Nicaraguan Journalist Warned by Costa Rica to Abandon Her Work Amid Threats
November 13, 2025
Turkish Journalist Rahime Karvar Sentenced to Prison for “Aiding a Terrorist Organisation”
November 13, 2025
November 13, 2025 – USA –
A judge in Kenton County, Kentucky, has officially dismissed all remaining charges with prejudice against journalist Madeline Fening of the Cincinnati-based media outlet CityBeat. Fening’s arrest occurred on 17 July while she was reporting on an immigration protest that crossed the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge linking Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky.
During the demonstration, participants marched in support of former hospital chaplain Ayman Soliman, who had been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As protesters moved onto the bridge roadway, law-enforcement officers issued an order to disperse; video footage captured Fening standing on the roadway filming the scene when she was approached by an officer and arrested.
Fening faced felony “rioting” charges as well as misdemeanours, including failure to disperse, unlawful assembly, and disorderly conduct. In October, her colleague and fellow CityBeat photojournal intern Lucas Griffith was found guilty of one misdemeanor—failure to disperse—and fined US $50; the jury cleared him of other counts.
In reaching the dismissal agreement for Fening, prosecutors required that she acknowledge the existence of probable cause for her arrest, though the charges are now permanently dismissed and cannot be refiled. She told reporters she was “just doing my job” and said she looked forward to publishing her full account of what happened on the bridge.
Press-freedom advocates welcomed the outcome. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky (ACLU) noted that reporters covering public events should not face prosecution simply for being present while doing journalistic work. At the same time, the case generated scrutiny of the law-enforcement response: an internal review by the Covington Police Department found one specialist officer’s conduct inappropriate during the protest; that officer has now been suspended without pay for 30 days and assigned remedial training.
The case raises broader concerns about the intersection of press freedom and protest policing, especially when journalists are arrested in the field. With the dismissal secured, Fening is now free to continue her reporting without the cloud of criminal charges.
Reference –
https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/crime/article312901259.html
