Alpha News is a Minneapolis news network that positions itself as “reporting stories that are overlooked by Minnesota’s mainstream media”. After the death of George Floyd, Minneapolis Assistant Police Chief Katie Blackwell testified in the trials against Derek Chauvin and the other three officers who were with Chauvin while he held Floyd down. In court, Blackwell took to the witness stand and stated that the technique Chauvin used was not part of Minneapolis police training.
Alpha News then created a documentary “The Fall of Minneapolis” in which they alleged that Blackwell lied under oath. They accused Blackwell of making claims about police training that did not match with official police policy and training materials. (Example: MPD’s policy manual defined a neck restraint as including compression ‘with an arm or leg’ but Blackwell told the jury that police were trained to use only arms, giving them the false impression that Chauvin’s knee-on-neck technique was never part of Minneapolis police training and stating that it was “not something we train.”) Blackwell sued Alpha News for defamation, arguing that Alpha News made misleading claims that damaged her reputation and career. She called Alpha News “extremists who are more interested in shaping a narrative and provoking outrage than in communicating any version of the truth.”
On February 7, 2025 Alpha News argued before a judge that the case should be dismissed because their claims were accurate, were not defamatory, and because this case could have a chilling effect on the free speech of journalists. I was hired by Alpha News to sketch that hearing.
Ultimately the judge ruled in favor of Alpha News, stating that their claims about Blackwell were “substantively true”. Blackwell was ordered to pay $75,000 in attorney fees to Alpha News. Alpha News says their fees were “considerably higher” but they sought a lower amount “out of respect for Blackwell’s service in law enforcement and the National Guard”. Blackwell also signed a declaration affirming the finding of the judge’s order about the case were “accurate, true, and correct.”
