Chicago-area reporter cited for seeking comment from local officials

Officials in Calumet City, Illinois, allege that a local reporter violated municipal ordinances by asking them questions about the city’s upkeep of stormwater infrastructure prior to massive flooding from heavy rains in the Chicago suburb in September 2023.

Daily Southtown reporter Hank Sanders, who reported on Oct. 19 that Calumet City officials were informed last year by a consultant that the municipality’s stormwater facilities are in poor condition, is accused of “interference/hampering of city employees” by contacting them for follow-up coverage, according to the Chicago Tribune, whose parent company publishes both papers.

Three citations issued to Sanders on Oct. 30 listed as complainants Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones, who is also an Illinois state representative; Jerico Thomas, the city’s public works commissioner; and city employee Megan Wilson, the Tribune added.

According to the paper, the notice referencing Wilson states that between Oct. 4-12, Sanders sent 14 emails and a Freedom of Information Act request to the Calumet City government regarding flooding. The notice referencing Jones noted that Sanders had called the city’s Department of Public Works “several times” since Sept. 17.

City attorneys asked Sanders to cease contacting city employees about the matter while the records request is pending, but said despite the requests, “Hank Sanders continues to do so.”

A U.S. Press Freedom Tracker request for comment from Calumet City officials did not immediately receive a response.

On his TikTok account, Sanders posted about the citations, calling them “ridiculous.”

Daily Southtown’s Executive Editor Mitch Pugh, in a statement published in the Tribune, called the citations “outrageous” and likened them to the Oct. 27 arrest of an Alabama reporter and publisher for reporting on a local grand jury investigation and the August police raid on the Marion County Recorder and homes of the Kansas newspaper’s co-owners, executed while the Recorder was investigating Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody’s background.

“They represent a continued assault on journalists who, like Hank, are guilty of nothing more than engaging in the practice of journalism. From places like Alabama to Kansas to Illinois, it appears public officials have become emboldened to take actions that our society once viewed as un-American,” Pugh said. “Unfortunately, in our current political climate, uneducated buffoonery has become a virtue, not a liability, but the Tribune will vigorously stand up for Hank’s right to do his job.”

Don Craven, president, chief executive and general counsel of the Illinois Press Association, told The New York Times that he was optimistic that Calumet City would withdraw the citations. “We’re hopeful that our lawyer and their lawyer can have an adult conversation and understand that these are out of bounds and they’ll be withdrawn.”