‘Outrageous’ handcuffing of New Orleans journalist sends ‘chilling message,’ says media group

Danny Monteverde had been protesting the closure of a courtroom during indictment of state attorney general The “outrageous” handcuffing of a New Orleans journalist covering the indictment in July of Louisiana’s attorney general – a case that ultimately was dismissed – conveyed “a chilling message to members of the press and the public” for which there is no excuse, according to a prominent media rights advocacy organization. An attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) made those assertions in a recent letter to the New Orleans criminal district courthouse where deputies temporarily detained WWL Louisiana investigative producer Danny Monteverde and outlet lawyer Elana Beiser in the course of their duties in early July. Beiser and Monteverde, whose station is a Guardian reporting partner, were trying to object to judge Leon Roche’s closure of the courtroom where a grand jury had handed up an indictment against state attorney general, Liz Murrill, on accusations that she had threatened the jobs of Democratic New Orleans officials who fought a Republican-led overhaul. A 5 August letter from RCFP attorney Virginia Hamrick to New Orleans crimi