Reporter’s trial seen as attack on press rights
IOWA CITY, IOWA » An Iowa journalist faces trial Monday on charges stemming from her coverage of a protest against racial injustice, a case that prosecutors have pursued despite international condemnation from free press advocates who say she was just doing her job.
The case of Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri, who was pepper sprayed and arrested while reporting on a clash between protesters and police, will highlight an aggressive response by Iowa authorities against those who organized and attended protests that erupted last summer and occasionally turned violent.
Charges
Sahouri and her former boyfriend are charged with failure to disperse and interference with official acts, misdemeanors that could bring fines and up to 30 days in jail. They face a twoday trial at Drake University in what the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker says could be the first for a working journalist nationwide since 2018.
Sahouri’s newspaper, the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and Amnesty International are among press advocates that have demanded Polk County drop the charges, which they call an abuse of power that violates the Constitution’s First Amendment.
“This is outrageous. Reporting at a protest scene
as a working member of the media is not a crime. It is a right that must be protected,” Amnesty International said.
But Des Moines police and County Attorney John Sarcone’s office argue that Sahouri wasn’t wearing press credentials and appeared to be a participant in an unlawful assembly, saying journalists do not have a free pass to ignore dispersal orders. The only such order identified in court documents was issued roughly 90 minutes before the arrest.
Job called ‘irrelevant’
At a pre-trial hearing Friday, prosecutor Bradley Kinkade argued that Sahouri’s employment as a reporter “is irrelevant to her charges.”
“This is a standard misdemeanor trial,” he said.
Sahouri, recently honored by the Iowa Newspaper Association as one of
the state’s best young reporters, has continued to cover public safety while the charges have loomed.
While 126 journalists were arrested or detained during 2020’s unrest, most either weren’t charged or had charges dropped, the Press Freedom Tracker says. Fourteen still face charges.
The determination to prosecute Sahouri has baffled observers, who note Iowa’s courts have a backlog of felony cases due to the coronavirus pandemic. Critics say authorities seem to be seeking a conviction to justify an officer’s decision to unnecessarily use force against a reporter known for building trust with crime victims and underrepresented communities.
“It’s like somebody with their hand in the cookie jar: They can’t admit that they made a mistake,” said Des Moines civil rights attorney Glen Downey, who is not involved in Sahouri’s case.