on Oct. 31.
Veronica “Ashley” Fore, a bookkeeper for the county school system, was also arrested and is charged with providing grand jury information to the media, according to WALA-TV. It was not immediately clear how Fore obtained the information.
Neither District Attorney Billy nor the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to requests for comment.
Atmore News reporter Don Fletcher and publisher Sherry Digmon were arrested on Oct. 27, 2023, and charged with felonies for reporting on an ongoing grand jury investigation in Escambia County, Alabama.
",arrested and released,Escambia County Sheriff’s Office,2023-10-27,2023-10-27,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,pending,False,[],,,,, 2023-05-23 19:22:20.338100+00:00,2023-10-27 21:04:41.554479+00:00,"Shot fired at empty Alabama newspaper office, none injured",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/shot-fired-at-empty-alabama-newspaper-office-none-injured/,2023-10-27 21:04:41.448859+00:00,,,,Equipment Damage,,,building: count of 1,,,2023-05-07,False,Moundville,Alabama (AL),32.99762,-87.63001,"The Moundville Times reported that an unknown individual fired a bullet through a window of the newspaper’s office in Moundville, Alabama, in early May 2023. The office was empty at the time and no one was injured.
The Times reported that the shooting happened sometime between May 3 and May 7. On May 7, Editor Travis Vaughn noticed a piece of molding had fallen off the wall. Then, three days later, when moving a plant on the windowsill, he discovered damage to the blinds and a hole in the window.
Police later recovered the bullet from an interior wall and are investigating the incident, which would be a felony, the paper reported.
Vaughn told WBRC-TV that he is worried about whether it was a random accident or if someone targeted the newsroom.
“It's very scary. It's very disturbing to think about what could have been,” Vaughn said. “You try to do a good job and you try to be fair, but you have to cover the news. So you wonder: Could it be somebody retaliatory, or a message of, ‘Hey, back off.’”
Vaughn did not respond to requests for additional comment.
Moundville Police Chief Toby Banks told the weekly newspaper that shootings in downtown Moundville are rare.
“Since I’ve been chief here, you can count on one hand the number of incidents even remotely like this in downtown Moundville,” Banks said. “We’re hoping no one was targeting the Moundville Times and that it was just someone goofing off or someone made it accidentally happen.”
Publisher Tommy McGraw wrote in an op-ed for the newspaper on May 17 that both the Times and its sister paper, the Sumter County Record Journal, have received numerous threats over the more than 30 years they’ve been publishing.
“That is the sad and frightening thing about being in the newspaper business, sometimes fearing for your life for doing the right thing, exposing corruption, and printing the truth,” McGraw wrote.
A WAFF 48 News photographer was assaulted while covering a court case in Huntsville, Alabama, on March 28, 2023.
When reached for comment, WAFF 48 News Director Julie Szulczewski asked that the photographer only be identified by his first name, Erik.
The station reported that Erik was reporting on a sentencing hearing for Travion Evans, who was charged with murder for the 2018 shooting of two people and killing of one.
As Erik filmed Evans being led out of a courtroom in the Madison County Courthouse, a woman whom WAFF identified as a relative of Evans’ ran toward Erik, grabbing his arm and attempting to cover the camera.
In footage published by WAFF, the woman can be heard saying, “Move away from my child!” before covering the camera. Erik is heard responding, “Ma’am, do not touch me.”
WAFF photographer assaulted by a woman inside Madison Co. courthouse. https://t.co/Jd9JfHNfRt pic.twitter.com/R4VaVMLwfZ
— WAFF 48 (@waff48) March 28, 2023
Szulczewski told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that bailiffs immediately intervened. Erik called the station to let them know that he had been assaulted but that he was not injured.
After reviewing the footage, Szulczewski said they decided to press charges against the woman.
“We just can’t let our crews be attacked in the field and not have consequences for the people that do that,” Szulczewski said.
The Huntsville Police Department did not respond to requests for additional information.
Aabama news station WAFF 48 in Huntsville has pressed charges against a woman, left, who attempted to stop its photojournalist from filming in the courthouse on March 28, 2023 by grabbing his arm and camera.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,,,, 2020-08-31 11:49:05.313644+00:00,2023-09-01 18:30:32.963903+00:00,Journalist arrested following Birmingham protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-arrested-following-birmingham-protest/,2023-09-01 18:30:32.752480+00:00,unknown (charges dropped as of 2023-07-27),,(2023-07-27 11:02:00+00:00) Charges dropped against journalist arrested in Birmingham,Arrest/Criminal Charge,,,,Michael Harriot (The Root),,2020-06-04,False,Birmingham,Alabama (AL),33.52066,-86.80249,"Michael Harriot, a senior writer for the Root, was arrested while covering protests in Birmingham, Alabama, on June 4, 2020, according to published reports of the event.
The protests were held in response to a video showing a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for more than eight minutes during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. The incident sparked anti-police brutality and Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country.
According to AL.com, approximately 100 people had assembled in Linn Park on the afternoon of June 4. At around 7 p.m., curfew in Birmingham at the time, police reportedly directed the crowd to disperse and told members of the media to have their press credentials clearly displayed. Many protesters had left the park by that point, according to AL.com, but the few who were willing to get arrested stayed, and they were.
According to the news site, officers then made their way to an area where members of the media had gathered, including Harriot, who was filming with his cellphone. Harriot did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
In a video shot by AL.com of Harriot's arrest, reporter Carol Robinson can be heard narrating the scene, saying, “They’re asking if he’s media. He says he is. But he says he does not have a credential.”
In an article for the Root, Harriot noted that multiple journalists had not been wearing credentials, citing a security advisory that warned that press badges had made some journalists targets.
“The cops asked if there was anyone they could call to verify that I was press,” Harriot wrote. “I pointed to the police officers and called them by their names but my arresting officers did not bother to verify the information.”
Harriot also said that he advised the officers to call the mayor’s office, as he had conducted an interview with Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin less than 24 hours earlier. The officers also would not allow Harriot access to his phone so he could show them his digital credential.
According to AL.com, the officers then zip-tied his hands and directed him into a police van.
Later that day, Harriot tweeted succinctly about his arrest and that he was still being held in the Birmingham City Jail. In a tweet posted a little over an hour later, he said that he had been released.
Arrested. Was covering protests. Still in Birmingham City Jail.@TheRoot @JoyAnnReid @rolandsmartin
— michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) June 5, 2020
In his account of the arrest and his time in custody, Harriot wrote that in the three years he has covered protests, activism and police brutality in Birmingham — in addition to other Black Lives Matters protests across the country — he had never before been arrested.
“Even after local reporters were attacked while covering the recent protests, I was not worried,” he wrote. He also noted that by the time he was arrested, the protest had entirely dispersed.
But despite standing entirely apart from the park and surrounded by other members of the press, Harriot was arrested.
“I informed them that I was with the media and I knew they were about to be in some deep shit when they rounded up those of us who didn’t have visible credentials,” he wrote. “Locking me up was one thing, but arresting journalists for doing their job was another thing.”
“They did not arrest ‘journalists.’ They arrested the only black journalist.”
While at a staging area a few blocks away, Harriot said, an officer leveraged his knee against Harriot’s thigh in order to secure the zip cuffs as tight as possible. Harriot wrote that despite his efforts to keep blood flowing, he eventually lost all feeling in his hands.
After arriving at the city jail, Harriot said, multiple officers attempted and failed to remove the cuffs, as his hands had swollen. Ultimately, he recounted, officers had to dig into Harriot’s skin in order to cut the zip ties.
Harriot said officers then directed him to put on a jail uniform, took his mug shot and fingerprinted him. He said he was then informed that someone was waiting to speak with him.
“‘Finally,’ I thought. ‘It’s probably the mayor or one of his highest level administration officials who is here to make sure I’m ok,’” Harriot wrote. “Nah. It was the FBI.”
The agents, Harriot said, read him his Miranda rights and said they “just wanted to talk.” Harriot says he declined.
Shortly thereafter, he was able to retrieve his cellphone and was released to a lobby where activists waited to bail out and welcome those who had been arrested.
On June 5, Mayor Woodfin commented on the Birmingham Police Department’s treatment of journalists. Two other reporters — Howard Koplowitz and Jonece Starr Dunigan — had been detained on June 3.
“Our curfew was not intended to stifle the voices of our people or our press,” Woodfin wrote on Twitter. “We need them more now than ever.”
BPD Public Information Officer Sergeant Rod Mauldin advised the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to direct all questions about Harriot’s arrest to the mayor’s office, which did not respond to emails requesting comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
Howard Koplowitz, a journalist with AL.com, was arrested while filming protests in front of Birmingham City Hall, in Birmingham, Alabama, on June 3, 2020. After being taken to the city jail for processing, Koplowitz was released without charges.
Koplowitz was reporting that day with colleague Jonece Starr Dunigan, who was also arrested. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented her arrest here. Both journalists declined to comment.
The protest was held in response to a video showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for more than eight minutes during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The incident sparked anti-police brutality and Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country.
Koplowitz had been tweeting during the evening, including just after the city’s 7 p.m. curfew. He told AL.com that he was recording video of Birmingham Police Department officers walking out of City Hall at around 7:30 p.m., when two officers approached him. An officer told Koplowitz he was under arrest, ignoring Koplowitz’s press pass and his verbal protestations that he was a journalist.
AL.com reported that Koplowitz was also carrying letters showing proof of employment for both himself and Dunigan, as required by the city in order for journalists to be exempt from the curfew order. However, the BPD officers who arrested him didn’t allow him to show them the letters.
Within seconds of approaching Koplowitz, officers also arrested Dunigan, who also was wearing media credentials and standing nearby.
Koplowitz told AL.com that he and Dunigan were zip-tied and put into a van, which transported them to the city jail. At the jail, he said they were photographed and chained to a bench for 10 minutes before BPD Public Information Officer Sergeant Rod Mauldin intervened and had them released. Neither Koplowitz nor Dunigan are facing criminal charges.
Koplowitz said he was later told by officers that they had been detained for their safety.
Mauldin advised the Tracker to direct all questions to the mayor’s office, which did not respond to emails requesting comment.
AL.com editors condemned the journalists’ arrests.
“Unacceptable,” tweeted Kelly Ann Scott, AL.com editor and vice president of content. “I’m so sorry that @HowardKoplowitz and @StarrDunigan had to endure this while just doing their jobs as journalists.”
“Watching video of a zip-tied reporter cry for someone to call me was agonizing,” tweeted Jeremy Gray, AL.com managing producer of breaking news. “I hired @StarrDunigan and have worked with @HowardKoplowitz ever since he joined our team. They were standing on a sidewalk when they were loaded into a van.”
On June 5, after another reporter was arrested by BPD officers, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin apologized for the BPD’s treatment of journalists.
“Our curfew was not intended to stifle the voices of our people or our press,” he wrote on Twitter. “We need them more now than ever.”
On June 6, Alabama Media Group, the publisher of AL.com and the Birmingham News, asked for an apology and investigation into the arrests, AL.com reported.
“Clearly, the police overstepped their legal authority in arresting, assaulting and otherwise mistreating members of the press with no inclination to use any but the most extreme measures,” said James Pewitt, attorney for Alabama Media Group, in a letter sent to Woodfin and others. Pewitt added that the explanations provided by the police “are, in our view, wholly inadequate, plainly false and pretextual.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
Jonece Starr Dunigan, a journalist with AL.com, was arrested while filming officers outside Birmingham City Hall, in Birmingham, Alabama, on June 3, 2020. After being taken to the city jail for processing, Dunigan was released without charges.
Dunigan was reporting that day with colleague Howard Koplowitz, who was also arrested. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented his case here. Both journalists declined to comment.
The protest was held in response to a video showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for more than eight minutes during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. The incident sparked anti-police brutality and Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country.
Koplowitz told AL.com that he was recording video of Birmingham Police Department officers walking out of City Hall at around 7:30 p.m., half an hour after the city’s 7 p.m. curfew, when two officers approached him. An officer told Koplowitz he was under arrest, ignoring Koplowitz’s press pass and his verbal protestations that he was a journalist. The officers then arrested Dunigan, who was standing near Koplowitz.
AL.com reported that Koplowitz was also carrying letters showing proof of employment for both himself and Dunigan, as required by the city in order for journalists to be exempt from the curfew order. However, the BPD officers who arrested him didn’t allow him to show them the letters.
Koplowitz told AL.com that he and Dunigan were zip-tied and put into a van, which transported them to the city jail. At the jail, he said they were chained to a bench for 10 minutes before BPD public information officer Sergeant Rod Mauldin intervened and had them released. Neither Koplowitz nor Dunigan are facing criminal charges.
Mauldin advised the Tracker to direct all questions to the mayor’s office, which did not respond to emails requesting comment.
“I never want to call my mom ever again to tell her I was arrested,” Dunigan tweeted after she was released. “It was a hard conversation to have. I’m still processing it all.”
I never want to call my mom ever again to tell her I was arrested. It was a hard conversation to have. I'm still processing it all.
— Jonece Starr Dunigan (@StarrDunigan) June 4, 2020
I appreciate all the kind texts and messages. I appreciate the protesters who were nothing but kind to me.https://t.co/3RCUUpZppr
AL.com editors condemned the journalists’ arrests.
“Unacceptable,” tweeted Kelly Ann Scott, AL.com editor and vice president of content. “I’m so sorry that @HowardKoplowitz and @StarrDunigan had to endure this while just doing their jobs as journalists.”
“Watching video of a zip-tied reporter cry for someone to call me was agonizing,” tweeted Jeremy Gray, AL.com managing producer of breaking news. “I hired @StarrDunigan and have worked with @HowardKoplowitz ever since he joined our team. They were standing on a sidewalk when they were loaded into a van.”
On June 5, after another reporter was arrested by BPD officers, Birmingham mayor Randall Woodfin apologized for the BPD’s treatment of journalists.
“Our curfew was not intended to stifle the voices of our people or our press,” he wrote on Twitter. “We need them more now than ever.”
On June 6, Alabama Media Group, the publisher of AL.com and the Birmingham News, asked for an apology and investigation into the arrests, AL.com reported.
“Clearly, the police overstepped their legal authority in arresting, assaulting and otherwise mistreating members of the press with no inclination to use any but the most extreme measures,” said James Pewitt, attorney for Alabama Media Group, in a letter sent to Woodfin and others. Pewitt added that the explanations provided by the police “are, in our view, wholly inadequate, plainly false and pretextual.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
Stephen Quinn, an anchor and reporter for television station ABC 33/40, was attacked by unidentified assailants while covering protests in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 31, 2020.
Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May. They were sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Quinn told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was livestreaming scenes of protests and looting in the city’s downtown, near the site of the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Linn Park. Two days later, the statue was removed by order of Mayor Randall Woodfin in response to the protests.
After police officers had dispersed the crowd gathered in the park, the protesters had moved to the surrounding streets. Some were breaking the windows of buildings on Sixth Avenue, Quinn said.
At around 10:45 p.m., an unidentified individual knocked the phone Quinn had been using to livestream out of his hand. Quinn said he picked the phone off the ground and resumed filming, but shortly after another man grabbed his wallet from his pocket and ran away. Quinn chased but failed to catch the man. In the process, he was tripped by another individual, causing him to stumble.
Quinn then returned to where other members of the media were gathered. He said that shortly afterwards, another man hit him in the back of his head with what he believed to be an ice-filled styrofoam soda cup. A different man then tried to hit him, but missed.
A second journalist, AL.com social media manager Madison Underwood, tried to shield Quinn, but was knocked to the ground, kicked and punched repeatedly by several unidentified men who had surrounded the journalists. The Tracker has documented that assault here.
In a livestream video of the incident recorded by AL.com journalist Ivana Hrynkiw, the incidents are shown occurring over about three minutes. AL.com said in a tweet and a later article that its reporters, including Hrynkiw, who was heard on the livestream screaming as the attack occurred, left the scene after the attack and were OK.
To everyone who has reached out- we are okay. Thank you. Thank you. ❤️
— Ivana Hrynkiw Shatara (@IvanaSuzette) June 1, 2020
Quinn told the Tracker he also left the scene and returned to his station’s vehicle. The reporter said his injuries were mild — some bleeding from a cut on his right ear and temporary redness on his neck — but, at the instruction of his network, went to the hospital to be checked as a precaution.
Took a couple blows to my head and my wallet is gone but I’m okay. Thank you to @BhamPolice for your help. @abc3340 @spann #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/955myya7hG
— Stephen Quinn (@StephenQ3340) June 1, 2020
Quinn said he believed he was targeted because the people breaking windows didn’t want their faces on camera. They could see he was a member of the press because he wore a polo shirt with the logo of his network, he said. Three days after the incident, a local community member recovered and returned the stolen wallet, which he told Quinn he had spotted while someone tried to sell it in his neighborhood, the reporter said.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests here.
AL.com social media manager Madison Underwood was assaulted while covering protests against police violence in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 31, 2020, according to eye-witness reports and social media posts.
Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May. They were sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Underwood, who didn’t respond to emails requesting comment, was attacked while trying to protect broadcast reporter Stephen Quinn from a group of unidentified individuals.
The journalists were covering the protests and looting in the city’s downtown, near the site of the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Linn Park. Two days later, the statue was removed by order of Mayor Randall Woodfin in response to the protests.
At around 10:45 p.m., an unidentified individual knocked the phone Quinn had been using to livestream out of his hand; other individuals stole his wallet, tripped him and attempted to hit him.
When Underwood attempted to help Quinn, he was knocked to the ground, kicked and punched repeatedly by several unidentified men who had surrounded the journalists. In a message posted to Twitter about the incident shortly after, Underwood said his nose was swollen and bleeding.
That was terrible. I'm glad my colleagues are okay. I'm okay. My nose is swollen and bleeding. My phone is gone. I'm thankful to the folks who dragged me out of there, who checked on me, who said nice things. Not sure why that went bad so quickly. https://t.co/1evjmimm4u
— Madison Underwood (@MadisonU) June 1, 2020
In a livestream video of the incident recorded by AL.com journalist Ivana Hrynkiw, the incidents are shown occurring over about three minutes. AL.com said in a tweet and a later article that its reporters, including Hrynkiw, who was heard on the livestream screaming as the attack occurred, left the scene after the attack and were OK.
To everyone who has reached out- we are okay. Thank you. Thank you. ❤️
— Ivana Hrynkiw Shatara (@IvanaSuzette) June 1, 2020
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests here.
Independent reporter Beth Shelburne was notified of her removal from the Alabama Department of Corrections press distribution list on Oct. 8, 2019, on the basis that Shelburne did not work for an “accredited news organization." Shelburne alleged that it was in retaliation for her reporting and opinion pieces.
Birmingham-based Shelburne told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in January 2022 that she has been covering prisons in the state since 2012. After leaving her position at WBRC FOX6 News in July 2019, she said she was able to have her new email address added to the ADOC press distribution list.
That August, she wrote an op-ed criticizing the department’s funeral for a K-9 officer killed in a contraband raid. After the piece was published she stopped receiving regular press releases from the department.
Following the death of an inmate in early October, Shelburne said she tried to receive confirmation and comment from the department’s communication director, Linda Mays, who told her to check the ADOC website or submit a formal records request. When AL.com, the largest digital news site in the state, published a story about the death which included the information she had requested, Shelburne asked Mays why she had responded to questions from that outlet but not to hers.
“She responded that they had revised their media policy and the public affairs office would only respond to journalists with ‘accredited’ news organizations and those would be the only reporters on their press distribution list,” Shelburne told the Tracker. “I realized that this was retaliation for the critical op-ed I had published.”
The policy Mays cited went into effect in October 2004 and describes “news media” as almost exclusively traditional and legacy media outlets — namely broadcast, radio and print outlets — and does not include any reference to freelance journalists or digital media outlets. The policy and definitions do not appear to have been revised since 2004.
Mays and the ADOC press office did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Shelburne tweeted about her removal on Oct. 9, 2019, and included a screenshot of the email from Mays, which asserted that she was a member of the public, not a journalist.
I asked ADOC why they answered another reporter's questions but not mine. Hours later, they informed me that my questions are no longer good enough to be answered. In more than 2 decades of reporting, this has never happened. Transparency as clear as a mountain of bullshit. pic.twitter.com/Bu3eyZPh8A
— Beth Shelburne (@bshelburne) October 10, 2019
“That was the tweet that kind of went viral and the next day I received a call from Gov. [Kay] Ivey’s press secretary and she told me that somebody from the Department of Corrections would be reaching out to me and that this would be remedied,” Shelburne said. “And in fact the commissioner of prisons called me and apologized.”
Then-ADOC Commissioner Jeff Dunn told her that she had been removed in error and would be readded to the press list, Shelburne told the Tracker, and offered to meet with her for coffee.
In a statement emailed to reporters on Oct. 10, Dunn reasserted the department’s commitment to transparency and said they were “resolving” Shelburne’s removal for the press list, WBRC reported at the time.
“The action of removing this person does not help us reach our ultimate goal of making Alabama safer and helping to cultivate an atmosphere within the system where both the inmates and correctional officers feel safe,” Dunn said. “The Alabama Department of Corrections is committed to working with all types of media and will continue working tirelessly to remain transparent and effective for the media and the public.”
Shelburne told the Tracker that while her access was restored for a time, communications with Mays and other ADOC press officers were sluggish and their responses hostile. In emails shared with the Tracker, they criticized her reporting tips from incarcerated individuals and accused her of “misinformation” and “cherry-picking” information to further an agenda. By June 2020, both the ADOC and governor’s office had removed her from their press distribution lists and stopped responding to her requests entirely, Shelburne said.
Shelburne said she’s now considering legal avenues for restoring her access.
“It feels like nothing is going to change unless I sue,” Shelburne said. “You can’t block people’s access just because you don’t like what they’re saying because they are an opinion journalist or an op-ed writer.
“And a government agency can’t decide who is a real journalist or not.”
Reporters for the Washington Post were barred from entering an election-night party for Republican senate candidate Roy Moore in Montgomery, Alabama, on Dec. 12, 2017.
"We were denied credentials and when our reporters asked to enter they were told no,” the paper said in a statement.
Hannah Ford, a spokeswoman for the Moore campaign, confirmed to The Associated Press that the Moore campaign had deliberately denied the Post's request for press credentials to cover the Moore election-night party.
Ford told The Hill that a Post reporter who "didn't get the memo" about the press credentials being denied tried to enter the Moore party and was denied entry.
Asked by The Hill why the campaign revoked the Post's press credentials, Ford replied, "No comment."
The Washington Post was the first news outlet to report on allegations of sexual misconduct against Roy Moore, on Nov. 8. After that report was published, Moore criticized the Washington Post and even threatened to sue the paper and other news organizations that reported on the allegations.
The election-night party was not the only Moore campaign event that Washington Post reporters were banned from.
Ford told Fox News that Washington Post reporters were asked to leave a rally in Midland City, Alabama, on Dec. 11.
On Dec. 12, Moore narrowly lost the special election to Democrat Doug Jones.
An unidentified Fox News cameraman was shoved by Tony Goolsby, a campaign official with the Senate campaign of Alabama Republican Roy Moore, on Nov. 27, 2017, while waiting for Moore’s arrival outside of a campaign event organized by Goolsby at a community center in Henagar, Alabama.
Raw video: Man wearing Roy Moore sticker physically attacked a cameraman attempting to film Moore's arrival outside campaign rally a few minutes ago here in Henagar, Alabama. Another man w/ Moore sticker verbally assaulted a second cameraman. pic.twitter.com/faJVV8YpE0
— Connor Sheets (@ConnorASheets) November 28, 2017
Video of the altercation recorded by AL.com investigative reporter Connor Sheets shows Goolsby, the DeKalb County chairman of Moore’s Senate campaign, grabbing a Fox News TV camera by the lens and pushing the cameraman backwards several feet.
The video also shows a second man, whom Fox News later identified as a DeKalb County GOP staffer, verbally confronting a second cameraman. “Follow orders,” the GOP staffer tells the second cameraman, who backs away. “Go, now.”
Reporting from the scene, Fox News correspondent Jonathan Serrie described what happened to “Fox News @ Night” anchor Shannon Bream.
"Two individuals...[push] the cameras back & physically manhandle two Fox News photographers." — @jonathanserrie on "scuffle" at Moore event pic.twitter.com/ojRtC1BG0A
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 28, 2017
“Organizers initially informed the media that Moore would be parking at the front entrance, walking in through the front entrance, so that’s where the cameras were stationed,” he said.
“Well, then when his car arrived, it actually pulled around to a side entrance. So cameras started running to the side entrance to get a shot of the candidate emerging from his car, and that’s when two individuals — Derwood Regan, who’s affiliated with the DeKalb County Alabama GOP and the other being Tony Goolsby, the DeKalb County chairman for the Roy Moore campaign — decided to push the cameras back and physically manhandle two Fox News photographers, pushing them away and grabbing their cameras.”
“At some point during the scuffle, you hear my producer David Lukowitz trying to intervene, telling the men not to touch the cameras,” Serrie said. "It's not unusual for people to get bumped around a bit in a media scrum. This was not a scrum, though, and it's highly unusual for members of a political campaign to physically engage in this manner with members of the press."
Serrie said that the altercation occurred on public land, outside of a publicly-owned community center, and added that Fox News had officially RSVP'd to the event, providing the Moore campaign with the names of the cameramen and other Fox News staffers who planned to attend.
According to The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack, Moore was not even in the car that Goolsby tried to stop the Fox News cameraman from filming.
“The Moore campaign coordinator was shoving a Fox News cameraman to keep him away from a car that Roy Moore wasn’t even riding in,” McCormack reported. “‘That was a decoy car,’ Rodney Ivey, a DeKalb County GOP official on the scene that night, told me. ‘They [the press] run over there wanting Roy Moore, and we had it already planned, and we slipped him in the back door while all that was going on.’”
Moments after his altercation with reporters, Goolsby introduced Moore at the Henager Community Center.
“Before we get started we’re going to lay down a few ground rules,” he told the audience. “There will be no outbursts from anyone in the crowd. If there is, we’ll ask you to leave, and if you don’t leave, we’ve got security that will remove you. Judge Moore will not field any questions from the media or anybody else.”
Moore campaign chairman Bill Armistead later released a statement to Fox News about the shoving incident.
“Our campaign certainly doesn’t condone any pushing or shoving of anyone, certainly not reporters or anyone else,” he said in the statement, before going on to accuse journalists of “trying to stampede us in a lot of different situations and running down hallways, chasing after, shouting things that are inappropriate.”
In an interview with local TV station WHNT, Goolsby criticized the Fox News journalists and defended his actions.
"The light from the camera spotlight hit me right square in the face," he said. "Just a reaction of protection and everything, I did reach out and push the light out of my face."
A screengrab from a video recorded outside of a community center in Alabama shows Roy Moore campaign official Tony Goolsby shoving a Fox News cameraman.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,public figure,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,election,,, 2017-11-14 03:38:59.785209+00:00,2022-08-09 20:10:34.896248+00:00,Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore threatens to sue the Washington Post,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/republican-senate-candidate-roy-moore-threatens-sue-washington-post/,2022-08-09 20:10:34.812262+00:00,,,,Chilling Statement,"Moore threatens to sue Washington Post over report (http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/13/politics/roy-moore-washington-post-lawsuit/index.html) via CNN, Roy Moore's full statement on teen sex encounter allegation (http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/11/roy_moores_full_statement_of_t.html) via AL.com, Woman says Roy Moore initiated sexual encounter when she was 14, he was 32 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/woman-says-roy-moore-initiated-sexual-encounter-when-she-was-14-he-was-32/2017/11/09/1f495878-c293-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0_story.html) via Washington Post",,,,,2017-11-12,False,Huntsville,Alabama (AL),34.7304,-86.58594,"Roy Moore, the Republican candidate in Alabama's special election for Senate, said on Nov. 12, 2017, that he would sue The Washington Post, after the paper reported on his alleged sexual misconduct with minors.
“The Washington Post published another attack on my character and reputation because they are desperate to stop my political campaign,” Moore said during a campaign rally in Huntsville, Alabama. “These attacks said I was with a minor child and are false and untrue — and for which they will be sued.”
On Nov. 9, Moore’s campaign said in a statement that the Washington Post report— which was based on interviews with more than 30 people and quoted multiple women by name — was “the very definition of fake news and intentional defamation.”
Moore has not said when he intends to file a lawsuit against the Post.
Moore is not the first Republican politician to threaten a news organization with a frivolous defamation suit. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to sue news organizations, including both the Post and The New York Times, in response to negative coverage.
Roy Moore speaks as he participates in the Mid-Alabama Republican Club's Veterans Day Program in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, on November 11, 2017.