TNG-CWA Journalists Win Protections Against Attacks and Arrests by State Patrols

Last week, a federal judge approved a settlement that prohibits the Minnesota State Patrol from attacking or arresting journalists, and awarded $825,000 to several journalists who were assaulted and injured while covering protests over the police killings of George Floyd and Daunte Wright in 2020. The suit, filed by the Minnesota ACLU, CWA, and TNG-CWA, accused law enforcement agencies of deliberately targeting, assaulting, and arresting journalists as they covered the protests. Although they were not plaintiffs in this case, over half a dozen TNG-CWA members were injured or detained during the uprising following the police killings last year. Prohibiting the Minnesota State Patrol from arresting, threatening to arrest, and/or using physical force or chemical agents against journalists, ordering journalists to stop photographing, recording, or observing a protest, making journalists disperse and seizing or intentionally damaging equipment such as photo, audio, or video gear are among some of the important changes included in the settlement.