Incident details
- Date of incident
- July 30, 2026
- Location
- Los Angeles, California
- Targets
- Kip Ebanks (Newsmax Media)
- Assailant
- Private individual
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Yes
Assault
Above, a man shoving photographer Kip Ebanks’ camera into his face during a live shot for “The Todd Starnes Show” on Newsmax, in Los Angeles, California, on July 30, 2026.
Videographer Kip Ebanks had his camera shoved by a passerby, jamming it into his face while he was filming a Newsmax report in Los Angeles, California, on July 30, 2026.
Newsmax correspondent Joe Moeller recounted the incident in a news segment, saying that he and a photographer went to the city’s Skid Row neighborhood to report on animal abuse and homelessness in the area.
“During a live shot, a homeless person actually walked up and smashed my photographer’s face with a camera,” Moeller said. A clip of the incident shows the photographer’s camera jostling, followed by a man’s hand appearing in the frame before he walks away.
Newsmax later confirmed the photographer was Ebanks. He did not return a request for comment for this story.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
