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{
"title": "Independent videographer attacked at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-attacked-by-demonstrators-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-01T17:38:31.381695Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-10T13:13:45.060155Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-10T13:13:44.971736Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"n0wq7\">Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was surrounded and attacked by multiple individuals while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"aqafg\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7lh9n\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"6drpu\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"77k0u\">Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that tensions were high from the start, and that while covering the clashing demonstrations for several hours he observed an “intense” amount of security, tit-for-tat assaults and lots of bear spray in use.</p><p data-block-key=\"bas98\">After police cleared the area surrounding the synagogue, Beckner-Carmitchel said, the pro-Palestinian demonstrators began to move back and the pro-Israeli protesters followed and chased them through the neighborhood. When the groups looped back to Adas Torah, he said it was like a switch flipped.</p><p data-block-key=\"ecspf\">“I’ve been doing this a long time, and I know when things are about to turn from violent to even more violent, and I could feel it,” he told the Tracker. “That was the moment where I was like, ‘Oh boy, I need to start figuring out a way to get out of here because this is not good.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"7o6bd\">Beckner-Carmitchel said journalists were being deliberately targeted, so when he saw a large group following independent journalist <a href=\"/all-incidents/journalist-assaulted-by-la-protesters-has-camera-damaged-and-iphone-stolen/\">Kate Burns</a> and another photojournalist, he approached them to film in case something happened and to plead with the crowd. That’s when he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1805045228635861005/video/1\">became the target</a> of the crowd’s aggression.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Video and a still taken before I was hit several times by several in the pro-Israel crowd.<br><br>By the way, I’m alright and have filed a police report. <a href=\"https://t.co/2iffHL5p7E\">pic.twitter.com/2iffHL5p7E</a></p>— acatwithnews (@ACatWithNews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1805045228635861005?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"n0wq7\">At 0:28 in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/johnschreiber/status/1805038380079808748\">footage</a> captured from a helicopter by <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dOKwts4J-0\">KCAL-TV</a> photojournalist John Schreiber, a man can be seen kicking the phone from Beckner-Carmitchel’s hand. The phone was caught by videographer <a href=\"/all-incidents/photographer-pulled-struck-while-covering-la-protests/\">Justin Jun</a>, but when Jun attempted to return it the pair of journalists were swarmed by individuals Beckner-Carmitchel identified as pro-Israeli demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"am4aj\">“The crowd surrounded us, so I grabbed him (Jun) really close and gave him a bear hug to try to make sure that nobody can get us down on the ground and to protect my face and stomach and to protect my gear,” Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Multiple fights broke out between pro-Palestine and pro-Israel demonstrators today near a synagogue in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of LA. Looks like some live-streamers/journalists were also attacked as a phone was kicked out of one man's hand. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kcalnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@kcalnews</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/JApVUC180U\">pic.twitter.com/JApVUC180U</a></p>— John Schreiber (@johnschreiber) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/johnschreiber/status/1805038380079808748?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"n0wq7\">Schreiber’s footage shows two men pulling Jun back while a third attempts to kick his video camera. As Beckner-Carmitchel holds onto Jun, the third man grabs onto his shoulder and punches him twice in the back of the head.</p><p data-block-key=\"8j7gb\">Independent photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-camera-snatched-smashed-during-clashes-at-la-protest/\">Nick Stern</a> steps in to attempt to stop the attack, but as the journalists move away from the crowd one of the men nearly rips the shirt off Beckner-Carmitchel’s back and another kicks the videographer in the groin.</p><p data-block-key=\"clit3\">Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that he went up to the police line and was eventually allowed through to file a police report. He said that he had a large bump on his head and that, while there were some light scratches on one of the phone’s camera lenses, it was otherwise undamaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"3a2pg\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. Beckner-Carmitchel said he believes his report is one of those cited. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"pcaj4\">Independent videographers Sean Beckner-Carmitchel and Justin Jun, shown in circle added at center, were assaulted by multiple individuals while reporting on clashing protests outside a synagogue in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024.</p>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"subpoena_type": null,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
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"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"current_charges": [],
"dropped_charges": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sean Beckner-Carmitchel (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist shoved, phone briefly stolen during clashes at LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-phone-briefly-stolen-during-clashes-at-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-02T13:15:08.017820Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-10T20:28:28.178770Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-10T20:28:28.049996Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"q2vhr\">Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was shoved multiple times and her phone briefly stolen while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"8uo19\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"4h5cm\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"7vl6u\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"28d17\">Berg told the Tracker she was targeted with aggressions multiple times throughout the day. “The one thing that really disturbed me the most about that day was the rage. You just could feel the insane amount of rage from these individuals, like nothing I’ve seen,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"f64ao\">Investigative journalist Kate Burns, who was <a href=\"https://x.com/LCRWnews/status/1804952319441965087\">covering the protest</a> for Left Coast Right Watch, <a href=\"https://x.com/LCRWnews/status/1804986225088163928\">captured footage</a> shortly after 2 p.m. of multiple men watching Berg film the protests. At 0:11 in the clip, one man appears to lightly push a second toward Berg. The second man then crashes into her with his shoulder and raised arms, toppling her several feet over and sending her phone flying.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">More attack's on press <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TinaDesireeBerg</a> has been trageted a couple of times today <a href=\"https://t.co/fh5XbDT2nx\">pic.twitter.com/fh5XbDT2nx</a></p>— LEFT COAST RIGHT WATCH (@LCRWnews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LCRWnews/status/1804986225088163928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 23, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"q2vhr\">When Burns confronts the man about what happened, he responds simply with, “I got pushed.” Later in the clip, the same man appears to attempt to block multiple journalists from filming.</p><p data-block-key=\"16hiv\">After police cleared the area surrounding the synagogue, the pro-Palestinian demonstrators began to move back and the pro-Israeli protesters followed and chased them through the neighborhood, according to reports to the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbels\">Berg said that a group of individuals she identified as pro-Israeli demonstrators surrounded her, shouting at her to leave and threatening, “We’ll get you later.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9ko7o\">At 2:04 in <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAAG5tOuTC0\">footage</a> captured by Berg, she can be heard asking a woman wearing an Israeli flag around her shoulders, “Why is being a journalist being a loser?” A man standing between them shouts over the woman’s response: “Because you lie! We don’t need you here!”</p><p data-block-key=\"5am72\">The man then repeatedly attempts to block Berg’s camera until photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-camera-snatched-smashed-during-clashes-at-la-protest/\">Nick Stern</a> intervenes, as more and more people begin to surround them. “A rabbi got in between them and me and had to calm them down,” Berg said.</p><p data-block-key=\"n8op\">Berg told the Tracker that after protesters had moved into another part of the surrounding neighborhood, she was standing at the top of a small set of stairs to film as they marched around the corner. “I walked up there and was filming this shot when this guy came up around me and pushed me off the top of the staircase,” Berg said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6jmck\">Stern, who was standing next to her, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/uspresstracker/status/1808610620121534780\">filmed</a> the incident but seconds later the same man grabbed the camera from his hands and threw it on the ground, damaging it.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Photojournalist <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NickSternPhotos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@nicksternphotos</a> said that the press credentials around his neck may have made him more of a target: someone grabbed the video camera out of his hands and then threw it on the ground, breaking it.<a href=\"https://t.co/IgxGVQsjjf\">https://t.co/IgxGVQsjjf</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/9DZ51TJpB3\">pic.twitter.com/9DZ51TJpB3</a></p>— U.S. Press Freedom Tracker (@uspresstracker) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/uspresstracker/status/1808610620121534780?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 3, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"u4hus\">Berg added that shortly after that encounter she was pepper-sprayed by an individual who ran up and then quickly away, but said she wasn’t certain whether she had been deliberately targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"5i8ji\">The protests eventually looped back to Adas Torah, which is when independent videographer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-attacked-by-demonstrators-at-la-protest/\">Sean Beckner-Carmitchel</a> said a switch flipped and violence escalated, particularly with the targeting of journalists. Berg told the Tracker she saw Beckner-Carmitchel being attacked and so ran over to intervene.</p><p data-block-key=\"aovi8\">Shortly after, Berg was targeted again: An individual she described as “a kid” ripped the phone from her hands and ran down the street. “I start chasing him as fast as I could and somehow caught up to him,” she said. “I said, ‘Give me my phone. That is theft.’ And he looked at me and just chucked it as far and as hard as he could and it went all the way across the street.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cebj6\">Beginning at 1:20 in <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dOKwts4J-0\">footage</a> captured by KCAL-TV, Berg is visible running toward the right side of the street; when the camera zooms in, she can be seen grabbing what looks to be a cellphone from the hands of an individual who appears to be wearing a skullcap. Berg said the individual picked up her phone and returned it when she said she would press charges if he didn’t. She said that aside from scratches on the case, it was undamaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"2h6ra\">Around that same time, another demonstrator <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-assaulted-by-la-protesters-has-camera-damaged-and-iphone-stolen/\">grabbed the phone from Burns’ hands</a> and ran off, dropping it on the sidewalk when he noticed police nearby, the reporter told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"fk6hq\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p><p data-block-key=\"b8tln\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment and additional details about the incident from Tina-Desiree Berg.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Berg_CA_assault_6_23.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"09jwt\">Journalist Tina-Desiree Berg, center, in black, holds a cellphone behind her back, having retrieved it after an individual threw it across the road. She was covering clashing protests outside a synagogue in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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{
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"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest",
"robbery"
],
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"dropped_charges": [],
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"Assault",
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],
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},
{
"title": "Freelance photojournalist’s camera struck while covering LA protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalists-camera-struck-while-covering-la-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-10T14:44:14.479452Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-10T14:44:14.479452Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-10T14:36:44.147804Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nt8tt\">Freelance photojournalist Jon Putman had his camera struck while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"5968v\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"d9fnn\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"5mv5k\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"c6khg\">In <a href=\"https://x.com/ACatWithNews/status/1805000908654416033\">footage</a> captured by independent videographer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-attacked-by-demonstrators-at-la-protest/\">Sean Beckner-Carmitchel</a>, Putman is visible in a black T-shirt and baseball cap <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8lTn9JRtBv/?img_index=1\">photographing</a> from the street as dozens of people mill around. At 0:23 in the clip, a man with a face bloodied after a fight can be seen knocking Putman’s camera aside with his hand. The same individual similarly attempted to prevent photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pushed-multiple-times-at-protest-outside-la-synagogue/\">David Swanson</a> from photographing him earlier.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Things continuing, both crowds now walking through Pico-Robertson exchanging the occasional fight and lots of taunts. Pro-Palestinian protesters appear to be attempting to walk away or through the neighborhood. Pro-Israel demonstrators following them. <a href=\"https://t.co/csRakK3ylU\">pic.twitter.com/csRakK3ylU</a></p>— Sean Beckner-Carmitchel (@ACatWithNews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1805000908654416033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 23, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nt8tt\">Putman did not respond to requests for additional comment about the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"999mn\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"duckd\">Freelance photojournalist Jon Putman, far left, can be seen documenting clashing protests outside the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles on June 23, 2024, as an individual grabs his camera and pushes it away.</p>",
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"protest"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist pushed, camera lens broken during LA protest clashes",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pushed-camera-lens-broken-during-la-protest-clashes/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-08T19:21:43.957787Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-08T19:21:43.957787Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-08T19:21:43.875476Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8tzq1\">An independent photojournalist was shoved and his camera was kicked, breaking the lens, while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"6jcft\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"bdk27\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"ct0hc\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"7d9rk\">The photographer, who asked not to be identified because he fears harassment, told the Tracker that he arrived at the protest with another photojournalist and verbally identified himself to protesters as a journalist, although he didn’t wear a press pass.</p><p data-block-key=\"93ijc\">As the protest came to an end, he was attacked when someone in the crowd falsely said he worked for Al Jazeera, the Qatari-based international TV news network that the Israeli government has barred from operating in the country amid the Israel-Gaza war. The photographer denied that he worked for the news organization, but said no one could hear him in the chaos.</p><p data-block-key=\"cqucc\">A large man then walked up to him and, standing chest to chest, pushed the journalist into the street with his torso, he recounted to the Tracker. Another person at the protest pulled the large man away.</p><p data-block-key=\"2jcdo\">The crowd around the photojournalist grew to at least a dozen people, he said. They were walking toward him and he was slowly walking backward.</p><p data-block-key=\"820nk\">“I felt my camera get kicked,” he told the Tracker. “It was in my hand. I sort of wrapped my strap around my hand, so it didn’t fly away.”</p><p data-block-key=\"402au\">The lens, a Sigma 20 mm F1.4 Canon mount worth about $900, was broken in the encounter. He said he has since sent the lens to be repaired, which he expects to cost hundreds of dollars.</p><p data-block-key=\"fm05c\">After the kick, the photographer’s friend and fellow journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-attacked-by-demonstrators-at-la-protest/\">Sean Beckner-Carmitchel</a> got between him and the crowd and told him to get away, which he did, despite several people grabbing at his backpack. Meanwhile, Beckner-Carmitchel and journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-pulled-struck-while-covering-la-protests/\">Justin Jun</a> were beaten.</p><p data-block-key=\"6lqrg\">The photojournalist returned to try to help the journalists who were being assaulted, but someone else walked him away. He returned one more time and when Beckner-Carmitchel shouted at him to get away, he did.</p><p data-block-key=\"dcgtc\">After the event, the photojournalist said he was particularly worried about people from the protest tracking him down and so now sleeps with a baseball bat by his bed.</p><p data-block-key=\"9n7hl\">“I still would happily do photojournalism,” he told the Tracker. “I’m just really disheartened that police didn’t even bother to stop any violence that was happening right in front of their eyes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7omn\">He continued: “I’m scared for my safety at protests now. And I’m worried that I’m going to get targeted for no reason other than having a camera.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b7ns6\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/NS_BH_06232024_-2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"0zkx6\">A confrontation at a June 23, 2024, protest in Los Angeles. A photojournalist at the event was shoved and his camera lens was broken.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera lens"
}
],
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"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
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"categories": [
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"Equipment Damage"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist pushed multiple times at protest outside LA synagogue",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pushed-multiple-times-at-protest-outside-la-synagogue/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-09T16:02:53.064663Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-12T14:26:26.818984Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-12T14:26:26.714848Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t1lrh\">Freelance photojournalist David Swanson was pushed multiple times while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"fe6dv\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dm2li\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"36ice\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"9qt0j\">Swanson told the Tracker that he was on assignment for Agence France-Presse and documented various skirmishes that broke out in the street. He said he was wearing a lanyard with a press pass issued by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and had his LAPD-issued credentials in his bag.</p><p data-block-key=\"4f3s\">In <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8oQZfguXkJ/?hl=en&img_index=4\">footage</a> captured by photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pepper-sprayed-camera-smacked-at-clashing-la-protests/\">Shay Horse</a>, Swanson, in a gray shirt, can be seen moving in to photograph a young man whose face is covered in blood following a brawl. The man then grabs Swanson’s lens and shoves it into his face and to the side.</p><p data-block-key=\"7asms\">“That gentleman was there in support of the Jewish neighborhood and he got into a scuffle and he was bloodied when he got up,” Swanson said. “I got close with my camera. He saw me and I think he reached forward a couple of times, grabbed my lens and pushed it away from my face.”</p><p data-block-key=\"59si7\">He said he had almost forgotten about the incident, as he had been so focused on getting the photo, though he added that others attempted to interfere as well. “There was a person — who I think we all had trouble with — that was pushing me and didn’t want me to photograph the bloodied person,” Swanson said.</p><p data-block-key=\"darjf\">Swanson told the Tracker that he was shoved by individuals at the demonstration at least once or twice more that day, but that he was uninjured. He said that anyone who was documenting the day’s event was being targeted with violence.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Things continuing, both crowds now walking through Pico-Robertson exchanging the occasional fight and lots of taunts. Pro-Palestinian protesters appear to be attempting to walk away or through the neighborhood. Pro-Israel demonstrators following them. <a href=\"https://t.co/csRakK3ylU\">pic.twitter.com/csRakK3ylU</a></p>— Sean Beckner-Carmitchel (@ACatWithNews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1805000908654416033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 23, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"wj1vk\">“The gist of it is that in the current climate, we’re getting attacked more by protesters,” he said. “Nobody tried to take my camera, but I know some of the reporters who use their cellphones for video had their cameras stolen.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9jd15\">The Tracker has documented the theft of at least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=robbery%2Cprotest%2CIsrael-Gaza+war\">four journalists’ devices</a> at the demonstrations that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"1q60\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"e8xb4\">Protesters and counterprotesters gathered outside Los Angeles’ Adas Torah synagogue on June 23, 2024. Freelance photojournalist David Swanson was on assignment covering clashes between demonstrators when he was shoved multiple times.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"name": "California",
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},
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"protest"
],
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"dropped_charges": [],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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],
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"David Swanson (Agence France-Presse)"
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{
"title": "Photographer pulled, struck while covering LA protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-pulled-struck-while-covering-la-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-01T18:41:28.614253Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-01T18:41:28.614253Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-01T18:39:21.697853Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5rgtk\">Independent videographer Justin Jun was pulled by multiple individuals and smacked in the head while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"6110h\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fs7do\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"ejtkf\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"etl1t\">At 0:28 in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/johnschreiber/status/1805038380079808748\">footage</a> captured from a helicopter by <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dOKwts4J-0\">KCAL-TV</a> photojournalist John Schreiber, a man can be seen kicking independent videographer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-attacked-by-demonstrators-at-la-protest/\">Sean Beckner-Carmitchel</a>’s phone out of his hand. Jun caught the phone, but when he attempted to return it the pair of journalists were swarmed by individuals Beckner-Carmitchel identified as pro-Israeli demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"afg5b\">“The crowd surrounded us, so I grabbed him (Jun) really close and gave him a bear hug to try to make sure that nobody can get us down on the ground and to protect my face and stomach and to protect my gear,” Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Multiple fights broke out between pro-Palestine and pro-Israel demonstrators today near a synagogue in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of LA. Looks like some live-streamers/journalists were also attacked as a phone was kicked out of one man's hand. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kcalnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@kcalnews</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/JApVUC180U\">pic.twitter.com/JApVUC180U</a></p>— John Schreiber (@johnschreiber) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/johnschreiber/status/1805038380079808748?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5rgtk\">Schreiber’s footage shows two men pulling Jun back while a third attempts to kick his video camera. One of the men who had pulled him into the street then strikes him in the back of the head with an open hand. Beckner-Carmitchel is also seen being punched multiple times while holding onto Jun.</p><p data-block-key=\"cdlrp\">Independent photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-camera-snatched-smashed-during-clashes-at-la-protest/\">Nick Stern</a> steps in to attempt to stop the attack, but as the journalists move away from the crowd Jun helps keep Beckner-Carmitchel upright after an assailant kicks him in the groin.</p><p data-block-key=\"br6c9\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2024-06-28_at_10.17.21.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"kq962\">Independent videographers Justin Jun and Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, shown in circle added at center, were assaulted by multiple individuals while reporting on clashing protests outside a synagogue in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024.</p>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
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"protest"
],
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Reporter asked to leave event after questioning New York governor",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-asked-to-leave-event-after-questioning-new-york-governor/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-02T20:41:35.024490Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-02T20:41:35.024490Z",
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"date": "2024-06-23",
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"longitude": null,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vo3fw\">A senior reporter for the nonprofit newsroom New York Focus said he was “ejected” from an event held by Gov. Kathy Hochul in New York City on June 23, 2024, after she declined to answer questions from him about a controversial congestion pricing program.</p><p data-block-key=\"a4cps\">Journalist Sam Mellins was attending Hochul’s speech at the Latino Pastoral Action Center and Sanctuary in the Bronx, where he repeatedly asked her about the program, which would have charged drivers higher tolls to enter Manhattan during peak hours but was abruptly blocked by Hochul earlier in June.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">After <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GovKathyHochul?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GovKathyHochul</a> refused to answer my questions about her plans to fund the MTA, I was ejected from her event yesterday.<br><br>Meanwhile, Senator <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LizKrueger?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LizKrueger</a> says the that the governor has offered "no proposal" to replace congestion pricing.<a href=\"https://t.co/WIpUvMQgrs\">https://t.co/WIpUvMQgrs</a></p>— Sam Mellins (@SamMellins) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SamMellins/status/1805265517592166702?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vo3fw\">According to <a href=\"https://nysfocus.com/2024/06/24/hochul-declines-questions-congestion-pricing\">a published account by Mellins</a>, Hochul went into a side room where security personnel barred the reporter from following. Mellins was told to leave the building and instructed to wait outside to ask questions of her there.</p><p data-block-key=\"4p4dv\">Hochul then apparently left by another exit, skirting him, as her security and press staff also left the building, Mellins wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"e660e\">Mellins added that Hochul spokesperson Liam Buckley apologized for the ejection, saying it “shouldn’t have happened.”</p><p data-block-key=\"43f15\">Neither Mellins nor Hochul’s press office responded to a request for additional information from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ei56n\">Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at the Latino Pastoral Action Center and Sanctuary in New York City on June 23, 2024, where a reporter was asked to leave after asking questions about one of her policies.</p>",
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"name": "New York",
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"categories": [
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],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist assaulted at LA protest, has camera damaged and iPhone stolen",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-assaulted-by-la-protesters-has-camera-damaged-and-iphone-stolen/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-01T20:50:53.427599Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-02T21:09:31.531453Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-02T21:09:31.403576Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"87pwu\">Investigative journalist Kate Burns was beaten and had gear damaged and stolen while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"1p7e3\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cvlph\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nku4\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qaof\">Burns, who was posting live updates from <a href=\"https://x.com/LCRWnews/status/1804952319441965087\">the protest</a> to social platform X for the investigative journalism outlet Left Coast Right Watch, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was clearly identified as a journalist with a press pass on a lanyard and a camera around her neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"3q7l2\">Burns said that several times she was <a href=\"https://x.com/LCRWnews/status/1804984532120244377\">surrounded by people at the protest</a> who <a href=\"https://x.com/LCRWnews/status/1805016813727797296\">shouted misogynistic expletives</a> and threats. Pro-Israeli protesters <a href=\"https://x.com/LCRWnews/status/1804971469669388749\">called her a terrorist</a> and threatened to rape, behead and burn her at the stake, she recounted.</p><p data-block-key=\"735ki\">They also said they wished she had died of cancer, added Burns, a cancer survivor who wears a face mask because she is immunocompromised.</p><p data-block-key=\"dvfdh\">When, near the end of the protest, Burns went to the aid of a journalist who was being assaulted, an individual stole her iPhone and ran off. Another person at the protest snatched her hat and mask and tripped her, she told the Tracker.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is the last of my footage <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ACatWithNews</a> being assulted other journo's trying to break it up then a guy in the white shirt steals my phone, someone see else steals my hat and mask, trips me, then when he sees the cops he throws my phone <a href=\"https://t.co/WsKZ0j96PK\">pic.twitter.com/WsKZ0j96PK</a></p>— LEFT COAST RIGHT WATCH (@LCRWnews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LCRWnews/status/1805029913248059854?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"87pwu\">She chased after her phone and when the thief saw the police officers he threw it on the ground, she said. As she reached to get it, others at the protest stepped on the phone to block her.</p><p data-block-key=\"8mv0a\">While she was down, a person at the protest kicked her on the back. Burns said she had scrapes on her hands from the pavement.</p><p data-block-key=\"1tv8c\">She said she picked up her phone, hat and mask and ran to the police, but they didn’t respond to her pleas to intervene.</p><p data-block-key=\"2iipt\">Burns told the Tracker that she retreated into a doorway, but five people at the protest surrounded her. They kicked stones at her, yelled hateful words and taunted her about being a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"r4bf\">Police officers then grabbed Burns and moved her to the other side of the police line into safety, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bg6ai\">A news crew from local station KTLA-TV then intervened to encourage police to take a report of the crimes against Burns. She was later able to file a police report.</p><p data-block-key=\"9p9ld\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest, one of which was Burns’, and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p><p data-block-key=\"7mgmd\">Burns said that her camera, a Canon EOS 600D, was damaged in the scuffles and its case was dinged but still functional. Her phone was undamaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"3kfar\">Burns told the Tracker that her editor has taken her off on-the-ground reporting until her safety can be assured.</p><p data-block-key=\"8uhjp\">“To be perfectly honest, I’m rethinking my life choices,” Burns said. “We thought we were going to get killed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ackcl\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include additional details about the incident provided by Burns to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Kate_burns_via_acatwithnews.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"fyp7f\">Investigative journalist Kate Burns, right, is shown working at a protest in Los Angeles on June 23, 2024. Burns was threatened and assaulted, and had her phone stolen and camera damaged during clashes between protesters and counterprotesters.</p>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera equipment"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest",
"robbery"
],
"current_charges": [],
"dropped_charges": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kate Burns (Left Coast Right Watch)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist pepper-sprayed, camera smacked at clashing LA protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pepper-sprayed-camera-smacked-at-clashing-la-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-28T15:39:54.396739Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-10T21:13:22.411732Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-10T21:13:22.294616Z",
"date": "2024-06-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ms3qq\">Freelance photojournalist Shay Horse was pepper-sprayed and his camera smacked while documenting clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2024-06-23&date_upper=2024-06-23&city=Los+Angeles&tags=Israel-Gaza+war%2Cprotest\">nine journalists</a> were assaulted while covering the violence that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"5hphm\">The conflict began after the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8dActZyjiI/\">called</a> for demonstrators to meet at noon outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood in west LA to protest the alleged sale of occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-23/pro-palestinian-protesters-and-supporters-of-israel-engage-in-violent-clash-outside-a-west-l-a-synagogue\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>. </p><p data-block-key=\"161c7\">Multiple journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that scuffles, brawls and exchanges of pepper spray broke out in the streets nearby between the protesters and counterprotesters. </p><p data-block-key=\"1cpdd\">Individuals from both sides — including a rabbi and security volunteers from the Jewish community — attempted to intervene and prevent the violence from escalating. CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/24/us/los-angeles-synagogue-palestinian-israeli-protest-violence/index.html\">reported</a> that Los Angeles Police Department officers established a perimeter around the synagogue.</p><p data-block-key=\"qbf2\">Horse told the Tracker that he arrived at the synagogue and things were already getting “weird.” </p><p data-block-key=\"298gv\">“I showed up and was there for maybe two minutes and someone pepper-sprayed some people, including this one dude Cam Higby,” Horse said. “I got the backsplash right in the eyes. Oh god, I hated that so much.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bijgi\">The Tracker has documented Higby’s assault <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-sprayed-with-chemical-irritant-while-covering-clashing-la-protests/\">here</a>. </p><p data-block-key=\"7chl3\">Horse said approximately an hour later things started getting more hostile and violent, with fights breaking out one after another.</p><p data-block-key=\"63g2p\">“I was trying to photograph one of the assaults and this dude came up and tried to fuck with me,” Horse said. “He went to punch me in the face and then smacked the shit out of my gear. He told me I had to delete everything and then ran away from me.” </p><p data-block-key=\"6c7ft\">Horse <a href=\"https://x.com/HuntedHorse/status/1805055832566243750\">posted</a> a clip of the incident to the social media platform X, which shows an individual wearing a face covering, sunglasses and a baseball cap approaching Horse. The man can be heard telling the photojournalist, “Put your camera away” before striking at it with an open palm.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gonna do a thread of video I shot today at the violent conflict outside of Adas Torah. <br><br>I got my camera smacked by a masked person that demanded I delete footage of an assault on a pro Palestine protester. <a href=\"https://t.co/gPSIQW6MAt\">pic.twitter.com/gPSIQW6MAt</a></p>— Shay Horse (@HuntedHorse) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/HuntedHorse/status/1805055832566243750?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ms3qq\">In a <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8mLwoXRYNm/?hl=en\">post on Instagram</a> about the day’s events, Horse wrote that he was also pepper-sprayed a second time and that other journalists were targeted with violence as well. </p><p data-block-key=\"f0h6q\">“Even the insurrectionists weren’t this openly hostile to journalists,” wrote Horse, who covered the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “I saw four other journalists getting assaulted, harassed or robbed by the pro Israel supporters.” </p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Pro Israel supporters really hated news cameras. I had at least a dozen people do something like this to me all day. <a href=\"https://t.co/oRtc1rapiW\">pic.twitter.com/oRtc1rapiW</a></p>— Shay Horse (@HuntedHorse) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/HuntedHorse/status/1805410926944035164?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 25, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ms3qq\">The LAPD said in a <a href=\"https://x.com/LAPDPIO/status/1805244711114059803/photo/1\">news release</a> that officers were investigating two reports of battery at the protest and that one individual had been arrested for having a spiked post. A spokesperson for the department told the Tracker via email June 27 that they have no further information.</p><p data-block-key=\"e4ur3\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment and additional details about the incident from Shay Horse.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Horse_CA_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zvy15\">Freelance photojournalist Shay Horse, center left, can be seen carrying multiple cameras to document clashing protests outside the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles, California, on June 23, 2024. Horse was pepper-sprayed and his camera struck that day.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"current_charges": [],
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"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Shay Horse (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Legal journalist may publish revenge porn plaintiff’s name after prior restraint overturned",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/legal-journalist-may-publish-revenge-porn-plaintiffs-name-after-prior-restraint-overturned/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-22T18:23:16.883412Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-22T19:43:18.041928Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-22T19:43:17.936266Z",
"date": "2024-06-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Antonio",
"longitude": -98.49363,
"latitude": 29.42412,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tpvxe\">A magistrate judge ordered a legal journalist on June 20, 2024, not to publish the name of a plaintiff that had mistakenly appeared on court documents in a revenge porn case. The ruling was overturned a month later.</p><p data-block-key=\"cu8d9\">Eugene Volokh — co-founder of the legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy, a law professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University — was singled out in the ruling by Magistrate Judge Elizabeth S. Chestney as the only person who was barred from using the plaintiff’s name.</p><p data-block-key=\"9vffh\">The case, initially filed in 2019, involves a woman who ended an extramarital affair with a man, who she said then posted revenge porn to several adult websites. The case was sealed to protect her privacy. She and the defendant later settled, but the question of whether the case was improperly sealed remained.</p><p data-block-key=\"46p33\">Volokh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he initially noticed the case in an alert from Westlaw, a database of legal documents, and thought it raised First Amendment questions that he might want to write about, given his expertise as a free speech scholar.</p><p data-block-key=\"59qir\">Even though the case was sealed, the names of both the plaintiff and defendant were published in an opinion available on Westlaw, along with other documents that should have been sealed under the judge’s order. It’s not clear exactly why they were published, but Volokh said it appeared to be an error.</p><p data-block-key=\"fnaeq\">“It was just a simple mistake,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"1hof7\">Volokh moved to intervene in the case and have it unsealed. Chestney, the magistrate judge, agreed on July 18, 2022, to let him intervene but <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/legal-journalist-may-write-about-revenge-porn-case-after-prior-restraint-overturned/\">ruled that Volokh could not write about the case</a> until a decision was made on unsealing the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"8tqst\">“Professor Volokh may not blog or write about this case until any renewed motion to unseal has been granted,” <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891.358.0.pdf\">the ruling ordered</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8d0dm\">Volokh appealed the case to District Judge Xavier Rodriguez, who on Aug. 3, 2022, <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891.363.0.pdf\">vacated the prior restraint language</a> and said the entire case should be unsealed. Volokh then published the plaintiff’s name in a blog post in August 2022 since, he said, it was also the name of the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"flnn3\">The plaintiff appealed the unsealing of the case to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which <a href=\"https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/22/22-50707.0.pdf\">ruled that it should be partially sealed</a> with certain personal information redacted.</p><p data-block-key=\"f3mlg\">The case then returned to Chestney to determine what exactly should be redacted and whether the plaintiff could retroactively use a pseudonym, Jane Doe.</p><p data-block-key=\"d81ft\">In her June 20, 2024, ruling, Chestney ruled in favor of the retroactive pseudonym.</p><p data-block-key=\"fbt12\">“And then to my surprise, she says that even though I don't have to take down past writings that mention the plaintiff’s name, I cannot use her name in future writings,” Volokh told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"4f9tn\"><a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891.454.0.pdf\">The ruling</a> stated: “Professor Volokh may not, however, publicly disclose Plaintiff’s name or personal identifying information in any future writings, speeches, or other public discourse.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8dlco\">Volokh again appealed and on July 16 Rodriguez <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891/gov.uscourts.txwd.1038891.457.0.pdf\">vacated that prior restraint language</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7mq1p\">“The order restricts Volokh from sharing information that is publicly available through his prior writings but allows for any of Volokh’s readers to share that same information,” Rodriguez wrote. “As such, the language at issue here is an unconstitutional prior restraint.”</p><p data-block-key=\"de6hs\">Volokh detailed the ruling in a <a href=\"https://reason.com/volokh/2024/07/17/district-court-rejects-magistrate-judges-gag-order-on-publishing-name-of-retroactively-pseudonymized-litigant/\">post on The Volokh Conspiracy</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ecvf3\">The plaintiff could still appeal the ruling to the 5th Circuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"587ua\">Volokh said he was deciding whether to go back to his August 2022 article and redact the name.</p><p data-block-key=\"8f6lg\">But whether he uses her name in future articles, he added, should be a matter of editorial discretion, not a judge’s ruling.</p><p data-block-key=\"cojll\">“I think it’s important that this be a decision for the individual journalist, the individual speaker, and not something that they’re ordered to do,” Volokh told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"9cnu1\">Volokh said he sees this case as an example of the system working. But he noted that he was uniquely positioned to fight these instances of prior restraint.</p><p data-block-key=\"f25d2\">“I should also acknowledge that maybe if I weren’t a law professor, if I weren’t a specialist on the subject, if I had to pay a lawyer to challenge the prior restraints, maybe the situation might not have come out as well,” he told the Tracker.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"mzopc\">A portion of the July 16, 2024, district court ruling that vacated prior restraint language ordering legal journalist and professor Eugene Volokh not to publish the name of a plaintiff in a revenge porn case.</p>",
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{
"title": "Student journalist arrested while covering Stanford protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-arrested-while-covering-stanford-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-10T16:26:02.050858Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T16:26:02.050858Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T16:14:51.038365Z",
"date": "2024-06-05",
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"city": "Stanford",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"d7l9w\">Dilan Gohill, a student journalist for The Stanford Daily, was arrested while reporting on a protest at the university’s campus in Stanford, California, on June 5, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"8htae\">The Daily <a href=\"https://stanforddaily.com/2024/06/05/pro-palestine-protesters-occupy-presidents-office/\">reported</a> that a group of students barricaded themselves into a building housing the president’s office at around 5:30 a.m., while more protesters gathered outside. The students demanded the school divest from weapons manufacturers, disclose endowment investments and drop disciplinary and criminal charges against pro-Palestinian students at Stanford.</p><p data-block-key=\"53hoe\">Officers from the Stanford Department of Public Safety and Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office entered the building at approximately 7:20 a.m., <a href=\"https://stanforddaily.com/2024/06/05/live-updates-police-break-window-after-pro-palestine-protesters-take-over-presidents-office/\">according to the Daily</a>, and arrested at least a dozen protesters. The Daily reported that one of its reporters — later identified as Gohill — was among those detained, despite identifying himself as a journalist and showing law enforcement his press credential.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qtsd\">Gohill was transported to the Santa Clara County Jail alongside the protesters, where he was held for approximately 15 hours before being released on $20,000 bail, the Daily <a href=\"https://stanforddaily.com/2024/06/07/protesters-who-occupied-presidents-office-receive-felony-charges/\">reported</a>. He faces a felony burglary charge, <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-07/stanford-university-arrests-13-pro-palestine-protesters-asks-da-to-file-felony-burglary-charges\">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nn54\">Stanford President Richard Saller and Provost Jenny Martinez, whose office was also in the occupied building, issued a <a href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/06/this-morning-s-occupation-of-building-10\">statement</a> that day saying they were appalled and saddened by the protest, and that in addition to pursuing the criminal charges, all arrested students would be suspended and seniors would be barred from graduating.</p><p data-block-key=\"3e89s\">In a subsequent letter to the Daily’s board of directors on June 7, Saller and Martinez claimed that the incident raised “serious questions of journalistic ethics,” and that Gohill had no First Amendment right to cover the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"8g2ns\">“The First Amendment does not protect the right to break, enter and/or trespass in a locked private building, and this case did not involve a police line or rolling closure,” the letter read. “Moreover, as a matter of policy, allowing reporters a right to trespass in private buildings merely because there are newsworthy materials or events of interest inside would create a multitude of problems.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5ipe3\">Saller and Martinez added that while they fully support having Gohill criminally prosecuted and have referred him to Stanford’s Office of Community Standards alongside the other students arrested that day, they have lifted his interim suspension and campus ban.</p><p data-block-key=\"egsf2\">In an <a href=\"https://stanforddaily.com/2024/06/05/letter-from-the-editors-on-todays-arrests-at-the-presidents-office/\">op-ed</a> about Gohill’s arrest, the Daily’s editors wrote, “His arrest constitutes a threat to the freedom of the press, including protection from unreasonable search and seizure, and we are disappointed in the actions of officers and the University.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4n3ip\">Neither Editor-in-Chief Kaushikee Nayudu nor an attorney representing the Daily responded to requests for additional information.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"thkib\">Protesters gather at a pro-Palestinian encampment at Stanford University in April 2024. When police arrested students occupying an office on the California campus on June 5, a student journalist for The Stanford Daily was detained and charged as well.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Stanford Department of Public Safety",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
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"detention_date": "2024-06-05",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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"protest",
"student journalism"
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"theft: burglary"
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{
"title": "Broadcast photographer struck, kicked outside Massachusetts court",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/broadcast-photographer-struck-kicked-outside-massachusetts-court/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-10T17:47:37.206375Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T18:13:50.383692Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T18:13:50.285705Z",
"date": "2024-06-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Taunton",
"longitude": -71.08977,
"latitude": 41.9001,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5fmzt\">James Cullity, a news photographer for television station WFXT, was attacked alongside other members of the press while reporting outside a courthouse in Taunton, Massachusetts, on June 3, 2024. His alleged assailant was charged with multiple counts of assault later that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"2736p\">According to a police report shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a man identified as Louis Chaves was being arraigned at the Taunton District Court on unrelated assault charges and was released on a $250 bond. Following his hearing, Chaves and his wife exited through a side door of the courthouse and were approached by a gaggle of broadcast journalists from multiple local stations seeking comment on the allegations against him.</p><p data-block-key=\"dpqrf\">“Louis appeared to be overcome with rage at the sight of the reporters and started advancing on a cameraman,” the police report stated, identifying Cullity as the targeted journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"bl8ap\">In <a href=\"https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/former-taunton-crossing-guard-facing-new-assault-charges-after-attacking-news-crews/JIO7WQM6NNHZ5PB5TPFD3G2D4U/\">footage</a> aired by Boston-based WFXT, Chaves’ wife can be seen attempting to hold him back while he lunges at Cullity, grabs the journalist by the shirt and kicks him. Cullity also appears to shout at Chaves to stop while backing up to avoid being assaulted further.</p><p data-block-key=\"d5hsd\">Chaves then directed his attention and aggression toward a second photojournalist, identified in the police report as Brian Felsenthal of the Rhode Island-based station WPRI-TV. The Tracker has documented that assault <a href=\"/all-incidents/television-reporter-struck-while-reporting-outside-massachusetts-court/\">here</a>. Other journalists present were charged at but not struck.</p><p data-block-key=\"13ucg\">After walking a short distance away, Chaves also picked up a branch from a nearby tree and attempted to throw it at the group of journalists but it struck the tree in front of him instead.</p><p data-block-key=\"48rkn\">Cullity went to a local police station to report the attack at 4 p.m., according to the police, and told officers that he did not suffer any injuries and his equipment was undamaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"628qk\">Chaves was arrested several hours later and booked on three charges: assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault with a dangerous weapon for his alleged attacks on Cullity, and assault and battery for his alleged attack on Felsenthal.</p><p data-block-key=\"9sidv\">He was arraigned at 10 a.m. the following day and released on the same bond, but was issued a warning and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.</p><p data-block-key=\"400rt\">According to court records reviewed by the Tracker, Chaves has a pretrial hearing on Aug. 8.</p><p data-block-key=\"ba0im\">Neither Cullity nor WFXT responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Cullity_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"e2wme\">WFXT photographer James Cullity, right, was struck and kicked by a man he and other members of the press were attempting to interview outside a courthouse in Taunton, Massachusetts, on June 3, 2023. The man was arrested on multiple assault charges.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Massachusetts",
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},
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"Assault"
],
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"James Cullity (WFXT)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Television reporter struck while reporting outside Massachusetts court",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/television-reporter-struck-while-reporting-outside-massachusetts-court/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-10T17:49:28.140849Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T18:15:37.908130Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T18:15:37.828265Z",
"date": "2024-06-03",
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"city": "Taunton",
"longitude": -71.08977,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ea1ld\">Brian Felsenthal, a news photographer for WPRI-TV, was attacked alongside other members of the press while reporting outside a courthouse in Taunton, Massachusetts, on June 3, 2024. His alleged assailant was charged with multiple counts of assault later that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"23n9q\">According to a police report shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a man identified as Louis Chaves was being arraigned at the Taunton District Court on unrelated assault charges and was released on a $250 bond. Following his hearing, Chaves and his wife exited through a side door of the courthouse and were approached by a gaggle of broadcast journalists from multiple local stations seeking comment on the allegations against him.</p><p data-block-key=\"dfqtu\">“Louis appeared to be overcome with rage at the sight of the reporters and started advancing on a cameraman,” the report stated. After striking and kicking the first photojournalist, identified in the report as <a href=\"/all-incidents/broadcast-photographer-struck-kicked-outside-massachusetts-court/\">James Cullity</a> of the Boston-based station WFXT, Chaves directed his attention and aggression toward Felsenthal.</p><p data-block-key=\"cbcl4\">In <a href=\"https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/se-mass/taunton-assault-suspect-accused-of-attacking-members-of-media/\">footage</a> aired by Rhode Island-based WPRI-TV, Chaves’ wife can be seen attempting to hold him back while he slaps at Felsenthal and his camera. Felsenthal told police that he was not injured and his equipment was not damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"4mfab\">According to the police report, WPRI-TV reporter Alex Torres-Perez was working alongside Felsenthal that day. She told officers that while Chaves threatened her and the other journalists when they attempted to ask him questions, he did not assault her.</p><p data-block-key=\"8iroo\">After walking a short distance away, Chaves also picked up a branch from a nearby tree and attempted to throw it at the group of journalists but it struck the tree in front of him instead.</p><p data-block-key=\"7sel4\">Chaves was arrested several hours later and booked on three charges: assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault with a dangerous weapon for his alleged attacks on Cullity, and assault and battery for his alleged attack on Felsenthal.</p><p data-block-key=\"7q0uu\">He was arraigned at 10 a.m. the following day and released on the same bond, but was issued a warning and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.</p><p data-block-key=\"f6dfe\">According to court records reviewed by the Tracker, Chaves has a pretrial hearing on Aug. 8.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ikg0\">Neither Felsenthal nor WPRI-TV responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Felsenthal_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zya7f\">WPRI-TV photographer Brian Felsenthal, right, was struck by a man he and other journalists were attempting to interview outside a courthouse in Taunton, Massachusetts, on June 3, 2023. The man was arrested on multiple assault charges.</p>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Massachusetts",
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},
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},
{
"title": "Turkish journalist slapped repeatedly during live broadcast in Pennsylvania",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/turkish-journalist-slapped-repeatedly-during-live-broadcast-in-pennsylvania/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-28T19:37:06.028446Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-15T15:55:04.694112Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-15T15:55:04.589609Z",
"date": "2024-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Saylorsburg",
"longitude": -75.32352,
"latitude": 40.89565,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j3h42\">A journalist for CNN Türk was repeatedly slapped and nearly struck by an SUV on June 1, 2024, during a live broadcast in rural Pennsylvania.</p><p data-block-key=\"fc4o6\">Yunus Paksoy, the Washington D.C. bureau chief for CNN Türk, an Istanbul-based news channel affiliated with CNN, was broadcasting live with his iPhone outside the Chestnut Retreat Center in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, which is believed to be the residence of the U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen.</p><p data-block-key=\"9c6h7\">A GMC SUV drove directly toward Paksoy so that he had to jump from the curb into the roadway to avoid being hit, according to a criminal complaint.</p><p data-block-key=\"b2qse\">On air, Paksoy <a href=\"https://youtu.be/oxl1Uk4keRM?feature=shared&t=110\">is heard saying</a> in English: “Pull away. Pull away. Just pull away. What the hell do you think you’re doing here? Are you mad? Are you mad? What are you doing?”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"tr\" dir=\"ltr\">CNN TÜRK Vaşington Temsilcisi Yunus Paksoy, FETÖ'nün Pensilvanya’daki örgüt kampından yayın yaptığı sırada saldırıya uğradı. Bir FETÖ’cü, Paksoy'u önce arabayla ezmeye sonra otomobilden çıkıp yumruk atmaya başladı. Canlı yayındaki o saldırıya Ankara'dan peş peşe tepki geldi.… <a href=\"https://t.co/sh96SDm65v\">pic.twitter.com/sh96SDm65v</a></p>— CNN TÜRK (@cnnturk) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/cnnturk/status/1797345245396435118?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j3h42\">The driver, Ekrem Candir, then backed up and got out of the car, approached Paksoy and slapped his face, the complaint said, shaking the camera so it panned to the pavement. He then shoved the journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"fkj86\">Candir turned away, then came back and slapped Paksoy again, knocking the iPhone and other items out of his hand, the criminal complaint filed by Pennsylvania State Police said.</p><p data-block-key=\"etjvb\">The broadcast view shows a jerky movement between the sky and pavement as the phone falls onto the road, then cuts off. The phone was undamaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"4jntk\">Candir proceeded to pull Paksoy back into the roadway by his arm and head, then slapped Paksoy’s head and back of the neck again, the complaint said. Paksoy’s shirt was torn open in the attack.</p><p data-block-key=\"8sf66\">Candir, a resident of the retreat, was arrested and charged with simple assault, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and harassment. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Magisterial District Court in Brodheadsville on Aug. 8.</p><p data-block-key=\"fvc07\">Paksoy was treated at a hospital for bruises and abrasions. He <a href=\"https://x.com/yunuspaksoy/status/1796997584071840048\">tweeted later that day</a> that he was in good condition.</p><p data-block-key=\"68va0\">Troopers said Paksoy stayed in public areas and didn’t enter the retreat’s private property. In his broadcast, Paksoy showed the “No Trespassing” signs outside the property and explained that it would be illegal to enter without permission.</p><p data-block-key=\"cekk7\">The Chestnut Retreat Center was started by Turkish American Muslims and, according to its website, is based on the teachings of Gülen, who has lived in the U.S. since 1999. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/world/middleeast/turkey-fethullah-gulen-coup.html\">blames the cleric for a 2016 coup attempt</a>, although the U.S. has <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/17/politics/trump-fethullah-gulen-turkey/index.html\">declined requests to extradite</a> him.</p><p data-block-key=\"6n09c\">Erdoğan spokesman Fahrettin Altun <a href=\"https://x.com/fahrettinaltun/status/1796976959286559123\">tweeted his condolences</a> to Paksoy and said he would work with U.S. authorities to seek punishment for those behind the attack. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also <a href=\"https://www.mfa.gov.tr/no_-103_-sayin-yunus-paksoy-un-ugradigi-saldiri-hk.tr.mfa\">condemned the attack</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7kdqu\">Shadows show the assault of journalist Yunus Paksoy during a live broadcast on CNN Türk on June 1, 2024, as his phone was knocked out of his hands.</p>",
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"(2024-08-08 00:00:00+00:00) Man who slapped Turkish journalist fined for harassment"
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{
"title": "Turkish photojournalist shoved to the ground by police at NYC protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/turkish-photojournalist-shoved-to-the-ground-by-police-at-nyc-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-12T15:36:52.157238Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-12T15:36:52.157238Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-12T15:36:52.044874Z",
"date": "2024-05-31",
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"city": "New York",
"longitude": null,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xgjqx\">Fatih Aktaş, a photojournalist for the Turkish state-run outlet Anadolu Agency, was shoved to the ground by multiple New York City police officers while covering a pro-Palestinian protest in Brooklyn on May 31, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"5crrj\">Protesters gathered outside Barclays Center arena at 3 p.m., NBC News <a href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-arrest-34-people-brooklyn-museum-protesters-occupy-building-rcna155032\">reported</a>, before walking the mile to the Brooklyn Museum, where they occupied the plaza and entered the building, hanging banners both inside and on the facade and calling for a cease-fire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.</p><p data-block-key=\"a09hd\">Aktaş told Anadolu he was photographing the violent police response to the protests when he became a target of it. “While I was trying to capture the police intervention in the protests, a police officer strongly pushed me backward,” Aktaş said. “To avoid damaging my camera, I had to fall on my back, hitting my elbow hard on the ground.”</p><p data-block-key=\"edm69\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/peterhvideo/status/1796963102367338713\">footage</a> of the incident, Aktaş appears to be standing and photographing police while demonstrators march in front of the museum. At least three officers can then be seen shoving Aktaş, with the photojournalist landing on the ground approximately 10 feet back from the officers. Moments later, another officer can be seen helping him to his feet as two supervisory officers walk past, with one of the higher-ranking officers then pushing him again and ordering him to back up.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Four NYPD officers are seen pushing a journalist to the ground as they were covering the beating and subsequent arrest of a protestor in Brooklyn yesterday. <a href=\"https://t.co/lGhS0lRIfe\">pic.twitter.com/lGhS0lRIfe</a></p>— Peter Hambrecht (@peterhvideo) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/peterhvideo/status/1796963102367338713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xgjqx\">Aktaş said that he didn’t initially notice the scrapes and bruises on his elbow, but was grateful that his injuries weren’t worse. “I could have hit my head on the ground at that moment, which could have had more severe consequences,” he told Anadolu.</p><p data-block-key=\"cdnki\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/MedyaUmed/status/1797320533983330625\">video</a> published by a Turkish media association, Aktaş described the incident and showed the injury to his elbow. Neither Aktaş nor Anadolu responded to requests for further comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"chstr\">Turkish <a href=\"https://x.com/fahrettinaltun/status/1797331674469892151\">public</a> <a href=\"https://x.com/omerrcelik/status/1797342999195664757\">officials</a> condemned the attack and stated their support for Aktaş and Anadolu.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"286zp\">Anadolu Agency photojournalist Fatih Aktaş, center, was shoved to the ground by multiple New York City police officers while covering a pro-Palestinian protest in Brooklyn on May 31, 2024. He reported minor injuries and no damage to his equipment.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"name": "New York",
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"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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{
"title": "Justice Department questions journalist’s motives in reporting on federal terror case",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/justice-department-questions-journalists-motives-in-reporting-on-federal-terror-case/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-27T15:20:36.637717Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-30T19:18:25.794648Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-30T19:18:25.710922Z",
"date": "2024-05-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Detroit",
"longitude": -83.04575,
"latitude": 42.33143,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5598b\">Federal prosecutors attacked a reporter’s motives in a U.S. district court filing May 29, 2024, that sought to keep documents sealed in a terrorism case, suggesting that the journalist was colluding with the defendant to undermine their case.</p><p data-block-key=\"2np9\">The filing in the case of alleged terrorist Aws Naser is centered on the defendant’s relationship and conversations with The Intercept contributing writer Trevor Aaronson, an award-winning journalist whose work largely centers on counterterrorism cases.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rbn5\">“The Court should consider the possibility of improper motives on the part of the media ‘such as promoting public scandal or gratifying private spite,’” prosecutors <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24767444-federal-prosecutors-attack-journalist-in-court-filing-to-block-document-release\">wrote in the 23-page filing</a>. They also suggested that Aaronson was working with Naser to “taint the jury pool and undermine the fairness of the trial.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6f0bp\">Aaronson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the allegations against him were false, outrageous and dangerous to press freedoms.</p><p data-block-key=\"61m8\">“If journalists don’t stand up to these kinds of attacks from the Justice Department, we run the very real risk of those attacks continuing and growing,” Aaronson told the Tracker. “I also plan to continue reporting on this case, because we also can’t allow these kinds of attacks to create a chilling effect.” Aaronson spoke in detail about the prosecutors’ accusations in a video interview with the Tracker:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-video\">\n\n<figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n <div style=\"padding-bottom: 56.49999999999999%;\" class=\"responsive-object\">\n <iframe width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/tiXJVMAHzQo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen title=\"Justice Department questions motives of journalist reporting on federal terror case\"></iframe>\n</div>\n\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"b9x10\">An attorney for Aaronson and The Intercept sent <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24767445-letter-from-attorney-charles-kadado-to-judge-jonathan-grey-on-behalf-of-the-intercept\">a letter to the judge</a> and attended a hearing in the U.S. District Court in Detroit.</p><p data-block-key=\"bq80j\">“This Court should be alarmed by the Government’s public attacks on a journalist who has been working diligently to obtain the information it aims to conceal from the public,” the letter said.</p><p data-block-key=\"9fcqk\">Since 2019, Aaronson has been interviewing Naser, a former U.S. military translator who was born in Iraq and raised in Michigan, he explained in <a href=\"https://theintercept.com/2024/06/20/justice-department-fbi-journalist-isis/\">The Intercept</a>. Naser had previously been convicted of armed robbery and was jailed when the journalist met him, Aaronson wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"g4qj\">Aaronson explained that he was investigating whether Naser’s Fourth Amendment right to unlawful search and seizure had been violated, and was seeking information about any ties between Naser’s parole officer and the FBI.</p><p data-block-key=\"6vmde\">Naser’s attorneys sought to reclassify 124 files that are part of the discovery process from “sensitive” to “general,” in anticipation that it may shed light on those issues.</p><p data-block-key=\"9j961\">Since 2022, when Naser was charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, Aaronson wrote that he has been recording phone interviews with him for a possible audio documentary. Law enforcement was also recording those calls.</p><p data-block-key=\"efkik\">Aaronson told the Tracker that he hasn’t decided whether to create a documentary; nevertheless, prosecutors cited it in their filing. They called it a “one-sided documentary” that would be “sensationalizing the FBI’s investigative techniques in terrorism cases.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dprct\">Prosecutors also claimed a documentary would be a powerful vehicle for “evoking strong emotions, and creating a long-lasting impression of the subject matter.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2k3up\">Aaronson told the Tracker that he adheres to the “same high journalistic standards” regardless of the medium or length of his work.</p><p data-block-key=\"tep5\">“The government doesn’t have a say in what form a journalist’s reporting takes when it reaches the public, and the government dangerously suggests with this statement that documentaries are propaganda, not journalism,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"6rh66\">The judge hasn’t issued a ruling. The next months would show whether prosecutors continue citing Aaronson as a reason to keep them sealed, he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"74q8f\">“At a time of increasing attacks on the press from both the public and current and former government officials, I think we need to remember that it’s important to defend press freedoms whenever they are questioned or attacked by a government agency,” Aaronson told the Tracker. “Especially the Justice Department, whose prosecutors swore an oath [to] defend our constitutional freedoms, including freedom of the press.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6o49f\">Journalist Trevor Aaronson, in an interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, spoke about federal prosecutors’ accusations in a May 29, 2024, filing that he colluded with a suspected terrorist.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
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"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
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"Trevor Aaronson (The Intercept)"
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{
"title": "Fox News cameraman struck with umbrella at U.S. Capitol",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fox-news-cameraman-struck-with-umbrella-at-us-capitol/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-14T19:54:19.099736Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T19:54:19.099736Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T19:54:19.026087Z",
"date": "2024-05-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dczig\">A video journalist for Fox News said he was hit with an umbrella by a congressional staff member during an interview with Rep. Rashida Tlaib on the U.S. Capitol grounds on May 23, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"9eo4v\">The videographer was attempting to record Tlaib, D-Mich., as senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram asked for her reaction to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being invited to address Congress.</p><p data-block-key=\"ekohh\">In a <a href=\"https://x.com/TVNewsNow/status/1793757180187058341\">video clip</a> of the incident posted on social network X, the staffer can be seen first unfurling the umbrella to deter Pergram. Then, after closing the umbrella, he opened it again to obscure the cameraman’s view of Tlaib as she spoke. The camera visibly wobbles and <a href=\"https://x.com/TVNewsNow/status/1793757180187058341\">the cameraman’s voice is heard saying</a>, “He hit me with an umbrella.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d9i90\">The aide denies striking him on camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"alnab\">Pergram responds, “We have it on video, guys.</p><p data-block-key=\"f1l13\">“He hit him with the umbrella,” Pergram says as he walks past a Capitol police officer. “That’s assault.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ed0v9\">Neither the staff member nor the cameraman were identified. Tlaib’s director of communications didn’t respond to an email request from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker seeking comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"duopr\">Fox News communications executive Caley Cronin confirmed the incident via email with the Tracker and pointed to a <a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hill-aide-interferes-fox-news-camera-crew-during-tlaib-interview\">Fox News report for details</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2024-06-14_at_11.44.54.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"rrl44\">A Fox News videographer said he was hit with an umbrella during a May 23, 2024, interview between congressional correspondent Chad Pergram and Rep. Rashida Tlaib on the U.S. Capitol grounds.</p>",
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"name": "District of Columbia",
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{
"title": "Journalist shoved, equipment damaged at UCLA student protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-equipment-damaged-at-ucla-student-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-07-10T16:48:09.557667Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-10T16:48:09.557667Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-10T16:48:09.375091Z",
"date": "2024-05-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"g5krz\">Reporter Cam Higby said he was assaulted while attempting to report on the occupation of a building on the University of California, Los Angeles, campus on May 23, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"1pgpo\">UCLA’s student newspaper, the Daily Bruin, <a href=\"https://dailybruin.com/2024/05/23/protesters-occupy-then-vacate-dodd-hall-following-2nd-encampment-dispersal-at-ucla\">reported</a> that protesters staged a sit-in at an academic building after law enforcement officers cleared a second pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.</p><p data-block-key=\"86pau\">Higby told the Tracker he was blocked from entering the building through the front doors but was able to find a way in through a side entrance. “I was just filming and kind of walking around, taking pictures of the graffiti they had spray-painted inside the building,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3epo0\">Shortly after, someone recognized him and called out, “This guy’s a Zionist!”</p><p data-block-key=\"f93q8\">Multiple individuals then surrounded him near the top of a set of exit stairs, jeering at him and challenging his status as a journalist. Higby confirmed with the Tracker that he was wearing a press credential from Today Is America, which he described as a digital news media and commentary site.</p><p data-block-key=\"6v372\">Higby said he started to walk away from the individuals, but someone came from behind and struck his camera with what he believes was a closed fist.</p><p data-block-key=\"2pk5q\">In his <a href=\"https://x.com/camhigby/status/1794051789517693154\">footage</a> of the incident, a voice can be heard asking Higby, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">UCLA protestors opened almost every pouch of my gear bag, and poured coffee into it, destroying my solar charger. <br><br>They then told me that my actions have consequences, and joked about me slipping on the coffee that leaked all over the stairs just before pushing me down them. <a href=\"https://t.co/TiTicBvfrQ\">pic.twitter.com/TiTicBvfrQ</a></p>— Cam Higby 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/camhigby/status/1794051789517693154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 24, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"g5krz\">He said that while the individuals surrounded him, someone poured cold coffee into a pocket of his equipment bag, damaging his solar charger. In the footage, after Higby pulls out the soaked charger, a voice can be heard stating, “Your actions have consequences,” while others chant, “Busted!”</p><p data-block-key=\"60ij0\">“They berated me, taunted me, told me it would be a shame if I slipped on the coffee that was now leaking out of my bag,” Higby said. “Then they pushed me down the stairs. I remained on my feet and then they pushed me out the door and I fell on my back.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">🚨PROTESTORS JUST VIOLENTLY ATTACKED ME AND PUSHED ME DOWN THE STAIRS AT DODD HALL <a href=\"https://t.co/CPmX1nL4hS\">pic.twitter.com/CPmX1nL4hS</a></p>— Cam Higby 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/camhigby/status/1793765759614898202?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 23, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"g5krz\">He added that he later <a href=\"https://x.com/camhigby/status/1793789693613728153\">attempted to reenter</a> the building by donning a kaffiyeh and posing as a protester, but was again identified, assaulted and forced out of the building. Higby told the Tracker he filed a police report about the incidents.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"p78ar\">Reporter Cam Higby filmed his interaction with individuals attempting to prevent him from documenting a sit-in at the University of California, Los Angeles, on May 23, 2024. He was later pushed out of the building and had his solar battery damaged.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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{
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"state": {
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"abbreviation": "CA"
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"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"current_charges": [],
"dropped_charges": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter arrested at land claim demonstration in Northern New York",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-arrested-at-land-claim-demonstration-in-northern-new-york/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-27T18:20:36.216452Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-12T17:10:45.965077Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-12T17:10:45.857095Z",
"date": "2024-05-21",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Barnhart Island",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qrcn4\">Isaac White, a reporter for Indian Time, was arrested while covering a demonstration on New York’s Barnhart Island at the Canadian border May 21, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"bc6v\">The weekly newspaper <a href=\"https://www.indiantime.net/story/2024/06/13/news/indian-time-reporter-among-eight-arrested-at-barnhart-demonstration/44817.html\">reported</a> that White arrived at the island, which is owned by the New York Power Authority, after receiving a news tip. He found a small demonstration opposing a <a href=\"https://www.srmt-nsn.gov/news/2024/saint-regis-mohawk-tribe-provides-update-on-land-claim\">proposed settlement</a> of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s claims to that land. </p><p data-block-key=\"atkbk\">When state police arrived at 7:30 p.m., demonstrators were using a backhoe to excavate at the NYPA’s St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project, the Post-Standard <a href=\"https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2024/05/multiple-arrested-after-trespassing-damaging-ny-power-authority-property-in-north-country-troopers-say.html\">reported</a>. A spokesperson for the NYPA said no equipment was damaged. </p><p data-block-key=\"a5oki\">White told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via email that when police arrived he moved closer to document their activities. He said that they issued a dispersal order but didn’t tell him where he could move to continue doing his job. When officers began arresting those present, White said he was the first detained. He identified himself as a reporter and said he was there in a professional capacity, but he was told it didn’t matter, Indian Time wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"544rp\">“My press credentials were in my phone wallet that I wear around my neck,” White told the Tracker. “I identified myself as a reporter, and the police looked at my press credentials only after I was handcuffed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ebo64\">White and seven demonstrators were taken to the state police barracks in Massena before being released on charges of trespassing and misdemeanor conspiracy, according to a <a href=\"https://troopers.ny.gov/news/multiple-people-arrested-after-trespassing-and-damaging-nys-power-authoritys-property\">news release</a> from the New York State Police. One of the demonstrators was also charged with second-degree criminal mischief, a felony.</p><p data-block-key=\"33jeo\">White told the Tracker that he was held in police custody for three or four hours. </p><p data-block-key=\"bip48\">According to Indian Time, White’s charging documents state he is accused of “knowingly and unlawfully agreeing with several other individuals to engage in activity which included damaging property, belonging to the New York State Power Authority, to an extent constituting a felony in the state of New York.” </p><p data-block-key=\"2jqot\">The New York State Police did not respond to requests for additional information.</p><p data-block-key=\"c2g4d\">White appeared alongside the other arrestees for arraignment on June 11, the paper <a href=\"https://www.indiantime.net/story/2024/06/13/news/arrests-on-barnhart-island-have-cases-adjourned-over-next-three-months/44815.html\">reported</a>, but the necessary paperwork had not been properly filed with the court and the hearings were adjourned. The reporter is scheduled to reappear in court on Aug. 13 at 1:30 p.m. </p><p data-block-key=\"6gva4\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment and details from Isaac White.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/5830694718_75535eb2b3_o.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"8n7jp\">Indian Time reporter Isaac White was charged with trespassing and conspiracy while reporting on a demonstration on New York’s Barnhart Island on May 21, 2024. His case will be heard at the court in nearby Massena, seen above in a 2011 photo.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "New York State Police",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"status_of_charges": "charges pending",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2024-05-21",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
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"tags": [
"protest"
],
"current_charges": [
"conspiracy",
"trespassing"
],
"dropped_charges": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
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},
{
"title": "Mississippi outlet ordered to give confidential source information to court",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/mississippi-outlet-ordered-to-give-confidential-source-information-to-court/",
"first_published_at": "2024-06-13T21:00:03.287339Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T15:30:32.281971Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T15:30:32.202499Z",
"date": "2024-05-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Canton",
"longitude": -90.03675,
"latitude": 32.61264,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xgssw\">Mississippi Today was ordered on May 20, 2024, to turn over confidential source information to a circuit court in a defamation case brought by the former governor over the watchdog’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"2pl4l\">The nonprofit news outlet has appealed the decision to the Mississippi Supreme Court and asked it to rule on “reporter’s privilege,” which protects journalists from revealing their sources. In a June <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/14/opinion/mississippi-press-freedom-republicans.html\">op-ed</a> for The New York Times, Mississippi Today Editor-in-Chief Adam Ganucheau wrote that no state appellate courts have ruled on the privilege and Mississippi is one of eight states that lacks a formal shield law.</p><p data-block-key=\"9l39t\">“We hope the order from the court will lead to the establishment of reporter’s privilege for the first time in Mississippi’s history,” Ganucheau said in an email to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"4bcuv\">Ganucheau called Mississippi an outlier but added that “we hope this appeal is taken up by the Supreme Court and the justices guarantee these First Amendment protections for all Mississippi journalists. Importantly, these protections aren’t in place only for journalists; they’re in place for every citizen.”</p><p data-block-key=\"21k2o\">Mississippi Today has also filed a motion to dismiss the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"apq7p\">The lawsuit stems from characterizations of former Gov. Phil Bryant after the paper published its series “<a href=\"https://mississippitoday.org/the-backchannel/\">The Backchannel</a>.” The investigation, which won reporter Anna Wolfe the <a href=\"https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/anna-wolfe-mississippi-today-ridgeland-miss\">2023 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting</a>, detailed the misuse of $77 million in federal welfare funds when Bryant was governor, including some funneled to pet projects of his friend and former NFL quarterback Brett Favre.</p><p data-block-key=\"eniur\">Eight people were later criminally charged. Bryant, who left office in 2020, has not been charged with any crimes.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ng3u\">Bryant’s defamation suit doesn’t question the reporting in the series, but takes issue with characterizations of its findings in a 2022 midyear impact report by Mississippi Today, the paper’s Pulitzer announcement, a talk by CEO Mary Margaret White at a journalism conference, an interview Wolfe gave with a trade publication and ongoing coverage by Mississippi Today.</p><p data-block-key=\"a6da1\">As part of the suit, Bryant requested unpublished notes and confidential source information related to the series.</p><p data-block-key=\"8g98l\">The Circuit Court of Madison County ordered the paper to turn over by June 6 a log of privileged information, including confidential sources for the court to examine privately. It noted that Mississippi appellate courts had “not yet recognized a First Amendment reporter's privilege which protects the refusal to disclose the identity of confidential informants.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ecu8j\">The circuit court said that the sources were relevant because the governor must prove that the reporters either made up a source or recklessly used a source that was unreliable.</p><p data-block-key=\"3dspl\">Ganucheau said Mississippi Today turned over several documents by the June 6 deadline that the outlet’s original reporting relied on, “even though that reporting is not the basis of any of the plaintiff’s claims.” He added the statements at issue relied on previous reporting and public information, not confidential sources.</p><p data-block-key=\"epl0h\">Bryant had requested far more extensive information: all communications employees of Mississippi Today have had about him for the last two years, including “emails and text messages between Anna Wolfe and sources who were a part of her investigation,” according to court documents.</p><p data-block-key=\"68rbe\">Bryant filed an additional motion on June 11 requesting that Mississippi Today be held in contempt of court for not handing over all of the requested material, which it said was likely hundreds or thousands of documents.</p><p data-block-key=\"4lv9c\">Ganucheau and Wolfe were added as defendants to the lawsuit, which originally named Mississippi Today and White, the CEO.</p><p data-block-key=\"donon\">Bryant also requested a gag order to prevent Mississippi Today from publicly discussing the case after the paper <a href=\"https://mississippitoday.org/2024/06/06/mississippi-today-supreme-court-appeal/?mc_cid=eea9031523&mc_eid=2a64aafee5\">published an editor’s note addressing the lawsuit</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"a71j7\">The Committee to Protect Journalists <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2024/06/pulitzer-winning-mississippi-today-appeals-order-to-turn-over-confidential-source-material/\">issued a statement</a> in support of Mississippi Today and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has offered legal advice and support, Ganucheau said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5u17p\">“We’ve been warmly embraced by journalism rights organizations around the world, which is a testament to how seriously every journalist takes threats to the rights of a free press,” Ganucheau told the Tracker.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2024-06-13_at_4.31.14P.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"p2moh\">A portion of a May 20, 2024, order by a Mississippi circuit court demanding nonprofit news outlet Mississippi Today turn over privileged documents from a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into a state welfare scandal.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"name": "Mississippi",
"abbreviation": "MS"
},
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"Mississippi Today"
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"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist shoved, camera equipment damaged at NYC protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shoved-camera-equipment-damaged-at-nyc-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-05-30T18:51:27.775000Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-05-30T18:51:27.775000Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-05-30T18:51:23.005670Z",
"date": "2024-05-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ea09l\">Independent photojournalist Michael Nigro was shoved and his camera equipment damaged by a New York City police officer while documenting a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Brooklyn on May 18, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"4i8jm\">Brooklyn Paper <a href=\"https://www.brooklynpaper.com/groups-condemn-brutality-nakba-day-bay-ridge/\">reported</a> that the rally marking Nakba Day — which commemorates the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 — has been held in the Bay Ridge neighborhood for years without incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"9jp0k\">Nigro told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he has documented the rally six or seven times in years prior and described the demonstration as a generally family-friendly, community event. He said that the police response was markedly different this year, with officers in riot gear and from the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, a heavily armored group used for crowd control, present from the beginning.</p><p data-block-key=\"5d9os\">Shortly after protesters took to the street, Nigro said, officers made the first arrest of the day. Nigro said he filmed the detainment and had complied with orders to step back when an officer assaulted him.</p><p data-block-key=\"5vfbv\">“I didn’t see him coming,” Nigro said, “he just came over and smacked my camera. With the vibration in the camera and the sound that I heard, I thought, ‘He just broke my lens.’ Then I saw that the hood was cracked and thankfully the lens was not.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c13sh\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/peterhvideo/status/1792338251602079757\">footage of the incident</a> captured by another photojournalist, a commanding officer can be seen grabbing Nigro’s camera and using it to shove him back and to the side, striking the camera against another photographer in the process. As the first officer walks away, a second can be seen pushing Nigro backward.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Deputy Chief Jesse Lance is seen targeting a photographer and forcing his camera into another photographer's face.<br>Lance seems to wander around aimlessly before returning to where he started.<br><br>Occurred in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn yesterday. <a href=\"https://t.co/1EKtkyZVCK\">pic.twitter.com/1EKtkyZVCK</a></p>— Peter Hambrecht (@peterhvideo) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/peterhvideo/status/1792338251602079757?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 19, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ea09l\">Nigro followed the commanding officer to ask him for his name and badge number, and the officer identified himself as Jesse Lance, deputy chief executive officer patrol borough Brooklyn South. Nigro told the Tracker that Lance has interfered with members of the press documenting protests multiple times in recent months, and that officers routinely obstruct photojournalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"el16u\">“The tactic of late with the NYPD and the press is to block us from covering it,” Nigro said. “They’ll stand in front of your camera and put their hands in front of it or just push you back and back. Or, the newest tactic has been taking the press and detaining them, sometimes flexy-cuffing them, and then letting them go.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bijdk\">Independent photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photojournalist-detained-at-pro-palestinian-rally-in-nyc/\">Josh Pacheco</a> was detained that day in the “catch-and-release” fashion Nigro described. Independent videographer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-thrown-to-ground-arrested-at-nyc-protest/\">Sam Seligson</a> was also arrested and released the following morning on three charges. Nigro called such tactics extremely troubling.</p><p data-block-key=\"cm2qt\">“They are preventing us from doing our work and from documenting the history that is happening in front of us,” Nigro told the Tracker. “It seems that they are just looking at us as the enemy, which we’re not.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5lhud\">In the meantime, Nigro added, journalists covering pro-Palestinian demonstrations in New York are banding together to watch each others’ backs and document police aggressions against them. “There needs to be some kind of pushback and accountability because if we do not it’s only going to continue and likely get worse.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5lfd3\">The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Nigro_assault__ED.c4a97b18.fill-1330x880.png",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"k6gja\">Independent photojournalist Michael Nigro, left, asks a New York City police officer for his badge number. The officer had grabbed Nigro’s camera and pushed him into another journalist while the two were documenting a protest in Brooklyn on May 18, 2024.</p>",
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"case_number": null,
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"actor": "law enforcement",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera equipment"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
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"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"current_charges": [],
"dropped_charges": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Michael Nigro (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Independent videographer thrown to ground, arrested at NYC protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-thrown-to-ground-arrested-at-nyc-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-05-22T20:10:35.559554Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-08T19:15:41.009172Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-08T19:15:40.901910Z",
"date": "2024-05-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pe7mm\">Independent videographer Sam Seligson was arrested by New York City police officers while reporting on a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Brooklyn on May 18, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"gscu\">Brooklyn Paper <a href=\"https://www.brooklynpaper.com/groups-condemn-brutality-nakba-day-bay-ridge/\">reported</a> that the rally marking Nakba Day — which commemorates the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 — has been held in the Bay Ridge neighborhood for years without incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"7rbn9\">Seligson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via direct message on social network X that he has reported on the rally for the past several years and that he was <a href=\"https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2149170668?t=4204s\">livestreaming</a> the demonstration on the video platform Twitch, filming as police made arrests in several waves.</p><p data-block-key=\"focs4\">He wrote that as a new wave of arrests began at approximately 4 p.m., police arrested someone who was filming a commanding officer and then pushed away a group of women who were yelling at them about his detainment. As he filmed an officer tackling one of the women, another commanding officer in a white shirt grabbed Seligson and pulled him to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"897rb\">“I stand up and back away because I didn’t do anything besides filming,” Seligson wrote. “I was on the sidewalk at this point, still obeying the law. And then they continued to grab me. Told me to get down, which I did, can see me sit down in my live stream. Then they grab my hair and pull me into the street and try to flatten me for arrest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"435lu\">Seligson told the Tracker that the officers dragged him across the ground, and while one tried to pull his arm backward another officer was on his back pushing his face into the cement. In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1792022940537463025\">footage of his arrest</a>, multiple voices can be heard identifying him as a member of the press while officers pin him down.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ddad\">He said that he sustained no major injuries, but had a bump on his head, a scrape with bruising on his shin and some soreness.</p><p data-block-key=\"4isb2\">Seligson said he identified himself as a journalist and that while he wasn’t wearing his city-issued press credential at the moment of his arrest, it was in his pocket. He added that, “They saw my press badge and said ‘Oh shit’ out loud and then tucked it in my backpack.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9b9k6\">After he was cuffed, Seligson said, he was transported alongside other arrestees to New York City Police Department headquarters at One Police Plaza and waited outside for around three hours before finally being processed and taken to a holding cell.</p><p data-block-key=\"2mh7f\">The videographer was released at around 1 a.m. the following day and ordered to appear for an initial hearing on June 7. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office confirmed when reached by phone that Seligson is charged with disorderly conduct, obstruction of government administration and resisting arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"cd90c\">The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Seligson_arrest.ae378375.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"29vg2\">Independent videographer Sam Seligson was arrested by New York City police officers while reporting on a pro-Palestinian demonstration, seen above, in Brooklyn on May 18, 2024. He was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstruction.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "New York City Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"status_of_charges": "unknown",
"release_date": "2024-05-19",
"detention_date": "2024-05-18",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
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"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-08-07 14:31:00+00:00) Charges against independent videographer dropped following arrest at NYC protest"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"current_charges": [],
"dropped_charges": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"Sam Seligson (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent photojournalist detained at pro-Palestinian rally in NYC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photojournalist-detained-at-pro-palestinian-rally-in-nyc/",
"first_published_at": "2024-05-23T18:09:10.306458Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-05-23T18:09:10.306458Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-05-23T18:08:37.810901Z",
"date": "2024-05-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bmn85\">Independent photojournalist Josh Pacheco was briefly detained by New York City police officers while reporting on a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Brooklyn on May 18, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"a9q08\">Brooklyn Paper <a href=\"https://www.brooklynpaper.com/groups-condemn-brutality-nakba-day-bay-ridge/\">reported</a> that the rally marking Nakba Day — which commemorates the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 — has been held in the Bay Ridge neighborhood for years without incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"9mrp1\">In an interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Pacheco said they had documented the rally in previous years and described the demonstration as “generally a parade, a rowdy parade.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dda52\">“It’s never been heavily policed, and Saturday it was just bloody, brutal arrest after bloody, brutal arrest,” Pacheco said.</p><p data-block-key=\"e4fug\">Several hours into the march, Pacheco said, they were talking with other members of the press while crossing the street at a crosswalk with a green light, while protesters continued moving ahead of them.</p><p data-block-key=\"6sfj8\">“As I am approaching the street corner, one of the officers just grabs me and starts making an arrest out of the blue,” Pacheco said. “A sergeant or captain said, ‘We told you to get out of the roadway. This is what you get for not following orders. Your press pass doesn’t protect you.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"d9r8g\">Pacheco said they were the only journalist detained and that they believe the officers recognized them from protests in Manhattan.</p><p data-block-key=\"7jm6k\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/peterhvideo/status/1791964879684858299/video/1\">footage</a> of their detainment, Pacheco can be heard asking the officers, “Oh literally? You’re going to do this twice? Why are you even arresting me?” The photojournalist was also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-dragged-to-the-ground-arrested-at-nyc-protest/\">arrested 11 days prior</a> while covering a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, but the charges were dropped.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NOW: NYPD arrest credentialed press <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JP_OTG?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JP_OTG</a> while covering a protest in Brooklyn. He was also arrested just a few weeks ago covering another protest. <a href=\"https://t.co/lYoWysP4yF\">pic.twitter.com/lYoWysP4yF</a></p>— Peter Hambrecht (@peterhvideo) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/peterhvideo/status/1791964879684858299?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 18, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bmn85\">After they were handcuffed, Pacheco told the Tracker that an officer took them to the middle of the street to be loaded into a prisoner transport van.</p><p data-block-key=\"3k25m\">“A couple white shirts talked to me. The first one said, ‘Yeah, you’re press. You’re getting arrested. Your charges will probably be dropped,’” Pacheco said. “The second white shirt comes over: ‘Hey, we’re going to release you but you’re going to be detained for a minute to just calm down.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"2mj73\">Pacheco told the Tracker that the officer who had initially told them that they had not been following orders approached and took a photograph of their press credentials, after which the photojournalist was released. They estimated that they were detained for approximately five minutes.</p><p data-block-key=\"505re\">A second journalist, independent videographer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-thrown-to-ground-arrested-at-nyc-protest/\">Sam Seligson</a>, was arrested while covering the demonstration that day and charged with disorderly conduct, obstruction of government administration and resisting arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"3qv5c\">Pacheco <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JP_OTG/status/1791980809622065635\">posted</a> on social media that they were enraged and disturbed by the police response to the protest. “Nakba day, while still a protest, has historically been joyful, rambunctious—largely a celebration. I’m shocked, shaken by today’s violence,” they wrote.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I’m so enraged. Profoundly disturbed. None of this is new & NONE OF THIS IS RIGHT. Bayridge is a beautiful part of Brooklyn. Nakba day, while still a protest, has historically been joyful, rambunctious-largely a celebration. I’m shocked, shaken by today’s violence. And still-</p>— Josh Pacheco (They/Them) (@JP_OTG) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JP_OTG/status/1791980809622065635?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 18, 2024</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bmn85\">The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Pacheco_arrest_518.2c52fdfe.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"a38re\">Independent photojournalist Josh Pacheco was briefly detained by New York City police officers while reporting on a pro-Palestinian rally in Brooklyn on May 18, 2024. Pacheco was released without charges several minutes later.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "New York City Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"status_of_charges": "not charged",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2024-05-18",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"current_charges": [],
"dropped_charges": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Josh Pacheco (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Philadelphia journalist barred from district attorney’s news conferences",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/philadelphia-journalist-barred-from-district-attorneys-news-conferences/",
"first_published_at": "2024-05-29T20:03:43.404559Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:21:05.643519Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:21:05.428512Z",
"date": "2024-05-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Philadelphia",
"longitude": -75.16362,
"latitude": 39.95238,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"py8g1\">Independent journalist Ralph Cipriano was barred on May 17, 2024, from attending any of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s news conferences, a spokesperson from the DA’s office confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"71mta\">Cipriano wrote in a <a href=\"https://ralphcipriano.substack.com/p/krasner-locks-out-big-trial\">post</a> on his Substack newsletter <a href=\"https://ralphcipriano.substack.com/\">Big Trial</a> that he was notified of the ban a day after attending one of Krasner’s news conferences, which Krasner held to announce a recent arrest by his office.</p><p data-block-key=\"7gjri\">At that news conference, a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmD08lxNCmY\">livestream</a> of which was posted on YouTube, Cipriano tried several times to ask the DA about two murder cases his office prosecuted, while Krasner mocked and then repeatedly rebuked Cipriano for asking questions without having been called on.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7oa1\">At one point, Krasner yelled at Cipriano, “Why are you even here? What is the point? That wasn’t even a question.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5ucrg\">Cipriano twice asked reporters who had been called on by Krasner to let him ask his questions; in response, Krasner accused him of “harassing legitimate press,” ordering him, “Can you stop it?”</p><p data-block-key=\"6nhqj\">“There are professional journalists here who work for legitimate journalistic outlets,” Krasner said. “You are being disrespectful of actual journalists. You are disrespectful of all the rules.” He referred to a reporter from The Philadelphia Tribune as “a legitimate reporter from a legitimate news organization, not a blogger, and (Cipriano) is preventing her from doing her job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3ge46\">After calling the news conference to a close, Cipriano wrote, Krasner walked over to the journalist and told him that he would not be allowed to attend any further news conferences.</p><p data-block-key=\"2aoiv\">“We are going to stop you from coming in because you are disrespectful to every reporter here,” Krasner said, according to Cipriano. “You observe no journalistic standards. You never follow the rules.” Cipriano responded, “You don’t know what a journalist is, sir.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lvtn\">The next day, Cipriano wrote, a city detective assigned to the DA’s office stopped him before he could be buzzed upstairs to attend that day’s news conference. DA spokesperson Dustin Slaughter then told Cipriano, “You disrupted a press conference yesterday. You’re no longer permitted here.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4uhph\">Cipriano is a <a href=\"https://ralphcipriano.substack.com/p/larry-krasner-cares-more-about-an\">frequent critic</a> of Krasner and has repeatedly clashed with the DA, including when he was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-removed-from-press-conference-with-philadelphia-da/\">physically removed</a> from a news conference in August 2022. He wrote on Substack that he had been attending the DA’s news conferences since July 2022. But in <a href=\"https://ralphcipriano.substack.com/p/larry-krasners-a-liar-and-a-coward\">a May 10, 2024, post</a>, he noted that for almost five years, neither Krasner nor his spokespeople have responded to any of his emailed questions.</p><p data-block-key=\"cng0k\">“We're not allowing Mr. Cipriano to attend our press events due to him repeatedly violating basic decorum, such as acting out of turn and interrupting other journalists multiple times while reporters attempted to ask questions of the DA,” Slaughter told the Tracker. “The only requirement that we ask of press who attend our events is that they not disrupt the press conference.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e3ft\">Cipriano told the Tracker that “the DA’s office has no written rules or policies for press conferences,” and that he had not had any further contact with Krasner’s office since May 17. The Tracker twice requested that Slaughter send a documented policy that Cipriano had violated; Slaughter did not respond.</p><p data-block-key=\"18ag3\">“This is plainly unconstitutional,” Cipriano wrote in his post about the incident. “As a government official, Krasner has no right to restrict the First Amendment rights of reporters by dictating to them what questions they can and can’t ask.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS6W0V1_-_Reuters_-_Eduardo_Muno.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1snfo\">Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, pictured, barred independent journalist Ralph Cipriano on May 17, 2024, from attending any of his news conferences, accusing Cipriano of “violating basic decorum.”</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-05-29 00:00:00+00:00) Philadelphia DA lifts news conference ban on reporter"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
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"current_charges": [],
"dropped_charges": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Law enforcement: Prosecutor"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ralph Cipriano (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": [
"Government event"
]
},
{
"title": "Investigative journalist arrested at New Mexico campus encampment",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/investigative-journalist-arrested-at-new-mexico-campus-encampment/",
"first_published_at": "2024-05-24T18:52:10.544529Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-06T16:45:03.653240Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-06T16:45:03.468442Z",
"date": "2024-05-15",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Albuquerque",
"longitude": -106.65114,
"latitude": 35.08449,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dr7wl\">Investigative reporter Bryant Furlow was arrested by University of New Mexico police officers while covering a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Albuquerque campus on May 15, 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"664bb\">Students, alumni, faculty and community members erected the encampment on April 22 in solidarity with the calls for a cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza war and divestment from Israeli companies, the university’s student newspaper the New Mexico Daily Lobo <a href=\"https://www.dailylobo.com/article/2024/04/unm-encampment-stands-in-solidarity-with-palestine-other-universities\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"a3ggp\">UNM President Garnett Stokes sent a university-wide email on May 14 demanding that the encampment be taken down by 5 p.m., <a href=\"https://www.dailylobo.com/article/2024/05/seven-arrested-as-police-dismantle-unm-palestine-solidarity-encampment\">according to the Daily Lobo</a>, and 12 hours after the deadline, additional notices were delivered to the remaining protesters ordering them to leave the site within the hour. Officers with the UNM Police Department and New Mexico State Police began dismantling the encampment at around 6 a.m., arresting seven people.</p><p data-block-key=\"4us5q\">In a <a href=\"https://nmindepth.com/2024/statement-from-new-mexico-reporter-about-his-arrest-at-unm-encampment-protest/\">statement</a> published by New Mexico In Depth, for which Furlow is a frequent contributor, the journalist said he and his wife — photojournalist Tara Armijo-Prewitt — were among those arrested. The pair went to the campus that morning in anticipation of the encampment sweep.</p><p data-block-key=\"3n9e0\">“Upon arriving on the scene, I asked officers where news media were permitted to stand to document the operation and did not receive an answer,” Furlow said. “I asked officers several times if there was a public information officer on scene with whom I could speak and was told there was not. I also inquired about who was in charge but got no response.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3lcn2\">Furlow also noted that at all times he and Armijo-Prewitt followed instructions from law enforcement and remained behind the yellow police tape.</p><p data-block-key=\"aghpp\">“We were arrested while photographing the operation and shortly after asking an NMSP officer for his badge number and name,” Furlow said. “As I was being arrested, I said I was a member of the press repeatedly and loudly.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c740l\">The pair were transported to the Metropolitan Detention Center and held there for 12 hours, Furlow said, before being released with charges of criminal trespass and wrongful use of public property.</p><p data-block-key=\"4rnqu\">Furlow, who did not respond to a request for additional comment, said in his statement that they wanted to obtain an attorney to fight the charges before speaking about the incident further.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ilv7\">The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government condemned the arrests in a <a href=\"https://www.abqjournal.com/news/state-watchdog-group-blasts-unm-police-for-arrest-of-journalists-at-duck-pond/article_0451fe1e-13d9-11ef-802d-cf93be62ebe1.html\">statement</a> to the Albuquerque Journal and called on the UNM Police to drop the charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"cs6bs\">“Arresting journalists for reporting the news is blatantly unconstitutional,” said the foundation’s executive director, Melanie Majors. “The officers involved either knew the arrests were unconstitutional and proceeded anyway or do not realize their actions are completely indefensible under the First Amendment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"89us\">The UNM Police Department did not respond to a request for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, but <a href=\"https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/2-journalists-among-those-arrested-at-unm-duck-pond-encampment/\">told KOB-TV</a> the charges are still pending and officers are completing their supplemental reports.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Armijo-Prewitt_2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ui11h\">New Mexico State Police aid in removing a protest encampment at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque on May 15, 2024. Investigative reporter Bryant Furlow was arrested alongside photojournalist Tara Armijo-Prewitt shortly after she took this photo.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "University of New Mexico Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"status_of_charges": "charges dropped",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2024-05-15",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_type": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New Mexico",
"abbreviation": "NM"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-08-02 00:00:00+00:00) Charges dropped against New Mexico journalist arrested at protest encampment"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Israel-Gaza war",
"protest"
],
"current_charges": [],
"dropped_charges": [
"trespassing: criminal trespass",
"trespassing: wrongful use of public property"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Bryant Furlow (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
}
]
