Here is an interesting report from a a website that I just learned about. The only issue I have with the issue of the press and riots and getting arrested is that everyone holding a smartphone thinks that they are the press and that can’t be the case. During tense and violent situations an person can’t yell “PRESS” and hold up their phone and not follow orders from the police and then wonder why they are arrested. Especially during violent and dangerous times when other persons from the real press know that safety wins out and they moved so the police can perform their job.

Otherwise checkout what the report has to say. There are 5 Chapters and all the links can be found on this webpage.

A report investigating a major threat to press freedom

In recent years, hundreds of journalists who have been covering peaceful protests, public demonstrations, and acts of civil unrest in the United States have been arrested, physically assaulted, or otherwise forcibly deterred from doing their work by law enforcement personnel. The frequency and intensity of these incidents are alarming, threatening press freedom and undermining fundamental rights at the heart of American democracy. See more HERE