first_published_at,last_published_at,title,slug,latest_revision_created_at,charges,legal_orders,updates,categories,links,equipment_seized,equipment_broken,targeted_journalists,authors,date,exact_date_unknown,city,state,latitude,longitude,body,introduction,teaser,teaser_image,primary_video,image_caption,arrest_status,arresting_authority,release_date,detention_date,unnecessary_use_of_force,case_number,case_statuses,case_type,status_of_seized_equipment,is_search_warrant_obtained,actor,border_point,target_us_citizenship_status,denial_of_entry,stopped_previously,did_authorities_ask_for_device_access,did_authorities_ask_about_work,assailant,was_journalist_targeted,charged_under_espionage_act,subpoena_type,subpoena_statuses,name_of_business,third_party_business,legal_order_target,legal_order_type,legal_order_venue,status_of_prior_restraint,mistakenly_released_materials,type_of_denial,targeted_institutions,tags,target_nationality,workers_whose_communications_were_obtained,politicians_or_public_figures_involved 2023-01-05 21:39:55.971219+00:00,2024-03-10 23:06:23.300428+00:00,WSJ reporter detained outside Phoenix bank,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wsj-reporter-detained-outside-phoenix-bank/,2024-03-10 23:06:23.210897+00:00,,,,Arrest/Criminal Charge,,,,Dion Rabouin (Wall Street Journal),,2022-11-23,False,Phoenix,Arizona (AZ),33.44838,-112.07404,"
Wall Street Journal reporter Dion Rabouin was detained on alleged trespassing charges while reporting outside of a bank in Phoenix, Arizona, on Nov. 23, 2022.
ABC15 Arizona reported that Rabouin, who’s based in New York, had traveled to Arizona to visit family during the Thanksgiving holiday. He told the outlet he went to a Chase branch in north Phoenix to interview customers for an ongoing story about savings accounts.
Rabouin, who declined to comment further, said he was standing on a sidewalk outside the building when a pair of employees asked him what he was doing. According to a police report about the incident, bank employees called the Phoenix Police Department to report a suspicious person at approximately 2:45 p.m. and an officer arrived 20 minutes later. The report claims Rabouin told the employees he was a reporter conducting interviews and refused to leave, and that when the officer asked Rabouin to produce his identification, he refused.
Rabouin refuted that account in an interview with ABC15. The reporter said that he had told the branch employees that he was there working on a story and at no time did the bank ask him to leave. When the officer arrived at the scene, he identified himself as a reporter for the Journal.
When the officer told him he was trespassing, Rabouin said that he was unaware it was private property and attempted to leave, but was physically blocked from doing so.
Rabouin told ABC15 the officer started grabbing his arms and when he drew back, the officer said, “This could get bad for you if you don’t comply and don’t do what I say.”
The reporter was then placed in handcuffs. According to ABC15, a bystander saw the situation unfolding and began recording the detainment on her cellphone. The station aired the footage she captured.
“I heard him say he was going to leave,” the woman says in the recording. “This is ridiculous. He’s a reporter.”
In the footage, the officer led Rabouin to his police car and attempted to place him in the back, but the reporter refused to place his feet inside to allow the officer to close the door. The two talked for several minutes until additional officers arrived, and approximately 15 minutes after he was initially detained, Rabouin was released.
According to the police report, the officer informed Rabouin that he was “officially trespassed from the property” and that if he returned he would be arrested and charged.
Rabouin told ABC15 that he filed an internal complaint with the Phoenix Police Department in the days that followed. About a week later, he received a call notifying him that it had reviewed the incident and found no wrongdoing.
In a letter shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker by the Journal, Editor-in-Chief Matt Murray called on Chief of Police Michael Sullivan in early December to conduct an internal review.
“I am appalled and concerned that officers at your department would attempt to interfere with Mr. Rabouin’s constitutional right to engage in journalism and purport to limit anyone’s presence in a public location,” Murray wrote. “The Journal and Mr. Rabouin are still determining what further action to take in response to his detention by your officers.”
When reached for comment by the Tracker via email in January 2023, PhxPD spokesperson Sgt. Melissa Soliz acknowledged the letter and said the department had opened an investigation.
“This letter was shared with our Professional Standard Bureau for review and they are conducting an administrative investigation. Once the administrative investigation is complete, it will be made available as part of a public records request,” Soliz said.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the Tracker, condemned Rabouin’s detainment and echoed calls for an internal investigation to ensure that no other journalists are hampered or harassed by police in the course of their work.
“Detaining and handcuffing a journalist — who was gathering news in a public place — is a flagrant violation of his First Amendment rights,” said CPJ U.S. and Canada Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen.
The police department is facing ongoing scrutiny from the Department of Justice, which announced in August 2021 that it would be assessing, among other things, whether PhxPD officers retaliate against people engaging in activities protected by the First Amendment or carry out discriminatory policing.
Rabouin told ABC15 that while he as a journalist does not want to be the story, it’s important to share his experience.
“This is a department that’s under DOJ investigation for excessive force, under investigation for the way they operate and handle business, and despite that, they continue to operate this way,” Rabouin said.
Wall Street Journal reporter Dion Rabouin was handcuffed by a Phoenix Police Department officer and threatened with trespassing charges while conducting interviews outside a Chase Bank in Phoenix, Arizona, on Nov. 23, 2022.
",detained and released without being processed,Phoenix Police Department,None,2022-11-23,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,,,, 2021-12-14 15:52:14.530468+00:00,2021-12-14 15:52:14.530468+00:00,As many as 20 journalists investigated by secretive CBP division,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/as-many-as-20-journalists-investigated-by-secretive-cbp-division/,2021-12-14 15:52:14.469152+00:00,,,,Chilling Statement,,,,"Ali Watkins (Politico), Arianna Huffington (HuffPost), Martha Mendoza (The Associated Press)",,2021-12-11,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"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.
Wall Street Journal reporter Katie Honan was pushed by New York City police who used bicycles as moving barricades to corral journalists as she covered a Nov. 5, 2020, march in Manhattan, according to video and social media posts.
Protests erupted in New York and other cities on Nov. 3, Election Day in the U.S., and continued for days as results for the presidential election trickled in.
Honan covered the demonstration and said in a Twitter post that New York Police Department officers used bicycles to push her and other reporters back, even though they had department-issued credentials.
In a video accompanying Honan’s tweet, police officers wearing full protective gear can be seen repeatedly lifting bicycles in the air as they advanced toward protesters while shouting “Move back!” almost in unison.
NYPD officers on bikes continue pushing people here including (credentialed) members of the press and @JumaaneWilliams @nycpa pic.twitter.com/eey36K66qr
— katie honan (@katie_honan) November 6, 2020
Demonstrations were held weekly at the Stonewall Inn throughout the summer, but the Nov. 5 march drew a stepped-up police presence because the results of the presidential election were still uncertain. The rallies were intended to call attention to the rights of Black transgender people.
The NYPD didn’t respond to a request for comment. Officers arrested 18 people in the demonstration, Gothamist reported.
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams was at the scene and also was shoved by officers, according to reports. Williams said in a Twitter post that police were trying to aggressively clear the street to make an arrest.
“Officers then appeared to begin setting up for mass arrests— we intervened to try and de-escalate and prevent that,” Williams tweeted. “Most importantly, there seems to be a lack of leadership when the City needs it the most.”
The NYPD said in a Twitter post around 9 p.m. that night that a suspect attacked a police officer at Broadway and Bond Street in Manhattan’s NoHo neighborhood, a few blocks away from Union Square. The suspect tried to strangle the officer with a chain, police alleged.
New York Police Department officers use bicycles as a mobile barricade during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Manhattan on Nov. 5, 2020. At least two journalists were shoved, one of whom was knocked to the ground.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, election, Election 2020, protest",,, 2020-07-30 15:03:05.078738+00:00,2024-03-27 13:23:02.733664+00:00,"WSJ reporter says NYPD hit him in face, shoved him to ground during protests",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wsj-reporter-says-nypd-hit-him-face-shoved-him-ground-during-protests/,2024-03-27 13:23:02.644722+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Tyler Blint-Welsh (Wall Street Journal),,2020-05-31,False,New York,New York (NY),None,None,"Tyler Blint-Welsh, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, said he was hit in the face and shoved to the ground by police while he covered protests in Lower Manhattan on May 31, 2020.
The protest in New York was held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis 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.
Blint-Welsh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that on the evening of May 31 he was walking his bike through a crowd a couple of blocks from Union Square, his New York Police Department-issued press credentials dangling from his neck. He saw police officers in riot gear and with Plexiglas shields a couple rows deep. Protesters faced down the police and refused to leave, he said.
Blint-Welsh said that NYPD played a recording over and over, for about 15 to 20 minutes: “This protest is destructive and violent. We order you to disperse. If you do not disperse, you are subject to arrest.”
In response, the crowd began to chant, “This is a nonviolent protest!”
Suddenly, Blint-Welsh said, the police rushed forward. People screamed and started to run, he said, but he decided it was better if he stayed apart, on a street corner. He left his bike and found himself in a group of people under some scaffolding.
Blint-Welsh said he told an officer, “I’m press!” and raised his hands in the air.
Then, he said, an officer pushed his shield into the journalist’s face, hard, with a corner of the shield tearing his lip and breaking his glasses, which fell from his face. Blint-Welsh said his head was protected by his bike helmet.
The reporter said it felt dangerous to turn and walk away, but when the sidewalk widened, he was able to do so. Blint-Welsh said that’s when a police officer shoved him in the back and he fell, injuring his ankle.
He said he heard an officer yell, “Get ’em!” as if officers were going to jump on him.
At about 11 p.m., Blint-Welsh posted about the assault on Twitter.
Lost my glasses and my ankle is in searing pain after NYPD hit me in the face multiple times with riot shields and pushed me to the ground. I was backing away as request, with my hands up. My NYPD-issued press badge was clearly visible. I’m just sitting here crying. This sucks.
— Tyler Blint-Welsh (@tylergabriel_) June 1, 2020
The New York City Police Department acknowledged a request to answer questions about the incident, but didn’t reply to further messages.
Blint-Welsh told the Tracker he sought medical attention and was given a medical boot to stabilize his foot.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department said police are looking into the allegation.
“The incident, sadly, is the latest of many across the country in recent days in which we have seen journalists injured, and in some cases targeted, and a reminder of the dangers we face covering the story,” WSJ Editor in Chief Matt Murrray told staff in an email. IAPE, the Journal’s staff union of which Blint-Welsh is a member, also released a statement condemning the assault.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
NYPD officers form a line near the Manhattan Bridge in the Manhattan borough of New York City on May 31, 2020.
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