Judge Refuses to Allow Riot Charges Against Reporter at North Dakota Pipeline Protest Sites

democracynowreporter

Updating the protests at the North Dakota oil pipeline, a judge on Monday refused to okay riot charges against Democracy Now reporter Amy Goodman.

State’s attorney Ladd R. Erickson had announced last Friday he would file the charge against Goodman, claiming her reporting and actions at one of the construction sites of the Dakota Access pipeline incited a riot.

“This is a complete vindication of my right as a journalist to cover the attack on the protesters and of the public’s right to know what is happening with the Dakota Access pipeline,” said Goodman after the judge’s decision. “We will continue to report on this epic struggle of Native Americans and their non-Native allies taking on the fossil fuel industry and an increasingly militarized police in this time when climate change threatens the planet.”

A Judge said he did not find probable cause to justify the charges filed Oct. 14. Prosecutors filed the charges from the Sept 3 incident where Democracy Now filmed security guards working for the pipeline attacking protesters. Guards unleashed dogs and uses pepper spray and featured people with bite injuries.

The footage was rebroadcast by CBS, NBC, NPR, CNN, MSNBC and the Huffington Post. Goodman is the host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, a national, daily, independent, award-winning public television/radio news program that airs on more than 1,400 stations worldwide. Goodman also has co-authored six New York Times bestsellers and won many of journalism’s highest awards in more than three decades as a reporter.