Press freedom under pressure
An absurd prosecution of a journalist in Iowa reflects growing harassment of reporters
THE WRONG person went on trial in Des Moines, Iowa, this week. Andrea Sahouri, a journalist for the Des Moines Register, testified in court on March 9th about her rough treatment—her lawyer called it “assault”—by a policeman last year. Along with a colleague, she had been observing a protest against police violence and racial injustice on May 31st. Though she stood away from protesters, a policeman in helmet and gas mask rushed up and, without warning, she says, “grabbed me, pepper-sprayed me.” Even as she called out “I’m press, I’m press,” he handcuffed her and a friend. Her colleague and a passing television camera crew both identified her as a journalist, to no avail.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Midwestern nasty”
United States March 13th 2021
- America’s battle over election laws
- How the 2020 census may help Republicans regain power in Washington
- Press freedom under pressure
- Why taking pilots out of planes has been more expensive than anticipated
- Tribes of the Hamptons
- A Californian experiment in the provision of guaranteed income returns its first results
- Joe Manchin, the wild man of the mountains
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