Stop Searches & Seizures of Journalists’ Work

Screenshot from surveillance video taken from Marion, Kansas County police raid on the Marion County Record newsroom.

Marion County Record

Searches of newsrooms and seizures of journalists’ materials chill reporting.

Police searches of newsrooms and seizures of journalists' communications, electronic devices, notes, and other reporting materials intimidates journalists and sources and chill reporting. Searches and seizures can reveal confidential sources and transform reporters into tools of law enforcement.

Numerous laws protect reporters from searches and seizures, but police routinely violate them. Too often, courts rubber-stamp requests for searches and seizures involving journalists. In some instances, officials even appear to have obtained illegal search warrants to intimidate and silence journalists and news outlets who criticize them.

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    Laura Poitras lawsuit against the US for repeated searches at the border hightlights critical press freedom issue

    Search & SeizureArticle

    Awarding-winning filmmaker and journalist Laura Poitras sued the Department of Homeland Security and several other federal agencies under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) yesterday, demanding an explanation for the dozens of times the US government detained and questioned her traveling over the border from 2006-2012. Poitras, who is also …

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    Here Are The Secret Details Gitmo Warden Claimed Could Be Used By Al-Qaeda to Attack Prison

    SecrecyArticle

    <!--//--><![CDATA[// ><!-- DV.load("//www.documentcloud.org/documents/801592-col-bogdans-unsealed-guantanamo-declaration-in.js", { width: 600, height: 600, sidebar: false, text: false, pdf: false, container: "#DV-viewer-801592-col-bogdans-unsealed-guantanamo-declaration-in" }); //--><!]]> Score one for transparency.  A federal court judge on Thursday—in response to a motion I filed in July—unsealed Guantanamo warden Col. John Bogdan’s six-page sworn declaration pertaining to a genital search policy …