But there's an ongoing government-press conflict that also is important in its effect on journalists' ability to gather and report news, and to the proper role of a free press under the First Amendment: Journalists are being arrested while reporting on public demonstrations or police activity on matters of public interest.
In a latest example, Charlotte Observer religion reporter Tim Funk was arrested June 10 at the General Assembly building in Raleigh, N.C., while interviewing local clergy involved in legislative protests.
As seen in a video of the arrest posted on Facebook, Funk, a veteran reporter, was interviewing members of the protest group while wearing a Charlotte Observer identification card on a lanyard around his neck. He continued to do interviews with several protesters after police ordered the group to disperse. He is standing in front of, not among, the group.
Funk first is grabbed by the arm and then handcuffed with a plastic tie. Later, the reporter was escorted away by three uniform officers. An Observer news story said Funk "was taken along with the arrested protesters to the Wake County magistrate's office to be arraigned on misdemeanor charges of trespassing and failure to disperse."
Gathering news - and performing the Constitutional duty as a "watchdog on government" - requires more than getting a few facts from official sources. It means being at the scene, talking with those involved, observing the news first-hand.
According to a Web site set up to track arrests of journalists in recent years who were reporting on the Occupy movement, in the year ending in September 2012, "more than 90 journalists have been arrested in 12 cities around the United States while covering Occupy protests and civil unrest." Add in a sizable number of arrests in recent years of photographers for taking pictures at the scene of police actions and traffic incidents, and also those swept up in mass arrests of protesters at national and international conferences in the last decade, and there's more reason to worry.
The rights to assemble, peaceably petition the government for change and raise one's voice in doing so are all protected freedoms - along with the right of a free press to gather and report the news without government sanction or disruption.
If police are arresting demonstrators out of legitimate concerns for public safety or for trespassing or such, having an independent news media there to observe and report is a plus. Ignoring that "plus" for whatever reason produces a double negative: Doubt over the unreported motives and actions of officials, as well as the trampling of First Amendment rights.
Former Caseyville Police Chief JD Roth sent a despondent text message to his girlfriend before he went into his backyard, put on a helmet, covered his head with a canvas bag and shot himself in the head, according to a police report.
His pre-paid funeral arrangements and will executed on May 30 were on a plastic-covered table nearby.
"Babe, I can't live with myself anymore. See me in every full moon," Roth wrote in a text to his girlfriend, Analiza Cecil. Roth added, "lugat ca lagi na mahal ko!!" which Cecil told the police means "take care of yourself my love" in Taglog. Cecil is from the Philippines.
Roth left no note, but police documents obtained from the Caseyville and Fairview Heights Police Department showed there was an ongoing investigation by the federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Department investigation into the police department that Roth headed for 11 years.
In response to a request for an inventory of firearms held by the Caseyville Police Department, interim Police Chief Frank Moore stated, "The status of other department firearms is part of an ongoing investigation by the ATF. Any information released should come from the ATF."
The federal agency typically does not comment on ongoing investigations. Calls to an ATF spokesman in Chicago were not returned.
After Roth's body was found, "a large sum of money" and multiple guns were discovered inside a safe at Roth's home. Police found 63 guns inside Roth's house, including 19 military-style semi-automatic rifles and carbines, seven less-powerful .22 cal rifles, 22 handguns, seven shotguns and eight large-caliber bolt action rifles. He committed suicide with a shotgun.
Blue and Merrilee Roth were named as the beneficiaries of Roth's estate, the police report stated, and the money was released to them. Neither of the women had a Firearms Owner Identification card, but police told them that they could retrieve the guns after they obtained a FOID card.
Roth was placed on paid leave in May after he was charged in state court with official misconduct with regard to the purchase of a 2003 Dodge Dakota Pickup seized in a drug bust. Roth used the truck for personal and police business until police officers pressured the village board to auction the truck. The village board told Roth to get bids for the truck from local car dealers. The bid process was scrutinized when officers learned Roth purchased the truck from a dealership where his friend Brad Reno worked. The dealership bought the truck from the village for $7,500. Roth purchased the truck less than a month later.
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