COLUMBUS, Ohio — The summer of 2020 brought with it civil unrest after the killing of George Floyd.

What You Need To Know

  • Eye on Ohio, the Ohio Center for Journalism in partnership with Matter News published a report focusing on how far press freedoms extend when reporting on law enforcement

  • Their article focuses on an alleged pepper-spraying incident between student journalists at The Ohio State University and the Columbus police 

  • Spectrum News 1 anchor Chuck Ringwalt spoke with Marisa Twigg, one of the authors of the article

Peaceful protests and riots erupted along city streets. Journalists reported on the events and sometimes became a part of the stories they were covering.

Student journalists at The Ohio State University allege they were pepper-sprayed by a Columbus police officer while reporting on the protests for the university's student newspaper, The Lantern.

One year later, Eye on Ohio and Matter News looked into the incident and learned there has not been a resolution between the students and the police department.

Marisa Twigg is one of the authors of that article. Spectrum News 1 anchor Chuck Ringwalt spoke with Twigg about her reporting.

"One year later, why re-examine the event?" Ringwalt asked.

"There hasn't been much follow-up in terms of discussion between the police and the student journalists. One reason we are tracking this is because press freedom is a really important issue here in Columbus and across the country of course," Twigg said.

Maeve Walsh alleges she was pepper-sprayed that night. She is the former special projects editor for The Lantern.

"When we were pepper-sprayed and no longer able to cover the rest of the events that night who knows how many people could have been arrested? Who knows if any violence happened? Who knows what? Being censored like that by members of the law enforcement obviously is a clear violation of the first amendment,"​ Walsh told Eye on Ohio and Matter News.

Twigg initially told Spectrum News 1 that Columbus police and the city of Columbus have not followed up with Walsh.

"There hasn't been any follow-up," she said.​

In an email to Spectrum News 1, Twigg later clarified her remarks. She said both the police department and the city interviewed the three Lantern journalists separately.​

"The City, specifically Rick Wozniak and Kathleen Garber, have both interviewed all three Lantern reporters separately -- Maeve Walsh, Max Garrison, and Sarah Szilagy. What I was trying to explain that came out somewhat inaccurate was that the three students have not had any follow up by the City since the initial interview after the incident," she wrote.

Twigg said the written report of that night by the police department made no mention of the pepper-spraying incident.

"In terms of what the city or the police department are saying other than the police report from that night, they haven't been able to answer any of our questions because the investigation remains ongoing."

Click here to read Twigg's article, "Does freedom of the press extend to covering the police?"

May 11 Editor's note: In a previous version of the story, Marisa Twigg said the Columbus police and the city of Columbus have not followed up with Walsh: "There hasn't been any follow-up." The current version of the story has been updated to include Twigg's email clarifying those remarks.