‘It makes me physically nauseous the extent to which they were pursuing a journalist’

4

MINOT, N.D. — A week ago I wrote about Tom Simon , a Williston-based reporter who had his cellphone seized by a North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent.

The agent was investigating Simon for reporting on what was discussed in closed meetings of the Williston School Board. Simon has sources that put him in the know, and at this point I’m not aware of anyone making any substantive criticisms of the content of his reporting.

Instead the BCI, at the behest of school board leadership, launched an investigation into an alleged felony related to the disclosure, by a public official, of confidential information.

“They do this in China,” Simon told me this week of the ordeal.

“It makes me physically nauseous the extent to which they were pursuing a journalist,” he added.

Continue reading…