Twelve Journalists and Counting…

[Commentary] So far in 2016, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, of which Radio Television Digital News Association's (RTDNA) Voice of the First Amendment Task Force is a founding partner, at least 23 journalists have been arrested merely for trying to do their jobs. More troubling, criminal charges are still pending for more than half of those journalists; at least 12, to be precise. In the other 11 cases documented by the tracker, police either released journalists once they realized they were, in fact, journalists, or prosecutors filed but later dropped criminal charges. Particularly disturbing is the fact that two of the 12 reporters still facing criminal charges are accused of felonies and, if convicted, could each spend decades in prison.