Group wants charges against 3 documentary filmmakers dropped
Posted October 20, 2016 10:33 pm.
Last Updated October 20, 2016 11:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NEW YORK, N.Y. – A media watchdog is calling on prosecutors in North Dakota and Washington state to drop charges against three documentary filmmakers arrested while filming protests against oil pipelines.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday the filmmakers were arrested Oct. 11 as participants in a multistate protest and were charged with a range of felonies.
CPJ deputy executive director Robert Mahoney says recording civil disobedience and arrests is news-gathering, not conspiracy. He says prosecuting filmmakers for covering protests sends a chilling message. He says he wants authorities to “stop interfering with journalists doing their jobs.”
The arrests came shortly after another journalist filming protests against a North Dakota pipeline project was charged with trespassing.
North Dakota prosecutors have no comment. Washington prosecutors haven’t responded to a request for comment.