By Mark Garzon, Sarah Wasser, Xunqing Zheng, and Kevin Wang
The oil pipeline project in North Dakota has garnered controversy among environmentalists and advocacy groups who oppose it since it would impact drinking water and disturb tribal sites.
Since then, groups have gathered to protest at the site but have been met with significant resistance from police. This included the use of pepper spray and police dogs on protestors.
Despite this, it received low media coverage until Amy Goodman, a reporter for Democracy Now! covered what was occurring and published a video and article which raised national awareness.
By journalistic standards, Goodman had simply exercised her First Amendment right as reporter to inform audiences of the situation at the site. She committed no wrong.
However, authorities begged to differ and charged her with trespassing, which was eventually changed to rioting charges since the prosecutor believed trespassing wouldn’t stand in court.
Although the charges were dropped by a North Dakota judge last week, the fact she was charged in the first place raises concerns.
Goodman’s actions were protected by the First Amendment, which allowed her to report on anything that occurred at the site. The actions taken by North Dakota authorities violated her rights as a citizen as well as her duty as a reporter.
In this case, it’s clear Goodman did not commit any wrongdoing. The prosecutor’s actions indicate they simply found charges to place on her since they had to switch the initial ones. Instead, it comes off as a way of reprimanding Goodman for her reporting.
The idea that authorities were trying to restrict her right to report on a site that was initially receiving low media coverage is alarming.
Sources:
https://www.rt.com/usa/363017-reporter-riot-dakota-pipeline/