An article published yesterday by Salon.com’s Glenn Greenwald details the Department of Homeland Security’s repeated questioning and harassment of an American filmmaker when she has attempted to reenter the country after traveling overseas.

According to Greewald’s article, award-winning documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, who has released two films of a trilogy about the War on Terror, has endured DHS interrogations nearly each of the 40 times she has tried to reenter the country since 2006, when her first documentary film about a Sunni opposition leader in Iraq was released.

Agents often wait for her at the door as she disembarks from international flights. Poitras, a US citizen, has been interrogated for hours, had her personal belongings and reporter’s notebooks seized, held and copied, and her laptop, phone and other devices searched and copied.

It is easy to imagine photojournalists who are working on projects that may be critical of the US government or its “War on Terror” suffering similar difficulties, and DHS’s treatment of Poitras should outrage any US journalist.

As Greenwald reports, Poitras is not alone in her experiences, but her systematic harassment has made traveling for her work miserable, and she has been forced to resort to other methods of transporting and transmitting her work in order to protect her privacy, her rights as a journalist, and the identities of her sources.

Writes Greenwald: “She now avoids traveling with any electronic devices. She uses alternative methods to deliver the most sensitive parts of her work — raw film and interview notes — to secure locations. She spends substantial time and resources protecting her computers with encryption and password defenses. Especially when she is in the U.S., she avoids talking on the phone about her work, particularly to sources. And she simply will not edit her films at her home out of fear — obviously well-grounded — that government agents will attempt to search and seize the raw footage.”

Greenwald’s article also notes that two pieces of legislation proposed by congresspeople aimed at limiting DHS’s power to question US citizens have gained zero traction.

The article is well worth the read for any photojournalists who are working overseas, especially those who are reporting stories on sensitive topics like America’s military actions.

If you’ve been detained or questioned by DHS because of your work and are open to sharing your story with the PDN audience, please comment below or send an email to: editor@pdnoline.com.

The body of a white male found recently with a camera lens in a mass grave in eastern Libya could be that of photojournalist Anton Hammerl, the Huffington Post reports. Hammerl was shot by troops loyal to deposed dictator Muammar Qaddafi on April 5, 2011, according to other journalists who were traveling with him at the time.

Those journalists were captured and detained for several weeks, and reported Hammerl’s death after their release.

The Huffington Post says that Peter Bouckaert, the emergencies director for Human Rights Watch, has been in Libya following inquiries into the whereabouts of Hammerl’s remains. Bouckaert is now trying to get the governments of South Africa, Britain or Austria to help administer DNA tests for a positive identification of the remains.

Related: Print Auction to Benefit Children of Anton Hammerl to be Held at Christie’s

A freelance photographer arrested last fall while covering police action at the Occupy protest in Richmond, Virginia has reportedly agreed to complete 50 hours of community service in exchange for having prosecutors drop trespassing charges against him.

Photographer Ian Graham was arrested while covering the removal of protesters by police last October 31, according to a report by Style Weekly, an alternative newspaper in Richmond. Police had ordered media to stay in a designated area, but Graham left the area to take pictures “after finding his view obstructed,” Style Weekly reports.

He was charged with trespassing, and was facing up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine when he made the deal with prosecutors.

Related:
Police Intimidation Watch: Boston to Pay $170K for Wrongful Arrest of Videographer
Police Intimidation Watch: Beating a Photojournalist on a Lisbon Street
A Sign of Restive Times: Policeman Punches Photojournalist

Photojournalists covering conflict zones can now apply for Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues (RISC) training. RISC, which was founded by journalist and author Sebastian Junger, currently has courses scheduled for New York City in April 2012, London in fall 2012 and Beirut in winter 2012/2013. Each three-day workshop focuses on teaching attendees crucial combat medical skills.

Junger was a friend of the late photojournalist Tim Hetherington, with whom he collaborated on the documentary Restrepo. He started RISC after he learned that Hetherington, who was killed by a mortar in Misrata, Libya, last year, could have survived his injuries if someone on the ground with him knew basic lifesaving techniques.

“Combat photographers like Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington regularly take chances that many writers wouldn’t dream of, and as a result they suffer a disproportionate number of casualties,” Junger says. “RISC is an attempt to train freelancers in battlefield medicine and equip them with combat medical packs so that they can render aid immediately and effectively. The industry has gone far too long without providing any medical training for the people—mostly freelance photographers—who run most of the risks.”

Most conflict-training courses can be costly. However, applicants accepted into RISC courses are only required to pay for their own travel and food expenses. Housing and workshop costs are covered with funds raised by RISC. Many media organizations have donated funding for the first round of workshops, including ABC News, National Geographic, Vanity Fair and Condé Nast, and Getty Images.

The first workshop takes place in New York City April 18 through 20, which is the one-year anniversary of Hetherington’s death. At the time of this writing, all but three of the 24 spots were filled, with eight people on the waiting list. Applicants were chosen based on the amount of time they’ve spent in conflict zones. RISC’s mission is to train experienced conflict reporters, photojournalists and other members of the media who will use the medical skills on future assignments. The workshops do not include hostile environment training, such as preparation for loud noises, surprise attacks or mitigating personal risk.

Though the dates aren’t set for the London and Beirut workshops, RISC has already received applications for both cities (42 and 15, respectively). Regardless, the organization encourages journalists to continue to apply since it plans on holding courses once a year in all three cities.

Go to risctraining.org to apply for workshops and get more information.

Related Articles:

Survival Training for Conflict Zones
What to Expect if You’re Injured on Assignment
In Case of Emergency: Recommended Practices for Notifications
Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington: A Reflection

The City of Boston has agreed to pay $170,000 to settle a civil lawsuit for the wrongful arrest of a man for videotaping police as they arrested another man on the Boston Common in 2007.

The settlement, announced yesterday of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, resulted from a federal court ruling that the First Amendment protects the right to record police carrying out their duties in a public place. That ruling, issued last August by the US Court of Appeals in Boston, is binding only in New England (excluding Connecticut) and Puerto Rico, where the court has jurisdiction. (Glik v. Cunniffe 655 F.3d 78 (2011))

“[B]ut its persuasive reasoning has been cited by courts and lawyers nationwide facing the recurrent issue of police arresting people for filming them,” the ACLU asserts.

Police have arrested citizens in several states for video taping them, on the grounds that wiretapping statutes in those states prohibit recording anyone without their consent.

“The law had been clear for years that openly recording a video is not a crime,” said Simon Glik, the plaintiff in the Boston case, in the ACLU announcement.

Glik, who is an attorney, was arrested in October, 2007 after he saw police arresting a teenager on the Boston Common, and began making a video of the arrest with his cell phone. Police arrested Glik on criminal charges of illegal wiretapping and disturbing the peace.

After the charges were dismissed, Glik sued the City of Boston on the grounds that Boston police had violated his civil rights. In addition to finding that Glik’s First Amendment rights had been violated, the US Court of Appeals ruled that his Fourth Amendment rights had also be violated on the grounds of wrongful arrest.

Related:
Police Intimidation Watch: Beating a Photojournalist on a Lisbon Street
A Sign of Restive Times: Policeman Punches Photojournalist

©REUTERS/Hugo Correia

In another horrific incident demonstrating police brutality toward photojournalists, even in Western democracies, a Portuguese policeman attacked AFP photographer Patricia Melo as she covered a general strike in Lisbon yesterday. Workers there were on strike to protest austerity measures imposed on Portugal as a condition of the $100 billion bailout provided to the country by other European nations. Reuters photographer Hugo Correia shot this image, which mirrors this other Reuters image from last October, showing an Athens policeman punching a photographer at an anti-austerity protest in that city.

Chicago police detained two journalists outside a hospital as they waited on a public sidewalk to interview the family of a young shooting victim, according to the Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP).

In this video of the incident, the arresting officer says, “Your First Amendment rights can be terminated if you create a scene. Your First Amendment rights have limitations.” The journalists asked how they were creating a scene, and the arresting officer responded, “Your presence is creating a scene.”

(Note: NBC, which owns this video, may run a short advertisement before it plays)

The journalists, a radio reporter and TV cameraman, were held in a police vehicle and released after ten minutes without charges, according to RCFP.

National Press Photographers Association attorney Mickey Osterreicher, who has been kept busy lately reading the US Constitution to police departments all over the country, sent a letter of protest to the Chicago Superintendent of Police. Osterreicher wrote that it isn’t the duty of police officers “to decide what is appropriate news coverage of any story.

“It is apparent that the two journalists were not charged because…there was no criminal trespass and your officers’ overreaction by detaining them in a catch-and-release manner only served to prevent them from carrying out their professional and lawful function,” Osterreicher wrote. “It was nothing less than a blatant disregard of the First and Fourth Amendment.” (The Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unlawful search and seizure by police.)

©Thomson Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Although this image of a Greek police officer punching a news photographer at an Athens street protest was shot last fall, it didn’t come to our attention until yesterday. But the passage of several months makes it no less dramatic or shocking. And it remains timely for what it represents: the tensions between police and media all over the world, including the US, where Occupy protests show signs of stirring once again. In this image, shot by Reuters photographer Yannis Behrakis, a police officer punches veteran photojournalist Tatiana Bolari, co-owner of the Greek photo agency Eurokinisi. The incident occurred at an anti-austerity protest on October 5 when police moved against a group of photographers and journalists covering the event, Behrakis told PDN.

Notorious phone hurler Russell Brand turned himself in to police, who booky-wooked him for criminal damage to property (©It Books)

New Orleans police charged actor Russell Brand yesterday with two misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property for throwing a photographer’s iPhone through a window. Bail was set at $5,000 and Brand was sent on his way.

Brand turned himself in after police issued a warrant for his arrest in response to photographer Timothy Jackson’s complaint about the phone-throwing incident. Brand allegedly snatched Jackson’s iPhone and threw it through the window of a New Orleans law office as the photographer tried to take his picture earlier this week.

Brand later made light of his actions on his Twitter feed with a post that said: “Since Steve Jobs died I cannot bear to see anyone use an iPhone irreverently, what I did was a tribute to his memory.”

According to news reports, the damage caused by Brand totaled $700. He has reportedly already paid $240 for the replacement of the broken window.

Related:
Russell Brand Faces Arrest for Destroying Photog’s iPhone as ‘Tribute’ to Steve Jobs

Last August, as legendary Magnum photographer Martin Parr traveled around Finland capturing the essence of that nation and its people, he had a camera crew tagging along as he searched for subjects and made his characteristically deadpan images. The result is a nine-minute documentary his fans are sure to appreciate called “Martin Parr–The Making of ‘Think of Finland,’” which is the name of his new show at Laboratory, a Helsinki gallery. Shot and directed by Rami Hanafi, the film shows Parr wandering the streets, night clubs, markets, beaches and countryside on what appears to be a big scavenger hunt. Parr explains on the voiceover soundtrack what he’s looking for and how he goes about his work. “Think of Finland” will be on exhibit at Laboratory through April 8.