Physical Attack

Category Summary

Total cases	83
Journalists attacked in 2018	42
Journalists attacked in 2017	46

Journalist attacked during live broadcast at scene of California mass overdose

January 18, 2019

Meaghan Mackey, a reporter for KRCR News Channel 7, was attacked while broadcasting a Facebook Live from the scene of …

CNN's Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto outside Time Warner Center

CNN’s New York headquarters evacuated after pipe bomb found in mailroom

October 24, 2018

The pipe bomb sent to CNN was similar to other bombs sent to prominent Democratic politicians and critics of President Trump.

Man shot after breaking into lobby of local TV station in Washington, D.C.

October 25, 2018

On October 22, 2018, an unarmed man was shot while attempting to break into the WTTG Fox 5 building in …

New York Post reporter punched while interviewing homeless man

November 22, 2018

On October 10, 2018, New York Post reporter Dean Balsamini was punched in the head by a homeless man he was trying to interview, local newspaper the Villager reports.Balsamini mentioned the assault in an October 13 article for the Post, titled “Post reporter investigating vagrants gets punched in the head.” Balsamini identifies the man who attacked him as “Zeke,” one of a number of young homeless people who congregate near a fenced-off vacant lot in the East Village neighborhood of …

AP video journalist punched in face and called ‘fake news’

November 2, 2018

In September 2018, Associated Press video journalist Josh Replogle was reporting on flooding in rural North Carolina caused by Hurricane Florence when a man punched him in the face.An AP article published on October 29, 2018, described the assault on Replogle:

Man intentionally crashes truck into local TV station in Dallas, Texas

October 5, 2018

On September 5, 2018, a man repeatedly crashed his pickup truck into the side of the KDFW/FOX 4 television studio …

Demonstrators damage TV journalist’s camera in Charlottesville

August 13, 2018

Gary Cooper, a journalist with North Carolina TV station WTVD, was filming a crowd of demonstrators in Charlottesville, Virginia, on …

CBS producer shoved by police while covering protest in Washington, D.C.

August 14, 2018

CBS News producer Christina Ruffini was shoved by police officers while reporting on a far-right protest in Washington, D.C., on …

More Incidents

How we track Physical Attacks

Journalists who face physical violence and injury or equipment damage, either as the result of a targeted attack by a public or private individual or in the course of their work. If a journalist is hit by rubber bullets or bean bag rounds, it will be counted in this category.

Journalists affected by tear gas, pepper spray, or other mass riot control agents will be counted if the individual suffers serious injury or appears to have been specifically targeted. Incidents that fall outside these parameters and in which multiple journalists were affected by riot control agents may be counted in the “other” category.

Physical Attack

Category Summary

How we track Physical Attacks

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