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,,, 2024-02-20 21:21:49.266022+00:00,2024-02-20 21:21:49.266022+00:00,"Two arrested after Oklahoma radio tower toppled, section stolen",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-arrested-after-oklahoma-radio-tower-toppled-section-stolen/,2024-02-20 21:21:49.193620+00:00,,,,Equipment Damage,,,broadcast tower: count of 1,,,2024-01-15,False,Hugo,Oklahoma (OK),34.01066,-95.50968,"Two individuals allegedly knocked over KITX’s FM radio tower and stole a section of the structure on Jan. 15, 2024, forcing the Hugo, Oklahoma, station off the air for 10 days, according to the broadcaster.
Will Payne, president of Payne Media Group, which owns the station and the tower, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the top half of the nearly 500-foot tower fell after the two suspects cut the guy-wires supporting it. Payne said he believes the suspects cut the bottom half into pieces and carried them into a vehicle. The theft caused more than $500,000 in damage, he added.
“We’re hunting down somebody that brought down a tower in order to get a little hundred-dollar fix of copper,” Payne was reported to have said at the time of the theft. “Seriously, that’s about all it’s going to be worth to them.”
The Choctaw County Sheriff’s Office arrested two suspects on Jan. 18, according to the station’s Facebook page, after they sold copper from the tower to a nearby junkyard the day after the theft. One suspect is currently being held on a $500,000 bond, while the other has since been released, Payne told the Tracker.
Payne said that when he first saw the red and white tower on the ground, he assumed it was brought down by ice or inclement weather. But once he saw the open door to the transmitter building, he knew something was seriously wrong.
“I had never heard of this as a criminal act. It’s always weather related,” Payne told the Tracker. “To be honest, … that’s why we have insurance.”
The country music station was able to get back on the air at half power just 10 days after the theft, thanks to community and industry support, Payne said.
“(Tower builders) were able to build four 20-foot sections of tower in four days, which is unheard of,” he said. “That’s a very, very aggressive timeline to get back on the air. We’re half the tower, half the power.”
Payne said some listeners may have more difficulty accessing the radio station because of the weaker signal. He added that he hopes that the station will be able to operate at full power again in the next 90 days.
KITX is not the only radio station that has recently seen its tower stolen and damaged. In early February, an AM radio tower in Alabama mysteriously vanished. That station is still unable to broadcast and is unsure whether it will be able to rebuild its radio tower because it was uninsured.
Since going public, Payne said he had heard similar stories from a number of internet service providers of their towers being destroyed or vandalized.
“It’s a horrible trend,” Payne said.
The upper half of KITX’s radio tower is seen after being knocked over on Jan. 15, 2024, in Hugo, Oklahoma. The bottom half was stolen and its parts sold for copper.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],KITX,robbery,,, 2023-11-20 21:30:28.746156+00:00,2023-11-20 21:30:28.746156+00:00,"Czech TV reporter, cameraman robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/czech-tv-reporter-cameraman-robbed-at-gunpoint-in-san-francisco/,2023-11-20 21:30:24.861796+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"miscellaneous equipment: count of 1, recording equipment: count of 4",Bohumil Vostal (Česká Televize),,2023-11-12,False,San Francisco,California (CA),37.77493,-122.41942,"A Česká Televize (Czech Television) reporter and photojournalist were robbed at gunpoint while filming a report in San Francisco, California, on Nov. 12, 2023.
Correspondent Bohumil Vostal told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via email that he and photographer Milan Nosek were recording across the street from City Lights Bookstore in the city’s North Beach neighborhood. Shortly before 5 p.m., three masked men got out of a car with weapons drawn and ordered them to hand over their equipment.
“One of them told me ‘not to make any problems’ or something like that,” Vostal said. “It was all so shocking we could not even react.”
Vostal said more than $19,000 of equipment was lost, including the crew’s video camera, a GoPro, multiple camera lenses, external batteries, SD cards, microphones and tripods.
“The worst is we lost material we filmed about San Francisco,” Vostal said. Footage from a tour around the city and interviews with a representative of the Transgender District and a gallery owner were lost.
The journalists quickly called the police and filed a report, but were forced to purchase replacement equipment in order to refilm and to cover the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit taking place in San Francisco at that time. Vostal told the Tracker the experience did impact how they approached their reporting.
“We were concerned about our safety afterwards and so we made our [live shots] for the Czech TV News Channel only with the police behind us or nearby our hotel,” he said.
The San Francisco Police Department told the San Francisco Standard that its robbery unit was investigating. SFPD did not respond to a request for additional information.
Česká Televize (Czech Television) reporter Bohumil Vostal and his cameraman were robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco, California, on Nov. 12, 2023, losing $19,000 in equipment and their footage, including of the Painted Ladies landmark pictured above.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,robbery,,, 2023-11-20 21:30:09.600764+00:00,2023-11-20 21:30:09.600764+00:00,"Czech TV cameraman, reporter robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/czech-tv-cameraman-reporter-robbed-at-gunpoint-in-san-francisco/,2023-11-20 21:30:04.684146+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"camera: count of 2, camera equipment: count of 11, camera lens: count of 2, equipment bag: count of 1, external battery: count of 3, miscellaneous equipment: count of 1, storage device: count of 2",Milan Nosek (Česká Televize),,2023-11-12,False,San Francisco,California (CA),37.77493,-122.41942,"A Česká Televize (Czech Television) photojournalist and reporter were robbed at gunpoint while filming a report in San Francisco, California, on Nov. 12, 2023.
Photographer Milan Nosek and correspondent Bohumil Vostal were recording shortly before 5 p.m. across the street from City Lights Bookstore in the city’s North Beach neighborhood when three masked men approached them. With weapons drawn, the men ordered the journalists to hand over their equipment, Vostal told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via email.
Vostal said more than $19,000 of equipment was lost, including the crew’s video camera, a GoPro, multiple camera lenses, external batteries, SD cards, microphones and tripods. Footage from a tour around the city and interviews with a representative of the Transgender District and a gallery owner were lost as well.
The journalists quickly called the police and filed a report, but were forced to purchase replacement equipment in order to refilm and to cover the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit taking place in San Francisco at that time.
The San Francisco Police Department told the San Francisco Standard that its robbery unit was investigating. SFPD did not respond to a request for additional information.
Česká Televize (Czech Television) photographer Milan Nosek and reporter Bohumil Vostal were robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco, California, on Nov. 12, 2023, losing $19,000 in equipment, including the camera he is seen carrying earlier that day.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,robbery,,, 2023-11-08 21:22:11.263920+00:00,2023-11-08 21:22:11.263920+00:00,Photojournalist says phone snatched at drag performance protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-says-phone-snatched-at-drag-performance-protest/,2023-11-08 21:13:23.039249+00:00,,,,Equipment Damage,,,cellphone: count of 1,Kelly Stuart (Independent),,2023-10-25,False,San Fernando,California (CA),34.28195,-118.43897,"Independent photojournalist Kelly Stuart’s phone was allegedly stolen by a protest organizer while she was using it to record a demonstration at a library in San Fernando, California, on Oct. 25, 2023.
Approximately 50 people had gathered outside the San Fernando Library to protest a “Drag Queen Story Hour” with performer Pickle, The San Fernando Valley Sun reported. The protesters blocked the entrances to the library and the event was ultimately canceled.
Stuart, who publishes her photos on her website and social media, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she has been reporting on the protest group Leave Our Kids Alone for the past year. She saw the group post a social media call to protest at the library and came to document the gathering.
As police attempted to escort Pickle into the library, Stuart said the protesters crowded together shoulder to shoulder to prevent the performer’s entry. Stuart continued to document the scene, holding her cellphone aloft, when a man she identified as one of the organizers behind the protest group suddenly turned and grabbed the phone from her hands.
“I tried to get it. I kind of jumped across his body and put one arm over his shoulder and I reached but he took the phone and put it down on his right side,” Stuart said.” I don’t know whether he threw it or passed it off to someone, but it was gone.”
Stuart told the Tracker that police witnessed the altercation and briefly detained both of them, took down their information and released them. She attempted to file a police report about the theft of her phone that day and ultimately was able to do so the following day.
The San Fernando Police Department acknowledged via email the Tracker’s request for a copy of the report, but did not provide one as of press time.
Stuart told the Tracker that the day her phone was taken, she “bricked” it, or rendered it unusable, because it contained reporting notes and source communications.
“I’m lucky that I was given a phone [after the theft], because if I was not I wouldn’t be able to report right now,” Stuart said. “Even if I’m not uploading those videos, for my safety I usually mount my phone to my camera. I wouldn’t go out and shoot without a phone.”
Protesters surround drag performer Pickle at the San Fernando Library in California on Oct. 25, 2023. Photojournalist Kelly Stuart, who captured this image, had her phone snatched from her hand shortly after, while filming the protest.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"LGBTQ+ rights, protest, robbery",,, 2023-10-16 18:51:15.422638+00:00,2024-03-14 16:09:06.343488+00:00,"Freelance journalist harassed, press badge briefly stolen at pro-Israel rally",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-harassed-press-badge-briefly-stolen-at-pro-israel-rally/,2024-03-14 16:09:06.236708+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"miscellaneous equipment: count of 1, press identification: count of 1",Talia (Jane) Ben-Ora (Freelance),,2023-10-08,False,New York,New York (NY),None,None,"Freelance journalist Talia Ben-Ora, who also publishes under the name Talia Jane, was assaulted, harassed and her press credentials briefly stolen while reporting on a pro-Israel rally in New York, New York, on Oct. 8, 2023.
Ben-Ora told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was documenting two rallies in Manhattan. After filming and publishing excerpts from a pro-Palestinian rally, she said she headed to a rally in support of Israel rally that was scheduled for later in the day.
Within minutes of arriving at the demonstration, Ben-Ora said she was recognized by two men who began harassing her, calling her “bitch,” “cunt” and “terrorist.” One of the men also deliberately tripped her, she said.
While some individuals tried to stop the harassment, the men drew supporters by claiming that Ben-Ora supports Hamas, the extremist organization that had launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, citing her coverage of the pro-Palestine rally earlier that day. Ben-Ora called the assertions “heinous slander,” and a deliberate attempt to provoke the crowd to violence.
Ben-Ora said that New York Police Department officers intervened and ushered her toward the rally crowd, where she attempted to conduct interviews. The individuals harassing her followed, however, and officers told her that she needed to leave the area and escorted her up the block.
In footage Ben-Ora captured while walking away from the demonstrations, multiple individuals can be seen shouting at her to leave as officers attempted to keep them away from her.
“I didn’t feel like the NYPD that had responded was successfully keeping anybody away from me,” Ben-Ora said. “So I was walking backward to make sure that no one ran up and tried to do anything.”
Amid the chaos, a woman grabbed Ben-Ora’s press credentials out of her hand and walked away with them, but an officer was quickly able to retrieve them, she said. Ben-Ora continued to walk away from the demonstration, but shortly after she got on a nearby sidewalk, she was once again surrounded.
In her footage, the group can be seen shouting at and filming Ben-Ora and a woman appears to repeatedly smack her cellphone, attempting to rip a cord from it or knock it from Ben-Ora’s hands.
A portable charger and its attached cord fell out of her pocket, Ben-Ora said, and when she attempted to retrieve them the individuals stomped and stood on them. She told the Tracker she was able to eventually pick up the items and leave the area after police officers intervened. The items still work, she said, but sections of the protective coating of the cord were scrapped off.
“I was there to actually try and report on both sides of the story and I was prevented from doing that,” she said.
Freelance journalist Talia Ben-Ora films New York Police Department officers interceding after she was harassed and assaulted while she reported on a pro-Israel demonstration in Manhattan on Oct. 8, 2023. Her press credentials were also briefly stolen.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"Israel-Gaza war, protest, robbery",,, 2023-08-31 19:37:44.877626+00:00,2023-09-21 15:51:42.879986+00:00,"Univision reporter, photographer robbed at gunpoint in Chicago",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/univision-reporter-photographer-robbed-at-gunpoint-in-chicago/,2023-09-21 15:51:42.704876+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Unidentified reporter 5 (WGBO-DT),,2023-08-28,False,Chicago,Illinois (IL),41.85003,-87.65005,"A Univision news crew was robbed at gunpoint in Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 28, 2023, while reporting on a spike in armed robbery in the city’s North Side. A broadcast camera and the journalists’ personal belongings were taken but the station said they were uninjured, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The reporter and photographer were preparing to do a live shot in the neighborhood of Wicker Park shortly before 5 a.m. when two vehicles approached them, the Tribune reported. The Chicago Police Department told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that three individuals donning ski masks and displaying firearms robbed them. The police said that the incident is under investigation and no arrests have been made.
Univision Chicago Vice President of News Luis Felipe Godinez told the Tribune that the journalists were uninjured, though equipment was taken.
“Mainly it was personal items, and they took a camera,” Godinez said, adding that the station is not identifying the journalists in order to protect their privacy.
When contacted by Block Club Chicago, the reporter — who asked to remain anonymous — confirmed that the camera was the only item of value stolen and called the robbery “total irony.”
“As a journalist, you never want to be the story, right? You’re reporting on the story but you never think that you can become the story,” he said. “So I guess it’s another reminder of how important it is to keep doing these stories and to keep pressure on our local authorities to try to prevent more events like that.”
The incident was the second robbery of journalists in Chicago in less than a month — a WLS-TV photographer was assaulted and robbed while preparing to cover a news conference on Aug. 8, the station reported.
Raza Siddiqui, president of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Local 41, which represents TV photographers in Chicago, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the union is arranging a safety meeting for members to voice concerns about the dangers they are increasingly facing.
“We want to make sure that we provide a longer-lasting solution, that we work not only with management but our members, and make sure that we read some protocols that everyone is happy with and feels can be a workable solution,” Siddiqui said.
Some Chicago news stations have begun to implement additional security measures in the meantime, Siddiqui added, including hiring security for some TV crews.
Motorists and pedestrians navigate the Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, in this 2020 file photo. A Univision news crew was robbed at gunpoint on Aug. 28, 2023, while preparing for a live shoot in the area.
",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,None,False,None,,robbery,,, 2023-08-31 19:39:21.677053+00:00,2023-10-27 21:03:14.202440+00:00,"Univision photographer, reporter robbed at gunpoint in Chicago",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/univision-photographer-reporter-robbed-at-gunpoint-in-chicago/,2023-10-27 21:03:14.045674+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,camera: count of 1,Unidentified photojournalist 31 (WGBO-DT),,2023-08-28,False,Chicago,Illinois (IL),41.85003,-87.65005,"A Univision news crew was robbed at gunpoint in Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 28, 2023, while reporting on a spike in armed robbery in the city’s North Side. A broadcast camera and the journalists’ personal belongings were taken but the station said they were uninjured, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The photographer and reporter were preparing to do a live shot in the neighborhood of Wicker Park shortly before 5 a.m. when two vehicles approached them, the Tribune reported. The Chicago Police Department told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that three individuals donning ski masks and displaying firearms robbed them. The police said that the incident is under investigation and no arrests have been made.
Univision Chicago Vice President of News Luis Felipe Godinez told the Tribune that the journalists were uninjured, though equipment was taken.
“Mainly it was personal items, and they took a camera,” Godinez said, adding that the station is not identifying the journalists in order to protect their privacy.
When contacted by Block Club Chicago, the reporter — who asked to remain anonymous — confirmed that the camera was the only item of value stolen and called the robbery “total irony.”
“As a journalist, you never want to be the story, right? You’re reporting on the story but you never think that you can become the story,” he said. “So I guess it’s another reminder of how important it is to keep doing these stories and to keep pressure on our local authorities to try to prevent more events like that.”
The incident was the second robbery of journalists in Chicago in less than a month — a WLS-TV photographer was assaulted and robbed while preparing to cover a news conference on Aug. 8, the station reported.
Raza Siddiqui, president of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Local 41, which represents TV photographers in Chicago, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the union is arranging a safety meeting for members to voice concerns about the dangers they are increasingly facing.
“We want to make sure that we provide a longer-lasting solution, that we work not only with management but our members, and make sure that we read some protocols that everyone is happy with and feels can be a workable solution,” Siddiqui said.
Some Chicago news stations have begun to implement additional security measures in the meantime, Siddiqui added, including hiring security for some TV crews.
Motorists and pedestrians navigate the Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, in this 2020 file photo. A Univision news crew was robbed at gunpoint on Aug. 28, 2023, while preparing for a live shoot in the area.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,robbery,,, 2023-08-31 19:40:00.280489+00:00,2023-10-27 21:04:08.301555+00:00,"WLS-TV photographer assaulted, phones stolen, vehicle damaged",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wls-tv-photographer-assaulted-phones-stolen-vehicle-damaged/,2023-10-27 21:04:08.180114+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"cellphone: count of 2, vehicle: count of 1",Unidentified photojournalist 30 (WLS-TV),,2023-08-08,False,Chicago,Illinois (IL),41.85003,-87.65005,"A photographer for WLS-TV was assaulted and robbed while preparing to cover a press conference in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 8, 2023.
CWBChicago reported that the photographer was approached at approximately 2 p.m. by two men asking for money. When the journalist replied that he didn’t have any, one of the men tried to grab his phone. The photographer pushed the man away and put his phone into a vehicle from the news station’s fleet, but the man then shoved him to the ground.
The Chicago Police Department told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the victim, who they did not identify, was able to run away. The second man broke the vehicle’s window and took two phones from inside before both men fled the scene.
WLS confirmed that one of its photographers was assaulted and robbed, reporting that he was “fine and suffered only minor scrapes.” The station’s general manager did not respond to an emailed request for additional information.
The Chicago police said that the incident is classified as an attempted strong-arm robbery with theft, simple battery and criminal damage to a vehicle, and is still under investigation.
Less than three weeks later, a Univision Chicago news crew was also robbed, this time at gunpoint, and one of the station’s cameras was taken.
Raza Siddiqui, president of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Local 41, which represents TV photographers in Chicago, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the union is arranging a safety meeting for members to voice concerns about the dangers they are increasingly facing.
“We want to make sure that we provide a longer-lasting solution, that we work not only with management but our members, and make sure that we read some protocols that everyone is happy with and feels can be a workable solution,” Siddiqui said.
Some Chicago news stations have begun to implement additional security measures in the meantime, Siddiqui added, including hiring security for some TV crews.
FOX13 reporter Jeremy Pierre and an unidentified news photographer were robbed at gunpoint half a mile from the station’s studio on Nov. 10, 2022.
Pierre posted on Facebook shortly after 7 a.m. that the crew was robbed at the intersection of Poplar Avenue and Highland Street.
“You know I’ve had my fair share of stories but DAMN!” Pierre wrote. “One of the dudes even showed me the gun in his waistband.”
According to the post, the thieves took the crew’s camera, tripod and LiveU equipment used to broadcast footage.
Pierre did not respond to a request for comment or to confirm the identity of the photojournalist with him. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented Pierre’s assault here.
FOX13 declined to comment when reached for comment. The Memphis Police Department did not respond to a request for additional information.
FOX13 reporter Jeremy Pierre and a news photographer were robbed at gunpoint half a mile from the station’s studio on Nov. 10, 2022.
Pierre posted on Facebook shortly after 7 a.m. that the crew was robbed at the intersection of Poplar Avenue and Highland Street.
“You know I’ve had my fair share of stories but DAMN!” Pierre wrote. “One of the dudes even showed me the gun in his waistband.”
Pierre did not respond to a request for comment or to confirm the identity of the photojournalist with him. FOX13 declined to comment when reached for comment.
According to the post, the thieves took the crew’s camera, tripod and LiveU equipment used to broadcast footage. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented the assault of the photographer and equipment theft here.
The Memphis Police Department did not respond to a request for additional information.
An unidentified San Francisco Chronicle photographer was robbed at gunpoint in West Oakland, California, on Dec. 3, 2021.
The Chronicle reported that the photographer was on assignment when multiple armed assailants stole two cameras before fleeing in a vehicle. An Oakland Police Department spokesperson said in a statement that the robbery was reported just before 3:30pm. Police officials also said the photographer was not injured during the incident. OPD did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.
I regret to report that a Chronicle journalist was robbed at gunpoint today while on assignment in West Oakland. We are relieved the photographer was not physically hurt. https://t.co/I9SJdVLq5M
— Demian Bulwa (@demianbulwa) December 4, 2021
“Any incident in which a person is robbed of their possessions at gunpoint is incredibly troubling,” Chronicle Editor in Chief Emilio Garcia-Ruiz said in a statement following the incident. “We are relieved that our colleague was not physically injured. We are a part of this community, and we will not retreat from providing the news and information it needs.”
This incident follows multiple other armed robberies involving news organizations in the Bay Area this year.
Most recently, on Nov. 24, a security guard hired for a KRON-TV news crew in Oakland was fatally shot during an attempted armed robbery. Kevin Nishita was killed after confronting an assailant who tried to steal the crew’s camera equipment.
An unidentified reporter for San Francisco-based broadcaster KRON4 News was robbed at gunpoint while reporting in downtown Oakland, California, on Nov. 24, 2021. The security guard accompanying the reporter was shot in the confrontation and later died from his injuries.
KRON4 reported that the news crew was covering a recent robbery where 12 thieves donning masks and hoods raided a nearby clothing store. According to police, an assailant attempted to steal the news crew’s camera equipment at 12:19 p.m.
The armed security guard, Kevin Nishita, was shot in the lower abdomen; the reporter was not physically injured. KRON4 reported that Nishita, a retired police officer, died from his injuries on the morning of Nov. 27.
Police and the broadcast station are offering a reward of $32,500 for information leading to an arrest of those involved in the shooting. The investigation is still ongoing as of press time, according to reporting by KRON4 reporter Will Tran.
Monday.
— Will Tran (@KRON4WTran) November 29, 2021
The search continues for our friend Kevin Nishita’s killers. pic.twitter.com/6qK4NtqoeC
Jim Rose, KRON4’s vice president and general manager, said in a statement that the station regularly uses security guards to protect their reporters in the field. In a statement released after Nishita’s passing, Rose said:
“We are devastated by the loss of security guard and our friend, Kevin Nishita. Our deepest sympathy goes to Kevin’s wife, his children, his family, and to all his friends and colleagues. This senseless loss of life is due to yet another violent criminal act in the Bay Area. We hope that offering a reward will help lead to the arrest of those responsible so they can face justice for this terrible tragedy.”
Multiple other armed robberies took place in the Bay Area earlier this year.
The station did not respond to a request for further comment.
Photographer and journalist Eric Levai said he was surrounded and had around $1,000 of equipment taken from him after he photographed individuals at the Wi Spa, in Los Angeles, California.
The spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate reported.
Levai, who said he doesn’t wear press identification as he believes it attracts harassment, said it was around noon and he was covering what was happening at the Wi Spa when he spotted a photo opportunity. He stepped forward to take a shot of some masked individuals and a car around 50 feet away.
“I was doing my job and they just attacked me, screaming I was taking their picture,” Levai told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “Also, when they surrounded me, I kept telling them I was a journalist, but they kept attacking me.
Levai, who works regularly for the Daily Dot and Forensic News, as well as hosting a podcast, told the Tracker that he heard a shout, and then was charged by seven or eight people, who took his backpack including items which he valued in total at around $1,000. The items included a gas mask, goggles and a tripod.
“They grabbed the bag and phone,” he said. “They took pictures of me.”
Levai said he wasn’t injured in the incident, and that he had managed to take the phone with his photos out of the backpack, though another phone was stolen. The masked individuals then took off with his equipment, he said.
He said that going forward he would reconsider wearing a press ID, though he felt it could mean he gets targeted.
An NBC Bay Area news crew was threatened with firearms and ordered to hand over their equipment while filming outside City Hall in Oakland, California, on June 28, 2021.
The East Bay Times reported that shortly after 3 p.m. the news crew was interviewing a city official about a recent surge in crime when two unidentified armed individuals confronted the cameraperson. According to The Washington Post, the individuals knocked the camera to the ground during the incident; the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker couldn’t verify whether the camera was damaged as a result of the drop.
A scuffle ensued after the individuals ordered the crew to hand over the equipment, the Times reported. The news crew’s security guard drew his firearm and told the would-be robbers to leave.
“The suspects immediately left the area without the camera,” a police spokesperson said in a statement to the Times. The spokesperson also noted that the suspects hadn’t been apprehended.
“Our colleagues were conducting an interview at Oakland City Hall when they were approached by two armed individuals,” Liza Catalán, a spokeswoman for NBC Bay Area, told the Tracker in an emailed comment. “Thankfully, our colleagues are safe and unharmed.”
Catalán didn’t respond to questions requesting additional information about the incident.
Minneapolis Star Tribune photojournalist Mark Vancleave said he was threatened and his camera drone was stolen May 25, 2021, as he covered demonstrations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, marking the first anniversary of the police killing of George Floyd.
The death of Floyd, a Black man, sparked months of demonstrations across the country demanding justice and reform of police departments. On April 20, a jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of second and third degree murder and second degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death.
Vancleave told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that shortly after 7 a.m. on the 25th he arrived at East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, the intersection where Floyd was killed and which has been turned into a memorial site, to capture some aerial footage ahead of planned demonstrations in the afternoon.
“I flew [the drone] around for maybe 10 minutes or so,” Vancleave said, noting that very few people were in the area at that point. Then, said Vancleave, he returned to where his car was parked, about half a block away, so that he could land the drone and change its batteries and camera lens.
Immediately after he landed the drone, Vancleave said, a man approached him and began asking about the drone.
“Two other dudes walked up behind him and immediately got in my face, saying ‘Who are you? What are you doing here?’” Vancleave said. “They started demanding that I show them the video that I had taken.”
Vancleave said they also asked him to show his press credentials and driver’s license.
“They said they were ‘security.’ And then the first guy who came over just grabbed my drone and started walking away,” Vancleave said.
Had my drone taken by three dudes working “security” about a block from 38th and Chicago this morning. Was threatened and told never to come back to George Floyd Square.
— Mark Vancleave (@MDVancleave) May 25, 2021
Ultimately, Vancleave said, the men took his DJI Inspire 2 drone, threatened him and told him never to return to the area, which has been dubbed George Floyd Square. Vancleave estimated that the equipment, which belongs to the Star Tribune, is valued at approximately $5,000.
“One of the reasons I was there so early is I wanted to be as unobtrusive as possible. As a Minneapolis resident I understand how annoying flying things can be over residential areas, I experienced it over the past year,” Vancleave said. “This was not me being belligerent, ignoring community members. This was guys running up, taking my drone, threatening me and running off.”
Vancleave was struck in the hand with a rubber bullet in nearby Brooklyn Center on April 12, where demonstrators had gathered to demand justice in the killing of Daunte Wright, a Black man, who was fatally shot by a white police officer. Because of the resulting injury to his hand, Vancleave tweeted that using the drone was his only means of covering the demonstrations.
It’s very frustrating. I still can’t bend my finger well enough to grip a camera, so this was my way of making pictures.
— Mark Vancleave (@MDVancleave) May 25, 2021
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents incidents of journalists being 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.
Reporter Don Ford, of KPIX 5, a CBS affiliate station based in San Francisco, California, and his security guard were blinded for “almost an hour” after being sprayed with chemicals while working on a story in Golden Gate Park on April 7, 2021, the journalist told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
The KPIX 5 crew had been recording a segment at around 1:20 p.m. near Stow Lake when they were approached by the suspect, who attempted to steal the crew’s camera. The assailant then sprayed Ford and his security guard with a chemical Ford believed to be pepper spray, before running away. The security guard gave chase, and the assailant dropped the camera, after being hit by his own getaway car. The suspect was then driven off by a second man in a car with Nevada plates.
Ford shared with the Tracker documentation he’d made of the incident just after it happened: “Assignment: Coyotes roaming around Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. Beautiful sunny warm day with lots of people around. Just me and my guard when we were jumped and pepper sprayed. The attacker used a large canister style Pepper Spray, not the small kind sold in Drug Stores. We weren’t really sprayed, we were doused at close range, directly into our faces.”
He added: “Bad guy grabbed the camera. Guard pulled his weapon and we gave chase before the full force of the Pepper Spray had time to take us down. The bad guy had trouble getting the camera into the car. Camera was still attached to the Tripod. We closed in. Seeing the gun, bad boy dropped the camera, jumped into the car and sped away. Seconds later, we were totally incapacitated with the burning pain.
“SFPD and ambulance arrives and spent the next hour helping us get our sight back. Eventually, we were able to see again.
“I made it home, showered for almost another hour but the pepper is delivered in an oily base that soaks into the skin’s pores. Cops said it may take couple days to fully rid myself of the effects.”
Ford said that the assault happened on his second day back to work, after taking a two-week-long break following a separate assault in March. The Tracker has documented that incident here.
The video camera, a Sony HD professional, was severely damaged, Ford said.
When reached for comment by the Tracker, a San Francisco Police Department spokesperson relayed the following details: “As the suspect was fleeing with the camera, he dropped the camera and entered the getaway vehicle, which fled the scene. Officers rendered aid and summoned medics to the scene, who treated the victims’ non-life-threatening injuries.”
A veteran TV reporter who has been working in the Bay Area since 1981, Ford said that during the course of his career he has chased Sandinistas, documented numerous forest fires and multiple accounts of civil unrest, and was once even rescued from a life raft in the Pacific by the U.S. Coast Guard.
“I've seen a lot,” Ford said, “but I've never seen so many attacks on TV news crews as now.”
"I'm now taking time off work to ‘process’ the attacks,” he added.
According to the SFPD, the “incident remains under active investigation and no arrests have been made.”
While attempting to steal the station video camera, an assailant pepper-sprayed KPIX 5 reporter Don Ford and security guard.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"chemical irritant, robbery",,, 2021-05-26 17:39:01.845816+00:00,2023-11-01 14:42:06.241585+00:00,San Francisco TV reporter robbed at gunpoint while recording interview,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-francisco-tv-reporter-robbed-at-gunpoint-while-recording-interview/,2023-11-01 14:42:06.122425+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,camera: count of 1,Don Ford (KPIX-TV),,2021-03-03,False,San Francisco,California (CA),37.77493,-122.41942,"Don Ford, a reporter with California TV station KPIX 5, was robbed at gunpoint while reporting on a story about car break-ins around San Francisco landmark Twin Peaks on March 3, 2021.
Ford had been talking to a local resident when a white luxury sedan with four men inside drove up, according to KPIX. “Three guys jumped out, one had a gun, put it up to my face and said, ‘We’re taking the camera,’” Ford told the station in a later interview. “My whole thought at the moment was: ‘Let’s be calm. Let’s not get this guy excited. He’s got the gun. I don’t.’”
KPIX reported that Ford was not injured in the robbery.
Responding to a Tweet posted later that evening, the journalist wrote: “When someone points a Glock into your face you definitely let the camera go.”
When someone points a Glock into your face you definitely let the camera go
— Don Ford (@DonKPIX) March 4, 2021
Ford told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the station had offered reporters a security guard to accompany them, but on this occasion he didn’t take one: “I was in an upscale neighborhood in the middle of the day. I felt safe. I was wrong,” he said.
The San Francisco Police Department Park Station, which covers the Twin Peaks area, tweeted about the incident the following day, writing: “The camera was recovered. This incident remains an active and ongoing investigation.”
When reached for comment by the Tracker in May, SFPD spokesperson Adam Lobsinger said that one person had been arrested in March in connection with the incident and that “investigators are still searching for additional suspects for this armed robbery.”
“We do not have information to suggest that the victims [of recent attacks] were targeted because of their status as journalists. The information suggests that the victims were targeted because of the high-dollar value of their electronic equipment,” Lobsinger added, referencing a series of incidents targeting TV crews in the city, including one in February and one in April.
A San Francisco TV crew was robbed of its video camera while reporting on a story near the city’s I-80 Bay Bridge ramp, the San Francisco Police Department confirmed.
The attack happened around 6:50 p.m. on Feb. 6, 2021, when the news crew was filming in the South of Market neighborhood, according to a report from San Francisco CBS affiliate KPIX. KPIX said the journalists were from a local NBC station, NBC Bay Area. The report said the journalists were stopped by two men who jumped out of a four-door Lexus; the men claimed to be carrying firearms under their clothing and demanded the journalists hand over their camera equipment.
“The victims surrendered the news camera, and the suspects fled the scene in the Lexus, traveling eastbound on I-80. The Lexus was driven by another suspect that remained in the car. The victims were not injured,” a spokesman for San Francisco police said.
Moments later the journalists flagged down San Francisco police officers passing on their motorbikes, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The paper said the journalists gave police a license plate number and descriptions of the robbers.
San Francisco police confirmed details of the robbery to the Tracker and said they have arrested two men who were found in possession of the camera. Police said they returned the camera, a Panasonic AJ-PX, to the news crew.
NBC Bay Area did not respond to a Tracker request for comment.
There have been two other recent attacks on TV news crews in San Francisco, with attempts to steal camera equipment, one in March and the other in April.
San Francisco police said in a statement that there was nothing to show this attack was connected to an attack on another TV news crew in San Francisco in Golden Gate Park on April 7 : “We do not have information to suggest that the victims were targeted because of their status as journalists. The information suggests that the victims were targeted because of the high-dollar value of their electronic equipment.”
New York Times reporter Erin Schaff wrote that she was assaulted, one of her cameras stolen and the lens of a second broken by rioters as they stormed the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.
A riot broke out as supporters of President Donald Trump marched on the Capitol, swarmed the building and broke inside in an attempt to disrupt the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, Reuters reported. At a noon rally held in front of the White House, Trump called on his supporters to protest the vote on the basis of unfounded claims of election fraud. According to Reuters, the building was breached at approximately 2:15 p.m.
Schaff, who did not respond to a request for comment, wrote in an account published by the Times that she followed the noise of protesters on the first floor of the Senate side of the building.
Schaff recounted that the single Capitol Police officer guarding the ceremonial doors to the Rotunda was rushed by the crowd, forcing open the door.
“I ran upstairs to be out of the way of the crowd, and to get a better vantage point to document what was happening. Suddenly, two or three men in black surrounded me and demanded to know who I worked for,” Schaff wrote.
“Grabbing my press pass, they saw that my ID said The New York Times and became really angry. They threw me to the floor, trying to take my cameras. I started screaming for help as loudly as I could. No one came. People just watched. At this point, I thought I could be killed and no one would stop them. They ripped one of my cameras away from me, broke a lens on the other and ran away.”
Schaff’s congressional press credentials were also stolen in the attack.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting multiple assaults, detainments and equipment damages from Jan. 6 events. Find those here.
According to a local news report, an unidentified broadcast cameraman was robbed at gunpoint while loading gear into a news vehicle in Berkeley, California, on Aug. 10, 2020.
CBS affiliate KPIX 5 reported that the incident took place outside Congregation Netivot Shalom. In security camera footage time-stamped 5:01 p.m. and published by KPIX, an individual can be seen approaching the journalist as he loads a camera into a news vehicle. After the individual draws a gun and points it at the journalist, the journalist attempts to hand the camera off before placing it on the ground. The individual then picks it up and runs away.
According to KPIX, the camera was valued at $25,000. The Tracker was unable to verify the identity of the journalist or station.
On Sept. 10, Berkeley police arrested a man identified as Jimmy Ray, having found items in his home that connected him to the robbery, according to a department news release. It is unclear whether the camera itself was found and, if so, in what condition it was in.
According to the news release, Ray was charged the following day on several counts, including robbery.
When contacted for comment, the Berkeley Police Department was unable to provide further details about the condition of the camera or the cameraman's identity.
Freelance photographer Stephen Yang was assaulted by an unknown individual and had his camera stolen while covering protests in New York City on June 1, 2020, for the New York Post.
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 a May 25 arrest. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. The incident sparked anti-police brutality and Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country.
Yang told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that while covering June 1 protests in Manhattan he was taking photos of individuals looting stores near the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 39th Street.
He said that an unknown individual approached him from behind and began to yank on his camera strap. Yang said that the individual then punched him in the face and was able to get the camera free from his shoulder.
Yang said the blow left him with a bloody nose but that he did not seek medical attention. He also said he did not get a clear look at the individual who threw the punch and that he didn’t believe he was targeted for being a journalist.
Yang said that police officers at the scene did not directly witness the assault but that one officer approached him after it was over and encouraged him to report it.
He later reported the assault and the camera theft to the New York City Police Department. He said the stolen camera was valued at $2,500 and that his equipment is covered by insurance.
Fortunately, Yang was carrying a backup camera on the night of the assault and was able to keep covering protests for several more hours, he said.
Yang said he did not encounter any further violence while covering demonstrations in New York City, but that he took time off work after the June 1 assault to recuperate.
“I had to take a couple of days off after, I think, just for my mental health,” Yang said. “Overall I felt extremely lucky that this was the only incident I’ve experienced.”
The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for 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.
A New York City police officer stands in front of a vandalized store following protests in the Manhattan borough of New York on June 1, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,no,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest, robbery",,, 2020-10-30 14:08:13.469688+00:00,2023-11-01 16:15:10.824091+00:00,"SacBee photojournalist's hand broken, camera stolen while covering protest",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-sacramento-bee-journalists-hit-behind-their-equipment-damaged-and-stolen-while-covering-protests/,2023-11-01 16:15:10.635800+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,camera: count of 1,Paul Kitagaki Jr. (The Sacramento Bee),,2020-05-31,False,Sacramento,California (CA),38.58157,-121.4944,"Two Sacramento Bee journalists were assaulted and their work equipment damaged and stolen while covering protests against police violence in downtown Sacramento, California, on May 31, 2020.
SacBee photojournalist Paul Kitagaki Jr. was reporting that night with colleague reporter Sam Stanton. The pair had been following protests at the state Capitol, which law enforcement had dispersed with flash-bang grenades and tear gas at around 11:30 p.m. As the crowd broke up, Kitagaki and Stanton left the area, soon walking past a 7-Eleven a block from the Capitol that appeared to be being looted, according to Kitagaki.
Kitagaki told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in a phone interview that the city was loud that night and the journalists didn’t hear as two men ran up behind them, hitting them, in Stanton’s words, “full speed from behind.” Stanton was thrown to the ground, hitting his knee and head, while Kitagaki had one of his cameras yanked off his shoulder, breaking his right hand in the process. Stanton’s assault and equipment damage are documented by the Tracker here.
Kitagaki told the Tracker that he got the impression that the attackers, who quickly ran away after the assault, were looters, unassociated with the protesters, and that he and Stanton were targeted because of the camera equipment he was carrying.
Kitagaki and Stanton intended to continue working that night, with Kitagaki using his left hand to take photos with a second camera of which he was still in possession. However, within 10 minutes of Stanton tweeting about the attack, all Sacramento Bee reporters and photographers were pulled out of the area. Reporter Alex Yoon-Hendricks tweeted that the newspaper was concerned for its journalists' safety, as looting had escalated and police were hard to find.
All @sacbee_news reporters and photographers have been pulled out of downtown/midtown Sacramento. Right now, groups of mostly young men are smashing windows, stealing. Few cops along J and K St. Some people were walking dogs right next to people in ski masks breaking into cars. https://t.co/qrjUNoCdk5
— Alex BOOn-Hendricks 🐝 (@ayoonhendricks) June 1, 2020
Kitagaki reported the assault to the police the following day, and Kitagaki and Stanton were both interviewed about the attack. The Sacramento Police department did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Kitagaki took two months off work to heal his broken hand, and will continue in physical therapy four months after the assault.
Protests in Sacramento and across the United States have surged in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following a viral video that showed a white police officer kneeling on the neck of a Black man, George Floyd, during his arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
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.
Freelance photojournalist Stephen Lam was assaulted and robbed at gunpoint by two men while covering protests in Oakland, California, in the early hours of May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Lam and Getty photojournalist Justin Sullivan were walking back to their cars in downtown Oakland at around 12:30 a.m. after documenting the night’s protests.
Lam told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they had just reached their cars when they were confronted by two men. One man focused on Lam, the other Sullivan.
“I turned around and there was another individual on me,” Lam said. “He had a hard time getting his gun out … He seemed to get impatient, and I told him to just give me a second, because all my cameras are clipped to my vest.”
At that moment, Sullivan’s assailant forced him to open the trunk of his car and Lam’s assailant tried to shove Lam inside the open trunk, Lam said.
Amid the chaos, one of Lam’s cameras fell into the trunk and out of clear view, which he believes is why the man forgot about it and only got away with one camera and lens.
Sullivan’s assailant took his two cameras with their lenses, as well as his backpack containing a laptop and his passport, Sullivan told the Tracker.
Lam added that earlier that night someone else had tried to steal his gear, but that man didn’t succeed.
“We were really lucky,” Lam said. “Obviously it sucks to lose the pictures but it could have been a lot worse for us.”
Sullivan said that they had alerted the police but had not been able to file a police report in the days following the robbery as police were occupied with a backlog of emergency calls.
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 these cases here.
Photojournalist Stephen Lam was documenting Minneapolis protests late on May 29, 2020 — including the looting of this Target store — when he was robbed at gunpoint.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest, robbery",,, 2020-06-11 15:28:09.508079+00:00,2023-11-02 15:29:55.790773+00:00,Getty photojournalist and colleague robbed at gunpoint after documenting Oakland protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/getty-photojournalist-and-colleague-robbed-gunpoint-after-documenting-oakland-protests/,2023-11-02 15:29:55.618234+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"camera: count of 2, camera lens: count of 2, computer: count of 1",Justin Sullivan (Getty Images),,2020-05-30,False,Oakland,California (CA),37.80437,-122.2708,"Getty photojournalist Justin Sullivan was robbed at gunpoint while covering protests in Oakland, California, in the early hours of May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Sullivan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and his colleague, freelance photojournalist Stephen Lam, were walking back to their cars in downtown Oakland at around 12:30 a.m. after documenting the night’s protests and some looting at a nearby Target when two men approached them.
“We got to our cars — I got in my car, my other colleague was going to his car — and the one guy came around, blocked my door, put a gun to my chest, said, ‘Give me your cameras,’” Sullivan said.
He handed over his two cameras with their lenses to one of the men, who also took his backpack containing his laptop and passport.
The other man pushed Lam into the trunk of Sullivan’s car. He got out unharmed, but was robbed of his camera and lens.
“The big takeaway for both of us was that we were unharmed,” Sullivan said. “The thing that we were most upset about, to be honest, was that we had been shooting for a couple of hours and we had a lot of pictures that we lost. Just gone.”
Sullivan said that they had alerted the police but had not been able to file a police report in the days following the robbery as police were occupied with a backlog of emergency calls.
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 these cases here.
Photojournalist Justin Sullivan — and a colleague who took this photograph — had been documenting the looting of this Target store and other protests in Minneapolis late on May 29, 2020, when they were robbed at gunpoint.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest, robbery",,, 2020-06-17 13:14:39.863005+00:00,2023-11-03 13:55:46.704690+00:00,Camera equipment stolen from Chicago Tribune photographer during protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/camera-equipment-stolen-chicago-tribune-photographer-during-protests/,2023-11-03 13:55:46.593321+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"camera: count of 2, camera lens: count of 2",Erin Hooley (Chicago Tribune),,2020-05-30,False,Chicago,Illinois (IL),41.85003,-87.65005,"A photographer for the Chicago Tribune was shoved and had her cameras stolen by two unidentified men while covering protests in downtown Chicago, Illinois, on the night of May 30, 2020.
The protests were sparked by a video showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Tribune photographer Erin Hooley said she had been photographing protests and altercations between demonstrators and the police when looting broke out. While photographing the looting of a CVS at the intersection of South Wabash and East Monroe Street around 9 p.m., she said she overheard a woman yell, “Get that bitch’s cameras!” Suddenly, she said, two men shoved her to the sidewalk, grabbed the cameras she had strung around her neck and shoulder, and ran off. Hooley said she was bruised but otherwise uninjured in the attack.
Looters in #Chicago shoved me on the sidewalk and took my cameras tonight. Thanks guys. #ChicagoProtests #GeorgeFloyd #ChicagoScanner #riots2020 @chicagotribune
— Erin Hooley (@erinhooley) May 31, 2020
After picking up both herself and her press badge, Hooley said she walked down the street to see if the men had dropped the cameras but they were gone. She called her editor to report what had happened and then went home. Hooley said she saw police officers around the corner from where she was attacked but that they didn’t appear to be intervening to stop the looting.
Hooley said her cameras were owned by the Tribune company, which did not ask her to file a police report. The photographer said a Canon representative sent her loaner gear and that she returned to cover the protests in the following days.
According to the photojournalist, what bothered her most was the loss not of physical equipment, but rather several hours’ worth of photographs she had taken prior to the assault. Hooley said she had transferred about eight images to her editor while still in the streets, but that the rest were gone. “I was pretty angry about losing that stuff because it’s very historical,” she said. “It robbed me of being able to share this crazy time we are living in, and that’s very frustrating.”
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.
Matthew Rodier, a freelance photojournalist who was covering protests in Washington, D.C., had his National Press Photographers Association credentials stolen on May 30, 2020 by an individual who said that his photos were “getting people killed.”
The protests were held in response to 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 later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
Rodier, who frequently contributes to the Sipa USA agency, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he’d been covering events near the White House on the evening of May 30, when he was approached by a woman who asked him to stop taking photos.
“She said, ‘Your pictures are getting people killed,’” Rodier recounted. “I asked how and she responded, ‘Look what happened in Ferguson,’” seemingly a reference to speculation that a number of individuals connected to 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri, had died suspiciously.
During current protests, calls for photojournalists to blur the faces of people they photograph at demonstrations, or to not publish images that show identifying features, has inspired a debate among journalists.
Rodier said he told the woman “that it’s both my First Amendment right and my job to take the pictures.” He said that she responded violently: “She ripped the press pass from the lanyard around my neck and threw it into the crowd.”
Rodier, who continued to document that evening without his NPPA lanyard, was also the subject of multiple assaults while covering protests the following day in D.C. The Tracker captured those incidents here and here. 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 are documented by the Tracker here.
Radio journalist Sean Greene was punched in the eye by an unknown individual who also stole a smartphone the reporter was using to cover a demonstration in Wilmington, Delaware, on May 30, 2020.
The protest was held in response to 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. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since late May.
Greene told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that protests he has covered in Wilmington and Dover, Delaware, for radio station WDEL were mostly free of violence and destruction of property, but some individuals took advantage of the May 30 demonstration in Wilmington to break into retail stores and steal merchandise.
Greene used his company-issued iPhone to broadcast the scene to Facebook Live. He was wearing a construction vest and had press credentials attached to a lanyard hanging from his neck.
At about 6 p.m. Greene was filming a person trying to break a storefront window when an unknown individual punched him in the eye.
“I hear someone scream ‘snitch!’ and the next thing I know someone has punched me,” Greene said. The individual also stole the iPhone and fled.
Greene said he didn’t get a good look at the assailant.
Greene said three Wilmington police officers standing nearby saw the assault but took no action. He didn’t seek medical attention and reported the incident to the police.
A Wilmington police spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Greene said some protesters saw the incident and helped him.
“To the protesters who made sure I was OK and offered me water, thank you,” Greene tweeted following the incident. “To the police officers who saw me take a punch and did nothing, I'm disappointed.”
Greene said he has since covered two additional protests from WDEL without incident.
Mike Phillips, a colleague of Greene’s at WDEL, also had a company-issued iPhone stolen while covering the May 30 protest but wasn’t otherwise harmed. Phillips reported the theft of the two iPhones to the Wilmington Police Department.
A police spokesman declined to comment on Phillips’ report.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
Radio journalist Mike Phillips had his employer-issued iPhone stolen by an unknown person while covering protests in Wilmington, Delaware, on May 30, 2020.
Protesters took to the streets of Wilmington and cities across the United States following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes during a May 25 arrest.
Phillips had been reporting on demonstrations on May 30 for radio station WDEL alongside fellow correspondent Sean Greene.
Phillips told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protests had been mostly peaceful throughout the day but that during the evening hours he observed some individuals smashing storefront windows and stealing merchandise.
Phillips said that Greene had been broadcasting via Facebook Live with an iPhone at around 6 p.m. when an unknown individual punched him and stole the device.
Phillips said that at the time of Greene’s assault, which the Tracker is documenting here, he had also been broadcasting to Facebook Live. In Phillips’ video, individuals can be seen removing items from a building, which Phillips can be heard describing as “the looting of a store” in downtown Wilmington.
During Phillips’ broadcast, an unknown individual wrenched the phone from his hands and made off with the device. Phillips’ phone continued to record video after it was taken from him, and an individual can be heard laughing as they run away from the scene.
“It was disheartening that I couldn’t keep doing my job that night,” Phillips said.
Phillips later reported the theft of the phones to Wilmington police on behalf of WDEL. As of press time, Phillips said that neither his nor Greene’s phone had been recovered and no arrests had been made in connection with the alleged thefts.
Aside from incidents on May 30, Phillips said WDEL reporters haven’t faced altercations during subsequent coverage of the demonstrations.
“We have covered plenty of stuff since then and have had no incidents whatsoever,” Phillips said.
Though Greene was injured in the field, Phillips said he hasn’t feared for his safety while covering the Wilmington protests.
“Despite what happened to Sean, I didn’t feel unsafe,” Phillips said. “It was more of a crime of opportunity, if you want to call it that.”
A spokesperson for the Wilmington Police Department declined to comment on the incident or confirm whether there was a continuing investigation into Phillips’ report, citing restrictions on releasing such information under Delaware’s Victims’ Bill of Rights.
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.
A TV reporter and photojournalist with the Rochester, New York, NBC affiliate were assaulted by unknown men while covering a protest on May 30, 2020.
Reporter Andrew Hyman told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was covering the protests for News10NBC in Rochester alongside station photographer Jack Diamond when the incident occurred.
Hyman said that a man approached him, took out a phone and began recording while asking the reporter questions about his support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Hyman said he declined to provide direct answers to the queries, which appeared to agitate the individual.
“I was just trying to be an unbiased journalist,” he said.
At that point, several other individuals approached Hyman. One of the individuals grabbed an earpiece that Hyman had plugged into a smartphone to broadcast coverage of the demonstrations to Facebook Live, Hyman said. He said he didn’t get a good look at the person who took the earpiece.
Hyman said five or six men — all wearing masks — spotted the exchange and approached his location. A scuffle ensued. Hyman said the men pushed him a few times but he managed to flee the area without injury.
The reporter said he looked back and noticed that Diamond was not with him. Diamond had been tackled to the ground. Other individuals at the scene helped the cameraman to his feet, Hyman said. The Tracker has documented Diamond’s assault here.
After regrouping with Diamond, the two NBC10 journalists continued coverage of the protest and broadcast their reporting to Facebook Live.
Neither sought medical attention. Hyman did not report the loss of his equipment to police. He said that police reached out to him after NBC10 posted video of the incident online and told him they “wanted to look into” the attack.
Hyman said he gave police raw footage that shows the person who made the initial contact with him, but he had not received any updates from authorities as of press time.
The Rochester Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on Hyman’s case.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
A group of individuals chased a Baltimore, Maryland, news crew away from a protest outside City Hall on the evening of May 30, 2020. Later that evening, the journalists were assaulted and robbed.
The protests were held in response to 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. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
J. Thomas Fisher, a cameraman for Fox45 WBFF, and reporter Dan Lampariello were standing in front of the police line outside Baltimore City Hall around 10 p.m. when a group of individuals on the other side of the line demanded they move back. “Some in the crowd began getting angry with us,” Lampariello says in a voice-over of tape filmed at the scene.
A few minutes later, the situation devolved further, and Lampariello and Fisher were forced to retreat a few blocks from City Hall. “Do not touch the camera,” Lampariello said on the video as individuals push him and Fisher.
Ray Strickland, a reporter for WMAR 2 News, Baltimore’s ABC affiliate, captured the incident on video and posted it to Twitter.
Protesters in #Baltimore just chased a camera crew away from city hall #BaltimoreProtest #GeorgeFloydProtest. It’s tense out here for sure. @WMAR2News pic.twitter.com/Rei7hL8nLP
— Ray Strickland (@realraystrick) May 31, 2020
About an hour later, the crew was chased again, and someone punched Fisher in the face, according to the WBFF report. A live unit was stolen out of his backpack, along with a microphone. Lampariello’s assault is documented here.
Early the next morning, Lampariello tweeted about the experience:
TWICE tonight myself and photojournalist @jthomasfisher were chased and assaulted by a group of people while covering the protest outside of #Baltimore City Hall. We had equipment stolen & destroyed. Scary and tense moments. I’m just thankful we’re both OK. https://t.co/fp7JbQu8ke
— Dan Lampariello (@DanFox45) May 31, 2020
Lampariello, Fisher and the WBFF newsroom did not respond to requests for comment.
“Last night, a FOX45 news crew reporting from the Baltimore demonstrations outside of City Hall was attacked and chased away by a group of protesters who resorted to violence,” Scott Livingston, senior vice president of news for the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station’s parent company, wrote the Baltimore Sun in an email. “Despite this incident, we remain undeterred, and our incredible journalists will continue to fulfill their duties and report live from the protests.”
On June 8, a Baltimore pastor was arrested in connection with the incident and charged with five counts, including second-degree assault, robbery and theft under $25,000, according to the Baltimore Sun.
According to a police report the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker obtained from the Baltimore Police Department, the station was able to recover the live unit using its GPS tracker.
“Our station will always support the Constitutional right to protest, a fundamental pillar of our democracy. At the same time, we also recognize the necessity of a free press, something that is more important now than ever before,” Bill Fanshawe, senior vice president of WBFF, told the Sun in a statement. “We ask that protesters recognize the important service that journalists everywhere provide, and should not be targets of anger and frustration.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being 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.
An Arizona Republic reporter had two cellphones stolen by a restaurant operator during an interview on Dec. 5, 2019.
Food and dining reporter Priscilla Totiyapungprasert had arranged to interview Tawny Costa, the operator of a new Italian restaurant in Phoenix. Costa had agreed to the interview being recorded, the Republic reported.
Totiyapungprasert’s personal and work phones were placed on the table during the interview, which ended abruptly when the reporter asked questions about Costa’s past businesses and her connection to Frank Capri, the father of Costa's two children. Capri, also a restauranteur, had multiple locations fail to open or abruptly close amid allegations of fraud and theft, according to the Republic.
In a statement to the police, Totiyapungprasert said Costa abruptly grabbed her phones, elbowing and pushing her when she attempted to grab them back, the Republic reported. Totiyapungprasert also told police that her knee was injured as she reached for her phones.
Costa left the restaurant with the phones and, as of publication, they have not been recovered. The incident remains under investigation by Phoenix police, the Republic reported.
“We’re thankful for Phoenix police’s response and their concern for Priscilla,” Republic Executive Editor Greg Burton said in the newspaper's report of the incident. “A free press is a courageous press, and her actions are an inspiration.”
Totiyapungprasert declined to comment to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Police are investigating the theft of two phones from Arizona Republic reporter Priscilla Totiyapungprasert, which she says were stolen during an interview with a Phoenix restaurant operator.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,public figure,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,robbery,,, 2019-09-04 16:46:32.624419+00:00,2023-11-14 16:02:19.994536+00:00,Man robs and briefly kidnaps NBC affiliate reporter at gunpoint,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-robs-and-briefly-kidnaps-nbc-affiliate-reporter-gunpoint/,2023-11-14 16:02:19.763972+00:00,,,"(2021-07-07 00:00:00+00:00) Man sentenced for kidnapping, robbing Washington state reporter","Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"recording equipment: count of 1, vehicle: count of 1",Unidentified reporter 1 (KNDU),,2019-08-27,False,Kennewick,Washington (WA),46.21125,-119.13723,"A reporter for NBC Right Now in Kennewick, Washington, was robbed and briefly kidnapped at gunpoint while covering a local teachers strike on Aug. 27, 2019.
An undisclosed reporter had set up her video camera in the parking lot of the Kennewick School District ahead of a planned teachers strike, YakTriNews reported. At around 5:45 a.m., as she was sitting in her news vehicle waiting for the rally to begin, a man got into the backseat of her car, pointed a gun at her and told her to drive.
She complied, but after driving a few feet the man “got spooked,” NBC Right Now reported. Kennewick Police Lt. Aaron Clem told the Tri-City Herald that the man told her to stop the car, then got out of it and ran across the street and toward some apartments.
YakTriNews reported that the man took the journalist’s microphone with him when he fled. NBC Right Now reported that she was uninjured.
A 19-year-old identified as Karlo Medina was arrested in connection with the incident later that day, and has been charged with first-degree robbery and second degree kidnapping, in addition to burglary and attempted rape in an unrelated incident the day before.
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,,, 2019-07-03 19:10:31.748194+00:00,2023-10-27 21:32:33.056939+00:00,"Portland journalist attacked, equipment stolen at protest",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/portland-journalist-attacked-equipment-stolen-protest/,2023-10-27 21:32:32.936006+00:00,,,"(2020-06-04 13:20:00+00:00) Conservative writer sues for damages claiming targeted assault, intimidation campaign, (2023-08-21 16:58:00+00:00) Writer awarded $300,000 in lawsuit alleging assault, intimidation campaign","Assault, Equipment Damage",,,camera: count of 1,Andy Ngo (Independent),,2019-06-29,False,Portland,Oregon (OR),45.52345,-122.67621,"Andy Ngo, an independent photojournalist and editor for Quillette, was attacked and had his equipment stolen while documenting an antifa counterprotest in Portland, Oregon, on June 29, 2019.
Ngo is an out-spoken critic of antifa and has covered antifa demonstrations and protests since 2016, primarily publishing the videos taken on his GoPro to Twitter and YouTube. Ngo told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he does not wear press identification or badges while covering protests, but openly films and identifies himself as media to those who ask. He also said that he has become well-known to the antifa community in Portland and has “come to expect” their hostility against him.
The far-right group The Proud Boys originally announced the Portland rally for June 29, almost exactly one year after the “Battle of Portland.” That event was marked with street fights and dueling protesters, and was ultimately classified as a riot by the Portland Police Department.
In planning an opposition rally, local antifa demonstrators called the Proud Boy rally an “attack,” and published a ”call to defend” the city. The post mentioned Ngo in a section labeled “Violent and Racist Proud Boy Propaganda,” and described him as a “local far-right Islamophobic journalist.”
The day before the rally, Ngo tweeted out screenshots from the post, writing, “I am nervous about tomorrow’s Portland antifa rally. They’re promising ‘physical confrontation’ & have singled me out to be assaulted.”
Ngo and the public relations firm he has contracted to handle his media requests following the incident did not respond to requests for comment.
The Guardian reported that early on the day of the protest and counterprotests, Ngo was filming when protesters dumped a milkshake on him. Later video taken by Oregonian journalist Jim Ryan showed Ngo being hit and sprayed with silly string by masked individuals who appeared to be antifa demonstrators at around 1:30 p.m.
First skirmish I’ve seen. Didn’t see how this started, but @MrAndyNgo got roughed up. pic.twitter.com/hDkfQchRhG
— Jim Ryan (@Jimryan015) June 29, 2019
Ngo tweeted that he “was beat on face and head multiple times in downtown in middle of street with fists and weapons” and that he was taken to an emergency room. Ngo also posted photos of his facial abrasions.
In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Ngo said that he was diagnosed with a brain hemorrhage.
A Vox explainer article outlines the history between Ngo, The Proud Boys and antifa, and how Ngo is considered by some to be more of a provocateur than journalist. Some have pointed out that Ngo was the only journalist targeted.
For the purposes of the Tracker, Ngo identifies as a journalist, has a track record of publication and was in the process of documenting when he was attacked. For more about how the Tracker counts incidents, see our frequently asked questions page.
Portland protests have become a dangerous beat over the past year: the Tracker has documented multiple journalists covering the demonstrations and riots being injured by far-right and antifa protesters, as well as by Portland police.
In a video opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, Andy Ngo shows images and describes being beaten at a protest rally in Portland that involved both right-wing and antifa groups.
",None,None,None,None,False,20CV19618,['DISMISSED'],Civil,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"anti-fascism, protest, robbery, white nationalism",,, 2019-02-28 20:13:08.480713+00:00,2023-02-21 15:20:14.276975+00:00,"CBS San Francisco news reporter robbed at gunpoint, security guard shot",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs-san-francisco-news-crew-robbed-gunpoint-its-security-guard-shot/,2023-02-21 15:20:14.135287+00:00,,,(2021-10-18 00:00:00+00:00) Two convicted in attempted robbery of San Francisco news crew,Assault,,,,Joe Vazquez (KPIX-TV),,2019-02-24,False,Oakland,California (CA),37.80437,-122.2708,"Joe Vazquez, a reporter for San Francisco-based local CBS KPIX 5 News was robbed at gunpoint early in the evening on Feb. 24, 2019, while covering the Oakland teachers’ strike.
Having just finished gathering interviews around 5 p.m., Vazquez was standing outside his news van with photographer John Anglin when two men pulled up in a car, KPIX reported. The men got out and one held a gun to Anglin’s head, demanding their camera.
According to a tweet from Vazquez the men took cover in the news van with Vazquez, telling him to get down.
Thank you, friends, for your well wishes. Our guard was shot today in Oakland while we were on assignment covering the Oakland teachers strike. We believe his wounds are not life threatening, thank God. Photographer John Anglin was robbed at gunpoint. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/TP225CUJNQ
— Joe Vazquez (@joenewsman) February 25, 2019
In July 2015, NBC Bay Area reported that two of their journalists and a reporter from KTVU were attacked and robbed in the early morning while preparing to go on air at Pier 14, a popular tourist designation, in San Francisco. A KPIX photojournalist was also attacked and robbed by a group of young men after broadcasting live in front of a school in Oakland in November 2012.
Watson confirmed that multiple suspects have been arrested in connection with the Feb. 24 robbery, but neither the names of the suspects nor charges will be released until the District Attorney’s Office formally files charges.
Watson told the Tracker that at 5:15 p.m. on that day a suspect walked into a nearby hospital seeking treatment for several gunshot wounds and was arrested in connection with the robbery and shooting. Later that evening Oakland police pursued another suspect driving a car connected with the robbery and detained the driver.
As a result of the arrests, the stolen camera was recovered, and the investigation is ongoing.
Update: The Oakland Police Department can confirm at least 2 arrests have been made in conn. with the armed robbery of a Bay Area news crew and the shooting of the crew’s security guard (2/24/19). Film camera recovered. Guard treated for gunshot wound & released from hospital. pic.twitter.com/Ptpr0c7Sr0
— Oakland Police Dept. (@oaklandpoliceca) February 25, 2019
“We heard a flurry of loud gunshots. Very close! More shots, I saw a guy drag the camera away and saw our guard Matt was hit,” Vazquez wrote.
Matt Meredith, a retired Berkeley police officer, was accompanying the news crew as a private security guard. Meredith exchanged fire with the suspect and was shot in the upper leg before the suspects fled.
“The security guard says he turned to run to retreat, there were no words exchanged, the gunman came straight up and shot him,” Vazquez told KPIX.
Meredith was transported to Highland Hospital where he was treated. He has since been released and is expected to recover, Oakland Police spokesperson Johnna Watson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
This is not the first time that a news crew has been targeted for theft in the San Francisco area. Violent robberies targeting news crews became a consistent problem beginning in 2011 during the Occupy Wall Street movement, KPIX reported, which has motivated many Bay area television stations to hire private security to accompany their teams in the field.
As a result of the arrests, the stolen camera was recovered, and the investigation is ongoing.
This screenshot from California-based KPIX 5 reporter, Joe Vazquez, shows the news team's security guard being transported after receiving a gunshot wound to the leg. He is expected to recover.
",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,,robbery,,, 2021-10-22 17:53:00.617276+00:00,2023-02-21 16:15:37.747873+00:00,"CBS San Francisco photographer robbed at gunpoint, security guard shot",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs-san-francisco-photographer-robbed-at-gunpoint-security-guard-shot/,2023-02-21 16:15:37.586455+00:00,,,(2021-10-18 00:00:00+00:00) Two convicted in attempted robbery of San Francisco news crew,Assault,,,,John Anglin (KPIX-TV),,2019-02-24,False,Oakland,California (CA),37.80437,-122.2708,"John Anglin, a photographer for San Francisco-based local CBS KPIX 5 news, was robbed at gunpoint early in the evening on Feb. 24, 2019, while covering the Oakland teachers’ strike.
Having just finished gathering interviews around 5 p.m., Anglin was standing outside his news van when two men pulled up in a car, KPIX reported. The men got out and one held a gun to Anglin’s head, demanding their camera.
In a video posted online, Anglin states, “He came out of the car with a gun in hand, basically saying, ‘Give up the camera, I want the camera.’ I just walked away and said, ‘Take it, it’s yours.’”
Anglin surrendered the equipment, according to a tweet from KPIX 5 reporter Joe Vazquez, and took cover in the news van.
Matt Meredith, a retired Berkeley police officer, was accompanying the news crew as a private security guard. Meredith exchanged fire with the suspect and was shot in the upper leg before the suspects fled.
Meredith was transported to Highland Hospital where he was treated. He has since been released and is expected to recover, Oakland Police spokesperson Johnna Watson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
This is not the first time that a news crew has been targeted for theft in the San Francisco area. Violent robberies targeting news crews became a consistent problem beginning in 2011 during the Occupy Wall Street movement, KPIX reported, which has motivated many Bay area television stations to hire private security to accompany their teams in the field.
In July 2015, NBC Bay Area reported that two of their journalists and a reporter from KTVU were attacked and robbed in the early morning while preparing to go on air at Pier 14, a popular tourist designation, in San Francisco. A KPIX photojournalist was also attacked and robbed by a group of young men after broadcasting live in front of a school in Oakland in November 2012.
Watson confirmed that multiple suspects have been arrested in connection with the Feb. 24 robbery, but neither the names of the suspects nor charges will be released until the District Attorney’s Office formally files charges.
Watson told the Tracker that at 5:15 p.m. on that day a suspect walked into a nearby hospital seeking treatment for several gunshot wounds and was arrested in connection with the robbery and shooting. Later that evening Oakland police also pursued another suspect driving a car connected with the robbery and detained the driver.
As a result of the arrests, the stolen camera was recovered, and the investigation is ongoing.
This screenshot from California-based KPIX 5 reporter, Joe Vazquez, shows the news team's security guard being transported after receiving a gunshot wound to the leg. He is expected to recover.
",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,,robbery,,, 2019-04-10 18:28:07.290262+00:00,2023-10-27 21:35:10.754012+00:00,"Reporter hit in face, has phone stolen while interviewing voters in Los Angeles",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-hit-face-has-phone-stolen-while-interviewing-voters-los-angeles/,2023-10-27 21:35:10.649588+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,cellphone: count of 1,Tina-Desiree Berg (Washington Babylon),,2019-01-26,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"On Jan. 26, 2019, reporter Tina-Desiree Berg was interviewing people outside of a regional meeting of the California Democratic Party when a woman upset by her questions stole her phone and hit her.
Berg is the West Coast correspondent for Washington Babylon, an investigative journalism site founded by veteran reporter Ken Silverstein in 2016.
Berg had gone to East LA Rising, a community center in east Los Angeles, where Democrats from the state’s 51st Assembly District were voting to elect a slate of delegates to represent them at the California Democratic Party’s state convention.
Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she interviewed some of the delegate candidates and then began talking to voters outside East LA Rising. Tensions increased after a woman leading a group of voters into East LA Rising instructed them not to talk to Berg. One of the voters told Berg that they did not live in the district — leading Berg to suspect the possibility of voter fraud.
Berg said that she was asking what part of the district they were from and whether they supported the incumbent representative for the 51st District, when a woman stole her phone.
“This girl just literally comes out of nowhere and grabbed my phone and ran down the street,” Berg said. “Then she just punched me.”
Berg said that she did not see whether the woman struck her with an open or closed fist, but that the attack left a bruise and later a blood blister on her face. The screen of her iPhone was also cracked.
Her phone continued to stream throughout the altercation, and she later published an excerpt of the video on Washington Babylon.
“Hey, give me back my phone, lady!” Berg says in the video. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“I think you’re being a dick,” the woman says.
“I don’t care, you don’t get to run away with my phone,” Berg says.
Berg then reaches for the phone and the woman strikes her.
“You don’t get to grab my hand like that!” the woman says.
“You don’t get to slap me and steal my phone!” Berg says.
Berg said that a bystander called the police, and she provided a statement to the officers but did not seek to press charges against the woman.
Berg’s suspicions about voter fraud proved to be correct. A subsequent investigation by the California Democratic Party’s Compliance Review Commission found that nearly 100 votes had been cast by people who were either not registered as Democrats or not registered in the 51st Assembly District. On March 27, the California Democratic Party vacated results of the disputed Jan. 26 election and ordered that a new election be held on April 27.
Reporter Tina-Desiree Berg shows the blood blister left after a woman took Berg's iPhone and then hit her while she was interviewing at a regional meeting of the California Democratic Party.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"election, robbery",,, 2017-09-08 18:39:00.533633+00:00,2023-10-27 21:21:38.299273+00:00,"Protesters attack independent livestreamer in San Francisco, steal his phone",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/protesters-attack-independent-livestreamer-san-francisco-steal-his-phone/,2023-10-27 21:21:38.168282+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage","Video of protesters stealing Nathan Stolman's phone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX3x2wh-6ys) via Ruptly, Nathan Stolman's livestream of the incident (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl7OoKfxC6U&t=38m45s) via Lift the Veil Too, Livestream of protesters stealing Nathan Stolman's phone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-zWZ7OL_DY&t=26m30s) via Ruptly, Video of Nathan Stolman asking protesters for his phone back (https://twitter.com/neumannbrian_/status/901527169796513792) via Golden Gate Xpress",,cellphone: count of 1,Nathan Stolpman (Independent),,2017-08-26,False,San Francisco,California (CA),37.77493,-122.41942,"Nathan Stolpman, an independent journalist who runs the YouTube channel Lift the Veil Too, was attacked and had his phone stolen while filming an anti-fascist protest on Aug. 26, 2017, in San Francisco, California.
In an interview with the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Stolpman said that he was livestreaming the protest to his YouTube channel when several protesters attempted to block his camera with an umbrella. Stolpman continued his livestream, telling the protesters, “I’m just a journalist, I have a YouTube channel.”
The livestream posted on the Lift the Veil Too YouTube channel shows one person present at the protest asking Stolpman why he was wearing a polo shirt, stating that “polos are on the other side”. Stolpman asked protesters why they did not want coverage of the event, and a larger group of protesters began to chant “Nazi, go home.”
As Stolpman continued to livestream, the group of protesters — holding a large black banner with “Fascist Scum You Are Done” written on it — followed him and wrapped him in the banner, restricting his ability to move.
Ruptly, a livestreaming service owned by Russian broadcaster RT, captured footage of Stolpman's encounter with the protesters. The video published by Ruptly shows a masked protester quickly approach Stolpman, who is largely covered by the black banner, and then grab Stolpman's phone and run off.
After the altercation, Stolpman was interviewed about what happened by several outlets. As he answered a question, one protester wearing a red nose stroked his hair, while other protesters off camera yelled and denounced the media outlets interviewing him for “giving the fascist a camera.”
A video filmed by Brian Neumann, a student journalist at San Francisco State University, shows Stolpman arguing with protesters and asking for his phone back.
Stolpman told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he believes he was targeted because he was livestreaming and because of his clothing. He said that his phone was never returned to him.
A screenshot from Ruptly's livestream shows anti-fascist protesters wrapping independent livestreamer Nathan Stolpman in a banner after stealing his phone.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"anti-fascism, protest, robbery",,,