Journalist arrested at Ohio governor’s press conference

A NewsNation reporter was arrested at a press conference for Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH).

Correspondent Evan Lambert was arrested after arguing with police. They had demanded that he be quiet because he was broadcasting during DeWine’s press briefing on the train derailment near the small town of East Palestine, the Hill reported.

Lambert faces charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing. NewsNation has protested the arrest as a violation of the First Amendment.

“I was watching the press conference stream … and the only thing I heard that was disruptive was when this altercation with the police, which apparently they have instigated, was unfolding,” Mike Viqueira, NewsNation’s Washington bureau chief, said.

“I did not hear anything of Evan’s voice when he was quietly speaking on live television. … As his boss, as his colleague, as a fellow journalist, it’s really infuriating,” Viqueira said.

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A video of the encounter obtained by the outlet showed police wrestling with Lambert before handcuffing and escorting him into a police car.

Preston Swigart, a photographer who was with Lambert, reported that the problem arose when DeWine’s conference, originally scheduled for 3 p.m., was delayed until roughly 5 p.m. That’s when Lambert was scheduled to go live.

“From their standpoint, he didn’t obey orders when he was told to stop talking,” Swigart said. “Gymnasiums are echoey and loud and sound kind of carries, so I’m guessing that they just didn’t like the fact that there was sound competing with the governor speaking, even though it was all the way at the other end of the room.”

Lambert remained defiant until the end.

“It’s tough to do your job in America in 2023, but we’ll keep doing it,” he said as he was pushed into a squad car.

In a statement obtained by the Washington Examiner, Viqueira noted that he had just spoken with Lambert. He said Lambert acted gracefully throughout the encounter.

“Evan is safe and calm and continues to act with professionalism and integrity that he brings to his work each day. As you see from the videos, he was doing his job, what hundreds of journalists do without incident: reporting to the public on a matter of urgent, critical interest to our audience,” he said.

DeWine condemned the arrest. He stressed that he did not order the arrest or have any part in it.

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“It has always been my practice that if I’m doing a press conference, someone wants to report out there and they want to be talking back to the people back on channel, whatever, they have every right to do that,” he said. “If someone was stopped from doing that or told they could not do that, that was wrong. It was nothing that I authorized.”

NewsNation reported Wednesday evening that Lambert had been released.