2008 Woodie Awards
Freedom of Press battle
Lakeland Mirror reporter threatened with lawsuit
Amber Miller
Issue date: 10/21/04 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
At the September 27, 2004 meeting of the Lakeland College chapter of Students for Bush, organizers from the Republican National Committee threatened to sue a student journalist if anything from the meeting was published.
The Republican leaders were at Lakeland College to help students organize and get out the vote. The meeting was publicly publicized and open to anyone who wished to attend.
At the meeting Lakeland Mirror staff reporter Diana Lesperance took notes and asked the organizers questions. Near the end of the meeting she asked one of the men, Jason Jones, for the correct spelling of his name.
Jones openly rebuked her, saying that nothing they said in the meeting could be published. He also stated that Lesperance should have identified herself as a reporter at the beginning of the meeting, which she had not done.
Lesperance, also a Republican, was taking notes for an assignment in a news writing class and preparing a story on how Lakeland College was preparing for the upcoming election.
At the end of the meeting Jones reaffirmed his concern in the matter. He then threatened to sue her if she printed anything that was said during the meeting. Shawn Stevens, another Republican National Committee representative, then looked over her notes, pointing out content from the meeting that she wasn't allowed to publish.
Lesperance says that she felt bullied by this incident, and that she felt both "intimidated and humiliated." Lesperance also said, "I didn't know how to defend myself because I wasn't sure if I had done anything wrong."
"Squelching the press is not a Republican value," Lesperance
wrote in an opinion piece about the incident. "We stand for freedom and are committed to the first amendment."
The Republican leaders were at Lakeland College to help students organize and get out the vote. The meeting was publicly publicized and open to anyone who wished to attend.
At the meeting Lakeland Mirror staff reporter Diana Lesperance took notes and asked the organizers questions. Near the end of the meeting she asked one of the men, Jason Jones, for the correct spelling of his name.
Jones openly rebuked her, saying that nothing they said in the meeting could be published. He also stated that Lesperance should have identified herself as a reporter at the beginning of the meeting, which she had not done.
Lesperance, also a Republican, was taking notes for an assignment in a news writing class and preparing a story on how Lakeland College was preparing for the upcoming election.
At the end of the meeting Jones reaffirmed his concern in the matter. He then threatened to sue her if she printed anything that was said during the meeting. Shawn Stevens, another Republican National Committee representative, then looked over her notes, pointing out content from the meeting that she wasn't allowed to publish.
Lesperance says that she felt bullied by this incident, and that she felt both "intimidated and humiliated." Lesperance also said, "I didn't know how to defend myself because I wasn't sure if I had done anything wrong."
"Squelching the press is not a Republican value," Lesperance
wrote in an opinion piece about the incident. "We stand for freedom and are committed to the first amendment."