Alicia Shepard

Opinion columnist

So when did it become hazardous duty to be a reporter in the United States?

I get it that it’s really dangerous to report from our southern neighbor, Mexico, where at least 104 journalists have been murdered since 2000. And after living in Afghanistan for two years, I know well the life-threatening risks reporters take to get stories.

Those countries are indisputably dangerous. But the USA, where we have the First Amendment, giving us the inalienable right to question officials and pursue the truth to inform the public?

In the past couple of weeks, in separate incidents, three journalists have been roughed up, pinned to a wall, their glasses broken and arrested simply for exercising their right to ask questions.

The most egregious occurred Wednesday night, when Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte, a tech millionaire, allegedly body-slammed Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs, throwing him to the floor, punching him and breaking his glasses. Jacobs' crime? Pressing Gianforte to answer questions about the GOP health care bill. The audio alone tells a chilling story.

Gianforte attacked Jacobs in front a local Fox News television team, who in a surprising turn of events, quickly posted their eyewitness account defending Jacobs.

"Gianforte grabbed Jacobs ... and slammed him into the ground behind him,” wrote Alicia Acuna. "Gianforte then began punching the reporter. As Gianforte moved on top of Jacobs, he began yelling something to the effect of, 'I'm sick and tired of this!' "

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Gianforte’s team tried to blame the altercation on Jacobs, who they claim was the aggressor. But the Fox team would have none of that. “To be clear, at no point did any of us who witnessed this assault see Jacobs show any form of physical aggression toward Gianforte,” according to the Fox account.

Jacobs went to the hospital for X-rays. Gianforte was charged with a misdemeanor for assaulting a journalist Wednesday, the night before a special election in Montana. Three of Montana’s largest newspapers — theBillings Gazette, the Missoulian and the Independent Record — quickly rescinded their endorsements of Gianforte, though it likely did not make a difference because two-thirds of votes have been cast in early voting. Gianforte defeated Democrat Rob Quist on Thursday night in a race for the U.S. House.

“Hell, I spent 60 years in Congress without body-slamming a single reporter,” tweeted 90-year-old John Dingell, a former Michigan congressman. “This guy in Montana won’t last long if he manages to win.”

“Confident candidates don’t body-slam reporters on the eve of election,” tweeted former Obama adviser David Axelrod.

Six days before this, on May 18, veteran reporter John M. Donnelly, a senior writer with CQ Roll Call, was pinned against the wall as he tried to question a Federal Communications commissioner at an open meeting. “I could have not been less threatening or more polite,” said Donnelly, who ironically heads the National Press Club’s Press Freedom Team. “There is no justification for using force in such a situation.” The commissioner later apologized.

Eight days before that, on May 10, West Virginia reporter Dan Heyman of Public News Service was arrested on “willful disruption of state government processes” for trying to get Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to answer a question. Heyman had repeatedly asked Price whether domestic violence would be considered a pre-existing condition under the Republican health care bill. Price defended the police, saying they did what they felt was appropriate.

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We can lay the growing and increasingly dangerous hostility toward the press squarely at the feet of President Trump, who thrives on demonizing the news media on Twitter and whenever he can. We are “the enemy of the people,” he incorrectly states. Throughout his campaign, he would whip crowds into a lather, turning them against the news media.

“At nearly every rally, the brash billionaire reams the press as 'dishonest,' 'disgusting,' 'slime' and 'scum,' calling political reporters the worst types of human beings on earth, prompting his crowds of thousands of supporters to turn, without fail, to jeer and sometimes curse at the press,” wrote CNN reporters a year ago.

Recently, reports indicated Trump has suggested journalists be sent to jail for publishing classified leaks.

Jailed, beaten up, arrested for doing their job? Shouldn’t happen in this country or anywhere else. Press freedom isn’t just important to journalists. It matters to every citizen in this country who cares about democracy and free speech.

We are fortunate to have the First Amendment (and there’s a reason it is the first). But make no mistake: It isn’t written to specially protect journalists; it was written for all of us.

There should be never be any peril in asking a public official a question. Ever. An assault on a journalist is an assault on all of us.

Alicia Shepard is a veteran media writer and a former ombudsman for NPR. Follow her on Twitter @Ombudsman

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