In 2020, 127 journalists were arrested or detained in the U.S.

Three years ago Columbia Journalism Review wrote that the “most dangerous place to be a journalist in America is at a protest.” That was never more true than in 2020, when the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented an unprecedented 127 arrests or detentions of journalists, most of them while covering protests on racial justice, police brutality, election results and more.

Like the thousands of protesters who were arrested, the vast majority of the journalists were ultimately released or never charged. But a handful still face a day in court — including CJS’19 alumna Andrea Sahouri.

Sahouri will stand trial on March 8th in Des Moines on criminal charges of “failure to disperse” and “interference with official acts.” She was arrested May 31, 2020 while reporting on a demonstration in Des Moines protesting the Minneapolis killing of George Floyd. A little before 8 p.m., Sahouri reported on her Twitter account that police had used tear gas to disperse protesters. As Sahouri moved with the crowd to escape the gas, she said she was confronted by police, who pepper-sprayed her. KCCI 8 News footage shows her in custody, seated on a street curb.

In a video she recorded while in a police transport vehicle, Sahouri says she told police “I’m press, I’m press,” before they pepper-sprayed her. In the video, posted to her Twitter account, Sahouri says, “I’m doing my job as a journalist. I’m just out here reporting as I see.”

On March 8th, join our campaign to #StandWithAndrea.

Update: Andrea Sahouri has been acquitted of all charges. Read the J-School statement on the verdict.