The Los Angeles Press Club and investigative reporting network Status Coup in June filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) that describes how journalists have been shot with police rounds, tear-gassed and detained.
According to reporting by the Los Angeles Times, the lawsuit describes “multiple instances of officers firing foam projectiles at members of the media” and “flouting state laws” that restrict the use of certain weapons in crowd control.
This and other such lawsuits are one step journalists are taking to confront growing attacks on press freedom and safety across the country. Although a federal judge has already ordered LAPD to stop firing rubber bullets at journalists, other legal actions have only just begun.
The press club also joined the ACLU in suing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), accusing federal agents of attacking press members with “retaliatory violence” in what they say was a violation of their rights to report on government actions, Editor & Publisher has reported.
A journalist detained
In the state of Georgia, journalist Mario Guevara was detained last month and eventually taken to the Folkston ICE Processing Center following his arrest while covering a “No Kings” protest in an Atlanta suburb. Guevara, a Spanish-language reporter who covers immigration on social media platforms, was wearing a press pass and identified himself as a journalist to law enforcement.
All charges were later dropped, but Guevara remains in detention. He has lived in this country for 20 years and had work authorization, National Public Radio (NPR) reported.
Katherine Jacobsen, the U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, told NPR’s Morning Edition that Guevara was being punished for doing his job. “Simply put, Guevara was doing his job and reporting the news,” Jacobsen said.
“To use that as a pretext to hold him – a journalist – for a very long period of time in law enforcement detention, and then to transfer him to ICE detention after that, is something that we haven’t seen before and is an incredibly alarming precedent to set,” Jacobsen said.
Funding also may silence voices
The Rescissions Act that strips funding from public media could also silence some voices. Although media critics agree that public broadcast has never met all the goals that were originally intended, it has provided educational programming and to some extent, expanded debate.
“I definitely do feel it’s a targeted mission to sort of make sure adversarial voices of the administration are being muted,” said Grant Parks, general manager of the community-run KZFR radio station in Chico.
Parks said the “scariest” possibility is that this is the beginning of a dramatic “erosion” of free speech rights.
Zack Haber, an Oakland-based freelance journalist, told ChicoSol that he worries about his future safety covering issues like immigration and ICE. But Haber also said “there are difficulties and possible dangers” he doesn’t face as a white journalist that journalists of color might face.
Marin County writer Vicki Larson has published two books and writes freelance articles for several outlets, including Greater Good Magazine.
“This administration is hostile to journalism and the truth in general,” she said, “so it is easy to see how reporters and editors might be more cautious. It will only get worse, especially as newspapers fold or are taken over by hedge funds. People, not just journalists, will suffer.”
Editor Leslie Layton contributed reporting to this story.