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There may be hope for the First Amendment rights of new media journalists\u2015 a North Dakota judge has dismissed riot charges<\/a> against Democracy Now!<\/em><\/a> cofounder and investigative reporter Amy Goodman.<\/p>\n As TechCrunch reported this weekend, <\/a>Goodman\u00a0was charged for \u201cparticipating in a riot\u201d after she reported from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in\u00a0North Dakota, on the long-running\u00a0protests there\u00a0against the development of a $3.8 billion energy project called the Dakota Access pipeline.<\/p>\n The\u00a0pipeline\u00a0specifically impacts the\u00a0Standing Rock Sioux<\/a> tribe in North Dakota and its 8,000-person reservation. Native American advocates say that the project will not only put safe drinking water at risk for the Standing Rock Sioux, but will also destroy their sacred burial grounds.<\/p>\n Goodman captured and broadcast footage of Dakota Access-affiliated security guards using pepper spray and attack dogs against Native American advocates and environmentalists.<\/p>\n Beyond matters of tribal rights, the pipeline raises profound ecological concerns.<\/p>\n Oil and petroleum pipeline spills\u00a0have been on the rise in the U.S. since 2009, along with domestic oil consumption and production. The spills are caused by everything from corrosion, to welding or equipment failures, but also natural disasters and human errors.<\/p>\n Uncowed by the court, Democracy Now! has continued its reporting<\/a> at the protest front lines.<\/p>\n Goodman is not the only journalist state prosecutors attempted to silence over pipeline protest coverage in North Dakota. A documentary filmmaker named Deia Schlosberg was taken into custody, and later released, but with her footage confiscated and still facing possible felony charges in the state.<\/p>\n She was arrested while filming demonstrators at the\u00a0tar sands pipelines in Wallhala, North Dakota. The protestors shut down\u00a0TransCanada\u2019s Keystone pipeline there.<\/p>\n Charges against Schlosberg included\u00a0\u201ctwo Class A felony charges and one Class C felony charge, and conspiracy to theft of property, conspiracy to theft of services and conspiracy to tampering with or damaging a public service,\u201d according to a blog post on EcoWatch<\/a>\u00a0written by Josh Fox.<\/p>\n