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    Three police officers stand, with one in the foreground and two in the background, in a parking garage. In the background on the right, several people can be seen sitting against a wall with their hands behind their backs.

    California police violate press rights

    Newsletter

    California police are violating state law “right and left” during the protests and police raids on campus encampments. That’s according to University of California, Irvine, School of Law professor Susan Seager. We interviewed her in the wake of arrests of two California journalists in recent weeks, among other press freedom violations. Suppression of the press isn’t supposed to happen anywhere in America, but especially not in California, where it’s explicitly against the law for police to intentionally interfere with journalists covering a demonstration.

    Published Freedom of the Press Foundation
    A man in a blue shirt sits, handcuffed, while a police officer wearing a helmet with a face shield lifted stands over him with his hands on the man's shoulders. The hands of another officer can be seen holding a camera.

    ‘A national embarrassment’

    Arrests/Prosecutions•Newsletter

    The flood of press freedom violations against journalists covering protests opposing the Israel-Gaza war is a national embarrassment. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented dozens of abuses connected to protests and counterprotests, and the numbers will likely grow. These recent incidents confirm what past data in the Tracker has demonstrated: protests are an especially dangerous place for journalists.

    Published Freedom of the Press Foundation
    A screenshot from a video taken during the arrest of KTBC broadcast photographer Carlos Sanchez while he was filming a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas at Austin on April 24, 2024.

    Cops on campus arrest, bully journalists

    Newsletter

    As police stormed several college campuses in recent days and arrested hundreds of students protesting the Israel-Gaza war, the free press was also under attack. Texas Department of Public Safety officers arrested Carlos Sanchez, a photojournalist for the local Fox affiliate, as he was covering protests at the University of Texas at Austin. But police can’t seem to make up their minds about what, exactly, they want us to believe Sanchez did wrong, repeatedly bringing then dropping charges against the photographer.

    Published Freedom of the Press Foundation

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A woman holding a Yes to Free Press sign