Prof. Jane Kirtley Interviewed by MPR News, AP, Star Tribune, and Northern News Now About Journalists’ Arrests

Professor Jane Kirtley, Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law, was interviewed by MPR News, Associated Press, the Minnesota Star Tribune, and Northern News Now about the arrests last week of former CNN anchor Don Lemon and Twin Cities-area independent journalist Georgia Fort. They were charged with conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshipers in connection their coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest at a Cities Church service in St. Paul. Protesters disrupted the service because one of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, works as the acting director of ICE’s local field office. In 2025, at least 32 journalists were arrested on the job in the United States — most released without charges — and 90 percent of those arrests were at protests. But Prof. Kirtley said that Lemon and Fort’s charges feel like an escalation. She said, “A felony charge strikes me as so over the top that I can only see it as retribution on the part of the Trump administration.”