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Download the Official Press Release Here.
Download the Official Notice of Intent to File Suit Here.
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Original Media Group Corporation et al served formal notice on the Montgomery County Office of the District Attorney, Lower Merion Police Department, Upper Merion Township Police Department, and the Upper Merion Township Department of Public Safety, respectfully (collectively “Montgomery County Government”) of intent to bring a 1983 action under the Civil Rights Act alleging a pattern of criminal harassment while acting under the color of law.
“As I predicted not only in 2019—but just last week—the wheels of injustice are turning precipitously and the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and its allies opted to take a courtroom battle to the streets,” Chief Executive Officer of Original Media Group, publisher of Your Content, Nik Tzimas Hatziefstathiou said Friday. “Authorities have gone overboard. We tried talking to the police, we tried talking to at-least four sitting district attorneys, and everybody wants to just back up this group of officials when they’re doing illegal and immoral things to us.”
“Obviously, it’s harassment—but now I am convinced a federal court will agree that it’s long overdue for a jury to decide whether there was and if there continues to be criminal harassment on the part of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and its allies,” Hatziefstathiou continued. “There’s a series of being pulled over, our reporters being followed, our reporters being threatened, me being threatened—this Pennsylvania region must be overmanned because they certainly have nothing better to do.
“There’s a pattern of harassment. Fervent government officials worked overtime in following us, harassing us, harassing our staff and readers, and they’re looking for something that’s just not there.
“The action can’t be filed in Montgomery or Delaware Counties—where both the staff live, and the defendants live—because that would be a joke and we would be tossed out of the courtroom. So, we are going to file it federally, because it does involve multiple law enforcement agencies and that is in their backyard.
“As we approach the 60th Anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s monumental remarks that shook the newspaper industry to its core, it’s unsettling how so many of our worthy opponents have turned a blind eye to the blatant police-state tactics being used here in suburban Philadelphia,” Chief Communications Officer of Original Media Anthony Loro said Friday. “The remarks, titled ‘The President and the Press’ by JFK himself, are as relevant today as they were half a century ago.
“The very word ‘secrecy’ is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings.” John F. Kennedy said on Apr. 27, 1961. “We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it.
“Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it.
“Every newspaper now asks itself, with respect to every story: ‘Is it news?’ All I suggest is that you add the question: ‘Is it in the interest of the national security?’ And I hope that every group in America—unions and businessmen and public officials at every level—will ask the same question of their endeavors, and subject their actions to the same exacting tests.
“I not only could not stifle controversy among your readers—I welcome it. This Administration intends to be candid about its errors; for as a wise man once said: ‘An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.’”
Hatziefstathiou added: “Our criminal justice system is rotten—it doesn’t reward honest prosecutors who try a case with their conscience. It rewards rats who are willing to sell out their office to keep their noses in the trough.
“Make no mistake—these rats are the real scroungers in our criminal justice system.
“I anticipated if we had sufficient success in bringing this, along with other material obtained during our newsgathering efforts to light, there may be an assault against us—or me personally, to stall our momentum and damage our credibility.
“We weren’t wrong then, and I doubt we are as we enter round two.
“Journalism is about foresight—a true reporter plots one step ahead of the story target—and submits a trump card just after they play theirs. A journalist anticipates their antagonists moves and devises countermeasures.
“On May 3, 2019, I executed an Authorization for the Release of Protected Legal Information After Death in the event of sudden death or other acts of foul play—authorizing eight attorneys with information pertaining to our newsgathering—which I am currently standing trial for—granting them ‘permission to release any and all attorney-client privileged documentation, verbal discussion, e-mails, voicemails, text messages, and all other material otherwise protected by attorney-client privilege material to the general public for its own digestion, discussion and assessment.’
“On Jun. 24, 2019, I was met by authorities executing a search warrant for all newsgathering material pertaining to a decade long scheme involving high-ranking officials.
“When we finally have our first of what appears will become multiple days in court for these gross miscarriages of justice, Original Media will demonstrate evidence which shows several high-ranking officials exhibited sufficient moral bankruptcy to collude with such a plan by meeting with members of law enforcement and their cronies. Power only understands power. The eye of justice is now in power—and it will never go silenced again.”
Original Media Group takes any claims of violence or intimidation very seriously. After a preliminary review by a third-party attorney, Original Media stands by its employee, Eric G. Norton, who will return to the newsroom on Fri. Feb. 19, 2021.