15 Press Organizations Send Letter To Eugene Mayor and Police Chief Regarding Public Information Coordinator ‘Press’ Controversy

Yesterday, Aug. 28, more than a dozen press organizations sent a letter to Mayor Kaarin Knudson and Eugene Police Department’s Chief Chris Skinner admonishing Public Information Program Coordinator Michael Rea’s use of press markers during an Aug. 12 incident caught on video by filmmaker Tim Lewis.

The letter—authored by Freedom of the Press Foundation Director of Advocacy Seth Stern and signed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation; ACLU of Oregon; Defending Rights & Dissent; Electronic Frontier Foundation; Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression; Los Angeles Press Club; National Press Photographers Association; PEN America; Radio Television Digital News Association; Reporters Without Borders; Society of Environmental Journalists; Society of Professional Journalists; The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents, USA; The Coalition For Women In Journalism; and The Media and Democracy Project—was sent to Mayor Knudson and Chief Skinner along with the National Information Officers Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, PIO Section.

At the time of Double Sided Media’s initial reporting, the EPD said that Rea was “capturing video” to share “post-operation footage” with local media. To explain why the department identified Rea as press, EPD Public Information Director Melinda McLaughlin said, “people don’t always know what ‘PIO’ stands for, so ‘Press’ identifies him as someone not involved in making arrests and not a police officer.” In the days since, the Eugene Weekly and The Register-Guard have also reported on the incident. 

The letter, authored by Freedom of the Press Foundation Director of Advocacy Seth Stern, did not mince words. 

“Impersonating journalists is not an acceptable solution to hypothetical confusion about PIOs,” the letter stated. “Misstating the role of PIOs by referring to them as ‘press’ causes far more confusion than it dispels. The department was correct that the word ‘press’ is common and widely understood, and that’s precisely the problem – no one would ever assume that someone wearing a press vest is a police department employee.”

Adding insult to injury, during the operation Rea was filming, Officer Jackson Stramler threatened Lewis with arrest for filming the same activity. Notably, Stramler’s actions towards Lewis were not included in the edited compilation of footage sent to local media.

Besides the obstruction of First Amendment rights and ambivalence toward their own policy, police impersonating the press “threatens public safety, press freedom, and police officers themselves in any number of ways,” the letter stated, offering a few examples before reminding the chief about the public’s right to record the police.

In response to the letter, EPD Chief Skinner said, “I appreciate hearing from our community members as we continue to find the best way to provide a safe and livable Eugene. While I may not completely agree with all the points you make in your letter dated August 28, 2025, we are amenable to adjusting our practices.”

“It was never our intention to impersonate a journalist and our use of the term ‘Press’ on one of our public information staff members was simply an innocent attempt to identify him in a way that was easily understood,” Chief Skinner added, mirroring previous statements from the department’s public information director.”Our staff member is a non-sworn member of our Public Information Team who is tasked with capturing video in a variety of situations.”

Chief Skinner did not respond to a request for clarification on what parts of the letter he did “not completely agree with” at the time of publication.

Mayor Knudson did not respond to our request for a response to the letter at the time of publication.

DSM will update this story when we have received a response.

The letter can be read in full below.