A coalition of 45 press organizations are calling on a North Carolina prosecutor to drop charges against two journalists who were convicted of trespassing for recording police conducting a homeless encampment sweep.
The journalists, Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit, reporters with the Asheville Blade, are entitled under North Carolina law to a second trial, this time with a jury.
Though the two were not accused of harming or obstructing police, Coit was given a suspended jail sentence and probation, and Bliss was fined, and both have been banned from Asheville city parks.
Body camera footage, released after a petition filed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the ACLU of North Carolina, shows officers deciding to arrest the journalists before clearing the camp “because they’re videotaping” and wondering aloud if one journalist would “wise up” after the other’s arrest.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Committee to Protect Journalists are leading the push to get Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams to drop the prosecution. A letter to Williams, sent on World Press Freedom Day, explains that “[t]he journalists should be commended — not tried — for spending Christmas away from their families to perform the public service of documenting important news.”
The list of those who have signed onto the effort include everyone from press rights and civil liberties organizations like Reporters Without Borders, Society of Professional Journalists and the National Press Club and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression to national media publishers like The Intercept, Penguin Random House, TEGNA and McClatchy.
“This prosecution is both unconstitutional and pointless. The First Amendment prohibits using trespassing laws as a pretext to retaliate against journalists for doing their jobs. And nobody in Asheville stands to benefit from government resources being wasted to criminalize journalism,” said FPF Advocacy Director Seth Stern. “The progressive image the city works to cultivate is further damaged every day the charges aren’t dropped.”
Katherine Jacobsen, U.S. and Canada program coordinator at CPJ, added, “We are gravely concerned about the press freedom implications of the continued prosecution of Asheville Blade reporters Veronica Coit and Matilda Bliss. Journalists should not be tried simply for doing their jobs and covering matters of public importance.”
The case has also caught the attention of activist, actor and FPF board member John Cusack, who tweeted that it “should be a national news story. Just because [the journalists] don’t work for a mainstream news outlet doesn’t mean their First Amendment rights are less important.”
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Chris Graham
