Five renowned photojournalists today joined in a settlement agreement with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) that promises to transform police conduct and training while reinforcing the First Amendment protections accorded to both journalists and the public.
The settlement resolves a federal lawsuit brought three years ago by Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, in partnership with the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), and noted civil rights attorney Wylie Stecklow, on behalf of five prominent photographers who were assaulted and/or arrested in New York City while covering the racial justice protests of 2020.
“The treatment that our clients received at the hands of the NYPD was not only unconstitutional, it was unconscionable, and a direct threat to our democratic principles,” said attorney Robert D. Balin, who led the litigation for Davis Wright. “I’m proud that these brave photojournalists chose to hold the police department accountable for their actions and I look forward to seeing the terms of this settlement implemented for the benefit of all journalists.”
“Journalists are an essential part of a functioning, civil society and it’s essential that they be allowed to conduct their work free of harassment and assault, especially from state actors,” said Mickey H. Osterreicher, general counsel to the NPPA. “On behalf of our members and all visual journalists, who perform a vital role as watchdogs and witnesses to history, I am very pleased with the terms of this agreement and the changes to police behavior that it demands.”
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the NYPD is now obligated to implement policies and trainings designed to ensure that members of the press are free from the threat of wrongful arrest and harassment.
Among its key terms, the agreement:
- flatly prohibits NYPD officers from arresting, restricting, or interfering with members of the press for merely observing or recording police activity in public places;
- requires that the NYPD provide journalists with access “to any location where the public is permitted” and bars NYPD officers from putting up crime/accident/incident scene tape or establishing “frozen zones” for the purpose of preventing members of the press from viewing or recording events in public places;
- mandates that neither a press pass nor any other form of press identification is needed to observe or record police activity occurring in public places, including areas where protests, crimes, or other matters of public concern are taking place;
- permits credentialed journalists to continue to do their jobs and remain in the area even after a dispersal order is issued to the general public;
- discourages unconstitutional ‘catch and release’ practices, under which journalists have all-too-often been unlawfully detained at police stations for hours before charges against them are finally dropped; and
- requires that the NYPD recognize the legitimacy of press passes that are issued by jurisdictions outside New York City.
In the agreement, the NYPD also — for the first time ever — formally acknowledges that the press has a clearly established First Amendment right to record police activity in public places, and commits itself to respect that right.
Equally important, the settlement agreement also requires that the NYPD provide extensive annual training to all of its officers—ranging from police academy cadets to high-ranking executive personnel—on the First Amendment rights of the press and establishes a police-media relations committee to monitor and discuss future incidents involving the press. Additionally, for a period of three years, a committee headed by the New York City Department of Investigation will monitor police activity at protests to ensure that the NYPD complies with its commitments to respect the rights of peaceful protesters, journalists, and legal observers.
While pervasive mistreatment of journalists covering the George Floyd protests was the catalyst for this litigation, the scope of the agreement reaches much further.
“The provisions in this settlement agreement related to the press are not limited to protest situations,” said Balin. “These are big, important First Amendment principles that apply whenever members of the press are covering police activity in public.”
Abigail Everdell, a Davis Wright lawyer who has been working on the case since its genesis, added: “In New York City, of all places, no journalist should ever fear arrest or assault for simply doing their job. Police must learn how to facilitate newsgathering on important events, not react violently against it. That is precisely what this settlement agreement aims to accomplish.”
These terms are all part of a larger settlement announced today of several consolidated lawsuits that were brought on behalf of peaceful protestors by the New York State Attorney General’s Office, the New York Civil Liberties Union, The Legal Aid Society, the civil rights firms Cohen & Green PLLC and the Aboushi Law Firm PLLC, and civil rights lawyer Gideon Oliver.
The five plaintiffs in the case — Amr Alfiky, Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi, Mel D. Cole, Jae Donnelly, and Adam Gray. — are widely respected visual journalists who have published their work in leading global news outlets, including Reuters, The New York Times, The Times of London, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, Paris Match, Le Monde, CNN, the BBC, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, and more.
“This is a remarkable settlement for police versus press in New York City,” said Society of Professional Journalists National President Claire Regan. “We congratulate our colleagues at NPPA for pursuing this noble cause with perseverance and success, and express hope that the message will reverberate across the country.”
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