Cops kick out citizen journalist who tried to record press conference, now sheriff in hot water

Reporting in 2024 isn’t what it was in 1974. Or even 1994.

Now the megacorporations that run networks and publications mostly are partisan – endorsing and promoting one side, the leftist side, of the news.

Some journalism teachers at universities have even said there’s no need to report on “both sides” of an issue and ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently presumptuously instructed a network on what it should and should not be covering.

That often has left the reporting to online websites, citizen reporters and more.

And that faction just won a court victory.

The Institute for Justice explains a Texas court has ruled that a Fort Bend citizen journalist’s First Amendment rights were violated by the county sheriff.

A federal court for the Southern District in the state found that the sheriff in Fort Bend County violated Justin Pulliam’s rights by excluding him from a news conference in a public park that he was trying to record for his YouTube channel.

It was Judge George C. Hanks Jr. who adopted in full a recommendation from Magistrate Judge Andrew Edison.

His decision pointedly noted, “On July 12, 2021, the FBCSO closed Jones Creek Ranch Park to the public after a corpse was discovered. Pulliam had been filming FBCSO activity in the park before the decision to close the park was announced. After being told the FBCSO had closed the park, Pulliam complained to the FBCSO officer who announced the decision, and to [Sheriff Eric] Fagan directly. The FBCSO officer told Pulliam to go to the park entrance where a press conference would be held. Fagan then told Pulliam that if Pulliam did not go to the park entrance within five minutes, he would be arrested. Pulliam again protested, but eventually walked to his truck and drove to the park entrance where reporters were gathered. Pulliam parked his truck about 10 parking spaces away from where the reporters had parked their cars. About five minutes later, Fagan arrived at the press conference in a golf cart. Pulliam then walked toward the press conference. As Pulliam approached, Fagan told FBCSO Detective Robert Hartfield (‘Hartfield’) to remove Pulliam from the area of the press conference. Fagan pointed at Pulliam and told Hartfield: ‘If he don’t do it, arrest him, ‘cause he is not part of the local media, so he have to go back.'”

The conclusion was that not only that Fort Bend County violated Justin’s free-speech rights, but that his rights were so clearly established that Sheriff Fagan has no “qualified immunity,” which the IJ described as “a dubious doctrine the Supreme Court developed to shield officials from accountability for their constitutional violations.”

The IJ said the ruling also lets a separate claim for false arrest while Justin was recording deputies move to trial.

“Today’s victory establishes that the government cannot give favorable access to the traditional media by discriminating against social-media journalists,” said IJ Attorney Christie Herbert. “To the First Amendment, all speakers are equal, a bedrock principle necessary for twenty-first-century journalism.”

A second incident developed months later, when a Fort Bend County sergeant arrested Justin for interfering with police, “even though Justin was far from the active scene and had permission from the property owner to record a welfare check on her property,” the IJ reported.

“This victory shows how important the First Amendment is to protect investigative journalists like me who use social media to provide hard-hitting, often critical coverage, of the police and other government officials,” said Justin.

IJ officials pointed out that just weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court said police cannot arrest people for exercising their right to free speech.”

The ruling said, “That Fagan’s actions violated Pulliam’s First Amendment rights was established by the Supreme Court decades ago: ‘Once a forum is opened up to assembly or speaking by some groups, government may not prohibit others from assembling or speaking on the basis of what they intend to say.’ ‘Freedom of the press is a fundamental personal right which is not confined to newspapers and periodicals.’ ‘Where a government restricts the speech of a private person, the state action may be sustained only if the government can show that the regulation is a precisely drawn means of serving a compelling state interest.’ ‘The First Amendment also protects Pulliam’s right to simply listen and observe the press conference. ‘The First Amendment protects the right to hear as well as to speak,’ so that which ‘silences a willing speaker … also works a constitutional injury against the hearer.'”

It found, “There is no question that Fagan violated clearly established law.”

A trial still is pending on Pulliam’s false arrest charges against authorities.