WSJ demands investigation after reporter detained

Dion Rabouin

The Wall Street Journal demanded the Phoenix Police Department conduct an internal review and take action to ensure journalists’ rights are protected after one of its reporters was handcuffed and detained, reports Dave Biscobing of ABC 15.

Biscobing reports, “The demand came from Journal Editor-in-Chief Matt Murray to Phoenix Police Chief Michael Sullivan in a letter following a November 23, 2022 incident involving an officer and reporter Dion Rabouin.

“‘I am appalled and concerned that officers at your department would attempt to interfere with Mr. Rabouin’s constitutional right to engage in journalism and purport to limit anyone’s presence in a public location,’ Murray wrote.

“The incident raises new allegations about Phoenix violating First Amendment rights.

“The city is under a Department of Justice investigation for falsely charging protesters as gang members.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.