Update from October 15th: A North Dakota state prosecutor has sought to charge award-winning journalist Amy Goodman with participating in a "riot" for filming an attack on Native American-led anti-pipeline protesters. The new charge comes after the prosecutor dropped criminal trespassing charges. || More Info

​October 13, 2016 – Award-winning journalist Amy Goodman, charged with criminal trespassing for filming an attack on Native American-led pipeline protesters, will turn herself in to North Dakota authorities on October 17.

Amy Goodman will surrender to authorities at the Morton County–Mandan Combined Law Enforcement and Corrections Center at 8:15 a.m. local time (CDT).

"I will go back to North Dakota to fight this charge. It is a clear violation of the First Amendment," said Goodman. "I was doing my job as a journalist, covering a violent attack on Native American protesters."
The charge in State of North Dakota v. Amy Goodman stems from Democracy Now!’s coverage of the protests against the Dakota Access pipeline. On Saturday, September 3, Democracy Now! filmed security guards working for the pipeline company attacking protesters. The report showed guards unleashing dogs and using pepper spray and featured people with bite injuries and a dog with blood on its mouth and nose.

Democracy Now!’s report went viral online, was viewed more than 14 million times on Facebook and was rebroadcast on many outlets, including CBS, NBC, NPR, CNN, MSNBCand the Huffington Post.
On September 8, a criminal complaint and warrant was issued for Goodman’s arrest.

Ironically, in the state’s criminal complaint, North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Lindsey Wohl, referencing the Democracy Now! video report in a sworn affidavit, stated, "Amy Goodman can be seen on the video identifying herself and interviewing protesters about their involvement in the protest." This is precisely the point: Goodman was doing the constitutionally protected work of a reporter.
The pipeline project has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and members of over 200 other tribes from across the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has said that the warrant is "a transparent attempt to intimidate reporters from covering protests of significant public interest." Steve Andrist, executive director of the North Dakota Newspaper Association, told The Bismarck Tribune, "It’s regrettable that authorities chose to charge a reporter who was just doing her job."

Goodman is the host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, a national, daily, independent, award-winning public television/radio news program that airs on over 1,400 stations worldwide. Goodman has co-authored six New York Times bestsellers and won many of journalism’s highest awards in her more than three decades working as a reporter.

Democracy Now!’s coverage of the pipeline and the protests is available here.
Press Statement:
Time: 8:00 a.m. CDT, Monday October 17, 2016
Place: 211 2nd Ave NW, Mandan ND 58554
Followed by short walk to jail:
Time: 8:15 a.m. CDT Monday October 17, 2016
Place: 205 1st Ave NW, Mandan, ND 58554For more information, contact Denis Moynihan at +1-646-217-7231 (on-site cell) or media@democracynow.org.
Live camera position/uplink available.
To book contact Denis Moynihan.
​
Press availability will follow Amy Goodman’s arraignment, expected (but not guaranteed) to be several hours after 8:15 a.m. Goodman will be available for TV interviews via live TV camera position.
Live camera positions with satellite uplink connection available onsite to interview Amy Goodman or for use by your correspondent.

Broadcast/print quality video and still photos of Amy Goodman entering Morton County Jail will be available at democracynow.org or by emailing request to media@democracynow.org.

Link to The Guardian Website for full article

The UN human rights council (HRC) has adopted a ground-breaking, comprehensive resolution aimed at protecting journalists and demanding the release of all journalists who have been arbitraily detained.

It urges the reform of laws designed to obstruct editorial work, and calls on states not to interfere with the use of encryption and digital security tools that enable anonymity.

The resolution also addresses gender-based attacks against women journalists, the forced closure of media outlets, and the right of journalists to protect confidential sources.

The HRC, which consists of 47 states, agreed the resolution by consensus. It expects the UN’s high commissioner for human rights to report back on the effectiveness of the existing monitoring and complaint mechanisms related to journalist safety.

Typically, however, fewer than half such requests are answered. So, although its adoption was welcomed by journalists’ organisations, press freedom bodies and human rights campaigners, all also expressed caution.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) pointed out that mechanisms to enforce the UN’s calls were limited or non-existent.
Philippe Leruth, the IFJ president, said: “Words alone are not enough. This motion must be followed up with action to stop thousands of journalists being killed, attacked and prevented from doing their work while their attackers avoid being brought before justice”.

Courtney Radsch, of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), also spoke about the need for “more concrete action from member states, including revision of legal frameworks that threaten media independence.”

The OSCE’s representative on media freedom, Dunja Mijatović, said: “This resolution is a very positive step forward in our joint efforts to ensure the safety for members of the media and the fight against impunity for crimes committed against journalists.”
Thomas Hughes, executive director of Article 19, the group that fights for freedom of expression, called the resolution “an unequivocal commitment from states to ensure that these crimes [against journalists] do not go unpunished and to prevent their recurrence.”

​He thought states were “finally acknowledging the need to act on the increasingly diverse range of threats facing journalists and freedom of expression”.

He said: “Behind each statistic is an individual journalist with a name and a story that they were seeking to uncover... 

“For each journalist who is killed or attacked, countless other journalists are intimidated to self-censor and entire societies are deprived of important information. States must act to end this tragedy’.

The full text of the resolution is available here. A good summary can be found on here on the Article 19 site.