Journalist Arrested, Released, In Ferguson

Journalist Trey Yingst (co-founder of news2share.com) said Nov. 23 he had been released from jail after he had been arrested the day before for "exercising my First Amendment rights on a public sidewalk" while covering protests in Ferguson, Mo.," he Tweeted.

The American Civil Liberties Union was looking into the arrest, but already didn't like what it saw.

“We are deeply troubled that the First Amendment rights of the media are still being violated in spite of the recent court order we secured against such action by the County of St. Louis,” said Jeffrey Mittman, ACLU of Missouri executive director, in a statement. “We will continue to monitor the situation and if necessary swiftly pursue aggressive action to ensure that unlawful interference with the press comes to an end.”

Questions have been raised about a "no fly zone" established back in August by St. Louis County police and whether it was to keep media out, as well as journalist detentions during the protests.

On Nov. 21, the ACLU of Missouri got court orders against the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the county of St. Louis and the City of Ferguson preventing the police from interfering with members of the media and others who want to record their actions in public places unless those persons are threatening the safety of law enforcement or others.

Late last week, the Department of Jusitce released new guidance on how to protect both public safety and the public's First Amendment right to protest.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.