Photographers

AP Photo

Steven Tyler, left, and Mick Fleetwood, right, testify about an anti-paparazzi bill. Tyler's lawyer, Dina LaPolt, center, drafted the bill.

The Hawaii anti-paparazzi bill pushed by rocker Steven Tyler has lost momentum in the state House of Representatives after flying through the Senate earlier this month.

Despite the prompt apology issued by the Vice President's press office to the University of Maryland journalism school for deleting the photographs of a journalism student covering an event with Joe Biden earlier this week, the White House News Photographers Association fired off an admonishing letter Thursday to the press office and sought a meeting to ensure that it does “not ever happen again.”

The Department of Justice issued a rare letter supporting the constitutional rights of a photojournalist suing Montgomery County, Md., police officers who arrested him for taking their pictures while on duty.

The Justice’s Statement of Interest issued Monday urges the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland to uphold citizens’ constitutional rights to record police officers in their public capacity without being arrested or having the recordings unlawfully seized.

The Hawaii Senate Judiciary Committee approved an anti-paparazzi bill that would allow people who are photographed on their private property or while taking part in “personal or family activities” to sue the photographer for invasion of privacy.

Media advocates are expressing outrage over the arrest of a New York Times freelance photographer Saturday night. New York police allegedly knocked the journalist to the ground, beat him and took his two cameras and press credentials.

The University of California Berkeley Police Department has settled with an independent photographer who sued the department after he was arrested and had his photographs confiscated while covering a protest in 2009. As part of the $162,500 settlement, the department has also agreed to change its policies towards the media and train officers about journalists' legal protections.

In one of the first Occupy Wall Street cases to proceed to trial, a New York University student journalist charged with disorderly conduct was acquitted on Wednesday after video proved he did not commit any violation while covering a protest in January.

While photographing the march in downtown Manhattan on Jan. 1, Alexander Arbuckle was one of many arrested for disorderly conduct for allegedly standing in the streets and blocking traffic after multiple police warnings to stay out of the roads.

A state judge today dismissed the remaining charges against a Santa Cruz photographer about to stand trial for his coverage of an “Occupy” demonstration in Santa Cruz last year.

Bradley Stuart Allen was charged in February with a felony conspiracy, a felony vandalism and two misdemeanor trespassing charges after he published his photographs of a November demonstration to the online media outlet Indybay.

A federal lawsuit filed early this week by New York City Council members, Occupy protesters, and journalists asks the court to appoint an independent federal official to monitor the city police department's practices regarding First Amendment rights.

The suit, which names as defendants Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, and a number of police officers, alleging that the department has engaged in "systematic violations" of their First Amendment rights.

A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed in New York yesterday on behalf of a video journalist arrested and detained while filming police activities on a public street. The suit points to 13 other reported incidents in which police throughout Long Island have allegedly prevented journalists and citizens from filming police activity.