W. Virginia journalist arrested after asking HHS Secretary a question

[workinclasszero]

W. Virginia journalist arrested after asking HHS Secretary a question
By Samantha Schmidt The Washington Post May 10, 2017

As Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price walked through a hallway Tuesday in the West Virginia State Capitol, veteran reporter Dan Heyman followed alongside him, holding up his phone to Price while attempting to ask him a question.

Heyman, a journalist with Public News Service, repeatedly asked the secretary whether domestic violence would be considered a preexisting condition under the Republican bill to overhaul the nation’s health care system, he said.

‘‘He didn’t say anything,’’ Heyman said later in a news conference. ‘‘So I persisted.’’

Then, an officer in the Capitol pulled him aside, handcuffed him and arrested him. Heyman was jailed on the charge of ‘‘Willful Disruption of State Government Processes’’ and was released later on $5,000 bail.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/05/10/west-virginia-journalist-arrested-after-asking-hhs-secretary-question/zl11b5VOX76xHsvVKa8hcI/story.html

[Kber]

1. Was this the same law the protester who laughed at a public hearing was convicted of?

This is an extremely troubling trend.

[workinclasszero]

3. Seems citizens face arrest by questioning or laughing

at our republican overlords.

Land of the "free" huh?

I'm sure all those right wing lovers of freedom and the constitution will be outraged over this.

[PA Democrat]

2. And the attacks on the fourth estate by the Trump administration continue.

[hatrack]

4. Is it fascism yet?

[workinclasszero]

7. Lets recap: American citizen is arrested and convicted for laughing

at a member of the ruling junta.

2. A journalist (and an american citizen) is arrested for asking a question of a ruling member of the banana republic.

3. The Dear Leader of our glorious republic senses the watchdogs are getting close to smoking out his traitorous actions with a hostile fascist foreign power to subvert our democratic presidential elections so without warning fires the director of the FBI. (who is a dirty player in his own right)

4. Nationalism and military might is pumped up. PoC and foreigners are demonized.

5. The rich and ill gotten wealth are worshiped.

6. The poor and working class are stripped of what little wealth they possess to give to the ultra rich.

I could go on but yeah, it looks like fascism to me. We are fucked. The masses of America need to get out in the street right up to the 2018 election. And if we don't MASSIVELY kick republican ass, this country is dead, dead, DEAD!

Of course the republicans refuse to face the public they are fucking over 24/7 and Dear Leader might still start a nice little nuclear war with NK as a distraction/Reichstag fire incidence to seize total power and institute a full on right wing theocratic dictatorship, who knows?

Who the fuck knows what tomorrow may bring with these MF vile republicans in charge of the entire government and Herr Dumpf colluding with Putin!?

[treestar]

5. I wonder if that law was meant to

include questions from reporters. Hopefully, he will get the charge dismissed.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. Additional links, including the WaPo:

This is a cross-post of my post in the LBN thread about the arrest.

West Virginia journalist arrested after asking HHS Secretary Tom Price a question

By Samantha Schmidt May 10 at 1:15 AM

....
Heyman has worked as a reporter for about 30 years, and his stories have appeared in the New York Times, NPR and other national news outlets, he said. Since 2009, he has worked as a West Virginia-based producer and reporter for Public News Service, a nonprofit news service that provides content to media outlets while also publishing its own stories.

Lark Corbeil, chief executive and founder of Public News Service, said Heyman’s arrest took the organization “very much by surprise.” ... “From what we can understand, he did nothing out of the ordinary,” Corbeil said in an interview with The Washington Post. “He was doing what any journalist would normally do, calling out a question and trying to get an answer.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia said in a statement that Heyman’s arrest constituted “a blatant attempt to chill an independent, free press.” It called the charges against Heyman “outrageous” and demanded they be dropped immediately. ... “This is a dangerous time in our country,” the statement read. “Freedom of the press is being eroded every day.”

“Today was a dark day for democracy,” the ACLU of West Virginia added. “But the rule of law will prevail. The First Amendment will prevail.”
....

Samantha Schmidt is a reporter for The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. She previously worked as a reporting fellow for the New York Times. Follow @schmidtsam7

West Virginia journalist arrested after asking HHS Secretary Tom Price a question

Link to tweet

The Charleston {West Virginia} Gazette-Mail had a reporter at the Capitol, but they ran an Associated Press story about the arrest.

Journalist arrested during US health secretary's visit

The Associated Press May 10, 2017



Jake Zuckerman | Charleston Gazette-Mail Capitol Police remove journalist Dan Heyman on May 9.

Jake Zuckerman: @jake_zuckerman

Political reporter @wvgazettemail. Proud @OhioU alum, journalism and political science. RTs ≠ endorsements.

 Charleston, WV

AHCA causes stir at WV Capitol; Manchin, Capito weigh in -- from @jake_zuckerman

Link to tweet

AHCA causes stir at WV Capitol; Manchin, Capito weigh in

Jake Zuckerman , Staff Writer May 9, 2017



CHRIS DORST | Gazette-Mail  

Protesters, including Perry Bryant (right) of West Virginians For Affordable Healthcare, stand outside a conference room where DHHR Secretary Tom Price and other officials were meeting at the Capitol Tuesday.

Tempers flared at the West Virginia Capitol on Tuesday when protesters needled a D.C. political entourage in town on a “listening tour” regarding the pending replacement of the Affordable Care Act, leading to the arrest of one Charleston man.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Kellyanne Conway, special counsel to President Donald Trump, entered the Capitol with local politicians and immediately took heat from a group of activists wielding signs critical of the American Health Care Act, the ACA’s potential replacement.

Daniel Ralph Heyman, 54, jostled with Price’s security detail while trying to ask a question regarding coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, Capitol Police officers arrested him and charged him with willful disruption of governmental processes.

“The above defendant was aggressively breaching the secret service agents to the point where the agents were forced to remove him a couple of times from the area walking up the hallway in the main building of the Capitol,” the criminal complaint states.
....

Staff writer Jake Jarvis contributed to this report.Reach Jake Zuckerman at [e-mail], 304-348-4814 or follow @jake_zuckerman on Twitter.

Dan Heyman is our @PNS_WV producer who was performing journalism, not a protester. We are working to get him out of jail at this moment.

Link to tweet

[dalton99a]

8. This story really deserves more exposure

[workinclasszero]

9. This is a picture of the death of democracy. The death of freedom.

This is fascism and this is Trump's Amerikkka.