Minnesota authorities can’t arrest or threaten journalists after judge approves settlement arising from George Floyd protests

A federal judge brokers an agreement in which Minnesota police had to be told specifically that they can’t arrest, threaten, or assault journalists, or confiscate or damage their equipment. Even when protestors are ordered to disperse, journalists are permitted to document what happens next, as per their First Amendment rights.

The settlement includes a payment of $825k to the ACLU, and additional training for any officers who might think they have a right to brutalize and intimidate journalists who are performing their constitutionally protected duties. 

Note how the headline on FOX news uses “allegedly” and makes the liberal ACLU the main character of the story. (The payment is part of the settlement the cops agreed to.)

A federal judge has approved a settlement prohibiting Minnesota authorities from arresting, threatening to arrest, or using force against journalists.

In addition, officials with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Minnesota State Patrol (MSP) are not permitted to use chemical agents or to seize or intentionally damage journalists’ equipment, according to an order from US District Judge Wilhelmina Wright.

Tuesday’s settlement stemmed from police tactics used against journalists during protests over the deaths of George Floyd and Daunte Wright.

And journalists are not required to disperse even if police order protesters to do so during demonstrations, the order says.

[…]

Some journalists faced harsh crowd control measures from police during protests in and around Minneapolis, which included the arrests of CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez, producer Bill Kirkos and photojournalist Leonel Mendez while in the middle of a live television report on May 29, 2020.

Jimenez could be seen holding his CNN badge while reporting, identifying himself as a reporter, and telling the officers the crew would move wherever officers needed them to. An officer gripped his arm as Jimenez talked, then put him in handcuffs.

Police told the crew they were being detained because they were told to move and didn’t, one member of the CNN crew relayed to the network. The three were released from custody about an hour later. –CNN