The latest arrest of former NCS anchor Don Lemon by federal authorities for his unbiased protection of a protest at a church in St. Paul crosses yet one more purple line, this one over the liberty of the press (“Lemon arrested by federal officials in link to protest,” Page A5, Jan. 31). The protesters interrupted a service at a native church, the place a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as pastor, and chanted, “ICE out.”
What does it say about America when you’ll be able to cost journalists with felony offenses for merely interviewing and reporting about protesters engaged in protest? Has the First Amendment been rendered fully meaningless?
The cost of interfering with parishioners’ proper to worship seems to be a trumped-up accusation geared toward exacting revenge in opposition to a longtime critic of the president. Lemon, whereas anchoring his night program at NCS through the first Trump administration, reportedly angered the president steadily together with his vital protection, and Lemon has continued to criticize the president since leaving the community.
Can anybody apart from a Trump loyalist say with a straight face that the actual concern right here is somebody’s proper to worship and never, as an alternative, an effort to weaponize the highly effective federal authorities to inflict some political retribution for unfavorable information protection?
The arrests of Lemon and one other unbiased journalist, Georgia Fort, additionally create a clear, chilling impact to make journalists assume twice about aggressively and appropriately reporting on the administration’s crackdown on immigration.
Anthony Arnaud
Laguna Niguel, Calif.
The arrest of Don Lemon, an unbiased journalist who had coated a church protest, ought to elevate purple flags for all information organizations. The costs are unlikely to stay, however that’s not the purpose. They will value money and time to defend in opposition to and should have what’s little question the administration’s supposed impact — to intimidate journalists and media retailers into softening their tales.
This is the time for mainstream media retailers to point out management. Tell it like it’s: This is a blatant try and criminalize the essential train of free speech rights by these documenting the actions of protesters. The extra information retailers that get up, the tougher it is going to be for any single outlet or journalist to bear the brunt.
Barbara Katzenberg
Lexington