Journalist Dan Heyman Just Wanted to Ask a Question: Drop the Charges!

  • by: S E Smith
  • recipient: West Virginia Division of Protective Services

On May 9, 2017, journalist Dan Heyman of the Public News Service attempted to ask Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price a policy question regarding the treatment of domestic violence survivors under the American Health Care Act. While he was not at a press conference, he was in a public building at the West Virginia State Capitol, and Price is a public official accountable to members of the public, including the press.

Capitol Police arrested Heyman and he has been charged with "willful disruption of governmental processes," with law enforcement claiming that he "yelled" at Price and attempted to push through a Secret Service cordon.

Charging a journalist with a crime when he's attempting to do his job sets a very dangerous precedent. Freedom of the press is an important American value, and when combined with an escalating series of attacks on journalists on the federal level, this incident is gravely worrying.

It is wrong to expect journalists to confine their activities to designated areas, including press conferences, or to police their tone. A free media contributes to a free and just society, and dogged journalists who ask difficult questions are performing a public service. In this case, there is some question as to whether concerns about the personal safety of public officials are being used as a smokescreen.

Is this about concerns for Price and his retinue, or a dislike of the question being asked, how it was being asked, and who did the asking?

We demand that the charges against Mr. Heyman be dropped immediately to affirm that press freedom and independence is and remains an American value.

Photo credit: John Nakamura Remy

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