US Inquiry Sought in Police Treatment of Press at Ferguson Protests

Compiling 52 accusations of violations of the freedom of the press during the protests in Ferguson (MO) after the killing of Michael Brown, the PEN American Center is calling on the Justice Department to investigate the local police forces’ treatment of the news media.

Such an investigation, a report by the organization said, would “shed essential light on the factors that drove law enforcement officers in Ferguson to infringe on media freedoms,” and should lead to new guidelines from the Justice Department for police departments in the United States “on respect for media freedoms during public demonstrations.”