An Iowa jury on Wednesday acquitted a journalist who was pepper-sprayed and arrested by police while covering a protest in a case that critics have derided as an attack on press freedom and an abuse of prosecutorial discretion.
The jury made the right decision : Reporter Andrea Sahouri acquitted in trial stemming from arrest as she covered protest William Morris, Des Moines Register I did nothing wrong : Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri talks after acquittal
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Andrea Sahouri says her acquittal Wednesday on two criminal charges sends an important message about recognizing the rights of journalists to do their jobs. The jury made the right decision, said Sahouri, a reporter for the Des Moines Register. They made the decision to uphold democracy, a just democracy, the freedom of the press, First Amendment rights, the list goes on.
Here’s our statement at @FreedomofPress welcoming the jury verdict for @dmregister reporter Andrea Sahouri.
It’s still infuriating Polk County prosecutors wasted time and resources on a case that clearly violated her press freedom rights. https://t.co/ORYxEHepMWpic.twitter.com/7DIlNk3ByA
“We are very grateful that justice was done today, and that Andrea was fully exonerated. But it should never have come to this,” Maribel Perez, the head of the news division at Gannett, told the Washington Post. Gannett Co., Inc. owns the Des Moines Register.
128 reporters were arrested in the United States in 2020 while on the job, according to the US Press Freedom Tracker. Daily Caller reporters Shelby Talcott and Jorge Ventura were arrested in September 2020 while covering riots in Louisville, Kentucky. The charges against them were dropped.