After trying to break in with a sledgehammer, cops eventually raided the home of freelance reporter Bryan Carmody, seizing property and handcuffing him. RT spoke with Carmody about the raid, and its implications for press freedom.
“I have not been arrested, I have not been accused, and I have not been charged with any crime,” the journalist explained. Nonetheless, he sat in handcuffs for 6 hours while 10 officers from the San Francisco Police Department, weapons drawn, ransacked his home after presenting him with a search warrant.
Right now I cannot do my work because of the equipment that they’ve taken from me. They took everything from my home, they took my tablets, they took my cell phones, they took my computers.
The reason? Carmody sold a story to news stations revealing leaked details about the death of the city’s public defender, Jeff Adachi, and has remained steadfast in defending his journalistic principles.
“I have not revealed my source, nor will I,” Camody stated resolutely.
Many say that the police action violates state law, which is supposed to protect journalists from being forced to reveal sources or surrendering unpublished materials. Journalist Daniel Lazare also joined RT to discuss the implications of the case.
It’s very dangerous, it’s very disturbing. The protections don’t seem to be working. There have been some dark periods in US history, in which journalists came under serious repression, but I think this is one of the worst cases in recent decades.
While police maintain that the raid was perfectly legal, press freedom groups have begun to sound the alarm over the case. Matt Drange the Society of Professional Journalists called the move “totally inappropriate and out of bounds,” whereas Heather Knight of the San Francisco Chronicle noted that the paper had published the same report, and questioned why police hadn’t raided them.
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