Police officers seized more than 900 photographs on Friday from the offices of James Madison University’s student newspaper, The Breeze, as part of their investigation into an off-campus event on April 10 that turned into a riot.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that, according to The Breeze’s editor in chief, the police, led by Commonwealth’s Attorney Marsha L. Garst, arrived unannounced and threatened to remove all equipment and documents from the newspaper’s offices if the photos were not turned over.
The Student Press Law Center, a nonprofit organization that defends student journalists’ First Amendment rights, demanded that the authorities immediately return any photos that had not been published in The Breeze, saying the federal Privacy Protection Act makes it illegal to search newsrooms for unpublished news-gathering materials.
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2 Responses to Police Raid James Madison U.’s Student Newspaper and Seize Photos
lexalexander - April 19, 2010 at 9:36 am
I infer from the statement that police and a prosecutor arrived “unannounced” that neither agency made any effort to seek what it wanted by less intrusive means first, let alone demonstrated that it 1) there was a substantial likelihood that the newspaper’s photo archives would contain anything relevant and 2) that the police and prosecutors could obtain that relevant info in no other way.I understand, as do most U.S. journalists, that we are citizens of this country and our respective states and that we have certain obligations to our fellow citizens, particularly when crimes have been committed and/or public safety endangered.But I also understand, in a way that most cops and prosecutors, in my experience, do not because they were out back smoking dope or whatever during eighth-grade civics, that journalists MUST be, and be seen as, independent of government and other institutions if they are to function effectively. That is as true for a student newspaper or a neighborhood blogger as it is for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
francishamit - April 20, 2010 at 12:31 am
This is a violation of the law. Sue them.