Yes, Don Lemon was indicted on federal civil rights charges related to his coverage of a protest at a church in Minnesota. The indictment alleges that he was involved in planning the protest and withheld details of these plans in his reporting leading up to the demonstration. Lemon has maintained that he was acting as a journalist during the event.
What to know about charges against Don Lemon tied to Minnesota church protest
Temple University student charged in St Paul church storming admits he helped Don Lemon with 'logistics and local contacts'Richardson surrendered on federal charges and admitted that he assisted Lemon, indicating that Lemon planned to go into the church with the activist group and that it was not simply passive coverage of the incident.
Temple University student charged in St Paul church storming admits he helped Don Lemon with ‘logistics and local contacts’ | The Post Millennial | thepostmillennial.com
It's not uncommon for journalists to embedded with military operations, protests, and organized gatherings. Without the activist group, nothing would've happened. In this day and age, there are content creators and influencers, such as Lemon, who are involved. They've arrested at least two members of the activist group as well as two journalists including Lemon. It remains to be seen whether the journalists will be convicted for helping with the planning the protest since media coverage can be integral to the planning process.
You have to have read the CJR article.
Lowell told CNN that Lemon was arrested on two counts: conspiring to violate a person’s constitutional rights and violating the FACE Act, or Freedom of Access to Clinical Entrances, which prohibits interfering with a person’s attempt to seek reproductive health services or to exercise their First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of worship. “I’m not aware of any precedent of using the FACE Act to charge a journalist who’s doing nothing more than covering an event,” Elizabeth McNamara, a New York–based attorney at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP specializing in media law, said. “The FACE Act has a carve-out that specifically provides that nothing in the act should be construed to prohibit expressive contact protected by the First Amendment.” To charge him with violating the FACE Act, she added, prosecutors would have to show that Lemon “was using force or a threat of force or physical obstruction to injure or intimidate or interfere with, or attempt to interfere with, the places of worship.”
When charges have been brought against journalists covering protests on private property historically, they have largely been handled as trespassing cases at the state level, Gabe Rottman, vice president of policy for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said in a statement. “Those charges are almost always dropped, or if the cases go to trial, the journalists typically prevail.” |
