Should a Student Reporter Face Prosecution for Embedding with Protesters? [View all]

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.cjr.org/getting-the-story/should-a-student-reporter-face-prosecution-for-embedding-with-protesters.php

The protest didn’t last long. Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies broke into the barricaded building a little after 7am and arrested everyone—including Gohill, who says (as do his colleagues and a protester) that he was there to observe and report, not to protest. Gohill then spent more than twelve hours in custody before his mother got him released on $20,000 bail. He faces allegations of burglary, vandalism, and conspiracy—all felonies. A deputy district attorney told me this week that Gohill’s case “is still under review.”

Meanwhile, Stanford officials haven’t stopped pushing for Gohill to face prosecution. Shortly after the occupation, then-president Richard Saller and provost Jenny Martinez sent out this statement: “We believe that the Daily reporter who was arrested inside the building acted in violation of the law and University policies and fully support having him be criminally prosecuted.” When asked for comment this week, university spokeswoman Luisa Rapport said “the university’s position has not changed.”

An August arraignment date passed without prosecutors filing formal charges. But the criminal case lingers, and Stanford’s hard line haunts the proceedings. “You have an institution of higher learning urging the criminal prosecution of a young person for doing their job,” said Max Szabo, an attorney and spokesman for Gohill. “He’s been in limbo for far too long.”

Gohill, who had just started doing journalism the previous October, faced a complex set of choices that morning, one that many journalists must confront. How far should a reporter or photographer go to follow a breaking story, especially if arrests are possible? How much protection do press credentials offer? As I’ve reported this story, I realize that the arrest also raises tough questions for editors. I spent most of my career directing journalists as they cover stories ranging from riots and hurricanes to corporate mergers and race relations. We editors want the story, and we want our staff to be safe.