Newsgathering

One photographer was arrested Sunday night while covering the protests outside the NATO summit in Chicago. Another photographer was reportedly hit by police with a baton and five journalists were allegedly detained, but released on the spot.

A federal appellate court heard arguments today in a case that may potentially be one of the most significant rulings on a reporter's privilege to refuse to disclose the identity of confidential sources and other information obtained during the newsgathering process.

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.

In a battle between the public's First Amendment rights and law enforcement's application of policy, the public recently found an unlikely ally in the U.S. Department of Justice when it submitted a letter to the Baltimore Police Department supporting a citizen's right to record police activity.

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.

The Illinois Eavesdropping Act, one of the broadest restrictions on audio recording nationwide, is likely unconstitutional and may not be enforced against the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois when it records conversations of police officers openly engaged in their public duties, a federal appellate court ruled today.

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.

Journalists opposing the controversial Illinois eavesdropping statute expressed relief when a Chicago official announced that police do not plan to enforce the law when the city hosts the NATO summit in May. A state representative also introduced a bill last week to make it legal to audio record police officers in public.

Classified portions of oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. (4th Cir.) will be closed to the public in the government's case against ex-CIA official Jeffrey Sterling, who is charged with violating the Espionage Act for disclosing classified information. Only arguments pertaining to the subpoena of New York Times reporter James Risen will be heard in open court.

A Kansas judge declared a mistrial in a murder case after a reporter tweeted a photograph containing the profile of a juror.