USA: Reporters convicted in North Carolina for doing their constitutionally-protected jobs

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounces the conviction of Asheville Blade reporters Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit on June 16, 2023, for trespassing. The journalists were detained while covering an after-hours police sweep on a homeless encampment in a public park in Asheville, North Carolina on Christmas night 2021.

Concluding a week-long trial, Bliss and Coit were found guilty of second degree trespassing and ordered to pay a fine plus court costs. This ruling comes the same day the Department of Justice issued a report that states “blanket enforcement of dispersal orders and curfews” violate the rights of journalists to gather news. Nevertheless, the Superior Court judge in the Asheville Blade case denied the two journalists a First Amendment defense.

“Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit have been convicted of breaking a curfew in a public park by being there after dark, but the sun doesn’t set on the First Amendment,” said Clayton Weimers, Executive Director of RSF’s US Bureau. “It is the job of journalists  to gather news when and where it occurs, and to hold authorities to account. This ruling is very disappointing and will set back press freedom in North Carolina.”

Fifteen journalists were arrested in the US in 2022, according to the US Press Freedom Tracker. While the number of journalists detained annually in the US has fallen sharply since peaking in 2020, incidents like these underscore the need for better protections and training at the local level for law enforcement to better respect the rights of the press.

The United States is ranked 45th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2023 World Press Freedom Index.