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Student reporter pepper sprayed by police talks press freedom

‘Leave or go to jail’: Maeve Walsh, former special project editor for The Lantern student paper at Ohio State University, spoke on how the incident impacted her first amendment rights as a journalist.

By Marisa Twigg

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Special Issue: Local Press Freedom Investigation

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May 6, 2021

Maeve Walsh

On June 1, 2020, three reporters stood at the intersection of North High Street and Lane Avenue in downtown Columbus, on behalf of Ohio State University’s student newspaper The Lantern: Sarah Szilagy, a Junior campus editor, Maxwell Garrison, a Junior assistant campus editor, and Maeve Walsh, the special projects editor.

The three student journalists had been working on assignment all day covering the Black Lives Matter protests in Columbus, Ohio following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. When the city’s 10 p.m. curfew struck, Columbus police officers threatened to arrest the journalists and pepper sprayed them in an attempt to force them out of the area.

Walsh, who has since graduated, spoke with Matter News and Eye on Ohio about her experience being pepper sprayed by the Columbus police and how the incident impacted her first amendment rights as a journalist.

This story was partially funded by a grant from the U.S. Press Freedom Accountability Project from the Committee to Protect Journalists and News Leaders Association.

Author

Marisa Twigg is the co-founder and managing editor of Matter News. For more than six years, she has created impactful visual media content professionally in both the public and private sectors. With an emphasis on photojournalism, Marisa weaves still visuals with written narratives to immerse readers in the stories she produces. She graduated from Ohio State University with a B.S. in environmental policy and decision making, focusing on journalism, environmental and social justice. Outside of work, Marisa is an avid outdoor adventurer and nature enthusiast. She lives in Hilltop, and enjoys biking the Olentangy Trail, hiking Zaleski State Forest or kayaking Ohio’s beautiful lakes and scenic rivers.