Whether you are a credentialed reporter or a citizen journalist, if you are arrested or run into legal problems while reporting on the presidential inauguration, help is available from two sources:
- The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press will run a round-the-clock hotline for reporters who are detained while covering the inauguration. The hotline number is 703-807-2100. Also, the RCFP has posted a special flier on its Web site that tries to spell out what will happen during the arrest process and how to respond.
- The Citizen Media Law Project has published a legal primer that more broadly addresses various issues relating to attending and documenting the inauguration. It addresses where attendees can go within D.C., what audio and video recording equipment they can bring, where and what you can record, and what to do if you get in trouble. Find all of this in Documenting the 2009 Presidential Inauguration.