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Congratulations are in order for journalist and Status Coup reporter Tina-Desiree Berg on a major award. Berg’s reporting for SC was awarded the 2026 Golden State Journalism Courage Award by the Sacramento Press Club. The awards ceremony was held in May 2026 in Los Angeles. It is a befitting award — as you all know, it take COURAGE and GUTS to be the center of everything COVERING THE NEWS the mainstream media IGNORES.
The award was given for Berg’s intense ON-THE-GROUND reporting “the protests against federal action in the Los Angeles area in June 2025,” the citation reads. This year’s award was also given to 8 other courageous journalists who were also accosted while doing their jobs. The reporting was done outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center in L.A., the site of many heightened demonstrations during ICE raids in April 2025.
It citation continues:
Nearly ninety journalists were reported to have been assaulted by law enforcement during those weeks, across roughly one hundred separate incidents, irrespective of press identification, network affiliation, or whether they were broadcasting live at the time. The award is conferred on the nine journalists named in the lawsuit brought by the Los Angeles Press Club and Status Coup against the Los Angeles Police Department, who together represent the range of conduct directed at the press during that period. It is offered on behalf of everyone who was out there.
This statement from the press club’s letter to Berg is indicative of WHY STATUS COUP COVERS WHAT CORPORATE MEDIA COVERS UP and BOTCHES in REAL TIME.
You were removed, repeatedly, from places you had every right to stand-including one instance more than a hundred feet from any confrontation, ostensibly for your own protection. Being pushed out of frame is a quieter kind of obstruction than being shot at, and harder to photograph. You kept coming back, and you kept filming.
Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in April 2026 that she had her back toward a growing line of cops who were there to deter protesters and then targeted reporters who were clearly identified as members of the press. She said as she was talking to “a media relations lieutenant,” she was THROWN TO THE WOLVES and shoved her into the police line.
“He told her, ‘That’s it, I’m done,’ before shoving her through the police line.” She continued ““I’ve never had a media relations person behave like that…It’s just so offensive.”Courageous and spirited reporters like Berg are what makes Status Coup who we are — it takes courage and YOUR SUPPORT to report in streets and neighborhoods across the U.S. — in the trenches — telling the stories of folks who live in communities like this, when corporate and legacy media won’t dare shed light on them.
Do you see mainstream media showing you these stories? How about other big “independent” media? Big podcast bros?
We didn’t think so — it’s because those outlets aren’t fueled by tenacious viewers like YOU who support us EVERY DAY. And we need you now more than ever.
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Congratulations to Tina-Desiree Berg and Status Coup! ♥️🙏🏼
Wow. Super courageous in the face of super bad acting police, ICE and supposedly peace keepers.