AR-News: (U.S.) hunt-sab journalist arrested

[Mary Finelli]

A PRESSING MATTER
Journalist Covering Eco-Radicalism Gets Snared in Story
Daily Grist, May 4, 2004


A journalist covering attempts by Earth First! activists to thwart a cougar 
hunt on federal land has been arrested along with one of the activists and 
charged with trespassing and disabling mountain-lion traps.  The case raises 
troubling and knotty questions about the First Amendment and the ability of 
the press to cover "eco-radicals" firsthand.  John H. Richardson, writing 
for Esquire magazine, followed activist Rod Coronado into a restricted 
desert canyon near Tucson in March, where Coronado and another Earth 
First!er sprinkled cougar scent to confuse the dogs, filmed the hunters, and 
disabled cougar traps.  Richardson claims he was only an observer, but the 
feds claim an officer saw him disabling a trap.  If convicted, Richardson 
faces thousands of dollars in fines and more than a year of jail time.  With 
so-called eco-terrorism on the rise -- activists disrupting logging, burning 
houses in new developments, defacing Hummers, and whatnot -- the issue of 
how, and whether, their activities can be covered by the press is likely to 
arise more often in coming years.

straight to the source:  Los Angeles Times, Ashley Powers, 04 May 2004
http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2404

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