THE “FAKE NEWS media” has been prosecuted throughout 2017 in the kangaroo court that is President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, but in a courtroom in Washington, D.C., the definition of journalism itself is on trial.
The answer to the question will decide the fate of one of six people currently on trial for their proximity to the protests that took place around Trump’s inauguration on January 20. Independent photographer and videographer Alexei Wood was arrested with hundreds of protesters, medics, and journalists in response to the violent actions of a few protesters on that day.
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Wood is an independent photojournalist from San Antonio, Texas, whose work focuses on resistance movements.
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In an interview with The Intercept, Wood said that part of the government’s case against him revolves around defining who is — and, in his case, isn’t — a journalist.
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Individuals arrested at the Inauguration Day protests, known as J20, are being charged under blanket statutes for crimes committed during the action, including bashing windows and other property damage.
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Wood’s prosecution is alarming as a reflection of the government’s attempt to define — and criminalize — journalism, but the case as a whole also speaks to the government’s attempt to undermine the First Amendment right to political speech. “The government is prosecuting this case as though DisruptJ20” — the name given to the protest — “were a run-of-the-mill criminal conspiracy, where the only objective is criminal in nature, rather than a political demonstration designed to make a statement about the current administration,” Shana Knizhnik, an attorney with the ACLU-DC, told The Intercept in an email.
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Wood’s prosecution is alarming as a reflection of the government’s attempt to define — and criminalize — journalism, but the case as a whole also speaks to the government’s attempt to undermine the First Amendment right to political speech. “The government is prosecuting this case as though DisruptJ20” — the name given to the protest — “were a run-of-the-mill criminal conspiracy, where the only objective is criminal in nature, rather than a political demonstration designed to make a statement about the current administration,” Shana Knizhnik, an attorney with the ACLU-DC, told The Intercept in an email.
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Alex Stokes is another journalist who was arrested on January 20, although the charges against him were dropped shortly thereafter. Stokes told The Intercept in October that he thinks the fact that he made so much noise about the arrest was likely why his charges were dismissed. “I talked to a lot of press and committees that deal with press freedom” in the weeks after being arrested, Stokes said. “Then I got a lawyer, pro bono — they dismissed the charges after that.”
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“They’re trying to do stuff that there’s not settled procedure for,” said Sam Menefee-Libey, an organizer with the group Dead City Legal Posse, which was created to provide support to the J20 arrestees during their trials. “The prosecution and defense are testing untrodden ground to try to come out on top.”
The Intercept
