Blogger Carlos Miller's 'crime' consisted solely of including within his blog post the main media relations phone number listed on the Boston Police Department's website, the publicly-available email address of its spokesperson, and a call to his readers to contact the spokesperson and ask that the department drop the charges against a student journalist.
The following is a CPJ Internet Channel post by Geoffrey King, CPJ Internet Advocacy Coordinator:
Carlos Miller is not one to back down. As the founder and publisher of Photography is Not a Crime, a leading blog about free speech and press rights in the U.S., Miller has made it his mission to publicize examples of government overreach and the suppression of journalists’ and other newsgatherers’ rights. And although he frequently finds himself taking law enforcement officials to task through a combination of original reporting, analysis and activism, Miller never expected that his work would lead to a criminal charge punishable by a decade’s imprisonment.
A veteran reporter, Miller has covered breaking news as both a full-time staff reporter and a freelancer with news organizations in several states, including several years on the police beat for The Arizona Republic. Miller founded Photography is Not a Crime after he was arrested for photographing a group of police officers while he was on assignment in Miami six years ago, an arrest for which he was ultimately vindicated. “I’m very careful of not breaking the law,” Miller told CPJ. “If I had broken a law, then I would just admit to it, ‘Okay, you got me,’ and then I would have to deal with the consequences. But if I’m not breaking the law, then I’m going to be very adamant about it. I’m going to stand up and fight it.”
Read the full story on CPJ’s site.