(NewsNation) — NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert was arrested at a news conference in Ohio while reporting on a train derailment, but what legal grounds might there be for arresting a reporter doing his job?
Attorney Jesse Weber told NewsNation it is possible for a credentialed reporter to overstep the bounds of the law and face consequences.
“Freedom of the press is a sacred right. It’s a fundamental right. I will say it’s not an absolute right. So if a reporter were to engage in criminal trespass, being somewhere where they’re not supposed to be, or disorderly conduct, that’s when it might step over the line,” he said.
Weber said Ohio’s disorderly conduct statue is broad and includes “unreasonable noise,” which could have been the reason police arrested Lambert.
“Clearly, they felt justified in arresting him, arresting him on these two charges, and they were going to keep him overnight, if it wasn’t for the great actions of the network, and also Gov. DeWine,” Weber said.
Former lawyer and Ohio radio host Bill Cunningham said if not for the actions of NewsNation and Gov. Mike DeWine, it is likely Lambert would still be in jail.
“These prosecutors and the sheriffs run the place and what they say goes,” he said.
That type of structure in small towns leads to incidents like this, Cunningham explained.
“That doesn’t happen except in small town, Ohio. And in smaller towns, townships and counties. It does happen because these guys have no one looking over their shoulder to what they’re doing,” he said.
Cunningham also told NewsNation that once the officers started the confrontation, they may have felt they couldn’t back off.
“So, one or two officers took it upon themselves to arrest them, that once they chicken-winged him and took them down, at that point, you got to do something, you can’t say, ‘OK, you’re free to go,'” he said.
Even if a reporter were being disruptive, Weber said officials have created a situation that doesn’t look good to the public.
“You’re dealing with a very serious story about a train derailment that I think the American people need to know. And the fact that you have a reporter (that) optically looks like he was being silenced on it. It doesn’t look great,” Weber said.
