First Amendment demands answers from the Phoenix police department after a journalist is allegedly handcuffed outside a Chase Bank in the Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is demanding answers from the Phoenix Police Department after an officer detained and handcuffed one of its reporters outside a Chase Bank — an incident that press freedom advocates say raises First Amendment concerns and mirrors a larger, growing hostility from local law enforcement toward journalists across the country.
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In response, the Phoenix Police Department — which is being probed by the Department of Justice to determine whether its officers retaliate against people “for conduct protected by the First Amendment” — stressed to me that the incident occurred on private property, but that the department had nonetheless shared concerns raised by the paper with the Professional Standards Bureau andthat an investigation is underway.
Representatives from the bank approached him and asked what he was doing and Rabouin said he identified himself as a journalist. Rabouin said he was never asked to leave, but an officer soon arrived on the scene.
Rabouin said he volunteered to simply stop reporting from the scene, but video captured by a bystander shows the responding officer handcuff him, put him in the back of a police vehicle, and even threaten to shove him in if he did not comply. The video shows Rabouin repeatedly identified himself as a reporter for The Journal, but the officer did not appear to care. The bystander who began recording the incident was also threatened with arrest.
Ultimately, after about 15 minutes, when other officers showed up, Rabouin was allowed to walk free. A representative for Chase told me Thursday that the bank did apologize to Rabouin over the incident. The local police department has so far not done so.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/06/media/wsj-reporter-chase-arrest/index.html
NewsNation: Evan Lambert, 24, is charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespass in East Palestine, Ohio, after the derailment
Bruce Brown, the executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told me in a statement that “the alarming number of incidents we’ve seen over the last several years where police have detained, arrested, or assaulted journalists who were doing their jobs threatens to chill this kind of essential newsgathering.”
Thanks to everyone who reached out to offer support, I wrote. “We’re hoping to hear back from the chief or someone at the department soon.”
The correspondent for NewsNation was arrested on Wednesday while reporting on the train wreck at a news conference after being told to stop speaking during the governor’s remarks.
Law enforcement officers interrupted NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert as he broadcast from the event, where authorities announced they were lifting a multiday evacuation order near the site of a fiery weekend derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The officers arrested him soon after he got off the air, the outlet reported.
Gov. Mike DeWine later expressed concern about the arrest and his office said he wasn’t aware of it as it happened. The man was released from the jail on Wednesday night. There are no details about what led to his release.
After the news conference ended, the broadcast show said, “We need to stop broadcasting because this news conference is behind us.” The correspondent then quickly signed off the air.
East Palestine police officers arrested Lambert for criminal trespass and resisting arrest, Columbiana County Sheriff Brian McLaughlin told CNN, without elaborating. Lambert, however, indicated he faced charges of criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, according to a statement from NewsNation’s Washington Bureau Chief Mike Viqueira.
The news conference was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., but was delayed until about 5 p.m., NewsNation reported. DeWine began speaking just as Lambert was scheduled to begin his live broadcast, the outlet said.
Cell phone video provided by NewsNation shows multiple law enforcement officers surrounding a door in the gym and attempting to escort him out.
The Times of the 11 December 2003 News Conference: An Ohio’s Attorney General Can Drop a Criminal Charge Against a Journalist for Trespassing
He was reporting on a matter that was of urgent, critical interest to our audience from the videos, and he did it without incident.
“While journalists could conceivably be subject to criminal charges for trespassing in some situations, this incident is not one of them,” Yost wrote in a statement. The reporter was at the press conference, which was called by the governor. His conduct was consistent with the purpose of the event and his role as a reporter.”
“That person had a right to be reporting. They should have been allowed to report,” he said. If they were hampered from reporting, that is wrong and it is something that I do not approve of. I absolutely despise it.
During the news conference, DeWine and local officials provided an update on the train derailment, the wreckage of which burned for days and prompted evacuations over the threat of a deadly explosion and leakage of its toxic cargo.
Dave Yost, Ohio’s Attorney General, said that the criminal charges had been dropped against the NewsNation reporter who was arrested in East Palestine.
An Oasis for East Palestine: What Amounted to a Neglected Reporting Event for a Proposed State Senator, R.C. Lambert-McMichael
Body camera footage shows officials approaching Lambert-McMichael and asking him to stop his reporting as it was too loud during the press conference. The footage also shows an argument break out and Ohio National Guard’s adjutant general, Maj. Gen. John Harris, approaching and pushing Lambert-McMichael.
“I’m still processing what was a traumatic event fore me, in the context of a time where we are hyper aware of how frequently some police interactions with people of color can end in much worse circumstances. That is not something I’m lost on.
“I am doing alright. And I will be okay. I will continue to do my job without fear or favor in service of the public. I hope that what happened to me shines light on the people of East Palestine who have questions regarding their safety in light of an environmental hazard.
The Republican governor told CNN’s Don Lemon and Kaitlan Collins that the reporter should never have been told to be quiet. “That was a big, big mistake. I can tell you that the person who did that will never do that again.