On Trial for Journalism in Kentucky

On a hot and humid day in July, Madeline Fening and Lucas Griffith, journalists for the alt-weekly Cincinnati CityBeat, were covering a protest over the detention of an Egyptian immigrant when they were both arrested. Journalists are detained while covering demonstrations with remarkable regularity in the US: 318 of the 386 cases of journalist arrests documented by the US Press Freedom Tracker since 2017 occurred at protests. But what makes the cases of Fening, an investigative reporter, and Griffith, a photo intern, unusual is that, two months later, prosecutors in Kenton County, Kentucky, where the arrests were made, have not dropped the charges. Both trials are scheduled to start this week.

Michael Abate, a Louisville-based attorney who specializes in media law and whose firm serves as general counsel to the Kentucky Press Association, says the case has raised alarm bells throughout the region’s press community. “I can’t think of anything more chilling to First Amendment activity, or more designed to prevent coverage of high-profile, newsworthy events, than to criminally charge reporters for being present on the scene,” he said. Marty Schladen, a reporter for the nonprofit Ohio Capital Journal, said, “It’s very concerning whenever police arrest journalists who are only trying to do their jobs.” More than twenty press freedom and media organizations have signed a letter calling for the charges to be dropped. (Fening and Griffith did not respond to requests for comment, and Ashley Moor, CityBeat’s editor in chief, declined to comment.)