As a correspondent and news anchor at CNN for 17 years, he never hesitated to put his own sometimes-radical leftist agenda ahead of any balanced coverage of world events.
In fact, Lemon’s abhorrent insistence on harping his own views helped push America’s so-called mainstream journalism off the moorings of objectivity that had steadied it for years. And his independent “reporting” since getting fired for alleged misconduct in 2023 has raised questions about whether he was ever a true journalist at all.
That said, I harbor grave concerns regarding the potential outcome of a Lemon-related legal process starting today at Minneapolis District Court in Minnesota. Because how it turns out could set a dangerous precedent for real journalists doing their jobs.
Or maybe not. Let me explain.
For those unaware, Lemon and eight others were recently charged with conspiring to illegally terminate a Sunday church service through “acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference, and physical destruction.” The object of their protest: a pastor allegedly working with ICE—the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement—to round up and deport illegal aliens.
The pastor in question wasn’t even there. Many worshippers who were, however, abandoned their pews in panic. Which prosecutors contend makes them victims of an illegal violation of their freedom to worship. Lemon’s defense: that he was a non-participating journalist present only to report what was happening.
The problem is that he seems to have known of the plan in advance, supported it, met with its organizers beforehand, and helped keep it secret. Which certainly makes it look like a conspiracy.
So why am I leery? Frankly, due to something I experienced during the infamous Los Angeles riots of 1992. That’s when the LA Times sent me to report on the arrival of National Guard troops at a naval airbase in Los Alamitos, California. Sitting in my parked car near the front gate, I suddenly felt the barrel of a gun pointed directly at my head.
“Who are you?” the soldier holding it wanted to know, “and what are you doing here?”
At that point I had a choice to make. I could either argue, fight, or drive away and end up dead like two anti-ICE protestors in Minneapolis recently did. Or I could cooperate and maybe survive.
I chose the latter. “I’m David Haldane of the Los Angeles Times,” I quietly stammered.
“Keep your hands on the wheel!” the officer demanded. “Where’s your ID?”
“In the bag next to me on the seat,” I meekly explained.
“Ok,” he said. “Keep one hand on the wheel and slowly slide the other into that bag. And I’m warning you,” he quickly added, “make any sudden moves or pull out anything other than an ID and I’ll splatter your brains all over your car seat.”
Long story short, I followed his instructions to a tee and lived to report another day.
But here’s the thing: Lemon’s trial will hinge on two questions. First, did he and his cohorts illegally impinge on the constitutionally protected right of churchgoers to freely worship? And second, was he acting as a protestor or a reporter?
The answer to the first question, I’d wager, is yes. And the answer to the second, well, I guess we’ll soon see.
A young Filipino friend in Minneapolis relatively new to America failed to grasp the nuance. “I stand with the journalists,” he confidently assured me in a private message. “I personally condemn those unjust arrests.”
Yet some high-profile commentators strongly disagree. “For those saying this is criminalizing journalism,” Megyn Kelly, who’s also a lawyer, proclaimed loudly on social media, “journalists don’t get a pass when breaking the law just because they have a mic.”
As for me, I can live with either outcome. But here’s my fervent hope: should the court decide Lemon is not a legitimate reporter and therefore unprotected, that future enforcers understand why.
Especially when dealing with those whose journalism is real.
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David Haldane is an award-winning American journalist, author, and radio broadcaster with homes in Southern California and Northern Mindanao. His latest book is Dark Skies: Tales of Turbulence in Paradise. This column appears weekly in The Manila Times.
