Campus Newspaper Raid Drawing Fire

Repercussions from the raid on a campus newspaper at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virg., are mounting as journalism groups decry the confiscation by state law enforcement officials of digital images that were taken of a violent protest near the school on April 10.

The raid on the campus paper, The Breeze, occurred last Friday. But angry reaction has been coming in as recently as Tuesday.

“A third-party will hold the disks containing the seized images while Virginia's commonwealth attorney for the region, Marsha L. Garst, continues to advocate for the release of all or some of the photos ... ” reports The Washington Post. “Garst, along with several police officers, confiscated 926 photos, 682 of which were of the party and riot. The rest were mostly photos that were published the same day, said Katie Thisdell, editor-in-chief for The Breeze.”

More of the fallout is reported in this news story from WSLS TV of nearby Roanoke: