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 2024-03-15 18:24:05.055521+00:00,2024-03-15 18:34:59.781042+00:00,Two journalists in different states say police called on them while reporting,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-journalists-in-different-states-say-police-called-on-them-while-reporting/,2024-03-15 18:34:59.694217+00:00,,,,Chilling Statement,,,,,,2024-02-20,False,Multiple,None,None,None,"
In February and March 2024, two reporters in separate states said they had the police called on them while they were conducting everyday reporting duties.
Tampa Bay Times reporter Justin Garcia had the police called on him on Feb. 20, 2024, by the city’s fire chief after he showed up at the Tampa Fire Rescue department headquarters, looking for documents about a firefighter who had recently been fired, according to Garcia, who spoke to the U.S Press Freedom Tracker, and the newspaper.
Garcia told the Tracker that he was informed that he needed to submit the request through an online portal, which he had already done. According to Garcia, he also cited Florida's Chapter 119, which states that “all state, county and municipal records are open for personal inspection and copying by any person.”
After going back and forth with Personnel Chief Robbie Northrop, who is not a public records custodian, the police were called, even though Garcia was acting within his capacity as a reporter, he told the Tracker. Garcia left before police arrived and was not arrested.
According to records obtained by the Times, Northrop first asked a lower-level employee to call the police, who said she did not have time to make the call. Fire Chief Barbara Tripp eventually called the police on Garcia, the Times reported, adding that it was unknown who asked Tripp to call the police.
“No one ever should call the police on a reporter even if that reporter is being belligerent, obnoxious and aggressive,” Adam Smith, spokesperson for Mayor Jane Castor, told the Times. Both the Times and Garcia maintain that he never raised his voice or was disruptive in any way.
In the second incident, WTIC-TV news reporter Matt Caron said in a tweet on March 8 that Connecticut public school officials had called police while he was reporting live about “racism and bullying” that his outlet’s reporting had exposed.
“I was standing on public property,” Caron wrote. He added that he would use the Freedom of Information Act to request the bodycam footage “to see what was said.”
Caron did not reply to a request for comment.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote in a Dec. 15, 2023, social media post that journalists and Democrats should be jailed for the investigations into former President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia, joining a chorus of Trump allies calling for the imprisonment of media figures.
“Democrats and their propagandists in the media put America through hell trying to take out President Trump,” Greene wrote. “These thugs and criminals need to be held accountable — even jailed — for what they did to Trump and our great country.”
Greene, who told the Guardian in August 2023 that she is “on a list” of potential vice-presidential picks for Trump, has joined other Trump allies in mirroring the rhetoric used by Trump throughout his presidency and current candidacy.
The New York Times also reported that in early December two former top Trump political advisers openly discussed plans to target the press. Kash Patel, a former National Security Council adviser who is expected to serve under a second Trump administration, said that a Trump White House would “come after” what he called “conspirators” in the government and media.
“Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out. But yeah, we’re putting you all on notice,” Patel said. “We’re actually going to use the Constitution to prosecute them for crimes they said we have always been guilty of but never have.”
Trump himself has called on the government to pursue charges against the media and, in a late-night Nov. 28 post to the social media site Truth Social, accused MSNBC without evidence of baselessly attacking him to interfere with the 2024 election.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is collecting and cataloging reports of press freedom aggressions by candidates and their teams running in federal elections in 2024. Find that specialized tracking project here.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, center, in Washington, D.C., in November 2023, called for the jailing of journalists in a social media post on Dec. 15. Joining a chorus of Donald Trump allies, she referred to the press as “propagandists” and “thugs.”
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],Media,,,, 2023-10-11 19:21:57.276749+00:00,2023-12-01 21:45:51.368586+00:00,Judge again bars media from publishing on expelled student or his lawsuit,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-again-bars-media-from-publishing-on-expelled-student-or-his-lawsuit/,2023-12-01 21:45:51.276995+00:00,,,(2023-11-28 10:45:00+00:00) Judge ends restraining order; allows press to publish on UNC suit,Prior Restraint,,,,,,2023-10-10,False,Asheville,North Carolina (NC),35.60095,-82.55402,"A U.S. district judge in Asheville, North Carolina, issued a second temporary restraining order on Oct. 10, 2023, barring members of the press from publishing about a former student who is suing the University of North Carolina System and multiple university administrators, according to court records.
The plaintiff, who filed the suit on Feb. 15 under the pseudonym Jacob Doe, alleges that he was wrongfully expelled from UNC-Chapel Hill after being accused of sexual assault by four undergraduate women.
When filing the suit, Doe simultaneously filed the motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, requesting that no information be released by the defendants or published by the media. Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger granted that temporary restraining order on Feb. 22, citing possible irreparable harm to the plaintiff.
Immediately after the restraint went into effect, however, the parties jointly filed to withdraw the motion and Reidinger dissolved the order on March 1.
Doe refiled his motion seven months later, after UNC informed him that it had received a public records request seeking to identify him, according to court records. On Oct. 10, District Judge Max Cogburn Jr. granted the motion.
As with the initial prior restraint, the university is barred from disclosing any information about the disciplinary proceedings at the heart of the lawsuit. UNC is also required to instruct news outlets that they are barred from publishing any information about Doe or his disciplinary proceedings that they may receive.
Students sit on library steps at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2018. As part of a 2023 lawsuit against UNC, a judge issued a new restraining order barring media from publishing information about a former student or his expulsion.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,dropped,False,[],Media,,,, 2023-11-30 20:30:54.001585+00:00,2023-11-30 20:30:54.001585+00:00,Media barred from identifying officer working DeSantis security,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/media-barred-from-identifying-officer-working-desantis-security/,2023-11-30 20:30:49.205351+00:00,,,,Prior Restraint,,,,Grant Stern (Occupy Democrats),,2023-08-30,False,Miami,Florida (FL),25.77427,-80.19366,"A Florida circuit court judge issued a prior restraint on Aug. 30, 2023, barring members of the press from publishing anything that might identify an officer who had provided security for Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The ruling was the result of a lawsuit brought by Grant Stern, the executive editor of the news arm of progressive political organization Occupy Democrats, after he and a columnist were barred by a plainclothes officer from attending the governor’s Sept. 22, 2022, press conference at Miami Dade College.
The officer, who refused to identify himself at the time, filmed the pair of journalists on a cellphone and ordered a uniformed officer to remove them from the building. Stern made an on-the-spot records request for a copy of the recording and ultimately filed a formal records request to identify the plainclothes officer.
The Miami Police Department refused to identify the officer, asserting that he was working undercover, as distinct from simply in civilian clothes, and was therefore exempt from such disclosures. Stern filed the lawsuit in October 2022 challenging the decision.
During a hearing on Aug. 30, 2023, Circuit Court Judge Migna Sanchez-Llorens told the parties she would reserve judgment on the distinction. Attorneys for the city then asked that — if the judge were to rule that the officer was working undercover — the images and videos filed as evidence in the suit be sealed, redacted or blurred out to protect his identity.
Sanchez-Llorens noted an objection raised by Stern’s attorney but heard no arguments before ruling that Stern’s photograph and any other identifiers of the officer would be placed under seal until she ruled on the question of his status.
The following day, the judge expanded the gag order to include all media and said that no one should disclose the identity of the officer. “This means that all persons shall refrain from releasing name, photos, or badge number of the undercover agent,” Sanchez-Llorens wrote.
“[The judge] did all of that without briefing, motion, nothing,” Stern told the Tracker. “They [city’s attorneys] merely suggested, just to get a sense of the court, if they could get a further order after the ruling. That’s all they asked for. She went ahead and did the rest.”
Stern told the Tracker that there is virtually no limit on how long the judge can reserve judgment, and that he and other media will remain gagged until she issues a ruling.
“This is two out of the three branches of Florida government now censoring this,” Stern said. “If the state doesn’t want you around they exercise every lever of government to prevent state officials from facing tough questions.”
Stern subsequently filed a motion asking the judge to recuse herself from the case, arguing that not only did she issue her order without following proper procedure but had also prejudged that the officer was working undercover, showing bias in the case. Sanchez-Llorens denied the motion, which Stern has since appealed to the Third District Court of Appeal of Florida.
A portion of the order, filed Aug. 31, 2023, ordering Occupy Democrats’ Executive Editor Grant Stern and all other media not to publish photos or other identifying information for a police officer who had worked security for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,pending,False,[],Media,,,, 2024-01-08 19:44:01.377724+00:00,2024-01-08 19:44:01.377724+00:00,New York congressman lifts press ban for public town hall meetings,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-york-congressman-lifts-press-ban-for-public-town-hall-meetings/,2024-01-08 19:44:01.144411+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,,,2023-08-12,False,Carmel,New York (NY),41.43009,-73.68013,"A New York congressman for several months in 2023 enforced a policy of restricting press access at his town hall events to journalists who live in his district, prohibiting reporters in attendance from recording the events, using cameras and asking questions.
U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., ultimately reversed the policy on Jan. 5, 2024, announcing that his office will now grant access to all credentialed media and allow cameras. Lawler said he will also take reporters’ questions after each event.
Lawler’s press crackdown was first reported after an Aug. 22, 2023, meeting when his staff only allowed a reporter for The Highland Current to enter a Carmel, New York, town hall with restrictions on her newsgathering methods.
“On entering, with my ticket, I had my camera around my neck. Lawler’s staff members said that I could not take photos or otherwise record the event and had to immediately either put the camera back in my car or surrender it until the town hall ended,” Liz Schevtchuk Armstrong told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Armstrong added: “When I explained that I was with the press, the staff answered that the town hall was not open to news media coverage. I expressed my surprise and questioned how a House member and his staff, all paid by taxpayers, could forbid press coverage of a public forum held in a public, local government building. The staff appeared confused and a long discussion ensued between me and one of Rep. Lawler’s senior staff members.”
Armstrong said she was finally able to gain entry to the town hall using a ticket issued to one of Lawler’s constituents.
Similar press restrictions were imposed throughout the fall of 2023. Lawler’s staff, for instance, barred journalists from attending a Sept. 25 town hall event in East Fishkill, New York, Kayla Guo of The New York Times reported. Guo interviewed town hall attendees outside the venue.
Lawler also barred the press from a Nov. 19 town hall event at Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York, where attendees were threatened with expulsion if they recorded the event, reported David McKay Wilson of The Journal News. Wilson gained access to the sold-out town hall by obtaining a friend’s ticket to the event. He published an account and a photo of the event in The Journal News.
The Rockland Daily reported that its request for a press pass to the Nov. 19 event was denied, but that one of its photographers was allowed to attend the town hall in his capacity as a private citizen and a constituent of Lawler’s, and was permitted to take photos with his cellphone.
Lawler’s Dec. 17 town hall at a high school in Thornwood, New York, was also closed to the press, according to the Eventbrite page for the event. A Journal News photographer and a News 12 Westchester camera crew were barred from entering the venue.
The Journal News’ Wilson said he was allowed to attend that event as a constituent but not as a member of the press — he reported that attendees were again threatened with expulsion if they recorded Lawler’s exchanges or took photos.
“This was an event of a member of Congress, in his official capacity as member of Congress,” Wilson told the Tracker. “It’s the first time I was barred from a public congressional event.”
The New York Times and News 12 did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lawler, in his Jan. 5 statement, said his office had imposed the policy to make the town halls “as hospitable and welcoming as possible. … The goal was to prevent these town halls from being hijacked by out-of-district political grandstanders desperately searching for a viral video clip, and instead geared towards hearing directly from constituents with serious questions or concerns.”
Lawler’s statement added: “Upon reflection, while well-intentioned, these rules could have been explained and implemented in a better way.”
Placard displayed at an Aug. 22 town hall event hosted by U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-NY.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,['GOVERNMENT_EVENTS'],"Media, News 12 Westchester, The Highland Current, The Journal News, The New York Times, The Rockland Daily",,,,Federal government: Legislature 2023-10-24 17:37:42.162462+00:00,2024-02-07 15:54:45.723206+00:00,Proposed bill would direct media coverage of mass shootings,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/proposed-bill-would-direct-media-coverage-of-mass-shootings/,2024-02-07 15:54:45.622603+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2023-07-18,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Two Republican lawmakers jointly introduced a resolution on July 18, 2023, proposing guidelines for how the media should report on mass shootings.
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee proposed a concurrent resolution asserting that “irresponsible and sensationalistic reporting practices” are one of the key factors behind the prevalence of mass shootings in the United States. They also alleged that the press routinely covers the shooter more than the victims, satisfying the attacker’s desire for “notoriety and infamy.”
The two called on the media to “voluntarily and responsibly” change its approach by, for instance, not naming alleged perpetrators or promoting the shooter’s ideology or advocacy for any particular public policy change. Instead, they said the media should focus coverage on memorializing victims and on the “heroism” of any law enforcement, first responders or bystanders.
Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University and former editor-in-chief of USA Today, told The Tennessean that any attempt by the government to stipulate how the media should operate raises immediate First Amendment concerns.
Paulson also challenged the lawmakers’ assertion that the press voraciously covers every mass shooting, saying that while many newsrooms have independently reduced coverage to avoid inspiring copycats, the sheer number of incidents has made the coverage decision for them.
“Mass murders now happen so often that they no longer get the same level of attention from the news media,” he said. “I believe the public sometimes confuses the coverage of unrelenting mass murders with excessive coverage of a single event.”
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in March 2022. Lee and Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee jointly proposed a bill in July 2023 that proposed guidelines for how journalists should cover mass shootings.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],Media,,,, 2023-06-13 20:21:01.427679+00:00,2023-12-20 20:38:25.071024+00:00,Photographer details restricted access to senator,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-details-restricted-access-to-senator/,2023-12-20 20:38:24.959893+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,,,2023-05-17,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Los Angeles Times photographer Kent Nishimura said press access to Sen. Dianne Feinstein at the U.S. Capitol was restricted twice in May 2023.
In a May 24 article titled, “As staff shield Feinstein from the press, a picture really is worth a thousand words,” Washington, D.C.-based Nishimura said he was told Feinstein couldn’t be photographed on two consecutive days as she arrived at the Capitol. The 89-year-old Democratic senator from California had been on an extended absence since early March recuperating from illness and hospitalization, and returned to the Senate on May 10.
In an announcement the day of her return, Feinstein’s office alerted the press that the senator may be using a wheelchair “to travel around the Capitol,” and that she may have a lighter schedule, as per her doctors’ recommendation.
Nishimura, a staff photographer with the LA Times since 2017, has covered the senior senator for years. He said his article documents an atypical yet alarming denial of access at the nation’s capital.
“Restricting press access in this manner sets a dangerous precedent for the future — the severe erosion of press freedoms,” Nishimura said in a May 26 email response to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
According to Nishimura, he and other members of the press were restricted from accessing the senator on public grounds, effectively limiting the public’s right to information, especially important during a time when the senator’s ability to do her job amid her illness has come into question.
Nishimura wrote that on May 17 and 18, the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms office restricted press access during Feinstein’s arrival, “shutting doors and using the Capitol police to chase journalists out of hallways and public spaces.”
The Office of the Sergeant at Arms did not respond to phone or email requests for comment. The sergeant-at-arms, elected by U.S. senators and serving as chief law enforcement of the Senate, handles security in the Capitol and at all Senate buildings, according to its website. The office can also direct the U.S. Capitol Police.
Capitol Police Communications Director Tim Barber provided the Tracker with the following statement via email: “The United States Capitol Police works to ensure everyone is able to safely follow the rules of the press galleries.”
The Radio-TV Correspondents Galleries provide press credentials and guidelines for press access on Capitol Hill, including determining locations where photographers can place their cameras and where reporters can assemble.
According to Feinstein spokesman Adam Russell, at no time on these dates was press denied access to the senator by Feinstein’s office. He referred the Tracker to his statement in Nishimura’s article where he was quoted as saying, “Our office has not asked photographers to not take pictures of her in her wheelchair. We did ask, and continue to ask for safety reasons, that photographers and reporters give her space, particularly when entering and exiting her vehicle.”
Nishimura told the Tracker he received no further comment or explanation on press access at the U.S. Capitol.
After a prolonged absence, Sen. Dianne Feinstein returned to the U.S. Capitol on May 10, 2023. In the following days, media access to the California senator was twice restricted, wrote a D.C.-based photojournalist.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,['OTHER'],Media,,,,Federal government: Legislature 2023-07-27 20:40:38.576966+00:00,2023-07-27 20:40:38.576966+00:00,At least 10 journalists tracked in government migrant caravan database,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/at-least-10-journalists-tracked-in-government-migrant-caravan-database/,2023-07-27 20:40:38.456976+00:00,,,,Chilling Statement,,,,"Ariana Drehsler (Freelance), Bing Guan (Independent), Go Nakamura (Freelance), Kitra Cahana (Freelance), Robert Wilson (Freelance)",,2023-03-24,False,San Diego,California (CA),32.71571,-117.16472,"At least 10 journalists were tracked in a database authorized by the U.S. government as part of its surveillance around the migrant caravan in 2019, according to documents released in March 2023 in compliance with FOIA requests from San Diego TV station KNSD.
The NBC station first broke the story in March 2019 that Department of Homeland Security officials in San Diego had created the database as part of “Operation Secure Line” — the government’s code name for its response to the caravan. Agents compiled dossiers on at least 65 journalists, attorneys and humanitarian aid workers, and flagged them for additional questioning, searches and occasionally denials of entry at the border.
A Homeland Security Investigations agent, who later identified himself as Wesley Petonak, told KNSD he was alarmed when he came across a PowerPoint containing details from the database and so leaked screenshots.
“It seemed these people's rights were being infringed on,” Petonak said.
The TV station, together with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, or RCFP, filed FOIA requests seeking documents from Operation Secure Line, then sued in April 2019 when the government refused to produce the documents. In March 2023, the government began releasing the files. More than 4,800 pages have been released as of July 2023, according to reporter Tom Jones, who has led the reporting on Operation Secure Line, first at KNSD and now at WMAQ-TV in Chicago.
According to the documents, officers surveilled journalists, social media influencers, attorneys, aid workers and immigration advocates whom officials suspected were connected to a caravan of more than 9,000 Central American migrants seeking asylum in late 2018 and early 2019. The title of the PowerPoint leaked to the station identified those included as “Suspected Organizers, Coordinators, Instigators, and Media.”
Five of the 10 journalists indicated in the documents released so far were named — photojournalists Kitra Cahana, Ariana Drehsler, Bing Guan, Go Nakamura and Robert Wilson. Five remain unnamed, as the TV station censored the names and images of any individuals who did not provide permission to publish their information.
Cahana, Drehsler, Guan and Nakamura were each stopped at least once for additional questioning when crossing the border and asked about their work covering the Central American migrant caravan’s arrival in Mexico. Several had their equipment searched.
All four photojournalists, along with photographer Mark Abramson, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in November 2019 against the heads of the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, and its agencies U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The suit is ongoing as of July 2023, with discovery underway.
Wilson confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in July 2023 that he, on the other hand, had not been stopped for secondary screening while covering the migrant caravan. He said it may be in part because he was extremely cautious.
“The whole time I was [in Mexico] I kind of assumed I was going to be on a list, so I tried to really minimize my crossings,” Wilson said. “I only went across the border twice, and I waited for the heaviest traffic times and went across on foot.”
Following the initial revelations about the operation, DHS agreed to conduct an internal investigation, according to the station. The Office of the Inspector General for DHS announced it would conduct its own independent investigation.
While the OIG conceded in its final report that some of the “lookouts” placed on U.S. journalists, attorneys and others did not fully comply with U.S. Customs and Border Protection policy, it held that agents had legitimate reasons for flagging the individuals.
“Although we determined CBP’s lookouts on a number of journalists present at an illegal border crossing were unnecessary, we found no evidence that CBP placed these lookouts to harass the journalists,” the report said.
RCFP attorney Katie Townsend told KNSD she believes there is still more to learn about the surveillance effort.
“While the release of these records is a victory for transparency, the litigation is ongoing, and we anticipate that additional information will come to light,” Townsend said. RCFP is a member of the Tracker advisory board.
Jones told the Tracker that as far as he knows, and based on the OIG investigation, this was the only active surveillance effort that included journalists, attorneys and other American citizens.
“But the only reason we know about this surveillance effort is because records were leaked to us,” Jones said. “If it wasn’t for that leak, we would have never discovered this, so who’s to say there aren’t more efforts or lists like this out there?”
Operation Secure Line is not the only instance of CBP monitoring journalists: In 2021, reporters revealed that a secretive CBP division, known as the Counter Network Division, had been investigating as many as 20 journalists beginning in 2017.
According to a report by Yahoo News, CBP agents would run information and photos from passport applications through multiple government databases.
Also, in 2020, DHS compiled intelligence reports about the reporting and tweets of two journalists covering protests in Portland, Oregon, according to a Washington Post article. After the reports were made public, then-Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf ordered the office to cease all collection of information on journalists and announced an investigation into the reports.
A heavily redacted page confirms that journalists were among those surveilled as part of a government program. The pages were released to an NBC TV station in San Diego and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,migrant caravan,,, 2023-03-21 20:21:41.263934+00:00,2024-02-29 19:09:07.333624+00:00,Judge delays public notice of Texas abortion pill hearing,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-delays-public-notice-of-texas-abortion-pill-hearing/,2024-02-29 19:09:07.257187+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2023-03-10,False,Amarillo,Texas (TX),35.222,-101.8313,"A Texas judge presiding over a challenge to the Federal Drug Administration’s approval of a common abortion medication restricted public and press knowledge of a hearing by delaying putting it on the docket, or public schedule, and requesting attorneys involved in the case not publicize or draw attention to it.
U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk told attorneys during a March 10, 2023, conference call that he would delay entering the March 15 hearing in Amarillo on the docket until the evening before, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the story. He also asked the attorneys for the “courtesy” of not sharing information about the hearing until then.
According to the Post, hearings are normally quickly placed on the docket and delays are highly unusual.
In a transcript of the call obtained by The Associated Press, Kacsmaryk said that the case — which could have national implications for medical abortion access — had sparked protests and prompted death threats and harassing phone calls to the courthouse.
“Because of limited security resources and staffing, I will ask that the parties avoid further publicizing the date of the hearing,” Kacsmaryk said, according to the transcript. “We want a fluid hearing with all parties being heard. I think less advertisement of this hearing is better.”
Judges have significant discretion over how they run their cases and there are no national policies or rules dictating when hearing notices need to be posted, the AP reported.
Both outlets reported concerns that delayed scheduling would prevent the public and press from being able to attend the hearing, as Amarillo is located hours from all major cities in Texas.
A coalition of media outlets and press freedom advocates, which included the Post and multiple Texas-based newspapers, filed a letter objecting to the delay on March 13.
“The Court’s attempt to delay notice of and, therefore, limit the ability of members of the public, including the press, to attend Wednesday’s hearing is unconstitutional, and undermines the important values served by public access to judicial proceedings and court records,” the letter read. “The Court cannot constitutionally close the courtroom indirectly when it cannot constitutionally close the courtroom directly.”
Within hours of the letter being sent, the hearing was placed on the docket.
Freedom of the Press Foundation Advocacy Director Seth Stern echoed the coalition's objections, and said he was glad to see the hearing getting plenty of publicity despite the judge’s unconstitutional efforts.
“A ‘courtesy’ request to not publicize a hearing is a gag order by another name,” Stern said. “Lawyers won’t risk upsetting the judge deciding their case.”
As of publication, Kacsmaryk has not issued a ruling on the request to pause the availability of the drug, which was at issue in the March 15 hearing. NPR reported that a few dozen members of the press and public were allowed inside the courtroom, while small groups of demonstrators gathered outside.
An Asheville judge issued an order barring members of the press from publishing about a former student who is suing the University of North Carolina System and multiple university administrators on Feb. 22, 2023, according to court records.
The plaintiff, who filed the suit on Feb. 15 under the pseudonym Jacob Doe, alleges that he was wrongfully expelled from UNC Chapel Hill after being accused of sexual assault by four undergraduate women.
When filing the suit, Doe simultaneously filed the motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, requesting that no information be released by the defendants or published by the media. Those filings appear to have been sealed and are not available for public review.
Chief United States District Judge Martin Reidinger granted the temporary restraining order on Feb. 22, citing possible irreparable harm to the plaintiff. The order bars the defendants from disclosing any information about the disciplinary proceedings at the heart of the lawsuit and requires them to inform media outlets about the restraint.
The order also requires the defendants to instruct news outlets that “they are prohibited from publishing any information concerning the Plaintiff, the disciplinary proceedings, or the outcomes of such proceedings.” It is unclear which media outlets, if any, were informed of the order.
Immediately after the restraint went into effect, the parties jointly filed to withdraw the motion, asking the judge to dissolve the TRO and cancel a preliminary hearing scheduled for March 7.
As of publication the restraining order remains in effect.
Students walk across the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in this 2018 file photo. As part of a lawsuit against the university system, a judge approved a motion barring media from publishing information about a former student or his expulsion.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,dropped,False,None,Media,,,, 2023-08-22 13:03:33.870090+00:00,2023-12-20 20:40:44.451002+00:00,"Florida city officials enact media conduct rules, threaten to ban editor",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/florida-city-officials-enact-media-conduct-rules-sanction-editor/,2023-12-20 20:40:44.368037+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,Norine Dworkin (VoxPopuli),,2023-02-09,False,Winter Garden,Florida (FL),28.56528,-81.58618,"Rules regarding media conduct passed by city officials in Winter Garden, Florida, on Feb. 9, 2023 — called unconstitutional by press freedom advocates — were cited in a June letter sanctioning the editor-in-chief of a local publication.
The new rules were part of a resolution that stipulates that journalists are not to ask officials questions before or after city commission meetings or during the meetings’ public comment periods. The rules also direct members of the press to contact the city-designated public information officer with requests for comment or interviews, though no such appointee exists, according to the First Amendment Foundation.
The Orlando Sentinel reported that City Manager Jon Williams proposed the resolution in direct response to VoxPopuli Editor-in-Chief Norine Dworkin’s use of the public comment portion of commission meetings to ask questions. Williams, in response to emailed questions from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, declined to state the motivation behind the resolution.
Dworkin told the Tracker that she is often one of the few members of the media present at the City Commission meetings, and that she asks questions during the public comment period only when her calls and emails go unanswered.
“When I want to make a point or when I haven’t gotten a response, I would go and use the public comment forum and ask publicly because it’s harder to dodge the question in front of your constituents,” Dworkin said.
After the media rules were passed, Dworkin said she kept asking questions without issue. “I continued to just do my job and do all the things I normally do,” Dworkin said, “until I asked about the neo-Nazis.”
It was during the City Commission meeting on June 22 that Dworkin asked Mayor John Rees whether he condemned the neo-Nazis who distributed antisemitic pamphlets in neighborhoods in Winter Garden and the nearby town of Oakland. The following day, Dworkin received an official notice of violation, which stated that she would be banned from the meetings if she continued to defy the resolution.
Williams defended the resolution in an email to the Tracker, stating that the guidelines were intended to ensure the meetings are “courteous and orderly” and that citizens can raise concerns for consideration by the commission.
“City Commission meetings are not an open public forum (like a public sidewalk), but are a limited public forum,” Williams wrote. “The public comment portion of the meetings are not offered as a platform to address matters that are not city business.”
The First Amendment Foundation sent a letter to Rees and Williams on July 25 challenging the constitutionality of the resolution and encouraging them to rework the resolution to comply with state and federal law.
“Denying [journalists] access to officials during public comment periods or forbidding them from asking them questions when the officials enter or leave meetings can only be seen as a violation of the journalist’s First Amendment rights,” wrote Executive Director Bobby Block.
Williams told the Tracker that city management had a “productive” meeting with representatives from the First Amendment Foundation on Aug. 3 to discuss the organization’s concerns. The city is now awaiting the foundation’s specific proposed revisions to the resolution.
Dworkin said that though this issue started with her, it’s not really about her or VoxPopuli.
“This is really about the First Amendment, it’s about press freedom and it’s about having access to the elected officials and being able to ask them questions and to hold them accountable,” Dworkin said. “That’s all this has ever been about.”
Limitations on press access inside the New York State Assembly implemented during the pandemic will continue this legislative session, a spokesman for the Speaker confirmed on Jan. 23, 2023.
In an email to Zach Williams, president of the New York State Legislative Correspondents Association, Press Secretary Michael Whyland said that the rules for the lower house of the legislature were not changing.
During the first months of the pandemic, sweeping health and safety measures were put in place limiting how many people — including lawmakers — could enter the statehouse and where they could go. Journalists covering the Assembly were limited to a few chairs in the well of the chamber and at the back of the room, and were barred from directly approaching lawmakers at their desks. Reporters were also no longer permitted in the area behind the dias to access the speaker’s office, conference rooms and a lounge.
Whyland wrote that the area behind the dias is still by appointment only.
Williams, who is also the New York Post’s Albany bureau chief, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that when COVID-19 restrictions for the statehouse began to expire, the LCA initiated conversations about lifting the media access limitations as well.
“Once they stopped having the mask restriction and capacity restrictions, reporters like myself started raising questions about why we could not enter and move around the chamber and adjacent areas like we did before coronavirus struck New York,” Williams said.
Tom Precious, who covered the New York State legislature for more than 30 years before retiring in 2022, told the Tracker via email that in the years before the pandemic, members of the press were able to move around the chamber with relative ease.
“It used to be that reporters could walk down onto the floor during session and go right up to a lawmaker’s desk to ask them a question,” Precious said. “I spent many, many hours of my time at the Capitol walking that back hallway in order to grab lawmakers for comments or background perspectives on an issue.”
After receiving the email confirming that limits on media access would continue, Williams sent a letter on Feb. 2 on behalf of the LCA calling on Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to restore the pre-pandemic policies.
“Decades of experience proved that order can be maintained in the chamber while Capitol reporters do their jobs of informing the public,” Williams wrote. “The Assembly now aims to bar the press in your name from anywhere except the back of the chamber and a few chairs in the well of the floor. Only favored reporters would be allowed anywhere behind the chamber. The LCA has voted to reject such conditions. We need more than that to do our jobs.”
Williams confirmed to the Tracker on Feb. 9 that he had not received an official response to his letter.
Whyland, the press secretary, did not respond to requests for comment from the Tracker. He wrote on Twitter that press access to the Assembly is both the same as it was pre-pandemic and is the same as access to the Senate.
Reporter Keshia Clukey, an LCA member who has covered the statehouse for seven years, told the Tracker that press access has never been the same in both chambers due to differences in size and formality.
“The Senate and Assembly have always had very different rules. The Senate hasn’t been quite as accessible as the Assembly,” Clukey said. “But the Assembly has always been the ‘People’s House.’”
She added that she’s particularly concerned about the strict access heading into the budgeting process in March, when many decisions are made behind the scenes.
“That lack of transparency in the budget process makes this fight to have the access that we've always had even more important,” Clukey said.
Press access is so important, especially in Albany during budget season where negotiations and policymaking are already done behind closed doors.
— Keshia Clukey (@KeshiaClukey) February 7, 2023
Bring it back, please! https://t.co/xnxjToZVe1
In early 2022, the Tracker reported how Iowa, Kansas and Utah senates enacted similar policies or changes to practice restricting reporter access. In January 2023, the Texas Senate also confirmed that pandemic restrictions on the press would remain in place.
The New York State Legislative Assembly in session at the Capitol in Albany, New York.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,['CHANGE_IN_POLICY'],Media,,,,State government: Legislature 2023-01-17 16:56:48.597929+00:00,2023-01-17 16:56:48.597929+00:00,Texas judge vacates order limiting murder trial coverage,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/texas-judge-vacates-order-limiting-murder-trial-coverage/,2023-01-17 16:56:48.471282+00:00,,,,Prior Restraint,,,,,,2023-01-09,False,Waco,Texas (TX),31.54933,-97.14667,"A judge in Waco, Texas, issued a sweeping gag order on Jan. 9, 2023, restricting media coverage ahead of a retrial in a murder case. The order was vacated two days later after attorneys for local broadcaster KWTX successfully argued that it amounted to an unconstitutional prior restraint, the outlet reported.
Judge David Hodges’ order prohibited the press from reporting on basic facts about the case, including testimony or evidence from the initial trial in 2015, that it resulted in a conviction, the fact that the case was reversed or the reason behind the reversal. It also barred any reporting on any pretrial rulings in the case.
The case — which was set to begin on Jan. 9 — was postponed citing concerns that there would not be insufficient jurors from which to select a jury, according to KWTX.
The Waco Tribune-Herald reported that the gag order forced it to hold its reporting on the postponement.
Attorneys for CBS-affiliate KWTX sent a three-page letter to the court arguing against the order the same day it was issued, according to the outlet. KWTX Vice President and General Manager Josh Young declined to comment when reached by email.
Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, told the outlet that the order would have infringed on First Amendment rights and Hodges was right to lift the restrictions on the press.
“Journalists have a right — and a duty — to cover what’s going on at the courthouse to keep the public informed,” Shannon said. “It’s understandable that the judge wants to ensure a fair trial and try to select a local jury, but attempting to restrain what the news media reports is not the answer.”
The Texas Senate secretary confirmed to a reporter that a COVID-19 policy implemented two years ago barring reporters from the chamber floor will continue into the new legislative session.
On Jan. 6, 2023, Dallas Morning News reporter Lauren McGaughy tweeted a portion of an email from Senate Secretary Patsy Spaw stating to her that the policy was still in effect.
Member of the press will not be allowed onto the Texas Senate floor during the upcoming session, the secretary of the senate confirm to me.
— 🌟 Lauren McGaughy (@lmcgaughy) January 6, 2023
The policy was implemented during COVID and is not being lifted even though most other pandemic restrictions are gone. #txlege pic.twitter.com/Z9RLFCCc6P
“There is no floor seating for the press,” Spaw wrote. “The reserved area for the press was moved to the Senate Gallery in the southwest corner. The press is not restricted to that area, but may sit in any open seat in the gallery.”
Spaw did not respond to a request for further comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
The Texas Tribune reported that media members were moved to the third floor of the Senate gallery in 2021 to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, while senators occupied the second floor. Donnis Baggett, executive vice president of the Texas Press Association, told the Tracker via email that the decision to continue the policy was a disservice to both reporters and senators.
“Many legislative procedures were changed during the height of COVID restrictions, but most of those have been dissolved since. Unfortunately, this rule was left in place. The result: reporters are still restricted to the Senate gallery, which is a floor above the senators themselves. That works to the detriment of timely and mutually beneficial conversations between senators and reporters.”
Baggett said that he hopes Senate leadership will reconsider the decision for the benefit of voters.
Press freedom advocacy groups said the decision was concerning, and lacked sufficient explanation.
“The Texas Senate is not even claiming any legitimate justification to limit press access,” said Seth Stern, advocacy director for Freedom of the Press Foundation. “Officials hope that press restrictions will fly under the radar when they quietly make temporary COVID policies permanent. Hopefully Texas won’t fall for it.” FPF co-founded and maintains the Tracker.
In early 2022, the Tracker reported how Iowa, Kansas and Utah senates enacted similar policies or changes to practice restricting reporter access.
Editor's note: The article was updated to include comment from Texas Press Association Executive Vice President Donnis Baggett.
The Texas state capitol building in downtown Austin.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,['CHANGE_IN_POLICY'],Media,,,,State government: Legislature 2023-03-23 23:38:50.129811+00:00,2023-03-23 23:38:50.129811+00:00,FTC orders Twitter to disclose names of journalists,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ftc-orders-twitter-to-disclose-names-of-journalists/,2023-03-23 23:38:50.036230+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2022-12-13,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"As part of an ongoing investigation, the Federal Trade Commission asked Twitter to disclose the names of journalists who were provided access to some of the social media company’s internal communications, the Wall Street Journal reported in March 2023.
The company has been subject to a consent decree since 2011, following multiple user data breaches, and is required to regularly conduct security audits and inform the FTC how it is handling sensitive data. In May 2022, Twitter agreed to improve its privacy practices as part of a settlement with the agency. According to The New York Times, the commission intensified its investigation into Twitter’s data and privacy practices following Elon Musk’s October 2022 takeover and subsequent mass reduction of the workforce.
On Dec. 13, the FTC sent a letter to Twitter questioning the decision to give journalists access to internal communications, which Musk dubbed the “Twitter Files.” The agency asked the social media giant to disclose the names of the journalists, to describe the “nature of access granted each person” and whether the information was disclosed in a way that “is consistent with your privacy and information security obligations under the Order.”
A select subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee released an interim report on March 7, 2023, alleging that the FTC overstepped its authority and has been harassing the company.
“There is no logical reason, for example, why the FTC needs to know the identities of journalists engaging with Twitter,” the report said.
In a statement to the Times, an FTC spokesperson said that the agency is working to protect user privacy, particularly in the wake of mass layoffs and budget cuts.
“Protecting consumers’ privacy is exactly what the FTC is supposed to do,” Douglas Farrar said. “It should come as no surprise that career staff at the commission are conducting a rigorous investigation into Twitter’s compliance with a consent order that came into effect long before Mr. Musk purchased the company.”
The Freedom of the Press Foundation, which manages the day-to-day operations of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, decried the request for journalists’ names as an alarming step toward government surveillance.
“Anyone who cares about the free press should be concerned by the FTC’s demand that Twitter identify journalists who have received information that might embarrass the administration, regardless of what they think of Elon Musk or Twitter,” Advocacy Director Seth Stern said in a statement. “The FTC should not have to violate the privacy of journalists to protect the privacy of Twitter users.”
Twitter, which has laid off its communications staff, responded to a request for comment with an auto-response of a poop emoji.
The Federal Trade Commission asked Twitter in Dec. 2022 to disclose the names of journalists given access to internal company files, the so-called “Twitter Files.”
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,,,, 2022-10-25 15:56:04.755581+00:00,2022-10-27 20:59:45.010793+00:00,Jewish newspaper boxes vandalized in Queens,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/jewish-newspaper-boxes-vandalized-in-queens/,2022-10-27 20:59:44.873325+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2022-10-06,False,New York,New York (NY),None,None,"Several newspaper boxes distributing Jewish publications in Queens, New York, were defaced with swastikas on Oct. 6, 2022, while the Jewish community observed Yom Kippur.
Bukharian Jewish Link freelance journalist Steven Saphirstein told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he discovered the vandalized boxes outside of Aron’s Kissena Farms on Oct. 7 while distributing papers. Aron’s, the largest kosher grocery store in Queens, was closed at the time of the incident. Saphirstein told the Tracker he met with detectives after reporting the incident.
The targeted boxes contained Jewish newspapers including the Queens Jewish Link, the Bukharian Jewish Link and the Five Towns Jewish Times. Yaakov Serle, publisher for the Queens and Bukharian Jewish Links, told the Tracker that the newspapers were still able to publish normally that day.
“We were very fortunate,” Serle said. “Everybody came together, and – by shopping time — it was all gone.”
Serle said several community members teamed up to clean the newspaper boxes before Aron’s opened for the day. He credits Assemblymember Daniel Rosenthal, Saphirstein and local Jewish groups Chaverim and Shmira with playing an instrumental role in the cleanup.
In a statement to the Chronicle, Rosenthal said that while no one was physically harmed by the attack, the antisemitism distressed residents who were fed up with the broken sense of security and seeking action.
On the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, newspapers racks distributing Jewish publications were vandalized with swastikas.
— Daniel Rosenthal (@DanRosenthalNYC) October 6, 2022
We must be able to feel safe in our neighborhoods. We must do more. The continued rise of antisemitism is unsustainable and unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/WCz5wrRGar
“On the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, newspaper racks distributing Jewish publications were vandalized with swastikas,” Rosenthal wrote on Twitter. “We must be able to feel safe in our neighborhoods. We must do more. The continued rise of antisemitism is unsustainable and unacceptable.”
The New York Police Department did not respond to a request for comment by the Tracker, but Rosenthal told the Chronicle that officers are reviewing security camera footage from neighboring businesses.
Editor's note: The article was updated to include information from Steven Saphirstein and his correct title.
Nearly two dozen individuals behind a unionization drive at Starbucks locations in Buffalo and Rochester, New York, were ordered to turn over their communications with journalists by a federal judge on Sept. 23, 2022.
The ruling came as part of a complaint the National Labor Relations Board filed against Starbucks in June 2022, accusing the Seattle-based coffee giant of union-busting activities. Starbucks denies any wrongdoing.
According to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, organizers and current and former Starbucks employees were ordered in early September to turn over all documents concerning getting in contact with any media outlet about the unionization efforts and any resulting communications.
The Washington Post reported that the order would likely pertain to thousands of messages with journalists, and that the Post, The New York Times, Vice, Fox News, Al Jazeera, The Guardian and Buffalo News have extensively covered the organizing campaign.
NLRB filed a motion to quash the subpoenas or issue a protective order. Workers United, a labor union working to organize the New York stores, also received a subpoena and filed two motions to quash: one on its own behalf and one on behalf of the subpoenaed Starbucks employees.
On Sept. 23, District Judge John Sinatra Jr. issued his ruling quashing some requests in the subpoenas, but holding that communications and any recordings of conversations with the media would have to be produced.
According to the Post, it is unusual for a judge to approve a request that so blatantly targets communications with journalists, which would be protected under New York’s Shield Law if the journalists had been issued the subpoenas instead.
For subpoenas issued directly to journalists or news organizations, and information about how we document those legal orders, explore the Tracker’s Subpoena/Legal Order category.
A Starbucks spokesperson, Andrew Trull, defended the judge’s order in a statement to the Post alleging that the media received false information.
“This is about getting to the truth and uncovering misinformation that [union-supporting workers] have disseminated to both our partners and the public,” Trull said.
No documents were produced by the court-imposed deadline of Oct. 14. On Oct. 27, Starbucks filed a motion for the court to hold the union and the individuals subpoenaed in contempt and impose sanctions on them. That same day, Workers United notified the court of its intention to file an appeal of the judge’s ruling with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Sinatra has placed all proceedings — including ruling on the motion for sanctions — on hold until the appeal is resolved. As of publication, the appeal has not yet been filed.
The president of The NewsGuild, one of the largest journalist labor unions, told the Buffalo News that the order chips away at free press protections and creates a chilling effect for both journalists and their sources.
"Clearly, Starbucks is violating the First Amendment of our country by trying to get access to information that is part of the news gathering process," Jon Schleuss said. "The federal government has no place in restricting the freedom of press.”
On June 20, 2022, journalists were told to leave a committee hearing in Uvalde, Texas, where Texas House legislators were scheduled to discuss the law enforcement response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in May.
According to The Washington Post, Fire Marshal Juan Hernandez asked reporters to leave the meeting and wait outside City Hall. Hernandez said people were intimidated by the presence of the reporters at the meetings.
CNN correspondent Shimon Prokupecz posted a video on Twitter of journalists gathering equipment before exiting the building while law enforcement officers looked on. In the video, Prokupecz questions Hernandez, asking why reporters needed to leave.
Here is the full video
— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) June 20, 2022
You can see the parent and chaplain.
More of the fire marshal telling us to leave. pic.twitter.com/U1wKYnav2e
Hernandez tells Prokupecz reporters were allowed to “hang around outside, but not inside the building.”
“But this is a city-building, right?” Prokupecz said. Hernandez replied that if he wasn’t going to pay the building’s water bill, he had to wait outside.
Reporters covering the aftermath of the massacre at Robb Elementary School and the emerging details of the response by law enforcement say they continue to report facing harassment and stonewalling as they try to gather information.
The City of Uvalde did not respond to requests for comment.
A Florida Republican campaigning for a U.S. House of Representatives seat released an ad on May 5, 2022, boasting about the use of his company’s crowd-control munitions against members of the press.
Cory Mills, who served in the Trump administration's Department of Defense and is now running for Florida’s 7th Congressional District, posted the campaign ad to YouTube and Twitter. The Floridian reported that Mills also made a“six-figure” ad buy in the Orlando media market to air the video on television.
BLM democrats in Congress are “investigating” us for providing riot control gear to law enforcement around the country to stop the riots in 2020.
— Cory Mills 🍊 (@CoryMillsFL) May 5, 2022
Sadly for them, we are really proud of what we do.
If they want to cry about it, we can help them shed real tears.
Watch 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/tZDuzjnoOt
“I came home and started a company making riot control munitions for law enforcement — you may know some of our work,” Mills says in the ad while smiling. A clip then plays of demonstrators and members of the press being shot at with crowd-control munitions and chemical irritants at various protests nationwide.
“Now the liberal media’s crying about it,” Mills continues. “If the media wants to shed some real tears, I can help them out with that.”
On YouTube, the video description reiterates that point, writing, “Cory Mills is always happy to help the liberal media shed some tears.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, released a statement that it was “deeply disturbing to hear a candidate for public office state that he would enjoy targeting journalists with tear gas.”
“Threatening members of the media simply for engaging in critical reporting creates an atmosphere where attacks on journalists are normalized and perceived as acceptable, and sends a message to journalists that they ought to be afraid of public officials,” CPJ Advocacy Manager Michael De Dora said. “This has no place in our political discourse and is dangerous, regardless of the tone with which it is said.”
Mills' campaign office did not return a request for comment.
A YouTube screenshot of Cory Mills’ congressional campaign ad, where he boasts about the use of his company’s crowd-control munitions against members of the press. Press advocacy groups called the rhetoric dangerous.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,election,,, 2022-02-28 17:57:10.334323+00:00,2023-12-20 21:01:48.303268+00:00,Utah Senate becomes third state legislature this year to limit journalists’ access,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/utah-senate-becomes-third-state-legislature-this-year-to-limit-journalists-access/,2023-12-20 21:01:48.210256+00:00,,,(2022-02-28 15:22:00+00:00) Utah House revises procedures around media access,Denial of Access,,,,,,2022-02-15,False,Salt Lake City,Utah (UT),40.76078,-111.89105,"Republican leaders in the Utah State Senate pushed through a rule change limiting press access to the chamber, halls, lounge and committee rooms on Feb. 15, 2022, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
The rule change requires that journalists receive permission from a “Senate media designee” in order to have access to the Senate floor and adjacent hallways to conduct a specific interview and be escorted out of the area when it is completed. Journalists also must ask permission from the committee chair to film or take pictures from behind the dias. The resolution passed 17 to 5, the Tribune reported.
Traditionally, members of the press were allowed on the floor of both the House and Senate, as well as in some areas that are not open to the public, according to Deseret News. The policies changed during the coronavirus pandemic and the Senate vote made some of the restrictions permanent.
FOX 13 reporter Ben Winslow told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via email that there had been some rumblings that lawmakers were upset with one or more reporters for eavesdropping on conversations and “skulking” around the chamber.
“Looking back over the years, this may have been building with a few complaints about reporters going into areas lawmakers felt they shouldn’t be in, and it’s not the first time we’ve had to challenge rules limiting press access,” Winslow wrote. “In COVID, access to the chambers unescorted was completely cut off and I don’t see it coming back.”
Sen. Mike McKell, the sponsor of the measure, cited security concerns as the primary concern behind the policy shift, according to the Tribune, though members of the press are required to submit to yearly background checks as part of the credentialing process.
McKell also dismissed concerns that the change limits the media’s access, citing the Senate’s daily media availability.
“The Senate has a long-standing tradition of holding media availability. That’s not going to change. That happens every single day after floor time,” McKell told the Tribune. According to the newspaper, senators have spent an average of about 13 minutes taking questions during such sessions during the 2022 legislative session.
McKell did not respond to requests for further comment.
According to the Tribune, other Senate Republicans noted that committee meetings and floor debates are now routinely livestreamed, a measure put in place during the pandemic.
The policy change was met with criticism from local journalists and national press freedom organizations, particularly as Republican legislators in both Iowa and Kansas announced similar policy shifts limiting press access to the senate floor in 2022.
“Given that it can be difficult to locate any particular member of the Senate, rushing as they are between the floor, committee hearings and offices, this access has been crucial to journalists in their efforts to give their audience a full picture of what’s happening,” the Tribune’s Editorial Board wrote. “Removing it can only serve to help senators avoid public scrutiny.”
Winslow told the Tracker he spoke against the bill during the public comment period, highlighting that often he needs only 30 seconds to get clarification on a bill and that the rule is impractical.
“We sometimes roll into a committee hearing mid-way through a bill and how do I get the permission of the committee chair without interrupting everything?” Winslow wrote. “One senator said there was a logic to my argument there. They still voted to pass the rule.”
Winslow did note that, despite the new rules, none of his station’s photographers have been prevented from filming from locations they have used in the past.
“One committee chair saw us walk into his hearing mid-meeting and he stood up and walked over to motion the photographer up, which is a really nice sign that they still want us there,” Winslow wrote. He added that the policy change has built up momentum for formalizing a Capitol press corps that may ultimately lead to improved access and credentialing.
Bridger Beal-Cvetko, a reporter at Salt Lake City-based newspaper The Deseret News, said he also hasn’t experienced any changes to access, but that he is concerned that the new rule paves a path for blocking access down the line.
“The worry that a lot of people have is that it’s great that they allow access most of the time, but if there’s a controversial bill or an unpopular discussion that’s happening they could decide not to give the same level of access, and that’s concerning to a lot of people,” Beal-Cvetko told the Tracker.
The Associated Press reported that the rule changes are now advancing through the Utah House.
Republican leaders in the Iowa Senate issued new rules moving reporters off the Senate floor and into a gallery upstairs, overturning a longstanding practice, the Des Moines Register reported on Jan. 7, 2022.
According to the Register, for more than a century journalists have been permitted to work at press benches along the front wall of the chamber which allow a clear view of debate and access to the senators. When the new session begins on Jan. 10, journalists will be seated in a public gallery on an upper level without access to the Senate floor.
Senate Republican spokesperson Caleb Hunter said in an email to statehouse reporters that the Senate struggled with the changing definition of “media” when considering journalists’ access to the chamber, according to the Register.
"As non-traditional media outlets proliferate, it creates an increasingly difficult scenario for the Senate, as a governmental entity, to define the criteria of a media outlet," Hunter wrote. Hunter did not respond to an email requesting further comment.
Iowa Capitol Press Association President Erin Murphy, Vice President Kathie Obradovich and Secretary Katarina Sostaric criticized the move in a statement published by the association.
“Media access to the people who make laws is a critical component of representative government. Primarily for this reason, the Iowa Capitol Press Association is extremely disappointed in th Iowa Senate’s decision,” the statement said. “In moving reporters off the floor, the Iowa Senate becomes one of only a handful of state legislative chambers across the country to limit access in this way, according to information from the National Conference on State Legislatures.”
The Iowa House has pledged to maintain press work stations on the chamber floor. The Washington Post reported that, unlike the Washington press corps covering Congress and the White House, space for journalists at the Iowa Capitol is allocated by the party controlling each chamber. Both the Iowa House and Senate, as well as the governor’s office, are controlled by Republicans.
Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls told the Post that Senate Democrats oppose the change and will introduce a measure to overturn it, but that it will be an uphill battle.
Republican leaders in the Kansas Senate issued new rules moving journalists off the Senate floor and into a gallery, overturning a longstanding practice.
Mike Pirner, the director of communications for Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, sent the new media rules to reporters on Jan. 4, 2022. A copy of the guidelines, which asks reporters to only use the specific designated section of the gallery, was shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
The email also stated that when the public gallery is full they will provide floor access to journalists, and that photographers and videographers may seek permission for floor access during a session.
Kansas Reflector reporter Tim Carpenter, who has covered the statehouse for 15 years, said he was covering the second day of the new session from the Senate gallery when he saw the rules enacted. Pirner approached a pair of journalists working on the floor on Jan. 11 and told them they had to leave.
Carpenter said Pirner informed journalists that while they can come down to the floor when the Senate isn’t in session to take pictures or ask questions, they are not to disrupt senators completing their work and not to “loiter.”
Steve Morris, a Republican Kansas senator from 1993 to 2013, criticized the change in an op-ed for the Reflector, noting that reporters have had a place on the Senate floor for decades.
“There is no compelling reason to change the time-honored policy of allowing their close access to debates and other public workings of the Senate,” Morris wrote. “Senate leadership’s decision to move Kansas Statehouse reporters farther away from the action sends the wrong message and won’t help the people of Kansas better understand the discussions and votes.”
In its editorial, The Kansas City Star’s Editorial Board called the move “the latest front in GOP’s war on the press,” writing that journalists’ access to legislators in order to ask follow-up questions and fact-check is vital for accuracy and transparency.
When reached for comment via email, Pirner rejected claims that the shift limits journalists’ access to senators, noting that the only change is where reporters can be seated while the Senate is in session.
“Immediately when the gavel comes down, reporters may come on the floor and talk to any Senator they wish — and do so,” Pirner told the Tracker. “Any report that we are denying access or banning reporters from accessing Senators is completely inaccurate.”
According to Pirner, the Senate president moved the designated area for reporters due to spacing concerns and the rise in digital publications. The Iowa Senate Republicans offered similar reasoning when they moved journalists from the Senate floor to a gallery above this legislative session.
In the Kansas Senate, Pirner said, there are six seats for journalists in the designated gallery; the floor held five.
Carpenter dismissed Pirner’s arguments of overcrowding as “laughable,” noting that in the heyday of the Star and Wichita Eagle each had three or four journalists covering the statehouse; nowadays, he said, a single reporter represents both news outlets.
“There’s nothing that they can do that stops me from covering the statehouse as I see fit,” Carpenter said. But, he worries about the possible escalation of restrictions that bar public scrutiny and enable corruption.
“That’s the danger of taking this ‘stay off the Senate floor’ thing to the next level and the next level and the next level,” Carpenter said. “Then you have a very serious problem because bad public policy is going to be made.”
As many as 20 journalists were investigated by a secretive U.S. Customs and Border Protection division beginning in 2017, according to a December 2021 report by Yahoo News.
The division, known as the Counter Network Division, would identify and vet individuals, including journalists, by pulling their email addresses, phone numbers and photos from their passport applications and running the information through multiple government databases.
Journalists known to have been investigated by the division include then-Politico reporter Ali Watkins, Associated Press reporter Martha Mendoza and Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, according to the Yahoo News report.
In June 2017, a CBP agent named Jeffrey Rambo contacted Watkins as part of the division’s efforts to combat forced labor, but uncovered in the process that she had had a relationship with James Wolfe, then-director of security for the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Rambo told Yahoo News the vetting procedures were standard and he was not a “rogue agent,” as he was described in a 2018 Washington Post article about his interaction with and investigation into Watkins.
“All these things are standard practices that — let me rephrase that. All of the things that led up to my interest in Ali Watkins were standard practice of what we do and what we did and probably what’s still done to this day,” Rambo told Yahoo News.
Rambo said the division’s investigation into Wolfe, referred to as Operation Whistle Pig, was focused only on whether the security director was leaking classified information to Watkins or other journalists. (Wolfe was subsequently arrested and charged with lying to the FBI about his interactions with reporters.)
According to an FBI counterintelligence memo, 15 to 20 national security reporters were also swept up in the investigation, Yahoo News reported. A memo from the National Targeting Center disclosed that the division reached out to reporters at HuffPost, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the AP.
“I’m deeply troubled at the lengths CBP and DHS personnel apparently went to try and identify journalistic sources and dig into my personal life,” Watkins told Yahoo News. “It was chilling then, and it remains chilling now.”
Rambo, his supervisor Dan White and his co-worker were ultimately investigated by the inspector general, which referred its findings to a federal prosecutor for possible charges of misusing government databases and lying to investigators, the AP reported. The Justice Department declined to prosecute them.
AP Executive Editor Julie Pace sent a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Dec. 13 urging the agency to explain why investigative reporter Mendoza was vetted through the government databases and identified as a potential confidential informant, the outlet reported.
“This is a flagrant example of a federal agency using its power to examine the contacts of journalists,” Pace wrote. “While the actions detailed in the inspector general’s report occurred under a previous administration, the practices were described as routine.”
Following Yahoo News’s initial report, Sen. Ron Wyden issued a statement to Yahoo News demanding that the DHS turn over the inspector general’s inquiry into the division’s operation. Wyden, a democrat, is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees CBP.
“If multiple government agencies were aware of this conduct and took no action to stop it, there needs to be serious consequences for every official involved, and DHS and the Justice Department must explain what actions they are taking to prevent this unacceptable conduct in the future,” Wyden said.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, democratic chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, issued a statement calling for DHS to release information about the unit.
“If true, this abuse of government surveillance powers to target journalists, elected officials and their staff is deeply disturbing,” Thompson said. “The Inspector General must provide this report to Congress to enable critical oversight work."
According to Yahoo News, Justice Department policies on acquiring information from journalists pertain to issuing subpoenas, not searching through information already in the government’s possession.
“CBP vetting and investigatory operations, including those conducted by the Counter Network Division, are strictly governed by well-established protocols and best practices,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a written statement to Yahoo News.
This is not the first report of CBP monitoring journalists: In 2019, NBC 7 reported that Department of Homeland Security officials in San Diego had created a database of journalists, activists and attorneys who were involved in some way with the migrant caravan and had created dossiers on each individual.
In 2020, DHS compiled intelligence reports about the reporting and tweets of two journalists covering protests in Portland, Oregon, according to a Washington Post article. After the reports were made public, then-Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf ordered the office to cease all collection of information on journalists and announced an investigation into the reports.
The Mississippi State Department of Health removed freelance journalists from its media distribution lists in 2021, restricting their ability to attend press conferences and receive other announcements.
Kamesha Laurry, a legal fellow for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the group, which provides pro bono representation and other legal resources for journalists, became aware of the change in policy after a freelance journalist called the RCFP legal hotline in September 2021. According to Laurry, the journalist said the policy was limiting her access to the health department’s press conferences. RCFP is a member of the Tracker’s advisory board.
According to RCFP, the policy change bans freelance journalists from live press conferences, including about the ongoing pandemic, and other timely announcements. RCFP attorneys sent the State Department of Health a letter on June 24, 2022, objecting to the policy, saying it was revised without explanation and in violation of the First Amendment.
“No public justification was given for the change,” RCFP wrote. “Instead, members of the MSDH communications team told freelance journalists that they could, instead, stream press conference recordings via MSDH’s website hours after the live event occurs.”
The RCFP letter also argues that the policy is unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment, which provides equal protection and due process.
“Indeed, freelance journalists are members of the press just like their ‘affiliated media’ peers and should not be placed at a disadvantage simply because they are not working full-time for a single media outlet or newsroom,” RCFP wrote.
The Mississippi State Department of Health did not respond to a request for comment.
The fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota on April 11, 2021 rekindled a wave of racial justice protests that began almost a year earlier. Wright’s death, on April 11, occurred as a former police officer in nearby Minneapolis was on trial in the death of George Floyd. Protests began outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department the day Wright was killed, and continued daily through mid-April. Journalists covering the protests in Brooklyn Center say they have been hit with crowd-control devices, ordered by police to disperse and detained at media credential checkpoints. During the same period, racial justice demonstrations have also been held in other cities around the United States.
Below is a round-up of incidents involving individual journalists and news crews who faced harassment and threats in the course of their reporting on racial justice protests in Brooklyn Center and across the country. 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. To learn more about how the Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit pressfreedomtracker.us.
April 11, 2021
In Brooklyn Center, Minnesota
A police officer sounding aggravated over the loudspeaker at the Brooklyn Center just said the unlawful assembly means everyone must leave or face arrest.
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) April 12, 2021
He made sure to say "this includes the media".
Tear gas being fired again now: https://t.co/M0k7lHx31p
April 13, 2021
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota
"If you do not cease your unlawful behavior & disperse peaceably, you will be arrested...Media and press, leave the area."–Minnesota cops just announced over a loudspeaker. A protester responded, "Media's not leaving! Media's gonna stay!"– @JonFarinaPhoto reports #DaunteWright pic.twitter.com/9RqaIEwSnN
— Status Coup News (@StatusCoup) April 14, 2021
In my 25 years as a reporter I have NEVER heard police in America actually say “journalists will be arrested” during a protests. But that happened in #BrooklynCenter last night. We stayed. The citizens are why we stay. I took this moments aft the announcement #DaunteWright pic.twitter.com/rMU0fEyJKU
— Sara Sidner (@sarasidnerCNN) April 14, 2021
April 16, 2021
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota
Still waiting here. Tons of arrests tonight. Looks like just law enforcement left - a hundred at least - at this intersection, blocking street and taking apart leftover umbrellas https://t.co/31RKdxDxoB pic.twitter.com/o4stNDOPzY
— Estelle TW (@tw_estelle) April 17, 2021
April 20, 2021
Los Angeles, California
They threatened me with arrest. pic.twitter.com/ZJzK4kDAGM
— joeyneverjoe (he/him) (@joeyneverjoe) April 21, 2021
April 27, 2021
Elizabeth City, North Carolina
April 29, 2021
Elizabeth City, North Carolina
The First Amendment is only a string of words if officers with weapons in riot gear refuse to respect it in the streets. Operating in illegal darkness has never made a community safer, and we will not accept it.
— Casey Blake (@CaseyBlakeAVL) April 29, 2021
Last night, a North Carolina cop threatened to arrest photojournalist @JonFarinaPhoto while he was covering #AndrewBrownJr protests for @StatusCoup.
— Status Coup News (@StatusCoup) April 30, 2021
His crime...asking the police officer "this is your community, can I ask you how you feel about this?" pic.twitter.com/E8SsbRzqgX
During the spring of 2021, at least 31 journalists covering protests in two cities had their faces, IDs or press credentials photographed by law enforcement agencies, according to accounts from the media and the journalists involved. Those photographed were covering protests in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and Portland, Oregon. Law enforcement agencies in both cities did not disclose why they documented the identities of the journalists or what was done with the images they captured.
Portland
On March 12, the Portland Police Bureau detained more than 100 protesters and at least six journalists by surrounding them using a “kettle” maneuver in the city’s downtown Pearl District. After initially detaining the crowd, police ordered members of the press to leave the kettle, despite a court order prohibiting Portland officers from dispersing media and legal observers who are monitoring protests. Six journalists who were ordered to leave the kettle said that officers required them to show a government-issued ID and be photographed before their release. Some specified that police took photos of them without masks and with strips of duct tape across their chests on which police had written the journalists’ names and dates of birth.
Photojournalist Maranie Rae Staab, who has freelanced for The Washington Post and The New York Times, posted footage of her forced removal from the kettle.
I was just forcibly removed from the scene by several @PortlandPolice ofcrs.
— Maranie R. Staab (@MaranieRae) March 13, 2021
I am a credentialed member of the press & made clear I wantd to stay & report.
I was dragged out, labeled w/tape & photographed.
This was a deliberate action to prevent accountability. #portland pic.twitter.com/zfF32oW0vY
“I’m a member of the press,” Staab is heard explaining as three PPB officers tell her they’ve asked the press to leave. “It’s my job. I am a member of the press. I want to report, I do not want to leave.”
Officers then proceed to escort her out despite her protestations, and an officer can be heard saying, “You have to leave.”
Independent journalist Adam Costello, who was covering the same Portland protest, wrote on Twitter that officers pulled him out of the kettle and ordered him to identify himself and tell them his date of birth.
“They wrote it on a piece of duct tape and took a picture of me,” wrote Costello, who publishes to social media and the online publishing platform Medium.
Freelance journalist Laura Jedeed, whose work has been published by Salon and Willamette Week, among others, reported a similar experience of being photographed before officers ejected her.
Update: I have been escorted out of the kettle
— Laura Jedeed, Non-Fungible (@LauraJedeed) March 13, 2021
They put my name and DOB on a piece of duct tape and took a picture of me without my mask on
Then they escorted me out past the police line
“The cop told me if I committed criminal activity I would be arrested and I laughed,” Jedeed wrote in a subsequent tweet. “He asked me why I didn’t leave with the rest of the press and I said I wanted to document. Then he let me go.”
Similar experiences were reported by freelance journalists Alissa Azar, Garrison Davis and Suzette Smith.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that the journalists removed from the kettle were escorted more than a block away, where they could no longer see what was happening inside the kettle. According to OPB’s story, bureau spokesperson Sgt. Kevin Allen said that journalists were not forced to leave.
“PPB did not ‘remove’ the press,” Allen said. “Legal observers, press, and medically fragile individuals were all offered a chance to leave if they wished as they were not being detained. Those that stayed were escorted out one by one.”
Allen did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment about the law enforcement actions to identify and photograph journalists.
Brooklyn Center
At least 25 journalists covering protests in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, reported having their faces, press credentials and government-issued IDs photographed by local and state law enforcement during a period of several days of public demonstrations.
The demonstrations began after the fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center on April 11, which occurred as a former police officer in nearby Minneapolis was on trial in the death of George Floyd. The events rekindled a nationwide wave of racial justice protests that began almost a year earlier after Floyd’s death. In Brooklyn Center, protests began outside the police department the day Wright was killed and continued daily through mid-April.
One of the first journalists to report law enforcement actions to record reporters’ identities was Sloane Martin, a reporter for Minneapolis CBS affiliate WCCO. On April 14, Martin posted on Twitter that law enforcement officers took photographs of her press credential and her identification while she was covering demonstrations that night.
Martin wrote that she was in a gas station trying to return to her car, and she shouted “Press!” to a line of officers from a distance to identify herself. An officer whom she believes was a Minnesota State Patrol trooper shouted at her to get on her knees, but another officer directed her to come over and show her ID, she wrote. Martin didn’t respond to requests for comment.
I was not asked to the ground but they did the same thing: took pictures of my credential and ID. I was in a brightly-lit gas station, otherwise I would have been nervous to approach the line of law enforcement trying to get back to my car. I shouted “press” from a distance https://t.co/TVZneIXL1D
— Sloane Martin (@SloaneMartin) April 15, 2021
Martin’s tweet was in response to a clip posted by Fox News reporter Lauren Blanchard, who, on the same night of April 14, was ordered to the ground and detained by police alongside her news crew. At least six journalists who were detained or arrested while covering demonstrations that night had their faces and identification photographed before they were released:
Two days later on April 16, Minnesota District Judge Wilhelmina Wright granted a motion for a temporary restraining order barring all local law enforcement agencies from arresting, threatening to arrest, using physical force against or seizing the equipment of journalists documenting the demonstrations. That same day, law enforcement surrounded a crowd that included members of the press in a “kettle” and established a “media checkpoint” where journalists had their faces, press passes and IDs photographed before they were permitted to leave the area.
ACLU of Minnesota’s Legal Director Teresa Nelson sent a letter to Wright on April 17, condemning the actions of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner and the Minnesota State Patrol, which are defendants in a suit brought by the organization. The letter reads, in part: “Last night, hours after the TRO [temporary restraining order] took effect, the State Defendants escalated the level of assault and harassment of journalists to an intolerable degree.”
According to the letter, freelance photojournalists Chris Juhn and Chris Tuite, who were covering protests the day the court order was issued, both were ordered to go to the checkpoint. Tuite said he was also roughly grabbed by officers with enough force to rip his shirt, which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented here.
“To get out of their kettle, we had to take off our gas masks and helmets and hand them our media passes and IDs. They took photos of our faces up close and then of our IDs and media passes,” Tuite said. “They told us nothing of what they were going to do with the photos, and they essentially brushed it off as, ‘We just want to make sure you guys are legit.’”
Minneapolis Star Tribune reporters Susan Du and Liz Sawyer were also directed to the April 16 checkpoint which was set up at a nearby Pump n’ Munch gas station, according to footage Sawyer posted to Twitter that night.
Here’s a photo of me filming members of State Patrol process my colleagues, including @shijundu. Our credentials are huge.
— Liz Sawyer (@ByLizSawyer) April 17, 2021
📸 by @benjovland pic.twitter.com/HBwWfbkcyA
A student journalist, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Tracker she was separated from a group of other student journalists reporting at the protest and found herself in the kettle.
“As people either escaped or were arrested around me, I ended up alone on the completely cleared-out block on Humboldt,” she said. “I approached some state troopers holding out my press pass who yelled at me to join a group of reporters who had already been detained in front of a gas station.”
Both Du and Sawyer were among the journalists in the group the student was directed to join, and she, too, had her face and forms of identification photographed.
“I have no idea what they are using those photos for, we were not told, but I obviously found that disturbing and a violation of our rights as reporters,” she said.
Three AFP journalists — photographer Chandan Khanna, videographer Eléonore Sens and reporter Robin Legrand — were pepper sprayed by Minnesota State Patrol troopers and then ordered to pass through the media checkpoint as well, according to footage Sens posted to Twitter.
Khanna, who is an Indian citizen, told the Tracker that when he showed his ID to law enforcement at the checkpoint, the officer asked to see his passport. Khanna said he didn’t have his passport with him, but the officer pressed him for it. When Khanna pulled up a photo of his passport from an online folder, the officer photographed it and asked to see Khanna’s visa, photographing it as well.
Khanna said he is worried about what will happen with the photographs and wonders what the officer will do with the information.
“It's my privacy, my information. Why will I share my information with anybody?” Khanna said.
At least 10 journalists were ordered to get on the ground or kettled prior to having their credentials and IDs photographed on April 16, which the Tracker classifies as detainments. These journalists include:
According to a statement from the Minnesota State Patrol, troopers photographed journalists and their credentials “in order to expedite the identification process,” and the journalists were allowed to continue reporting after being identified. While some of the journalists confirmed to the Tracker that they were able to resume covering the protests, some left the area immediately. Those that remained said they were directed to a media staging area more than a block away from the kettle, which made it impossible to document police activities.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, signed a letter to Gov. Tim Walz and the heads of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Minnesota State Patrol and Minnesota Department of Corrections detailing what it said were violations of the TRO, as well as the concerns of more than a dozen press freedom and media organizations. Among the concerns was that the images might be entered into a facial recognition service such as Clearview AI, which has been used by both the Minneapolis Police Department and the Minnesota Fusion Center to monitor and target individuals, including protesters, according to RCFP.
“Whatever the intent behind this ‘cataloging’ of journalists, it was deeply disturbing for those involved, and it has caused much fear regarding what use might be made of these photographs and accompanying identifying information in the future, including full names, dates of birth and home addresses,” the letter reads.
“We hope that any photos that were improperly taken will be expunged rather than stashed away in a law enforcement database,” RCFP said in a post about the violations.
On April 17, Walz told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that law enforcement officers would no longer photograph journalists’ faces and credentials, noting it “created a pretty Orwellian picture.”
Minnesota Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell also noted that the photographs were “a misstep on our part,” the Star Tribune reported.
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. To learn more about how the Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit pressfreedomtracker.us.
“Here’s a photo of the officer taking my photo,” journalist Suzette Smith tweeted. While covering a Portland protest, Smith became one of at least 30 journalists photographed by law enforcement at protests.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],Media,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2021, protest",,, 2021-01-20 19:03:01.716565+00:00,2024-02-29 19:28:37.562242+00:00,"January: Journalists harassed, threatened while reporting from DC riot and across the country",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/national-and-international-journalists-harassed-threatened-while-covering-riot-dc/,2024-02-29 19:28:37.401575+00:00,,,"(2022-09-09 13:24:00+00:00) Members of extremist group admit to defacing U.S. Capitol door with ‘Murder the Media’ during riots, (2022-12-09 00:00:00+00:00) 'Murder the Media' extremists get prison time over Jan. 6 riots",Other Incident,,,,,,2021-01-06,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"On Jan. 6, 2021, after a rally outside the White House in which President Donald Trump urged supporters to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol — an ostensible protest of the Congress as it was set to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory — thousands stormed the legislative seat of the U.S. government. As the demonstration rapidly devolved into a full-on riot, individuals broke windows and forced open doors, vandalized and looted congressional offices, chanted for the demise of elected officials and assaulted members of the Capitol Police. Amid the fray, a potent disdain for journalists and journalism also simmered: Someone scrawled the words “Murder the Media” on a door to the building, and another tied a stolen camera cable into a noose and then hung it from a tree on the Capitol grounds. Below is a roundup of incidents involving individual journalists and news crews who faced harassment and threats in the course of their reporting on the day’s insurrection and across the month of January.
A full accounting of incidents in which members of the press were assaulted, arrested or had their equipment damaged while covering the riot can be found here. To learn more about how the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit pressfreedomtracker.us.
More video of Trump Capitol rioters destroying camera equipment. While they yell “CNN Sucks!” and believe it is CNN, I have received a message that this equipment belongs to ZDF, a popular news station in Germany. More videos coming pic.twitter.com/bsGcCP9VEr
— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) January 7, 2021
Afgelopen woensdag. Nadat we bedreigd werden op onze live locatie bij het Capitool lopen we (met draaiende camera) naar een veiliger plek. (Zet geluid aan) pic.twitter.com/diyqCeeikS
— Erik Mouthaan (@erikmouthaanRTL) January 11, 2021
CBC’s Katie Nicholson is trying to inform Canadians about what’s happening on the streets of DC & is swarmed & harassed & prevented from doing her job. Thinking of her & all the journalists working hard & putting themselves at risk today to cover this historic story. Stay safe. pic.twitter.com/9OK96ahs94
— Meagan Fitzpatrick (@fitz_meagan) January 6, 2021
Ultimately the situation became unsafe when protestors tore down the metal barricades around the press and stormed in, shouting in our faces and in the cameras. We left and are safely in our DC office. But we will not stop covering this unprecedented moment in American history. pic.twitter.com/jZRhALpUhW
— Megan Pratz (@meganpratz) January 6, 2021
CBS News' Chip Reid reports from the chaos outside the Capitol: "There were no police around us. We were on our own. I remember one of the protesters standing next to me said, 'The police don't care about you guys. They're only protecting the senators. You're on your own, buddy'" pic.twitter.com/PYHZ4pdmNr
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 6, 2021
The Tracker received reports of journalists harassed while reporting from the Capitol the following day, Jan. 7.
Independent journalist Maranie Rae Staab, who has been covering protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in Portland, Oregon, tweeted that she witnessed a reporter for the Washington Post being harassed by a group in front of the east side of the Capitol. Staab wrote that after she began to film the men as they screamed at the Post reporter, they directed their attention at her. A man without a mask can be seen approaching Staab and stands inches away from her as he shouts, “Are you proud?” and “I will get right in your face. I do not care.” The man also accuses Staab and the Post reporter of being communists. After the maskless man walks away, another individual tells Staab that they — the press — are “rodents” and liars. A third individual can be heard telling another member of the press standing with them, “That [press] badge: Shove it up your ass.” Staab wrote, “These assaults are a direct threat to the healthy #democracy #America purports itself to be, threats that [are] quickly becoming normalized & expected.”
After I filmed these men screaming at a WashPost reporter they turned their attention to me.
— Maranie R. Staab (@MaranieRae) January 8, 2021
These assaults are a direct threat to the healthy #democracy #America purports itself to be, threats that r quickly becoming normalized & expected.#freepress #uscapitol #thisisamerica pic.twitter.com/n9gFxR12fM
On Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, journalists reported being caught amid chemical irritants while covering demonstrations and harassed while reporting.
In Portland, Oregon
There were numerous gassings which included the use of CS, OC, and HC gas. My eyes immediately burned and my face was on fire. Multiple times I had to stop filming to run away from the gas which filled a city block. The first time gas was used, I started choking and threw up 3/ pic.twitter.com/dkxaAHEPHF
— Bethany Kerley (@BethanyKerleyOR) January 21, 2021
A flashbang hit a fence next to me and went off head level in the air next to me. My right ear still has minimal hearing. A snap next to it can be heard lightly and that's about it. Fuck these feds.
— Griffin - Live Protest News (@GriffinMalone6) January 21, 2021
In Charlotte, North Carolina
This is not OK - A minute before our live shot, a man drove by and threw a full beer bottle right at @TimMullican and me, screaming an obscenity. He missed us and we’re both safe, thankfully, but it’s upsetting that journalists are being attacked just for doing our jobs. pic.twitter.com/v0HoStSmFy
— Matt Grant (@MattGrantFOX46) January 20, 2021
Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted. To read about additional incidents of aggression against the press related to the 2020 election, go here.
The phrase "Murder the Media" is seen carved into a door to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 7, 2021, a day after supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],Media,"Donald Trump, election, Election 2020, protest",,, 2020-12-03 15:14:29.640555+00:00,2023-07-13 20:30:04.601344+00:00,"November: Journalists harassed, threatened while covering election and social justice protests",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/november-journalists-harassed-threatened-while-covering-election-and-social-justice-protests/,2023-07-13 20:30:04.129397+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2020-11-01,True,Multiple,None,None,None,"George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, ignited a sweeping assembly of protesters across the United States — and the globe — a staggering, monthslong outcry for police reform and racial justice. In many moments peaceful, in many others bracingly violent, journalists of all stripes took to documenting these demonstrations. At times, to do the job meant to expose oneself to the effects of riot-control agents, to face harassment from individuals or law enforcement officials, to fear for your safety or have your reporting interrupted. Below is a geographically organized roundup of such examples from around the U.S. during November 2020, a notably fraught month backdropped by an election, rising COVID-19 cases, and an increasingly encumbered economy and workforce.
A full accounting of incidents in which members of the press were assaulted, arrested or had their equipment damaged while covering these protests can be found here. To learn more about how the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit pressfreedomtracker.us.
Nov. 2, 2020
In Portland, Oregon
Nov. 4, 2020
In Portland, Oregon
I was threatened with arrest because I stepped back to film from behind the police line instead of getting stuck in front of it. Officers are still pushing the crowd around. Currently at SW 5th and Washington. pic.twitter.com/jpQfInPV7b
— Cory Elia (@TheRealCoryElia) November 5, 2020
Protesters just tried to break windows of Starbucks then began vandalizing ATM. We’re here to document this event but it’s clear they don’t want to be filmed. @fox12oregon pic.twitter.com/IuxaaRsimB
— Brenna Kelly (@BrennaKellyNews) November 5, 2020
Supporters of President Donald Trump gather in front of the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, Arizona, to protest about the early results of the 2020 presidential election on Nov. 4, 2020. (REUTERS/Edgard Garrido)
In Phoenix, Arizona
My photographer and I have left after one protester threatened us and said he would find where we live. We are filing a police report. https://t.co/mx9cr6MDq1
— Kim Powell (@KimPowellTV) November 5, 2020
In Minneapolis, Minnesota
As I was filming with my press credentials clearly displayed, a mounted officer gave me a close-up. pic.twitter.com/OnKH7P8hIL
— Ben Hovland (@benjovland) November 5, 2020
Nov. 6, 2020
In Los Angeles, California
LAPD told video officer to zoom in on faces with cameras, including me, who they called “alleged press.” I offered to give them my @USPRESSCORPSORG verification number multiple times. They said they didn’t want it and threatened to arrest me. #eleccion2020 #FreedomOfThePress pic.twitter.com/jF3FbF2Fmz
— Vishal P Singh (@VPS_Reports) November 6, 2020
In Phoenix, Arizona
Simpatizante de @realDonaldTrump interrumpe de manera agresiva nuestra transmisión en vivo desde el centro de #Phoenix. Las protestas fueron pacíficas hasta este momento. Advertencia: Lenguaje ofensivo. pic.twitter.com/1PzmL2mxgi
— Diego Santiago (@DSantiagoTAZ) November 7, 2020
Nov. 7, 2020
In Salem, Oregon
In the shadow of the presidential election being called for Joe Biden that morning, about 200 people gathered at the Oregon Capitol in the afternoon for a “Stop the Steal” rally. Several journalists documented harassing, threatening interactions with pro-Trump supporters, which included members of the Proud Boys, among others, whose disdain and mistrust of the press was evident throughout the day.
In Austin, Texas
@MichaelMinasi captured the moment I was singled out at the @realDonaldTrump #Austin protest and harassed yesterday for being a reporter. Another #Trump supporter told the guy to stop. The rest watched. pic.twitter.com/sqBHl1P9lm
— Molly Hennessy-Fiske (@mollyhf) November 8, 2020
Demonstrators in support of Trump pass in front of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 14, 2020. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)
Nov. 14, 2020
In Washington, D.C.
Thousands gathered in the nation’s capital for an event dubbed the “Million MAGA March,” a rally and protest in support of Trump, who’d been disputing the election results and lobbing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. Far-right groups such as the Proud Boys, the militia group the Oath Keepers, and radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones all attended the rally, according to reports. Violence would break out that evening, with some 20 people arrested on charges that included assault and weapons possession.
While reporting for the @CBSEveningNews we were surrounded by protestors and only our security could hold them back.
— errol barnett (@errolbarnett) November 14, 2020
As this woman shouted #FakeNews through her megaphone the crowd began to grow.
@CBSNews pic.twitter.com/zQiQARvy9F
I’ve never experienced this level of direct and instant vitriol from people before.
— errol barnett (@errolbarnett) November 14, 2020
Distrust of the press turned into anger toward us.
They continued to hurl insults as we waited for them to move on.
They did not, so the police extracted us.@CBSNews #MillionMAGAMarch pic.twitter.com/FPi0vJ3JPC
Lot more to edit from today but I wanted to get this photo out from my coverage of the Proud Boys.
— Zach D Roberts (@zdroberts) November 15, 2020
I was threatened by them twice but that's standard for my line of work - this is what scares me - and should scare you. We need real change in this country. pic.twitter.com/pUhPdnu1u5
Hit w pepper spray by MDP. My eyes are killing me. pic.twitter.com/ObYBy41Jyx
— Howard Altman (@haltman) November 14, 2020
Nov. 28, 2020
In Portland, Oregon
@PDocumentarians flees a cloud of bear mace after a fight breaks out between #PatriotPrayer and #antifa in downtown #Portland tonight. pic.twitter.com/s4AIVL5X7t
— Comrade with a Camera (@ChriswithaCame1) November 29, 2020
Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted. To read about additional incidents of aggression against the press during the election, go here.
A man with a flag for President Donald Trump protests in Salem, Oregon, on Nov. 7, after the 2020 U.S. presidential election was called for Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, Donald Trump, election, Election 2020, protest",,, 2020-11-03 22:47:22.632200+00:00,2022-08-04 20:46:39.561524+00:00,Eleven journalists affected by chemical irritant during march to the polls,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/least-nine-journalists-affected-chemical-irritant-during-march-polls/,2022-08-04 20:46:39.503990+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2020-10-31,False,Graham,North Carolina (NC),36.06903,-79.40058,"At least 11 journalists were caught in pepper spray used to disperse a march to the polls in Graham, North Carolina, on Oct. 31, 2020.
The “I Am Change” march and rally was organized to encourage people to vote in the 2020 general election and included calls for accountability echoing recent protests against racial injustice. Demonstrators started at the Wayman Chapel AME Church at around 11:30 a.m., reported the Elon News Network, the student news organization for Elon University.
The crowd of approximately 200 people then marched to Court Square, where the Alamance County Courthouse and a Confederate monument are located, according to The News & Observer.
The Washington Post reported that once there, participants took part in a moment of silence for George Floyd, a Black man, who died during an arrest in Minneapolis in May.
Moments later, the Graham Police Department ordered the protesters to disperse and began pepper spraying the crowd.
Reports compiled by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker details 11 journalists affected by the chemical irritant: Five ENN reporters,Triad City Beat senior editor Jordan Green, independent photographer Anthony Crider, photojournalist Julia Wall and reporter Carli Brosseau of The News & Observer and documentary filmmakers Nathaniel and Beatrice Frum.
Video shows Graham police deploying pepper spray against protesters and a journalist (@jordangreentcb) after protesters kneeled in the street for 8 minutes and 46 seconds to honor George Floyd. pic.twitter.com/uF99Dly4Bv
— Triad City Beat (@Triad_City_Beat) November 1, 2020
Wall told the Tracker that Graham police officers ordered the marchers to clear the street shortly after noon, but that it was unclear where demonstrators needed to go and what to do once they got there.
“People were kind of milling about and not moving quickly enough for the Graham police,” Wall said, “and they started using pepper spray to get people to clear the road.”
The Graham Police Department said in a statement that it issued an order to clear the roadway and move onto courthouse property or to one of two areas designated by the department.
“When the crowd failed to disperse, after several verbal commands,” the statement continues, “[officers] utilized a crowd control measure that consisted of spraying a pepper based vapor onto the ground.”
Ian Blatutis, who is the mayor of neighboring Burlington and participated in and spoke at the event, told ENN that he didn’t know why police had used chemical irritants and that the five-minute warning to disperse was given after marchers had already been sprayed.
The spray — identifiable as OC (oleoresin capsicum) vapor from photos taken that day — is described by the manufacturer as “a high concentration of OC in a powerful mist inflaming the mucous membranes and exposed skin.”
Police arrested at least 12 individuals that day, including Alamance News reporter Tomas Murawski. A Graham police officer also grabbed Wall’s camera in order to push her back, which the Tracker has documented here.
According to the statement, once the crowd had moved to the designated areas the rally was “deemed unsafe and unlawful by unified command,” and protesters were given a five-minute dispersal warning.
Wall told the Tracker that approximately an hour after the rally’s speeches had begun on the courthouse steps, the Sheriff’s Department claims its deputies saw a man with a gas can on the courthouse premises, a violation of their permit agreement. Deputies then moved in and began “taking things apart,” she said.
“That’s when people started to resist and push back on them because it was not clearly communicated what was happening and then more pepper spray came out,” Wall said. “Myself, my colleague [Brosseau] and several other journalists and tons of people who were present got hit with all the pepper spray.”
Officers then moved in and arrested those who refused to leave the courthouse steps and chased everyone else away from the area using the OC vapor, according to Wall. Wall and Triad City Beat senior editor Green were walking next to each other when an officer deliberately sprayed the vapor at their feet.
“I know that they knew Jordan was press — he’s there all the time,” Wall said. “We were standing next to each other, both with badges out, I had a camera pointing and he had his phone up.”
“It’s unclear to me whether or not we were being sprayed because we were press or because we weren’t moving fast enough,” she added.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper condemned the police response in a tweet that evening.
“Peaceful demonstrators should be able to have their voices heard and voter intimidation in any form cannot be tolerated,” Cooper wrote.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment and additional information from Julia Wall.
Law enforcement officers spray a chemical irritant into the crowd at a Get Out the Vote march on Oct. 31, 2020 in Graham, North Carolina.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, election, Election 2020, protest",,, 2021-01-12 22:24:22.305980+00:00,2022-08-05 19:00:10.620243+00:00,"September: Journalists tear-gassed, harassed and threatened with arrest while covering national protests",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/september-journalists-tear-gassed-harassed-and-threatened-arrest-while-covering-national-protests/,2022-08-05 19:00:10.552425+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2020-09-01,False,Multiple,None,None,None,"George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, ignited a sweeping assembly of protesters across the United States — and the globe — a staggering, monthslong outcry for police reform and racial justice. In many moments peaceful, in many others bracingly violent, journalists of all stripes took to documenting these demonstrations. At times, to do the job meant to expose oneself to the effects of riot-control agents, to face harassment from individuals or law enforcement officials, to fear for your safety or have your reporting interrupted. Below is a geographically organized roundup of such examples from around the U.S. during September 2020. Protests in Portland, Oregon, were particularly acute in the summer of 2020. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented incidents that occurred there in a separate roundup.
A full accounting of incidents in which members of the press were assaulted, arrested or had their equipment damaged while covering these protests can be found here. To learn more about how the Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit pressfreedomtracker.us.
Sept. 3, 2020 - Sept. 4, 2020
In Rochester, New York
Officers just fired directly at me. I’m standing alone, just filming pic.twitter.com/bliFSD8m0L
— Will Cleveland (@WillCleveland13) September 4, 2020
Officers advancing now — saying MOVE pic.twitter.com/eHawl93iDa
— Will Cleveland (@WillCleveland13) September 4, 2020
Tear gassed again. I got hit badly. My eyes, my nose, my throat. Whew. This is awful.
— adria r. walker (@adriawalkr) September 4, 2020
Pepperballed by Rochester PD on the river walk separate from the protest I engaged officers. "doesn't matter who you are you're going home." (yes, i forgot credentials). @FreedomofPress @evandawson @david_andreatta @DandC @Reuters @AP @nytimes @News_8 @13WHAM @Sifill_LDF #BLM pic.twitter.com/5TZXXgrIoB
— Chris Baker- Digital Media Producer (@HHCreativeNY) September 7, 2020
Sept. 7, 2020
In Salem, Oregon
Now in Salem, where there are people on opposing sides of a street. Guns on the right-wing side and at least one bat on the left-wing side. A few Proud Boys demanded to see my credentials, and one made some threatening comments so that I would leave their side of the street. pic.twitter.com/8YS0QDP66O
— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) September 7, 2020
Sept. 23, 2020
In Louisville, Kentucky
.@LMPD arrested this group of protesters at 5th & Liberty, and threatened me with arrest if I continued to take pictures even after I informed them I was a member of the press. #BreonnaTaylor pic.twitter.com/kwEV7LJVEu
— Philmonger (@phillipmbailey) September 24, 2020
Sept. 24, 2020
In Minneapolis, Minnesota
Folks, I’m backing off. Multiple people threatening to take and break my cameras. Been berated most of the night by a small group of organizers and anarchists.
— Aaron Lavinsky (@ADLavinsky) September 25, 2020
Folks, I’m backing off. Multiple people threatening to take and break my cameras. Been berated most of the night by a small group of organizers and anarchists.
— Aaron Lavinsky (@ADLavinsky) September 25, 2020
Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted. To read similar incidents from other days of national protests also in this category, go here.
Police officers try to break up a fight between demonstrators outside the Capitol in Salem, Oregon on Sept. 7, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, court verdict, protest",,, 2020-12-23 16:16:21.265337+00:00,2022-06-14 19:33:39.671146+00:00,"August: While reporting from protests across the country, journalists pepper sprayed, threatened",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/august-while-reporting-protests-across-country-journalists-pepper-sprayed-threatened/,2022-06-14 19:33:39.604064+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2020-08-01,True,Multiple,None,None,None,"George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, ignited a sweeping assembly of protesters across the United States — and the globe — a staggering, monthslong outcry for police reform and racial justice. In many moments peaceful, in many others bracingly violent, journalists of all stripes took to documenting these demonstrations. At times, to do the job meant to expose oneself to the effects of riot-control agents, to face harassment from individuals or law enforcement officials, to fear for your safety or have your reporting interrupted. Below is a geographically organized roundup of such examples from around the U.S. during August 2020. Protests in Portland, Oregon, were particularly acute in the summer of 2020. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented incidents that occurred there in a separate roundup.
A full accounting of incidents in which members of the press were assaulted, arrested or had their equipment damaged while covering these protests can be found here. To learn more about how the Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit pressfreedomtracker.us.
Aug. 1, 2020
In Los Angeles, California
Aug. 14, 2020
In Washington, D.C.
ME: “I’m press”
— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) August 14, 2020
COP: “I don’t care who you are.
It means nothing to me”
Wasn’t able to film protesters right after they were kettled/arrested cuz MPD walked me off cuz the 1st Ammendment is not respected in the nation’s Capitol. #DCProtests pic.twitter.com/uTc4kSN2vr
Aug. 19, 2020
In Seattle, Washington
Mob would not allow me to do my job today when trying to videotape KC Jail in Seattle. I tried to leave but they surrounded my car put items on windows & continued to terrorize me. One man threaten to break my vehicle windows & come to my home. We are just trying to do our jobs pic.twitter.com/Ek3JRkG12c
— KIRO 7 Jussero (@JJusseroKIRO7) August 20, 2020
Aug. 26, 2020
In Seattle, Washington
In Kenosha, Wisconsin
More video of the arrests on SW 4th. Officer holding a can of mace on a group of press, that may include a protester. pic.twitter.com/59KpW5C08y
— Suzette Smith (@suzettesmith) August 26, 2020
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented four journalists struck with crowd-control munitions or projectiles while covering protests in Kenosha on the night of Aug. 25 that stretched into the early hours of the next day.
Aug. 29, 2020
In Washington, D.C.
BREAKING: DC Cops are going CRAZY at BLM plaza. They arrested someone and then started unleashed tear gas on the crowd, then unloaded pepper spray DIRECTLY at me for recording pic.twitter.com/Im60AVlI9z
— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) August 30, 2020
Aug. 30, 2020
In Washington, D.C.
Aug. 31, 2020
In Kenosha, Wisconsin
Emerged from #Kenosha hotel to put parking pass in car, saw police restraining guy, went over with colleague and officers shouted get back in hotel or we’d be arrested. Reporters are not exempt from curfew, he said, no matter what the mayor says. #Journalismisnotacrime pic.twitter.com/ol0KHatn1y
— Molly Hennessy-Fiske (@mollyhf) September 1, 2020
Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted. To read similar incidents from other days of national protests also in this category, go here.
Journalist films as demonstrators face police officers during a protest at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 27, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest",,, 2020-12-13 12:15:48.622075+00:00,2022-06-14 19:33:55.176552+00:00,July: Journalists threatened with arrest while reporting from protests across the nation,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/july-journalists-threatened-arrest-while-reporting-protests-across-nation/,2022-06-14 19:33:55.089019+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2020-07-01,False,Multiple,None,None,None,"George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, ignited a sweeping assembly of protesters across the United States — and the globe — a staggering, monthslong outcry for police reform and racial justice. In many moments peaceful, in many others bracingly violent, journalists of all stripes took to documenting these demonstrations. At times, to do the job meant to expose oneself to the effects of riot-control agents, to face harassment from individuals or law enforcement officials, to fear for your safety or have your reporting interrupted. Below is a geographically organized roundup of such examples from around the U.S. during July 2020.
A full accounting of incidents in which members of the press were assaulted, arrested or had their equipment damaged while covering these protests can be found here. To learn more about how the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit pressfreedomtracker.us.
July 26, 2020
In Richmond, Virginia
Police just ambushed protesters at Monroe Park. Some protesters were tackled. It happened fast, just as I arrived on scene, I got as much as I could. I heard police saying “if they’re in the park, grab them. @RTDNEWS pic.twitter.com/ZM4DFODIWe
— Zach Joachim (@ZachJoachim) July 27, 2020
I was walking through the park to grab this video. You can hear officers say “park is closed.” I showed them my press badge, was told if I didn’t leave I would be arrested. Didn’t matter if I was press. @NBC12 pic.twitter.com/M10IED5Sf1
— Olivia Ugino (@OliviaNBC12) July 27, 2020
July 30, 2020
In Jefferson City, Missouri
Here’s a look at when the arrests began. #moleg pic.twitter.com/g7sGrkgBlr
— Kaitlyn Schallhorn (@K_Schallhorn) July 30, 2020
Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted. To read similar incidents from other days of national protests also in this category, go here.
George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, ignited a sweeping assembly of protesters across the United States — and the globe — a staggering, monthslong outcry for police reform and racial justice. In many moments peaceful, in many others bracingly violent, journalists of all stripes took to documenting these demonstrations. At times, to do the job meant to expose oneself to the effects of riot-control agents, to face harassment from individuals or law enforcement officials, to fear for your safety or have your reporting interrupted. Below is a geographically organized roundup of such examples from around the U.S. on June 1, 2020.
A full accounting of incidents in which members of the press were assaulted, arrested or had their equipment damaged while covering these protests can be found here. To learn more about how the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit pressfreedomtracker.us.
In Columbus, Ohio
We are on Ohio state’s campus. Despite being members of the media officers threatened to pepper spray us. pic.twitter.com/ATguBBr95s
— Paige Southwick Pfleger (@PaigePfleger) June 2, 2020
.@PaigePfleger and I had a similar experience. Being threatened with a tear gas canister is a new one. “If you don’t back up in two seconds, I’m going to spray you.” https://t.co/cl6vUwQ1c9
— Clare Roth (@ClareAliceRoth) June 2, 2020
In Washington, D.C.
Last scene from the streets of #WashingtonDCProtest outside the #WHITEHOUSE after 10 hours of live coverage , got tear gassed twice, exhausted but left the city in one piece #ICantBreathe #GeorgeFloyd #StJohnsChurch #DCProtests pic.twitter.com/gmaoHRJ7RS
— Nadia.Bilbassy-Charters (@nadia_bilbassy) June 2, 2020
In Cincinnati, Ohio
In Seattle, Washington
Here’s the entirety of my stream when all hell broke loose last night: https://t.co/KbOCe6L7tE
— nathalie graham (@gramsofgnats) June 3, 2020
In Charlotte, North Carolina
Video posted online moments after we were hit with gas covering the demonstrators tonight. https://t.co/7fOGzsJY36
— Cam Man Ron Lee (@WBTVCamMan) June 3, 2020
In Oakland, California
Having some fun at tonight's Oakland Protest. People doing the electric slide. Protesters out past curfew and a few pointing lasers at our news chopper, which is dangerous & a federal crime, but overall, a peaceful night. @nbcbayarea https://t.co/Na7mXu9ZJa #GeorgeFloydProtest pic.twitter.com/vZjffhJgnH
— Janelle Wang (@janellewang) June 4, 2020
In New York, New York
Night seven marching up Adams pic.twitter.com/YPd6FC1L9U
— Alejandra 🎅🏻’Connell-Domenech (@AODNewz) June 4, 2020
In New York, New York
A quartet of journalists, covering protests across New York City that had extended past the city’s 8 p.m. curfew, reported being told to go home by NYPD officers despite being exempt from the curfew and displaying proper identification.
And shit just changed. Cops charge the crowd, beating, arresting. Here’s the moment. pic.twitter.com/jVOqkb4T5c
— Ben Verde (@verde_nyc) June 5, 2020
A cop just told me to go home with my NYPD press pass visible, meanwhile pic.twitter.com/zceCjVQz8a
— Julianne Cuba (@Julcuba) June 5, 2020
There are so many officers here. One shouted “if you’re press you’d better have your badge our or else you’re getting collared.” pic.twitter.com/xo9WpRtfOP
— Caroline Haskins (@caro1inehaskins) June 5, 2020
Even so, having a BuzzFeed badge was a determining factor in my safety. Organizers and freelancers don't have that safety
— Caroline Haskins (@caro1inehaskins) June 5, 2020
As we left, there were more cops waiting with batons. They kindly reminded us that we could go home or be arrested. Now there are many cop cars driving past and dozens of cops blocking certain streets near Barclays.
— Daniel Moritz-Rabson (@DMoritzRabson) June 5, 2020
In Ohama, Nebraska
In Miami, Florida
FHP big wig (looks like a commander of some sort) started yelling at me and some TV guys. “Media! They can protest. You cannot be up here! You’re inciting it! You come up here again and you will be arrested”
— David Ovalle (@DavidOvalle305) June 13, 2020
I was calmly taking notes, BTW, and watching.
Thanks for being there to witness it. @FHPMiami also wrongfully accused of me and my crew of leading protestors on the highway and inciting a riot. A discussion needs to take place with @FHPSWFL about our rights as journalists and roles in that situation. pic.twitter.com/Fc67B0cbjw
— Jamie Guirola (@jamieNBC6) June 13, 2020
In Richmond, Virginia
Pepper sprayed was just sprayed into the crowd people are on the ground coughing
— Brandon Jarvis (@Jaaavis) June 15, 2020
In Richmond, Virginia
Video from Richmond police headquarters last night: I was showing my press badge to these officers before one rolled a flash bang directly toward me and a group of protesters. pic.twitter.com/hdMuBpfnn4
— Andrew Ringle (@aeringle) June 16, 2020
In Compton, California
#AndresGuardado pic.twitter.com/mdq5ARyHFM
— Aarón Cantú (@aaron_con_choco) June 22, 2020
— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) June 22, 2020
In Phoenix, Arizona
The scene outside dream city church @ Cave creek and Sharon Cave Creek and Sharon. I have been told if I keep taking pictures I will be part of unlawful assembly and will be subject to arrest. @KTAR923 pic.twitter.com/BrhBcz4YkR
— Bob McClay (@BobMcClay) June 24, 2020
In Graham, North Carolina
No answer from Graham police about why we’re all going to be arrested for for standing on the sidewalk. pic.twitter.com/QlvwCP8IMj
— Tammy Grubb (@TammyGrubb) June 29, 2020
Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted. To read similar incidents from other days of national protests also in this category, go here.
National Guard officers stand watch during June 1, 2020, protests in Washington, D.C.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest",,, 2020-10-15 15:29:09.582839+00:00,2024-02-22 20:47:09.104533+00:00,"Portland: While reporting on protests in the city, journalists tear gassed, threatened",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/portland-while-reporting-protests-city-journalists-tear-gassed-threatened/,2024-02-22 20:47:08.857540+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2020-06-01,True,Portland,Oregon (OR),45.52345,-122.67621,"George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, ignited a sweeping assembly of protesters across the United States — and the globe — a staggering, monthslong outcry for police reform and racial justice. In many moments peaceful, in many others bracingly violent, journalists of all stripes took to documenting these demonstrations. At times, to do the job meant to expose oneself to the effects of riot-control agents, to face harassment from individuals or law enforcement officials, to fear for your safety or have your reporting interrupted.
In Portland, Oregon, the protests have been particularly acute, not only in their duration, but also their intensity. Not coincidentally, the journalists who’ve documented the unfolding events have seemingly faced a heightened level of risk, most notably in their interactions with local and federal law enforcement. In response, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon filed a class-action lawsuit in June “on behalf of journalists and legal observers who were targeted and attacked by the police while documenting protests.” The suit led to an agreement by the Portland Police Bureau in July not to arrest or harm any journalists or legal observers of the protests or impede their work. A judge later expanded the ban to federal officers, who were a heavy presence in the city until Oregon Governor Kate Brown negotiated a phased withdrawal with the Trump administration in late July. While an appeals court later issued a temporary stay on that order, the federal ban was reinstated in early October.
Below is a roundup of incidents involving journalists in Portland getting tear-gassed, threatened or somehow impeded in their work in the city beginning summer of 2020.
A full accounting of incidents in which members of the press have been assaulted, arrested or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the nation can be found here. To learn more about how the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit pressfreedomtracker.us.
June 2, 2020
Tear gassed. pic.twitter.com/vAkqCR8lvb
— Alex Zielinski (@alex_zee) June 3, 2020
Tear gas hurts a lot but fades quickly pic.twitter.com/h1YlKEPaFf
— Blair Stenvick (@BlairStenvick) June 3, 2020
June 5, 2020
Last night a member of my crew was almost rammed by a red truck (newish, likely Ford) with an American flag flying from each end of the back. The police aimed their guns at her when she tried to get its plate #.
— Robert Evans (The Only Robert Evans) (@IwriteOK) June 6, 2020
If any member of the crowd filmed this, please let me know.
June 7, 2020
An officer shouts "You were standing taking photos..." as two people hiding behind a car are arrested. Another officer threatens me with arrest as I clearly state I am press as I move back and comply with orders. pic.twitter.com/fwTStAsceO
— Alex Milan Tracy (@AlexMilanTracy) June 7, 2020
June 16, 2020
Portland police officer “your asked to disperse, wearing the press does not give you the right to be here”
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) June 16, 2020
Reporter @_jlevinson: “we’re moving”
Police: “you’ve been given warnings, so if you don’t move faster your gonna go to jail”
“So you want us to run?”
“yes I do” pic.twitter.com/I9zrFRnwhf
A few officers sprint forward to make an arrest and as I document I am threatened with arrest. pic.twitter.com/nVRcwvEmXi
— Alex Milan Tracy (@AlexMilanTracy) June 16, 2020
July 18, 2020
I got LIT UP last night! New riot gear paid for itself already. The feds were ABSOLUTELY targeting media & press.
— Mason Lake Media (@MasonLakePhoto) July 19, 2020
I was not the only one. Let me tell you something, nothing turns your blue pants brown like militarized police pointing at you!!!
😳😳😳 pic.twitter.com/PEYLIMdDOd
A PBB officer told me to “go home” another said “get the fuck out”, I pointed to my credentials and said “press”, the officer said “I don’t care.” But they drove off without saying anything else.
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) July 18, 2020
Officers shove protestor who's trying to leave. Then threatened @TheRealCoryElia, me, and 10+ other legal observers / press for filming pic.twitter.com/ME3vKMcyp2
— Griffin - Live from Portland (@GriffinMalone6) July 18, 2020
Got lost from the rest of press group officer ran up to me, I yelled press and he yelled "nope" and started running at me. Pretty sure this isn't legal.
— Griffin - Live from Portland (@GriffinMalone6) July 18, 2020
July 22, 2020
Tonight I was coated in mace by the feds three times to the point I had to leave cause everything about me was sticky. I *just* did laundry today too...
— Teebs (@TeebsGaming) July 23, 2020
Any tips on things I can do or buy to increase the number of macings before I need to leave and shower??
July 26, 2020
Federal officer drags protester to the floor, pushes journalist, and says “get the the fuck out of here” to press pic.twitter.com/P6m9SCjERs
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) July 26, 2020
July 30, 2020
Feds ambush and assault press; Mace and arrest protester who is on their knees w hands in the air. @AthulKAcharya @ACLU_OR @DontShootPdx pic.twitter.com/5d9eem84q9
— Mathieu Lewis-Rolland (@MathieuLRolland) July 30, 2020
Aug. 1, 2020
The police form a riot line, they tell press to leave the area, we were on the sidewalk. #blacklivesmatter #protest #pdx #Portland #Oregon #BLM #acab #PortlandProtests #PDXprotests #PortlandStrong pic.twitter.com/ixMA27i7k1
— Garrison Davis (@hungrybowtie) August 2, 2020
A cop walks up close to me and @IwriteOK and threatens us with pepper spray. #blacklivesmatter #protest #pdx #Portland #Oregon #BLM #acab #PortlandProtests #PDXprotests #PortlandStrong pic.twitter.com/gFabrZ9bAL
— Garrison Davis (@hungrybowtie) August 2, 2020
Aug. 5, 2020
Here we see, from a bit earlier, how the police tried to justify their illegal dispersal. They claim it is NOT a dispersal, but a road closure. So they can legally force journalists off.
— Robert Evans (The Only Robert Evans) (@IwriteOK) August 6, 2020
I do not think this would hold up in court. Which is probably why they left. pic.twitter.com/7kLa5BnhUY
Aug. 6, 2020
A cop tells us we're all under arrest
— Laura Jedeed (Misanthrophile) (@1misanthrophile) August 6, 2020
Then the line loads up on their riot van and leaves
I live in a Tom and Jerry cartoon
Aug. 7, 2020
Anyone who doesn't leave the area is subject to arrest "to reiterate this order applies to the press"
— Griffin - Live from Portland (@GriffinMalone6) August 7, 2020
Is this legal? @AthulKAcharya? pic.twitter.com/BZ7rwjN5fT
Aug. 9, 2020
Aug. 12, 2020
Aug. 14, 2020
Just tried to walk up to the group of protesters and a police officer blocked me from covering, saying “M’am, I’m not having this conversation. For the last eight weeks I’ve had press throwing things at me and calling me names. So you will have to go around the block.”
— Suzette Smith (@suzettesmith) August 15, 2020
Aug. 15, 2020
Portland police tell press that talking to officers is illegally engaging them. They shove press for not being on the sidewalk even though they were, they then tell them to "be press" on a different sidewalk. They assaulted legal observers and press following orders all night. pic.twitter.com/lDHNxvVMIw
— Daniel V. Media (@danielvmedia) August 16, 2020
Aug. 18, 2020
“If you’re in the street again, you’re going to jail. Period,” one officer says as a chase ends and I get back onto the sidewalk.
— Cata Gaitán (@catalinagaitan_) August 19, 2020
A different officer pulls on my left arm as I walk forward, then says: “Stay on the sidewalk.” pic.twitter.com/xoxOmx1nKG
Aug. 19, 2020
The Portland Police have declared a riot. They are warning "media and press" that they are ordered to disperse. This is a violation of the Federal Restraining Order. pic.twitter.com/BYVLPjrMtu
— Robert Evans (The Only Robert Evans) (@IwriteOK) August 20, 2020
Aug. 22, 2020 - Aug. 23, 2020
Police make another arrest, then run up on press trying to film #PortlandProtests #Portland #PortlandRiots pic.twitter.com/bFMiX6L3cK
— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) August 23, 2020
Aug. 25, 2020
Sept. 5, 2020
Back by the park more teargas being used, smoke grenade lands right in a group of press. #blacklivesmatter #protest #pdx #Portland #Oregon #BLM #PortlandProtest #pdxprotest #portlandpolice pic.twitter.com/wmkecM5f8g
— Garrison Davis (@hungrybowtie) September 6, 2020
Sept. 6, 2020
Here I am getting menaced by the cops for doing what they told me to do. pic.twitter.com/Vpwm04hCyz
— Jake “wear a mask” Johnson (@FancyJenkins) September 6, 2020
Sept. 23, 2020
Cops tell multiple people marked press to move back “30 feet.”
— Garrison Davis (@hungrybowtie) September 24, 2020
We are on the sidewalk against a building. Also police cannot disperse press due to the federal TRO that is still in effect for PPB. #PortlandProtests #BLM #PDX #BlackLivesMatter #portland pic.twitter.com/TrTR3ZAS6U
Oct. 11, 2020
It looks like the far-right portion of today is over, at least
— Laura Jedeed, Professional Stocker (@LauraJedeed) October 11, 2020
I'm not a big selfie person: not my style. But I'm posting this one so you can see exactly what I looked like when I was threatened
I am not in bloc. I am wearing a press pass pic.twitter.com/ub2em1TSVH
Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted. To read similar incidents from other days of national protests also in this category, go here.
While documenting July 18, 2020, protests in Portland, Oregon, videographer Mason Lake said federal law enforcement officers were aiming for the press. “They threw tear gas canisters and flash bangs right at us,” he said.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],Media,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest",,, 2020-08-13 20:07:48.595261+00:00,2022-06-14 19:35:25.915880+00:00,"May: While reporting from protests across the nation, journalists tear gassed, threatened and harassed",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/while-reporting-protests-across-nation-journalists-tear-gassed-threatened/,2022-06-14 19:35:25.844104+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2020-05-30,False,Multiple,None,None,None,"George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, ignited a sweeping assembly of protesters across the United States — and the globe — in a staggering, monthslong outcry for police reform and racial justice. In many moments peaceful, in many others bracingly violent, journalists of all stripes took to documenting these demonstrations. At times, to do the job meant to expose oneself to the effects of riot-control agents, to face harassment from individuals or law enforcement officials, to fear for your safety or have your reporting interrupted. Below is a geographically-organized roundup of such examples from around the U.S. in May.
A full accounting of incidents in which members of the press were assaulted, arrested or had their equipment damaged while covering these protests can be found here. To learn more about how the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit pressfreedomtracker.us.
In Oakland, California
Many people clutching their eyes, nose running, one man bent over vomiting. Literally hard to breath
— Mario Koran (@MarioKoran) May 30, 2020
not my most dignified moment
— Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez (@FitzTheReporter) May 30, 2020
but hey, thanks random demonstrator for the baking soda and water#oaklandprotests #GeorgeFloydprotest pic.twitter.com/eitXljHuYn
Breaking: #Oakland police fire tear gas at #GeorgeFloyd protesters after series of small explosions. Crowd runs. I got gassed, as did many other media. Not fun. Burning eyes, hacking cough. Been at least 17 years since I managed not to avoid the gas at a protest pic.twitter.com/T1a0Aizkch
— SovernNation (@SovernNation) May 30, 2020
In a tweet sent just after midnight, Sovern reported: “Not one person in the #GeorgeFloyd protest crowd tonight in #Oakland was hostile to me in any way. No one refused an interview or a photo, no one swore at me, and several came to my aid after I got tear gassed.” The next morning, he added: “It was a really rough night for a lot of the media working bravely to do their best to cover a chaotic situation. Some got hit with rubber bullets. Many of us got gassed. And some good people were plain ripped off.”
It was a really rough night for a lot of the media working bravely to do their best to cover a chaotic situation. Some got hit with rubber bullets. Many of us got gassed. And some good people were plain ripped off. https://t.co/EDAAKLpKDO
— SovernNation (@SovernNation) May 30, 2020
In San Jose, California
OK. Just got tear gassed for the first time in my career.
— scott budman (@scottbudman) May 30, 2020
Time to go. pic.twitter.com/0iLniP8YLf
In Louisville, Kentucky
Shortly before going live, police threw tear gas w/o warning. I got separated and ran out of instinct. I couldn’t breathe or see. A group of #Louisvilleprotest protesters stopped to help me and poured baking soda solution in my eyes so I could see again. Thank you. @WDRBNews pic.twitter.com/PNDQwzQF6B
— Sara Sidery (@SaraSideryWDRB) May 31, 2020
In Atlanta, Georgia
Hi, just checking in. I was recording in the front line where just a few dozen protestors stood arms locked in front of police with riot gear. They were chanting but not violent. Cops came from 3 directions & closed around us in intersection. threw tear gas & maze. pic.twitter.com/E1cSlQWIrN
— Julieta Martinelli (@ItsJMartinelli) May 30, 2020
May 30, 2020
In Seattle, Washington
Plumes of tear gas on Pine near Westlake #SeattleProtest pic.twitter.com/z2Pl7EtRF1
— nathalie graham (@gramsofgnats) May 30, 2020
As I explained on air, our security guard felt that the public was in danger. He took the AR 15 from the rioter and disabled it. We called 911 and waited to hand it over and continue our reporting. Protesters surrounded us, calling us police. (1/2) https://t.co/q9jypdxfco
— Brandi Kruse (@BrandiKruse) May 31, 2020
On June 18, the Seattle Police Department issued subpoenas to five area news outlets, requesting all video footage and photographs taken on May 30 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. within a four-block radius. The Tracker has documented that case, and its evolution, here.
In Beverly Hills, California
"We're getting hit by tear gas!" Live coverage from field reporters from @ABC7 in Los Angeles as protests rage through the luxury stores of Rodeo Drive.
— Good Morning America (@GMA) May 31, 2020
LIVE UPATES: https://t.co/xJQvixJr2S pic.twitter.com/xw9ZO9yFYN
In Reno, Nevada
.@ThisIsReno reporter @dondikeanukam got beat up. Tear gas released and the crowd scattered pic.twitter.com/YxTTezxTgS
— Lucia Starbuck (@luciastarbuck) May 31, 2020
Don Dike-Anukam, a political reporter for This Is Reno, was also assaulted by individuals while reporting that day, a case the Tracker has documented here.
In Las Vegas, Nevada
Seeing a lot of protestors helping one another, spraying water into each other’s eyes, after tear gas was deployed near 6th St.
— Rio Lacanlale (@riolacanlale) May 31, 2020
Cannon, who’d continued to livestream from his balcony perch during this time, told the Tracker: “I wasn't targeted with tear gas. Law enforcement didn’t know I was up there. I didn’t even look like a journalist because all I had was my phone.” At around 11:15, Lacanlale, who’d joined up with Cannon at this point, tweeted, “While standing on the sidewalk, Metro officers began shooting pepper bullets at us.” (She later noted that she’d not been hit.) “Nearly all the protesters had left,” Cannon told the Tracker. “There was no tear gas. We were nearly a block away. I don’t think they knew we were journalists. Rio has no gear. I only had my phone. I did have my credentials on my belt, but there was no way they could see that far in the dark.” The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Lacanlale and the Las Vegas Review-Journal did not respond to the Tracker’s requests for comment.
Paired up with @kmcannonphoto now. While standing on the sidewalk, Metro officers began shooting pepper bullets at us.
— Rio Lacanlale (@riolacanlale) May 31, 2020
In Kansas City, Missouri
My photographer @iamDSMITH86, field producer @ScottWinkler41 and I have been hit by tear gas. We had to move. We are okay. @41actionnews
— McKenzie Nelson (@McKenzieMNelson) May 31, 2020
In Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
I'm with @ByLizSawyer and 2 Kurdish journalists and 1 Japanese journalist near 5th precinct. Cops told us to go home. When we said we were press one said "Your cards are bullshit" #GeorgeFloyd
— Chao Xiong (@ChaoStrib) May 31, 2020
St. Paul Police also told media to go home tonight. I showed my press badge and was told “doesn’t matter” https://t.co/FRx06R6G0M
— Mara Klecker (@MaraKlecker) May 31, 2020
گاز انبری به همه خبرنگار ها حمله کردن #JusticeForGeorge #Minneapolis #PROTESTING pic.twitter.com/HEex0ajiLI
— Hossein Fatemi (@hosseinfatemii) May 31, 2020
In an interview with BBC Persian the following day, Fatemi shared another video, of individuals helping to rinse out his eyes following the release of a chemical irritant.
حسین فاطمی، عکاس خبری و عضو آژانس پانوس پیکچرز، در ایالت مینه سوتای آمریکا، کانون اصلی درگیریهای اخیر مشغول ضبط تصاویر درگیریهاست و از تجربهاش در این زمینه میگوید pic.twitter.com/6c0jPcZnfw
— BBC NEWS فارسی (@bbcpersian) May 31, 2020
Gaz lacrymogène pour @RadioCanadaInfo pic.twitter.com/PmZo3WNQ0K
— Raphaël Grand (@raphaelgrand) May 31, 2020
One of these groups came to my and several other journalists aid when we were tear gassed yesterday. I’m incredibly thankful for them. Thanks too @scottsphoto. Amid continued protests 'sick and tired' group of friends teams up to provide medical help https://t.co/k4LZ3jx9dt pic.twitter.com/4tOrddeiZu
— Anthony Soufflé (@AnthonySouffle) May 31, 2020
In Fort Wayne, Indiana
Had to put the phone down to catch my breath. Please lift us up in prayer. Tear gas in NO JOKE. 💔 pic.twitter.com/r6l7CExWDX
— Brianna Dahlquist (@bridahlquist) May 30, 2020
In Columbus, Ohio
Harris was struck by a projectile fired by police the following day while covering protests in Louisville, Kentucky, a case the Tracker has documented here.
Our photographer @KRobPhoto and I got pepper sprayed pic.twitter.com/OIc0WviqOH
— Lucas Sullivan (@DispatchSully) May 30, 2020
In Nashville, Tennessee
In Raleigh, North Carolina
Group of riot police fired this tear gas dump directly at my feet. Larger crowd and property damage was happening a block down the road, and ZERO ruckus from protesters in my area at time. These officers have seen me all day and know I'm a journalist. Ihave a press pass on. pic.twitter.com/BUmKkrTbCh
— Charlie McGee (@bycharliemcgee) May 31, 2020
In New York, New York
In Denver, Colorado
Covering Denver protests tonight. Standing next to the police with a crowd of photographers. One of their chemical bombs rolled back and a cop kicked it sideways right into us. Took it full on to the face, but I’m ok now. I’ll tweet camera photos tomorrow. Stay safe everyone. pic.twitter.com/u5TzAfXJI8
— Lindsay Fendt (@LEFendt) May 31, 2020
In Austin, Texas
I had been following this protest all morning and it had remained peaceful up until this moment.
— Kacey Bowen (@KaceyonFox7) June 1, 2020
Thankful for the protestors who poured solution into my photographer and I eyes so we were able to keep reporting. https://t.co/1sqy59SvIa
In Dallas, Texas
Went into downtown Dallas to cover the protest. They were happening just a few blocks away from my new apartment. Here’s the images I captured. It was peaceful for the majority of my journey, but turned intense and somewhat violent towards the end. @NBCLX pic.twitter.com/qDGTD7rVBY
— Tabitha Lipkin (@TabithaLipkin) May 31, 2020
In Cincinnati, Ohio
Cops yelled at us as we filmed, told us to “get the f***k out of here” and came toward us, I yelled that we were with the media, we’re told we needed “more visible” marking. I have my press badge in my hand
— Sarah Brookbank (@SarahBrookbank) June 1, 2020
In Washington, D.C.
As they move the protestors down H street, police fired a combination of tear gas and flash bangs. We took a little bit of the gas. Protestors stopped to help us breathe and clear our eyes out. @wusa9
— Matt Gregory (@MattGregoryNews) May 31, 2020
Struggling a bit after tear gas was thrown directly at me tonight during #DCProtests pic.twitter.com/tV7CWzEefh
— Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott) May 31, 2020
In Wilmington, North Carolina
A final update and personal message from me this evening.
— Emily Featherston - WECT (@EmilyWECT) June 1, 2020
Lots to work through and digest. We will be back in the morning with all the details. pic.twitter.com/GUejW3hqKy
In Richmond, Virginia
Here’s how it’s going down tonight. Police seem to be swarming vehicles and arresting those out past curfew. I attempted to get out of my car to shoot video and was approached by officers with guns pulled and was told to get on the ground. Here’s part one. @NBC12 pic.twitter.com/jFJ71kdBvy
— Olivia Ugino (@OliviaNBC12) June 1, 2020
Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted. To read similar incidents from other days of national protests also in this category, go here.
Associated Press photojournalist John Minchillo reports during a night of demonstrations in Minneapolis on May 30, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest",,, 2020-08-28 17:54:36.958055+00:00,2021-10-06 16:22:05.523115+00:00,Tires Slashed: Officers pierce journalists’ car tires in Minneapolis,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tires-slashed-officers-pierce-journalists-car-tires-in-minneapolis/,2021-10-06 16:22:05.466730+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2020-05-30,True,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"Law-enforcement officers punctured the tires of news crews and journalists as they reported on multiple days of protests in Minneapolis, according to news reports and an interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
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 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 the end of May.
According to Mother Jones, officers punctured the tires of all vehicles in a Kmart parking lot on May 30 and again on a highway overpass on May 31 after those areas briefly turned into police staging grounds.
At least three journalists and one news team — Andrew Kimmel of AuraNexus; freelance photojournalist Philip Montgomery; Lucas Jackson, a staff photographer for Reuters at the time; and a Radio-Canada news crew that included reporter Philippe Leblanc — reported returning to their respective vehicles after covering protests near the Fifth Precinct to find the tires slashed. Kimmel reported that four CNN vehicles also had their tires slashed.
This tow truck driver has been here all day. He later told me four @CNN vehicles had their tires slashed here as well. There was an entire row of press vehicles that all had to be towed. pic.twitter.com/LG40yxlrde
— Andrew Kimmel (@andrewkimmel) May 31, 2020
Jackson told the Tracker that while he and Montgomery were walking away from their parked cars that evening, police officers from the nearby Fifth Precinct shone flashlights on the photographers. Both put their hands in the air and identified themselves as members of the media, Jackson said. When they returned to their cars in the early hours of May 30, their tires had been punctured. They drove to a nearby parking lot, where they changed Montgomery’s tire (Montgomery did not respond to emailed requests for comment as of press time). Jackson, who didn’t have a spare tire, drove his vehicle to his hotel and called a tow truck the next day.
While he didn’t witness the incident, Jackson told the Tracker he believed officers were responsible because they had been the only people in the area when the photographers had parked their vehicles. Additionally, he said, on several occasions over the following days he had seen officers engaging in similar acts. When police officers “left their precincts to expand their security perimeters, they would puncture vehicle tires” along the way, he said. Spokespeople for both the Minneapolis Police Department and the City of Minneapolis declined to comment, telling the Tracker that the “incident is part of ongoing litigation.”
WCCO reporter Jeff Wagner tweeted about the tire slashings that night, noting in a follow up tweet that he couldn’t confirm whether law enforcement was responsible for the damage.
“If I tried walking up to the officers to ask, I would have been shot at w/ tear gas or a rubber bullet,” he wrote. “They were yelling at us to leave the premises.”
The Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. More than 30 press freedom aggressions in Minneapolis and St. Paul affecting 60 journalists have been documented since May 26. You can read them here.
Luke Mogelson, who was on assignment for the New Yorker magazine, told the Tracker that he parked his car on the shoulder of the South Washington Avenue overpass spanning I-35W in downtown Minneapolis on his way to cover protests at the nearby U.S. Bank Stadium on May 31. Other cars were parked in the same fashion, he said.
Many protesters dispersed at the arrival of an 8 p.m. curfew, but others marched to I-35W in the direction of Mogelson’s car, he said. Protesters “found themselves suddenly trapped: in both directions, a few hundred feet away, a wall of police obstructed the highway,” Mogelson wrote in an account in the New Yorker.
Video published by Canada’s Global News shows officers from at least three agencies deploying on the far end of the South Washington Avenue overpass as a crowd runs away. After officers form a perimeter on the block, several puncture the tires of a red car and then Mogelson’s silver rental car. The other cars that were parked near Mogelson’s car had apparently left before the video was filmed after curfew, he said.
Lt. Andy Knotz, a spokesperson for the Anoka County Sheriff, told the Star Tribune that Anoka County deputies punctured the tires on May 31 under orders of the state-led Multi-Agency Command Center, which was coordinating the law enforcement response to the protests.
Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bruce Gordon told the Star Tribune that piercing tires was “not a typical tactic,” but “vehicles were being used as dangerous weapons and inhibited our ability to clear areas and keep areas safe where violent protesters were occurring.”
In a June 9 press release, the sheriff’s office said the order was given to deflate the tires of the “illegally abandoned vehicles” for the safety of law enforcement and protesters in the area, adding they “could have been used as deadly mobile weapons as seen on previous days.”
“That argument doesn’t really hold water,” Mogelson told the Tracker, explaining that his vehicle couldn’t have been a threat because it was surrounded by so many law enforcement officers in every direction.
Earlier that afternoon, a tanker truck drove through thousands of protesters marching on I-35W less than half a mile from where Mogelson parked his car, according to news reports. The driver was arrested and released pending investigation.
In the Global News video, Anoka County deputies wearing dark brown pants with a stripe puncture the tires with the assistance of another wearing a full camouflage uniform.
Lt. Knotz of the sheriff’s office told the Tracker he was uncertain which law enforcement agency’s officer was clad in the camouflage uniform. Gordon of the Department of Public Safety didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Capt. Melanie Nelson, a spokesperson for the Minnesota National Guard, told the Tracker it wasn’t involved in the incident. A couple of days before the tire slashing, the Minnesota National Guard tweeted that “not everyone you see in camouflage” is a guardsman.
Mogelson told the Tracker he approached law enforcement officers from several local and state agencies, identified his car to them, and asked them not to tow it. He said he believed in retrospect that his tires were already punctured, but he didn’t realize it at the time. When he returned later to retrieve his car, he said a couple of officers laughed when he learned all four of his tires were punctured.
Mogelson left his vehicle and found a ride to continue reporting at a memorial for George Floyd, he said. The protesters he had followed were corralled at a gas station near the highway, he said. Police across the country have been using a maneuver called kettling to hem in crowds at demonstrations. About 150 protesters in Minneapolis that day were arrested, according to Mogelson’s New Yorker article and other news reports.
Mogelson later filed a report with Minneapolis police to make an insurance claim, he said.
Mogelson said he didn’t want to focus too much attention on the car. “It seems pretty clear they did not know it was my car when they slashed the tires,” he said. “A lot of journalists that were there in Minneapolis were physically abused, harassed and attacked.”
Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted.
Minneapolis police slash a car’s tires on Washington Avenue by the I-35W highway on-ramp during demonstrations on May 31, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-01-22 17:58:37.394891+00:00,2023-12-21 16:44:25.292322+00:00,Media access restricted as historic impeachment trial begins,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/media-access-restricted-historic-impeachment-trial-begins/,2023-12-21 16:44:25.118572+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,,,2020-01-16,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger implemented restrictions on media access in advance of the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, which began on Jan. 16, 2020.
Roll Call reported that the planned restrictions were announced following months of discussions between the Capitol’s chief security officials, including Stenger and the Capitol Police chief, Senate Rules Chairman Roy Blunt and the Standing Committee of Correspondents, which represents the interests of credentialed congressional reporters.
The new restrictions exceed those that were in place during the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1998, Roll Call reported, in part spurred by the hundreds of protesters that flooded the Capitol during the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.
Sarah D. Wire, a congressional reporter for the Los Angeles Times and chair of the Standing Committee of Correspondents tweeted that the Committee suggested changes to the restrictions prior to them being finalized. “Our suggestions were rejected,” Wire wrote, “without an explanation of how the restrictions contribute to safety rather than simply limit coverage of the trial.”
In a letter to Senate majority and minority leaders sent on Jan. 14, the Committee expressed its strong opposition to the planned restrictions, which it said failed to take into account the effective policies and practices that are currently in place.
The Committee listed the restrictions as:
When the formal procession to deliver of the articles of impeachment from the House to the Senate took place on Jan. 15, the restriction limiting coverage to a single pool camera was lifted, or at least not enforced.
Wire told CNN Business that when impeachment proceedings officially began the following day, several measures curtailing reporter access were implemented. Both a magnetometer — a type of metal detector — and a police officer were posted at the door of the Senate press gallery.
My view of the opening of the Senate impeachment trial. pic.twitter.com/nHuj60DhBb
— Dana Milbank (@Milbank) January 21, 2020
According to Wire and reporting from Roll Call, no written guidance concerning media restrictions was provided ahead of proceedings beginning in the Senate.
“Reporters [are] learning about the restrictions in real time,” Wire said.
On Jan. 16, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, joined by 57 news and press freedom organizations — including 16 U.S. Press Freedom Tracker partners — sent a letter to the Senate condemning the restrictions.
The letter reads in part: “Absent an articulable security rationale, Senate leaders and the Sergeant at Arms have an obligation to preserve and promote the public’s right to know. Reporters must have the ability to respond quickly to rapid developments and need reasonable access to lawmakers as they deliberate. The proposed restrictions on the use of electronic devices and on the ability of reporters to question lawmakers as they move about the Capitol, as well as the additional security screening, will hinder reporting without an obvious benefit for Senate security.”
RCFP wrote that the U.S. District Court in D.C. found that the Capitol is not a “public forum” under the First Amendment, and therefore lawmakers and Capitol security have some discretion to “reasonably” limit or restrict press access to the building. It wrote that any such restrictions, however, cannot be based on vague or arbitrary standards and must be enforced consistently.
Tweets from correspondents instead revealed that instructions were often contradictory, and that officers told journalists that they couldn’t clarify or confirm the rules. Several reporters also tweeted that their interviews with willing senators were interrupted by Capitol Police.
Getting the latest guidance on press restrictions is like a game of telephone as reporters pass along to their colleagues & competitors what they’ve heard most recently.
— K Tully-McManus (@ktullymcmanus) January 16, 2020
Capitol Police officers can't clarify/confirm what reporters heard the rules are. https://t.co/R8kpZdU93g
The Associated Press reported that senators were given cards by Capitol Police with phrases to alert police that they need assistance and fend off protesters or reporters, including “You are preventing me from doing my job” and “Please move out of my way.”
JUST IN: @CBSNews /@caitlinconant obtain a flashcard being given to U.S. Senators ahead of the #ImpeachmentTrial on tips to avoid reporters. (One thing it doesn’t suggest is calling reporters a “liberal hack.”) pic.twitter.com/mAZpBP9Fv7
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) January 16, 2020
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) speaks to members of the press in a restricted area as President Donald Trump's impeachment trial begins in Washington, D.C.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,['CHANGE_IN_POLICY'],Media,,,,Federal government: Legislature 2019-10-15 20:32:22.755844+00:00,2022-03-11 14:59:23.239802+00:00,Trump’s anti-press language on Twitter mirrored in violent video created by supporter,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trumps-anti-press-language-on-twitter-mirrored-in-violent-video-created-by-supporter/,2022-03-11 14:59:23.168577+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,"Mika Brzezinski (MSNBC), Rachel Maddow (MSNBC)",,2019-10-19,True,Miami,Florida (FL),25.77427,-80.19366,"More than half of the news outlets depicted in a graphic fake video of President Donald Trump assaulting his critics have also been singled out in anti-press tweets published by the president.
In a video shared with The New York Times over the weekend, a fake Trump in a pinstripe suit rampages through a church, shooting, stabbing and assaulting those in the pews, many of whom bear the faces of his political opponents, critics and journalists. As Trump massacres his way through the “Church of Fake News,” the faces of two media figures and the logos of at least 23 news organizations are superimposed on his victims, ranging from Bloomberg and NPR to HuffPost and BuzzFeed, from The Guardian to PBS.
The video was played at one point during a pro-Trump conference from Oct. 10–12, 2019, at the president’s hotel and golf resort near Miami, but has been circulating across the internet since at least July 2018, according to CNN.
Following the Times’ publication and amid national outcry, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham posted a tweet stating that the president had not yet seen the edited scene. “But based upon everything he has heard, he strongly condemns this video,” Grisham wrote.
As of publication, Trump has not personally condemned the video.
A database of Trump’s negative tweets about the press, compiled by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker reporter Stephanie Sugars, finds that 11% of all of his tweets since declaring his candidacy contain negative language about news organizations, specific journalists and the media as a whole.
To date, 13 of the news organizations represented in the video have been mentioned by name in his anti-press tweets.
According to the database, CNN has been directly mentioned in 215 such tweets, NBC in 124 and The Washington Post in 107.
Over the years, Trump has referred to NBC staff as “losers,” “degenerate… Trump haters,” “crazy” and “the enemy of the American People,” and has implied that the station’s broadcasting license should be reevaluated or revoked.
.@politico covers me more inaccurately than any other media source, and that is saying something. They go out of their way to distort truth!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2015
Politico has been featured in 19 of the president’s anti-press tweets, CBS in 16 and Univision in eight.
In August 2015, Trump tweeted, “[Politico] covers me more inaccurately than any other media source, and that is saying something.”
In a statement released on Twitter, White House Correspondents’ Association President Jonathan Karl of ABC News expressed horror at the video: “We have previously told the President his rhetoric could incite violence. Now we call on him and everybody associated with this conference to denounce this video and affirm that violence has no place in our society,” Karl said.
WHCA Statement on video depicting President Trump murdering journalists. pic.twitter.com/52lHFaQjU2
— WHCA (@whca) October 14, 2019
ABC News, which the video depicts being shot in the head by the president, has been featured in 48 of the president’s anti-press tweets.
The two journalists clearly identifiable in the video—Mika Brzezinski and Rachel Maddow, both of MSNBC—have also been featured in Trump’s negative tweets about the press. Trump has directly targeted Maddow four times and Brzezinski 13 times, referring to her as “a neurotic and not very bright mess” and a “very angry Psycho.”
The Times reported that the video’s creation and display at the conference demonstrates how Trump’s anti-press language has influenced his supporters and political allies.
Trump has tweeted and retweeted similar videos in both tone and content—albeit less violent—in the past. In 2017, he received condemnation from media outlets and press freedom advocates after he posted a video of himself participating in WrestleMania, edited to have the CNN logo replacing the face of the man he body slams and beats up.
On Sept. 6 of this year, he tweeted a video that ended with the CNN logo, photoshopped onto an out-of-control vehicle, crashing and bursting into flames.
Despite the news about the video’s placement at the conference breaking over the weekend, Trump has continued to use negative language against the press on social media. Since Sunday, he has posted at least 11 more tweets attacking the media, including ABC News and CNN—both of which were depicted in the graphic video—along with The Times and Fox News’ Chris Wallace and Brian Kilmeade.
A highly-edited video showing a fake President Donald Trump violently murdering opponents, critics and news organizations was reportedly shown during a pro-Trump conference at one of his hotels in Florida.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,,,, 2019-09-23 19:49:25.720770+00:00,2024-01-24 18:02:37.859034+00:00,Journalists barred from asylum hearings held in tent courts at border,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-barred-asylum-hearings-held-tent-courts-border/,2024-01-24 18:02:37.766991+00:00,,,(2019-12-29 00:00:00+00:00) Tent courts for asylum seekers at U.S.-Mexico border opened to journalists,Denial of Access,,,,,,2019-09-11,False,Laredo,Texas (TX),27.50641,-99.50754,"Members of the media were barred from observing asylum hearings held in two tent complexes in the Texas border cities of Laredo and Brownsville. The first hearing in Laredo was held on Sept. 11, 2019, and hearings began at the Brownsville tent court the next day.
Asylum seekers processed under the Trump administration’s new Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, crossed the border to attend the hearings held in the tent facilities beginning on Sept. 11. But journalists and members of the public were not allowed inside the tents while the hearings were in session.
BuzzFeed reporter Adolfo Flores tweeted that he had not been permitted into the tents to observe the hearings on their first day:
I wasn’t allowed to observe the first MPP/“Remain in Mexico” hearings at the tents in Laredo, TX because they’re “not open to the public,” a DHS officer said. Was told the only people allowed inside the tents DHS built are law enforcement, attorneys with clients, and contractors. pic.twitter.com/c1aT3P4dPW
— Adolfo Flores (@aflores) September 11, 2019
Typically, asylum hearings are open to the public and the media except when limited exceptions are invoked, including when “the respondent in an asylum case, which by regulation provides for additional privacy protections, requests that the hearing be closed,” or when such closure is in the “public interest,” according to established Executive Office for Immigration Review policies.
These exceptions can be invoked on a case-by-case basis, but the access in the tent courts is being restricted to all hearings.
In a statement emailed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson—who declined to be identified by name—wrote that because the tent courts are located within U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s “secure port of entry property,” media access to them is limited. “Access to these temporary immigration hearing facilities will operate in accordance with practices for other secure CBP areas,” the statement said. “Requests for access by the media or by the public to the [immigration hearing facilities] will be assessed on a case-by-case basis when operationally feasible and in accordance with procedures for access to any CBP secure facility.”
Journalists can observe the hearings from San Antonio, Harlingen, and Port Isabel, Texas, where the immigration judges presiding over the hearings are located, the DHS spokesperson continued. The asylum seekers appear in the courtroom via teleconference.
This arrangement, however, means the journalists will be located at least 150 miles away from the migrants, rendering them unavailable for in-person interviews.
“Just as it’s hard for judges to catch emotion and body language from a video hearing, it’s going to be hard for reporters to accurately describe the scene in a hearing room if we only have access to it via video conference,” Flores said in a statement emailed to the Tracker. “If there are technical issues inside one of the tent hearings we won’t know what it was like for the asylum-seekers there. We’ll only be able to see what the hearing was like from the judge’s courtroom.”
Journalists need access to these hearings, Flores continued, to cover how the “Remain in Mexico” policy is affecting migrants. “Public hearings are supposed to be public,” Flores wrote.
Kennji Kizuka, a researcher at Human Rights First, decried the ban on journalists and outside observers in the tent courts in a statement. “By banning independent monitors and potential pro bono lawyers from tent courts, the Trump Administration is hiding information about the human rights abuses asylum seekers are suffering after being forced to return to Mexico,” the statement said. “It is just another attempt to cover up the flaws in this sham asylum process, a process created to block refugees from finding safety in the United States.”
Some 42,000 migrants are now waiting in Mexico for their asylum hearings under the so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy that has been challenged in the courts. On Sept. 11, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed an injunction in the case, allowing the Trump administration to proceed in enforcing the new policy while court challenges proceed. According to reporting from The Washington Post, the Trump administration has budgeted $155 million to cover operation of five temporary MPP courts.
Migrants who returned voluntarily to Mexico from the U.S. under the Migrant Protection Protocol show documents to a U.S. border protection agent to attend their court hearing for asylum seekers in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,['OTHER'],Media,,,,Federal government: Agency 2019-12-04 15:24:30.557961+00:00,2023-12-21 16:48:29.094289+00:00,"Vermont Judiciary sets new rules on recording in courtrooms, registering as media",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/vermont-judiciary-sets-new-rules-recording-courtrooms-registering-media/,2023-12-21 16:48:28.998227+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,,,2019-09-03,False,Montpelier,Vermont (VT),44.26006,-72.57539,"The state court system of Vermont formalized rules on May 1, 2019, requiring members of the press to register in order to record or photograph in state courtrooms. According to VTDigger, the new rules, which also established who qualifies as a member of the press, took effect on Sept. 3.
The Vermont Judiciary’s rules state that members of the media, once registered or with a one-time waiver, can record audio, video or livestream within courtrooms, while trial participants can only record audio. The public is not allowed to record whatsoever.
Emily Wetherell, deputy clerk of the Vermont Supreme Court, told VTDigger that the new rules were made to modernize existing policies in the face of technological advances, particularly in regard to smartphones.
“The registration for media members, too, is a response to the power that cellphones give citizens in the courtroom,” Wetherell said. “That old rule was really just about media, because most people didn’t have the capability or the technology to record. But now most people can … and so in order to identify who media is, the committee decided that a registration process would be the most useful way of doing it.”
Mike Donoghue, executive director of the Vermont Press Association and vice president of the New England First Amendment Coalition, told VTDigger that while he understands the need to modernize the rules, he has concerns about how the judiciary will determine who is legitimately a member of the media.
According to The Manchester Journal, when the proposed rules went to the Vermont Supreme Court in January 2018, media was defined as "any individual or organization engaging in news gathering or reporting to the public, including free-lance reporter, newspaper, radio or television station or network, news service, magazine, trade paper, in-house publication, professional journal, or other news reporting or news-gathering agency, and any individual employed by such an organization."
Retired state Supreme Court Justice John Dooley, who chaired the procedural rules committee, told the Journal that they worked to adopt a “pretty broad” definition to avoid improperly denying applications for media registration. The registration system also established an appeals process by which a denied applicant can seek an “expeditious review” by the Supreme Court.
Shawn Cunningham, a reporter for The Chester Telegraph, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was reporting on a hearing at the Windsor Criminal Division court when he was pulled aside by one of the court officers. The officer told Cunningham that he couldn’t take pictures without being registered.
“Now, I had seen this up on the wall the previous time I had been to court, but it seemed as if they were talking about recording, video and audio recording. And they said no, it’s all,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham said he was directed to the court clerk to register, but because approval would take several days he was able to receive a one-day registration waiver. In a matter of days Cunningham received his media registration, which appears to authorize him to take photos and recordings in Vermont courts in perpetuity.
“We have several things right now that affect our area that are going through the courts, and that’s both Vermont-run state courts and federal courts,” Cunningham told the Tracker. “So, I’m basically checking all the rules to make sure that whatever I’m going into at this point, that I’m good to go in there and do what I need to do.”
Above the entrance to the Vermont Supreme Court in Montpelier is the state's coat of arms. The Vermont Judiciary recently changed its rules for reporting in the courts.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,['CHANGE_IN_POLICY'],Media,,,,Judiciary: State Court 2019-09-09 20:31:37.164673+00:00,2024-02-29 19:51:01.274290+00:00,"Amid backlash, Department of Defense backs away from new press regulations at Guantánamo Bay",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/amid-backlash-department-of-defense-backs-away-from-new-press-regulations-at-guant%C3%A1namo-bay/,2024-02-29 19:51:01.201748+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,,,2019-08-28,False,Guantánamo Bay,Cuba,None,None,"New press rules issued at U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on Aug. 28, 2019, would have curtailed journalists' ability to report freely at the detention camp where 40 detainees are still held.
The new policies, which military officials asked journalists to sign within 48 hours in order to report on military commission hearings in September, would require journalists to be constantly escorted while working at the naval station, and would give public affairs officers the right to review and approve interview recordings "prior to upload into any laptop." The rule also gives Naval Station personnel the ability to seize “all materials and equipment” in a journalist’s possession, including cellphones.
“[Journalists] may not participate in any activity related to their work, including any news or information gathering activity, if they are not accompanied by a designated public affairs escort and have that escort’s explicit consent,” the policy reads, according to The Intercept. The policy also requires journalists to “submit all still imagery, video imagery, and audio recordings taken at [Naval Station Guantánamo Bay] to the appropriate security reviewer,” according to a letter written by a lawyer for The New York Times.
The Department of Defense's Office of Military Commissions created a separate policy in 2010 that applied to journalists inside military commission facilities at the naval station. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay public affairs officer J. Overton told The Intercept that the new rules covered the naval station generally, but not reporters at the Office of Military Commissions. (Emails sent by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to the Navy for comment were not returned.)
In a tweet, Guantánamo-based New York Times reporter Carol Rosenberg called the new rules “unprecedented.” “In all the years I’ve covered Guantanamo I have never been presented with these Navy base documents to sign. This week was the first time,” Rosenberg wrote in a separate tweet.
Deputy General Counsel for The New York Times, David McCraw, sent a letter to Paul Ney, the general counsel of the Department of Defense, on behalf of a media coalition including the Times, The Associated Press, NPR and First Look Media, decrying the new rules. McCraw provided a copy of the letter to the Tracker.
“[T]he Naval Station is attempting to exercise a level of control over journalists and their newsgathering activities that has no apparent security justification and interferes with the First Amendment rights of the news media,” McCraw wrote. The existing OMC policy, McCraw wrote, has been effective, “striking a serviceable balance between the need for operational security, the protection of national security and the First Amendment rights of reporters.”
On Sept. 6 the Department of Defense formally rescinded the new press regulations, after offering unofficial reassurance on Sept. 2 that the rules would not go into effect.
“It’s a good thing that they’re stepping back and looking at the issue on a more global basis,” said David Schulz, an attorney at Ballard Spahr who has been closely involved in the fight for press access at Guantanamo over the years. “The existing ground rules were the result of extensive discussions with all the relevant stakeholders in 2010.”
McCraw wrote in an email to the Tracker that he was glad the Department of Defense took seriously the concerns he voiced in his letter. “Guantanamo remains a vital story, and reporters need the freedom to report fully on the proceedings there,” he wrote. “We look forward to working with the Department of Defense to make sure that the rules in place take into account the needs of our news organizations.”
A soldier stands guard overlooking Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay naval base in 2009.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,['CHANGE_IN_POLICY'],Media,military,,,Federal government: Agency 2019-09-12 20:16:42.699416+00:00,2023-12-21 16:50:24.622202+00:00,Media barred from public lead water crisis meeting in New Jersey,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/media-barred-public-lead-water-crisis-meeting-new-jersey/,2023-12-21 16:50:24.506250+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,,,2019-08-27,False,Newark,New Jersey (NJ),40.73566,-74.17237,"The news media was barred from attending a public meeting on Newark, New Jersey’s ongoing lead contamination crisis on Aug. 27, 2019, by Mayor Ras Baraka’s communications team.
The meeting was called to “enlist members of the public as volunteers to canvas city homeowners for their participation in the planned replacement of lead-tainted service lines leading to individual properties,” NJTV News reported.
Though the mayor’s office had issued a press release in advance of the meeting, when media representatives arrived at Newark City Hall, they were told the press was not invited and were asked to leave.
Mark Bonamo, editor of TAPinto Newark, told NJTV News, “When we showed up at the door, we were generally all shocked and surprised that we were not let in to what we believed was going to be a public meeting in the public’s house: City Hall.”
In a statement, Newark’s Director of Communications Frank Baraff said that the press was excluded in an effort to “encourag[e] an open dialogue with volunteers” and “so that residents will not shy away from helping us in these efforts.”
Media attorney and Rutgers law professor Bruce Rosen told NJTV News that the decision to exclude the press was unconstitutional: “Constitutionally, it’s a public forum. He invited the public and the media is part of the public. In fact, the media is a representative of the public.”
On Aug. 28, Baraka’s administration announced that in the future it would not block the press from meetings about the lead water crisis, TAPinto reported. The statement read, in part, “At future meetings, there will be media availability.”
As Rosen noted to TAPinto, uncertainty about the meaning of “media availability” remains.
The mayor’s office was not immediately available for comment.
Newark's mayor Ras Baraka addresses the media in this 2014 file photo.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,['GOVERNMENT_EVENTS'],Media,,,,Local government: Mayor 2021-02-05 17:15:47.286707+00:00,2023-12-21 16:51:06.774673+00:00,Montgomery County Commission sued for ban on livestreaming chamber proceedings,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/montgomery-county-commission-sued-for-ban-on-livestreaming-chamber-proceedings/,2023-12-21 16:51:06.695010+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,,,2019-08-12,False,Clarksville,Tennessee (TN),36.52977,-87.35945,"On Aug. 12, 2019, the Montgomery County Commission in Clarksville, Tennessee, passed a resolution banning live video streaming inside its chambers, stating: “No live broadcast from within the Commission Chambers of its proceedings in whole or in part is allowed. A simultaneous broadcast of the proceedings is available on the internet at ‘YouTube’ and the same is preserved there for an extended period.”
The resolution allowed livestreaming by news professionals, with the caveat that the media gave prior notice and had approval from the Montgomery County government.
Two days after the resolution passed, commissioner Jason Knight, along with two co-plaintiffs, one “whose sole employment is livestreaming local government meetings, including county commission meetings in Montgomery County,” filed a complaint alleging the resolution was a violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. The complaint read, in part, that, “the government apparently believes . . . that operating an ‘official’ YouTube obviates the need for citizen live streamers. This is the modern equivalent of insisting that a State-run newspaper obviates the need for local press.”
“The lawsuit was initiated because seemingly the First Amendment rights and the Tennessee Open Meetings Act were violated,” Knight told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
On Sept. 10, Montgomery County filed a motion to dismiss, which the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee denied on Jun. 30, 2020, holding that Knight’s First Amendment claim was valid.
On Jan. 4, 2021, the court held a discovery dispute conference with the parties involved. No further updates have been made publicly available.
The court of appeals in Phoenix, Arizona, issued an order limiting recording and photography outside of the courthouse on June 28, 2019.
The order stipulated that, “All types of video recording, photography, including sharing video or live-streaming to social media sites, or other types of broadcasting… are prohibited in any facility during its use as for Court-connected purposes, including building entrances, exits, and adjacent restricted parking areas.”
It also added a provision by which individuals could receive permission to record in restricted areas by applying for approval two days in advance.
A few months later, on Oct. 16, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Brutinel issued an almost identical order that would apply to the appellate court buildings in both Phoenix and Tucson, The Associated Press reported. The order also expanded restrictions of photography and recording to include steps and stairways, patios, hallways and sidewalks, which were not in the original order.
Supreme Court spokesman Aaron Nash told the AP that the photography ban was intended to reduce disruptions and protect the privacy and security of individuals attending the court, not hinder journalists’ ability to do their jobs. The policy appears to have been issued to unify appellate court policies.
Brutinel’s order received backlash from reporters and attorneys, the Arizona Republic reported, who claimed the broad rule would hamper the media and the public’s access to newsworthy cases.
National Press Photographers Association lawyer Mickey Osterreicher told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, “It goes far beyond what their authority, I believe, should be. It’s one thing to control what goes on inside the courtroom, but not necessarily what goes on in what is traditionally a public forum outside.”
The court issued a narrower order on Nov. 6, maintaining the restrictions of recording and livestreaming, but limiting the scope to within the appellate court buildings. The Republic reported that the revised order also removed wording allowing court officials to demand individuals delete photos or videos taken of them without their permission.
The order also revised stipulations from barring recording in outdoor areas to prohibiting “any activity that threatens any person, disrupts court operations, or compromises court security.”
Maria Polletta, state government and politics reporter for The Republic, told the Tracker that reporters on the beat were taken aback by the first order, and they’re waiting to see how the scaled back version is implemented.
“It’s obviously less sweeping than the first version,” Polletta said. “But as First Amendment attorneys have said, ‘disruptive’ is very subjective and it could still end up being applied to media while they’re just doing their jobs.”
The judge presiding over the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor ruled on March 29, 2019, that media and members of the public will be restricted from viewing “graphic evidence”—including body cam footage and photographs from the crime scene and medical examiner’s office—in the case that will be displayed for the jury.
At a final pretrial hearing, Hennepin County District Judge Kathryn L. Quaintance said she was blocking this evidence from being seen by anyone aside from the jury and attorneys in the case because “there’s privacy interest involved,” according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. She called airing this evidence publicly “inflammatory, potentially” as it “shows the deceased in extremely compromising situations.”
Noor is accused of fatally shooting Justine Ruszczyk Damond, an Australian woman who had called police to alert them to a possible assault taking place in the alleyway behind her home. Noor allegedly shot and killed her when she approached his police cruiser. Jury selection in the case began on April 1.
A coalition of media representatives including the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio filed a motion on April 2 objecting to Quaintance’s ruling barring media from viewing evidence, arguing it amounts to a unconstitutional “de facto closure of the courtroom.”
“Excluding the press and public from viewing evidence presented to the jury and other trial participants violates the Constitutional and common law rights of press and public access to criminal proceedings,” wrote Leita Walker, an attorney for the media coalition, in a memorandum supporting the motion.
As of publication, the motion had not been scheduled for a hearing. Jury selection in the case is ongoing.
Courts have upheld the notion that media outlets and the public have a right to “contemporaneous access” to evidence during a trial, Walker argued, citing the Second Circuit case ABC v. Stewart, where the court found “[t]he ability to see and to hear a proceeding as it unfolds is a vital component of the First Amendment right of access—not . . . an incremental benefit.” Additionally, Quaintance’s argument is invalid, Walker wrote, as the state of Minnesota “does not recognize a posthumous right to privacy.”
The judge’s decision to limit access to evidence “clearly crossed a constitutional boundary,” Mark Anfinson, an attorney for the Minnesota Newspaper Association, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
In an order issued on March 27, Quaintance wrote that to preserve “order and decorum” in the courtroom, space devoted to the media will be limited to eight seats, of which four will be available to local media outlets and four to national and international outlets. Four seats each will be reserved for the family members of the victim and defendant, one for a sketch artists, which leaves only 11 seats for the public, according to Joe Spear, the president of the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune noted that other courtrooms in the building contain double the amount of seating.
The judge’s initial order stated that overflow seating will be available in another courtroom, where an audio feed of the proceedings will be played. But after media outcry, Quaintance issued an amended order the next day stating that a video feed would be available in that overflow courtroom as well.
Walker, the attorney for the media coalition, in a March 29 letter to Judge Ivy Bernhardson, the Chief Judge of Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District, asked that the trial be moved to a larger courtroom, or a second overflow room be reserved for media. “The Coalition is dismayed that, on the eve of trial, uncertainties remain about whether the press and public will be able to adequately monitor one of the highest profile trials the State of Minnesota has ever seen,” Walker wrote. In response, Judges Bernhardson and Quaintance on April 1 added seven more media seats to the existing courtroom, according to the Star Tribune.
Quaintance’s order also banned all electronic or recording devices, including cellphones, tablets, and laptops, from the entire floor of the courthouse where the trial was taking place.
Mohamed Noor, far right, enters the courthouse with his attorneys ahead of the murder trial against the former Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer, charged in the 2017 fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,"['CHANGE_IN_POLICY', 'OTHER']","Media, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota Public Radio",,,,Judiciary: District Court 2019-03-27 17:42:06.855461+00:00,2024-01-11 18:01:47.005478+00:00,"Judge orders ProPublica Illinois, other media, not to publish details of juvenile court case",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-orders-propublica-illinois-other-media-not-publish-details-juvenile-court-case/,2024-01-11 18:01:46.921049+00:00,,,(2019-04-15 13:33:00+00:00) Judge lifts some restrictions on publishing ban,Prior Restraint,,,,,,2019-03-14,False,Chicago,Illinois (IL),41.85003,-87.65005,"On March 14, 2019, a Cook County Juvenile Court judge ordered ProPublica Illinois and other news organizations not to publish certain details about an ongoing child welfare case in the Chicago-based juvenile court.
In the course of reporting on child welfare issues, a ProPublica Illinois reporter had learned about the case. On March 7, after the reporter tried to attend a hearing in the case, the hearing was closed to the public and press.
Bruce Boyer — a Loyola University law professor whose legal clinic represents the foster children in the case — then requested that the court issue an order prohibiting news outlets from publishing details about the case. On March 14, Patricia Martin, the presiding judge of the juvenile court’s child protection division, granted the request and issued a prior restraint order.
Documents related to the juvenile court case, including Martin’s prior restraint order, have not been made public. But on March 19, ProPublica Illinois reported on the existence of the prior restraint order, describing it as an order “forbidding news organizations from publishing the names, addresses or any demographic information that would identify the children or the foster parents in a case ProPublica Illinois has been investigating.”
ProPublica Illinois was not initially a party to the case, but it asked the court to intervene in order to oppose the prior restraint order. On March 19, the court granted ProPublica Illinois’ motion to intervene, and on March 22, the news organization filed its opposition to the prior restraint order. A court hearing on the prior restraint order is now scheduled for April 5.
Prior restraint orders are relatively unusual and should not be confused with sealing orders, which are far more commonly employed by courts. A sealing order is used when a court needs to allow attorneys and parties to a case access to sensitive information; the sealing order just prohibits the attorneys and parties from turning around and disclosing that information to the public. A prior restraint order is much more serious, since it prohibits a third party with no connection to the case (often a news organization) from publishing information that they learned on their own.
ProPublica Illinois is opposing Martin’s prior restraint order because it sees it as an unconstitutional attempt by the government to interfere in its editorial process.
“The Supreme Court has made it very clear that courts are not supposed to be editors,” ProPublica President Richard Tofel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “One of the Constitution’s guarantees is that editors should be editors.”
Tofel is correct that legal precedent is on ProPublica Illinois’ side. In 1971, the Supreme Court famously ruled that the government’s attempts to prevent The New York Times and the Washington Post from publishing a classified history of the Vietnam War violated the news organizations’ First Amendment rights. This “Pentagon Papers” case established the precedent that, except in extreme circumstances, prior restraints on the press are unconstitutional.
On Jan. 22, 2019, the North Dakota state senate passed a bill that would amend its open records law to limit the release of information around protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The North Dakota state assembly is expected to vote on the bill, known as SB 2209.
The bill would amend a section of North Dakota’s open records act, making records related to pipeline projects exempt from disclosure, The Intercept reports. News organizations have relied on the state’s strong open records laws to obtain information about how state law enforcement agencies have aggressively responded to the anti-pipeline protests.
The current version of North Dakota’s open records act includes a relatively narrow exemption (44-04-24) for any “security system plan” related to “critical infrastructure,” which the law defines as “public buildings, systems, including telecommunications centers and computers, power generation plants, dams, bridges, and similar key resources.”
SB 2209 proposes to amend that provision of the law, most notably by expanding the definition of “critical infrastructure” to include “systems related to utility services, fuel supply, energy, hazardous liquid, natural gas, or coal.” This subtle tweak could allow the state to deny open records requests for information about law enforcement surveillance of pipeline protesters, on the grounds that oil pipeline projects are “critical infrastructure” and therefore largely exempt from the open records law.
Jeffrey Haas, a civil rights attorney who has provided support to pipeline protesters, told The Intercept that SB 2209 seems designed to prevent the public from learning about law enforcement’s response to pipeline protests.
“I think this is clearly a response to what you learned through freedom of information requests,” he told The Intercept, which has extensively reported on law enforcement’s surveillance of protesters. “They did not like to have to disclose that information. This is an effort to prevent that in the future.”
SB 2209 is currently in committee in the North Dakota assembly, which ends on May 2. The state assembly is also currently considering a similar bill, SB 2044, that would make intentionally interfering with the construction of a “critical infrastructure facility,” such as a pipeline, a Class C felony.
As Freedom of the Press Foundation reported last year, an increasing number of state legislatures around the country have passed or are considering bills that designate oil pipelines as “critical infrastructure,” which allows the state to bring felony charges against pipeline protesters and the journalists who cover them.
In March 2018, members of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and Indigenous leaders participated in a protest march and rally in opposition to the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines in Washington, D.C.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],Media,environmentalism,,, 2019-01-24 16:11:01.981235+00:00,2024-02-05 20:22:34.270532+00:00,More than two dozen newsrooms receive hoax bomb threats,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/more-two-dozen-newsrooms-receive-hoax-bomb-threats/,2024-02-05 20:22:34.190846+00:00,,,,Other Incident,,,,,,2018-12-13,False,Multiple,None,None,None,"Becky Maxwell, publisher at the Journal Express in Knoxville, Iowa, received an email on Dec. 13, 2018, claiming that a bomb had been placed in newspaper’s building that would detonate if she failed to send a ransom in bitcoin by the end of business. The Express was one of 12 newspapers owned by the media company CNHI to receive such a threat that day.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented that at least 27 U.S. media outlets were targeted with the hoax bomb threats, alongside hundreds of schools, businesses and public buildings across the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to the CNHI (formerly Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.) papers, eight stations owned by Gray TV and two newspapers owned by McClatchy received the email threats. More may have received the email hoax and not publicized it.
“When I first received [the email],” Maxwell told the Tracker, “I read it a couple of times and I thought, ‘Oh, this is just a scam.’” But, because of previous incidents over the past 15 years, she said, they now take any kind of threat seriously.
After consulting with the chief of police, the Express did not evacuate. Neither did the staff at the Joplin Globe in Joplin, Missouri. When reporters Debby Woodin and Emily Younker each received the threatening email, they brought it to Globe Editor Carol Stark and the publisher, who immediately called the police. While the Globe has policies in place for tornadoes and fires, Stark told the Tracker, on the day they received the threat they lacked a clear procedure to follow.
“We did not evacuate because the police really thought it was a bogus call, but in hindsight now we should have,” she said.
Events over the past year have spurred many newsrooms across the country to reevaluate their security infrastructure and procedures, editors and publishers told the Tracker, and none more so than the June shooting at a newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland. On June 28, Jarrod Ramos entered the Capital Gazette offices and shot to death five people, including four journalists and a sales associate.
Andy Bernhard, publisher for The Park Record in Park City, Utah, said that when his newsroom received the bomb threat they were already in the process of following through with recommendations from the county sheriff for improvements to the office’s physical security.
“It was actually the Annapolis Capital incident that got us moving on evolving our security procedures,” he said. “We’re actively receiving quotes for specifically that: shatterproof glass, keycard entry and new security cameras.”
Media companies, including CNHI and Swift Communications, have also initiated security reviews and updates in the wake of the Annapolis shooting, including conducting active shooter training with the full staff at each of their outlets.
On July 10, McClatchy sent an internal email, shared with the Tracker, informing its newsrooms that all locations would have hostile intruder trainings and that it was evaluating and updating the emergency plans and physical security of all locations. The email stated: “These upgrades may include installing panic buttons, remote entry maglocks, video cameras in entryways, shatter-resistant film coating to windows and additional on-site security guards.”
Jeanne Segal, McClatchy communications director, told the Tracker that all trainings and physical upgrades have been completed.
Al Lancaster, VP general manager at WSAW-TV in Wausau, Wisconsin, was glad that the threat came in in the middle of the day, when four department heads were in the newsroom and able to clear the building in fewer than 10 minutes. Lancaster told the Tracker, “It was pretty clear that we should evacuate whether we thought the threat was legitimate or not.”
Lancaster said that the bomb hoax checked their preparedness for such an event.
“We did just pull our disaster plan which had not been updated for a while,” Lancaster said, “And because of that bomb scare actually we’re looking at it with our department heads and revising and tweaking some things.”
In a year that saw an increase of violence and threats against journalists, this single-day email bomb hoax tested security procedures and trainings that newsrooms across the country have undertaken.
The Tracker has been able to verify the following media outlets were recipients of the hoax bomb threat:
Newsrooms across the U.S., plus schools and businesses here and abroad, received bomb threats via email on the same December day.
On Oct. 17, 2018, Orange County Superior Court judge Gregory Jones ordered members of the media not to report on a sealed search warrant that had previously been made available to the public—an unconstitutional prior restraint. Four days later, he rescinded the order and unsealed the search warrant materials.
The search warrant was executed in January 2018 against Grant Robicheaux, a prominent surgeon suspected of sexually assaulting multiple women. Like most search warrants in California, it was initially filed under seal but was automatically unsealed and made available to the public shortly after it was carried out.
Eight months later, in September 2018, police arrested Robicheaux and his girlfriend, Cerissa Riley, and the Orange County district attorney Tony Rackauckas charged them with sexually assaulting two women. After the arrests were announced, a number of journalists found the January search warrant materials (which were now available to the public) and reported on their contents. In response, both prosecutors and Robicheaux’s defense team asked a judge to re-seal the search warrant materials, which he did.
The next month, as The Associated Press reported, Rackauckas announced that five more women had accused Robicheaux and Riley of sexual assault. At a court hearing on Oct. 17, Rackauckas’ office formally filed additional charges against Robicheaux and Riley, who pleaded not guilty.
According to the OC Register, outside the hearing, Orange County supervisor Todd Spitzer — who is challenging Rackauckas in the election for Orange County district attorney — held a press conference to criticize Rackauckas for taking so long to arrest Robicheaux and Riley. Speaking to a group of reporters, Spitzer said Rackauckas should have had Robicheaux and Riley arrested back in January 2018, right after the search warrant was executed. To prove his point, Spitzer and his assistant handed out copies of the January 2018 search warrant materials to reporters.
Rackauckas objected to Spitzer’s stunt, since the search warrant materials were supposed to be sealed from the public, and the district attorney’s office asked judge Jones do something about it. (Jones was not the judge who originally ordered the search warrant sealed, but he was the judge presiding over the hearing.)
Jones called reporters back into the courtroom and told them to return the copies of the search warrants that they had received. He then told them to remind their news organizations that the search warrant was sealed and they should not publish it.
The Orange County Register and the AP challenged Jones’ order, arguing that it amounted to an unconstitutional prior restraint on the press. On Oct. 21, Jones unsealed the search warrant, finding that it could not be re-sealed once it had already been made available to the public.
In early June 2018, the city of Jersey City removed over 240 community newspaper distribution boxes from the city’s streets. In a tweet, Jersey City mayor Steven Fulop announced that the city was removing the newspaper boxes because they were cluttering the city's sidewalks.
For #JerseyCity residents: We continue to remove these from the streets as many are non functioning, they clutter the sidewalks, and many just become trash cans. We have 240 so far w/more to do. If we accidentally took one that has permits to be there please reach out to DPW pic.twitter.com/ecfVn4L4rn
— Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) June 4, 2018
The city’s new policy came as a surprise to newspaper publishers.
Anthony Ibarria, general manager of Hispanic weekly paper El Especialito, told Gothamist that no one called the paper before seizing its boxes.
Peter Rugh, an associate editor at The Indypendent — a community paper based in Brooklyn with a paper box in Jersey City — told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that his publication was not contacted prior to the removal of its box, even though it prominently displays contact information.
“News boxes have been on the streets for decades unperturbed, including the first five years the mayor has been in office,” he said.
Rugh sees the removal of the boxes as a threat to press freedom.
“[The removal] sets a dangerous precedent — not only for the press but for the public who rely on the coverage we provide to stay informed and make decisions regarding, among other things, who to vote for,” he said. “People say print is dying but remaining a print publication allows us to reach an audience who might never stumble upon us online, many of whom do not have regular access to the web. It should be very troubling to people that the mayor has created a newspaper blackout because he didn't like the way the dispensers look.”
The mayor has said that newspapers with special permits will be able to keep their newspaper boxes on the street — but there is currently no way for newspapers to apply for permits for newspaper boxes.
Fulop did not respond to a request from Freedom of the Press Foundation for comment, but Jersey City Press Secretary Hannah Peterson confirmed that the city has not yet implemented a formal permitting process for newspaper boxes.
She said that the Jersey City city council plans to pass a measure in the future to establish a permit process.
Peterson defended the city’s new policy, saying that the boxes were cluttering the streets and also posed a potential “security risk” since dangerous items could be hidden in them.
“The same way that the city is concerned with open trash cans in terms of large amounts of people gathering, you don’t anywhere where anything could be hidden,” she said.
Peterson said she did not know whether the city had received complaints from the public that the boxes cluttered the streets or posed a security risk. She did not provide an answer when asked whether the city intends to take similar measures for other facilities in public spaces like clothing donation boxes and planters.
She did not provide an explanation as to why news organizations were not notified about the city’s new policy.
In a tweet on May 9, 2018, President Trump suggested that news organizations publishing negative news about him should have their press credentials revoked.
The Fake News is working overtime. Just reported that, despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy & all things else, 91% of the Network News about me is negative (Fake). Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt? Take away credentials?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 9, 2018
During the presidential campaign, though, the Trump administration routinely denied press credentials to reporters it did not like. But the White House is not supposed to have any role in the process of credentialing media organizations, which has traditionally been the domain of the White House Correspondents Association, an independent group of journalists who cover the White House. Since assuming office, Trump has not moved to revoke any journalist’s White House press credentials, though his former press secretary once excluded certain news organizations from an informal briefing.
The president’s May 9 tweet references a controversial analysis conducted by the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog, which attempts to gauge the sentiment (positive or negative) of news coverage of Trump on major networks’ evening newscasts. According to the MRC's most recent analysis, 90% of the coverage of Trump on ABC, CBS, and NBC evening newscasts between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2018, was negative. That's consistent with MRC analyses from 2017, which found that 91% of coverage of Trump on the evening newscasts was negative.
Although the methodology of the MRC analysis has been criticized, the Fox News morning show “Fox & Friends” cited its results authoritatively on the morning of May 9, shortly before the president’s tweet.
In his tweet, the president stated that 91% of the news coverage was “negative (Fake).” But the MRC did not try to analyze whether the news coverage was “fake” (i.e. inaccurate), just whether it portrayed Trump in a positive or negative light. The president seems to believe that all negative news coverage of him is “fake,” regardless of whether or not the news coverage is accurate.
Designating negative coverage as “fake news” and threatening to revoke network’s credentials in order to discourage such reporting has become a marked tendency for this administration.
Trump frequently criticizes journalists’ reporting on his administration, denouncing it as “fake news” even when it is true. According to the Trump Twitter Archive, he has tweeted the phrase “fake news” at least 40 times this year.
In a statement, White House Correspondents Association president Margaret Talev denounced Trump’s comments.
“Some may excuse the president’s inflammatory rhetoric about the media, but just because the president does not like news coverage does not make it fake,” she said. “A free press must be able to report on the good, the bad, the momentous and the mundane, without fear or favor. And a president preventing a free and independent press from covering the workings of our republic would be an unconscionable assault on the First Amendment.”
President Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting on Jan. 10, 2018 that he wanted to "a strong look" at changing libel laws.
“We are going to take a strong look at our country’s libel laws,” he said. “So that when somebody says something that is false and defamatory about someone, that person will have meaningful recourse in our courts. If somebody says something that is totally false, and knowingly false, that the person that has been abused, defamed, libeled, will have meaningful recourse. Our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace and do not represent American values or American fairness. So we’re going to take a strong look at that. We want fairness. Can’t say things that are false, knowingly false, and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account. We are going to take a very, very strong look at that, and I think what the American people want to see is fairness.”
There is no federal libel law, but state-level libel laws already give plaintiffs the opportunity for "meaningful recourse" in the courts. Under the current standard for defamation and libel, which is based on landmark Supreme Court rulings like New York Times v. Sullivan, a publication can be held liable for printing a statement that it knows to be false and that harms a subject's reputation.
Trump has long advocated for changing libel laws. During his 2016 presidential election campaign, he said that he wanted to “open up” libel laws, and in March 2017 he suggested that The New York Times should be sued under broadened libel laws.
Despite Trump's threats, the president cannot unilaterally change libel laws, according to First Amendment scholars.
President Donald Trump, flanked by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, holds a cabinet meeting at the White House, on January 10, 2018.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,Donald Trump,,, 2017-11-01 19:57:19.969056+00:00,2024-03-20 20:49:04.419913+00:00,Reporters’ access restricted on Capitol Hill,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporters-access-restricted-capitol-hill/,2024-03-20 20:49:04.334314+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,,,2017-10-31,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Reporters’ access to Capitol Hill was restricted on Oct. 31, 2017 after a protester allegedly posed as a reporter at the Senate Building the week before, according to a report by the Washington Examiner.
Reporters were prevented from accessing most of the second floor of the Senate Building, where Vice President Mike Pence was attending a Senate Republicans’ weekly policy lunch. The presence of Capitol Hill Police was amplified, and officials checked the identification of all reporters walking through the hallways.
These security restrictions are unusual, and reporters typically have uninhibited access to Capitol Hill to speak with lawmakers.
According to Washington Examiner, communications director for Capitol Hill Police, Eva Malecki, said in a statement that, “The United States Capitol Police have not introduced any changes to the access that the media have within the U.S. Capitol. We are simply enforcing the current rules and protocols already in place to ensure the safety and security of elected officials, Members of Congress, staff, visitors, and members of the press.”
The week before on October 24, 2017, protester Ryan Clayton reportedly posed as a reporter to gain access to the Senate Building and threw Russian flags at President Donald Trump and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said during a press conference on Oct. 31, that “reporters are some of the last people who should face unwarranted restrictions,” and that both his office and the Rules Committee would review the security restrictions and identify a remedy to the barred access.
During a combative speech delivered in Phoenix, Arizona on Aug. 22, 2017, President Trump blamed the media for fomenting division in the country and told his supporters that journalists dislike the United States.
"You're taxpaying Americans who love our nation, obey our laws, and care for our people," President Trump told his supporters. "It's time to expose the crooked media deceptions, and to challenge the media for their role in fomenting divisions. And yes, by the way — and yes, by the way, they are trying to take away our history and our heritage. You see that."
"These are truly dishonest people," Trump said later in the speech, referring to the journalists who report on his administration. "And not all of them. Not all of them. You have some very good reporters. You have some very fair journalists. But for the most part, honestly, these are really, really dishonest people, and they're bad people. And I really think they don't like our country. I really believe that. And I don't believe they're going to change, and that's why I do this."
Trump then falsely suggested that CNN and other cable networks had turned off their cameras to avoid broadcasting his speech. In fact, CNN continued to air the speech live.
"You would think — you would think they'd want to make our country great again, and I honestly believe they don't," he said. "I honestly believe it. If you want to discover the source of the division in our country, look no further than the fake news and the crooked media..."
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on August 22, 2017.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,Donald Trump,,, 2017-08-05 21:33:26.548515+00:00,2024-03-20 19:30:55.132355+00:00,Attorney general considers making it easier to subpoena journalists,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/attorney-general-considers-making-it-easier-subpoena-journalists/,2024-03-20 19:30:55.022510+00:00,,,,Chilling Statement,,,,,,2017-08-04,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Aug. 4, 2017, that the Department of Justice was “reviewing our policies affecting media subpoenas” as part of a broader crackdown on unauthorized leaks of information to the press.
Sessions suggested news organizations had endangered people’s lives by publishing stories based on leaked information, though he did not provide any evidence for this claim.
“We respect the important role that the press plays, and we’ll give them respect, but it is not unlimited,” he said at the press briefing. “They cannot place lives at risk with impunity. We must balance the press’s role with protecting our national security and the lives of those who serve in the intelligence community, the armed forces, and all law-abiding Americans.”
The current Justice Department guidelines were implemented in 2015, after extensive discussion between then-Attorney General Eric Holder and a coalition of journalism organizations and press freedom groups, led by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. They direct the Department of Justice to only subpoena journalists for information as a last resort and require the attorney general to personally approve any subpoena of a journalist or news organization.
The guidelines also instruct the department to provide news organizations of advance notice of subpoenas and records requests related to journalism, so that the news organizations have a chance to fight the subpoenas in court before they are carried out.
The “advance notice” policy is a relatively recent addition to the guidelines. It was partly a response to concern that the Justice Department had secretly obtained journalists’ communications as part of its leak investigations.
In 2013, it was revealed that the Justice Department secretly obtained access to a Fox News reporter's private email account, and to months of phone records belonging to The Associated Press’ newsroom, in an attempt to identify journalists’ sources.
If the Department of Justice makes it easier to subpoena journalists, then more journalists are likely to be threatened with jail time. The U.S. does not have a federal shield law, which means that reporters subpoenaed to testify about confidential sources in front of a federal grand jury must either comply — which means violating the promises of confidentiality they have to their sources — or risk being held in contempt of court and jailed.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at a briefing on leaks of classified material threatening national security at the Justice Department in Washington, on August 4, 2017.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],Media,Department of Justice,,, 2017-08-30 13:51:18.514591+00:00,2024-03-20 19:00:10.438706+00:00,DHS secretary jokes about using sword on reporters,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dhs-secretary-jokes-about-using-sword-reporters/,2024-03-20 19:00:10.356096+00:00,,,,Chilling Statement,,,,,,2017-05-17,False,New London,Connecticut (CT),41.35565,-72.09952,"After President Trump was presented with a ceremonial saber at a commencement ceremony for the U.S. Coast Guard on May 17, 2017, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly made a joking comment to the president, which was caught on a hot mic.
“Use that on the press, sir,” Kelly said.
“Yeah,” the president responded, chuckling.
Trump was handed the sword as token of appreciation following remarks in which he stated, “No other politician in history… has been treated worse or more unfairly.” He also claimed that “the more righteous your fight, the more opposition that you will face.”
Trump’s comments at the U.S. Coast Guard ceremony occurred during a tense time for the president and the press. On May 15, two days before the ceremony, the Washington Post reported that Trump had revealed classified information to Russia’s foreign minister and its ambassador to the U.S. during a White House meeting. The following day, the New York Times reported that that Trump had asked F.B.I. director James Comey to consider imprisoning journalists who published classified information.
On July 31, Kelly replaced Reince Priebus as Trump’s chief of staff.
President Donald Trump and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly attend the Coast Guard Academy commencement ceremonies in New London, Connecticut.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],Media,Donald Trump,,, 2017-08-02 06:32:01.411493+00:00,2023-12-21 21:02:49.211826+00:00,Appeals court says that hearing in murder case can be secret,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/appeals-court-says-hearing-murder-case-can-be-secret/,2023-12-21 21:02:49.078066+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,,,2017-04-26,False,Miami,Florida (FL),25.77427,-80.19366,"The Third District Court of Appeal in Florida ruled on April 26, 2017, that a pre-trial hearing in a Florida murder case can be held in secret, siding with a Miami-Dade Circuit Judge’s ruling to close a bond hearing for two defendants, citing “pervasive publicity” as a threat to their right to fair trial.
Miami Herald and WPLG-ABC10 opposed the closure and, in a brief filed to the Third DCA, argued: “That hearings of such magnitude and public importance should be held in secret and outside the presence of the public is unconstitutional.”
The appellate court affirmed “evidence of extensive local, national and international print and broadcast media coverage of the instant case,” which jeopardized the defendants’ right to a fair trial.
“The speed of dissemination and the high percentage of likely jurors with access to social media and the internet also support the trial judge’s concern,” the opinion states. “The Closure Order is a temporary ruling subject to reconsideration as to subsequent hearings and the trial itself. Following our review of the petitioners’ requests, the records themselves, and the trial court’s analysis, we find no departure from the essential requirements of law.”
Scott Ponce, a lawyer for the Miami Herald, said, “The courtroom belongs to the public, and it’s difficult to accept that the public is being kicked out of a hearing during which the judge will consider whether two people indicted for first-degree murder should be released into public pending trial.”
After the Justice Department indicated it planned on pursuing WikiLeaks and its publisher with criminal charges, Attorney General Jeff Sessions refused to rule out using any potential precedent set by such a dangerous prosecution to go after other US-based news organizations.
When appearing on CNN on April 21, 2017, CNN anchor Kate Bolduan asked Sessions whether “folks should be concerned that this would also open up news organizations like CNN and the New York Times to prosecution.”
Sessions steadfastly refused to rule anything out, replying, “That’s speculative, and I’m not able to comment on that.”
Prosecuting WikiLeaks would be a grave threat to all journalists.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],Media,Department of Justice,,, 2017-08-01 02:23:46.470794+00:00,2024-03-20 17:18:11.851925+00:00,Trump administration calls for changing libel laws,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-administration-calls-changing-libel-laws/,2024-03-20 17:18:11.758208+00:00,,,,Chilling Statement,,,,,,2017-03-30,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"On March 30, 2017, President Trump tweeted, “The failing @nytimes has disgraced the media world. Gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change libel laws?”
The failing @nytimes has disgraced the media world. Gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change libel laws? https://t.co/QIqLgvYLLi
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017
There are currently no federal libel laws, and Supreme Court has said that plaintiffs must meet a very high standard in order to win a libel suit. Trump would have a difficult time following through on his threat, according to First Amendment lawyers.
This tweet is not the first time that Trump suggested changing libel laws. On Feb. 26, 2016, during the Republican primary campaign, Trump said that he wanted to “open up libel laws.”
Trump says that he will open up libel laws during a campaign event in Fort Worth, Texas on February 26, 2016.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],Media,Donald Trump,,, 2017-08-01 12:35:39.926199+00:00,2024-03-20 17:01:48.103741+00:00,Trump calls “fake news” the “enemy of the people”,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-calls-fake-news-enemy-people/,2024-03-20 17:01:48.027203+00:00,,,,Chilling Statement,,,,,,2017-02-24,False,Oxon Hill,Maryland (MD),38.80345,-76.9897,"In a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Feb. 24, 2017, Trump referred to the media as the “enemy of the people.”
A week earlier, Trump had tweeted “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @CNN, @NBCNews and many more) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American people. SICK!”
During the CPAC conference, Trump referenced his earlier tweet, saying that he called the “fake media” the enemy of the people because they had no sources. He also said that the phrase only replied to “dishonest” reporters.
During the conference, Trump also said that journalists should not be allowed to use anonymous sources. “They shouldn’t be allowed to use a source, unless the use somebody’s name,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, in Oxon Hill, Maryland, U.S., February 24, 2017.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],Media,Donald Trump,,, 2017-08-01 11:52:58.226582+00:00,2024-03-20 16:48:30.422193+00:00,Trump reportedly urges FBI director James Comey to jail journalists,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-allegedly-urges-comey-jail-journalists/,2024-03-20 16:48:30.313466+00:00,,,(2018-04-19 01:06:00+00:00) Comey memo,Chilling Statement,"Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html) via The New York Times, James Comey memos (https://static01.nyt.com/files/2018/us/politics/20180419-james-comey-memos.pdf)",,,,,2017-02-14,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"During an Oval Office meeting on Feb. 14, 2017, President Trump allegedly asked James Comey, then the FBI director, to consider putting journalists in prison for publishing classified information.
Trump began the private meeting by condemning leakers and telling Comey that he should consider putting journalists in prison, according to a memo written by Comey, parts of which were read to The New York Times by an associate of the former FBI director. During the same meeting, Trump allegedly asked Comey to end the FBI investigation, according to the Times.
The Trump administration released a statement disputing the accuracy of information allegedly contained in the memo, saying that it was not a "truthful" or "accurate" representation of the conversation. The statement did not address the statement related to jailing journalists.
President Donald Trump reaches out to shake hands with Federal Bureau of Investigations director James Comey.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],Media,Donald Trump,,,