Physical Attack

Data Summary

Total cases	77
Journalists attacked in 2018	39
Journalists attacked in 2017	45

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 …

D.C. police officer assaults freelance photographer Craig Ruttle at demonstration

September 6, 2018

Freelance photojournalist Craig Ruttle was documenting a far-right protest in Washington, D.C. on August 12, 2018, when a police officer charged at him and body-slammed him.Ruttle was covering the white supremacist rally Unite the Right II for Newsday. Ruttle tried to photograph a group of approximately 20 white nationalists, who emerged from the Foggy Bottom metro station and were soon surrounded by Metropolitan Police Department officers. “The scene was chaotic,” Ruttle told Freedom of the Press Foundation, describing the way …

Photojournalist covering D.C. protest ‘decked’ in face by police officer

September 10, 2018

“I was trying to take photos,” Horse said. “Being shoved and hit makes that a little hard.”

Protesters smack away NBC News reporter Cal Perry’s camera in Charlottesville

August 15, 2018

On August 11, 2018, NBC News reporter Cal Perry was covering an anti-racist demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, when protesters grabbed his TV camera and pushed it away.Anti-fascist protesters gathered in Charlottesville to commemorate Heather Heyer, who was murdered during the far-right “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville the previous year.While covering the demonstration, Perry tweeted that a number of protesters seemed hostile toward him and other reporters.He later tweeted a video of an altercation with a protester.“Fuck you, snitch ass …

Bill Murray at 46th AFI Life Achievement Award

Bill Murray accosts freelance photographer Peter Simon in Martha’s Vineyard restaurant

August 31, 2018

Murray reportedly shoved Simon and then poured a drink on him

Oregonian reporter Eder Campuzano injured while documenting protest

August 13, 2018

Eder Campuzano, a reporter at The Oregonian, was hit in the head by a plastic water bottle while covering protests …

More Incidents

Results Summary

Total Results	77
Journalists affected	85
Results in 2018	31

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

Data Summary

Results Summary

How we track Physical Attacks

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