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While other cities publicly apologize to reporters detained for trespassing, authorities in Asheville, North Carolina, still plan to put two journalists on trial next week. They’re accused of nothing other than taking pictures of a homeless encampment sweep at a public park. 

We wrote an op-ed in the Asheville Citizen Times calling for the district attorney to drop the charges immediately. We questioned why the Asheville police are singling out journalists — and specifically, journalists who have been critical of their conduct in the past — for arrest for curfew violations.  

We explained that “no decent journalist would ignore newsworthy official conduct, in plain sight and on public land, just because it’s dark out. And no government that values transparency would expect journalists to do so. The news does not keep regular business hours.”

Hopefully authorities will come to their senses in the coming days but even then, they shouldn’t be let off the hook for the harm already done. The journalists have had to wait well over a year to find out whether they’ll serve time for taking pictures. They should sue.

FPF leads coalition calling for House to let C-SPAN control cameras

C-SPAN watchers got a rare, up-close look at House proceedings during the speakership negotiations earlier this month. Then, once Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker, it was back to normal: wide shots trained at the speaker’s dais and podium. 

That’s because the longstanding practice has been for the party controlling the House to also control the cameras, and both parties have chosen not to allow C-SPAN to go beyond the robotic cameras that capture the lame footage to which we’re accustomed. 

We think the press and public are entitled to the best possible footage of their representatives in action. That’s why Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), along with Demand Progress Education Fund, led a coalition of over 40 like-minded organizations in urging House leadership to restore C-SPAN’s control over the House cameras. Read the letter on our blog. 

Pass the PRESS Act so Trump can’t jail journalists

FPF’s executive director, Trevor Timm, talked to The Independent about Donald Trump’s latest call to jail journalists who won’t burn their sources. 

Trevor explained that “Trump’s statement isn’t exactly surprising, given he’s been saying similar things on the campaign trail, but it is appalling … No president should be allowed to threaten reporters with jail in order to reveal their sources.” 

Although the Department of Justice adopted policies last year restricting prosecutors from compelling journalists to testify, future administrations can repeal those policies, and a future Trump administration almost certainly would. 

Trevor called on Congress to pass the PRESS Act, a “strong shield law protecting journalists from surveillance or compelled disclosure of source materials except in emergency situations,” so that no president can follow through on Trump’s threats. 

— Seth Stern, Director of Advocacy

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