As per the data provided The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, at least 125 incidences of the press freedom violations have been reported in the USA against the journalists covering the demonstrations followed by the death of, George Floyd, in Minneapolis police custody Since May 29.
Incidences of protests, riots, and looting took over the streets across the USA after an African-American man named George Floyd died in police custody. To maintain the law and order National guards and the entire police force has been deployed. A curfew has been imposed in various parts of the country.
While covering these protests many journalists across the country have faced attacks by cops. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a nonpartisan website of which CPJ is a founding partner, is investigating each of these reports.
The Twitter handle of the organization is also maintaining the series of violations in a Twitter thread. This thread is being constantly updated with new cases every day across the USA.
These violations are under investigation now and include 20 arrests. All the data is being collected from social media accounts, news reports, and direct contact with some of the journalists affected.
According to the reports Police have hit many journalists with tear gas, pepper spray, or rubber bullets. These attacks did not stop in several cases even when the journalists displayed their press credentials, according to the same sources.
As per the report by CPJ, a journalist working with Minnesota Public Radio had a gun pointed at her head by police. She told CPJ that they refused to lower their weapons even after she informed tehm about her credentials.
Avi Wolfman-Arent, a reporter working with WHYY was arrested during protest in front of the Philadelphia Police Headquarters in Old City on Sunday afternoon.
VPM is the largest locally owned and operated public media company in Central Virginia. In their statement they confirmed that two of their journalists were involved in a confrontation with law enforcement officers while covering Sunday night’s protests in downtown Richmond. These journalists even after identifying themselves as members of the press, were pepper-sprayed, and one of their reporter was pushed to the ground.
A photojournalist with Review-Journal spent the night in custody as per the tweet by Michael Scott Davidson, one of the publication's investigative reporters. He informed about the arrest of his colleague on 30th May.
