INTERLOCHEN, MI (MPRN)-- Authorities are looking to arrest two men who allegedly attacked a Traverse City Record Eagle reporter.
Brendan Quealy was reporting outside an anti-mask and anti-vaccine mandate event in Grand Traverse County. Quealy says two men approached him and one punched him in the face.
Michael Adams of Kingsley and Joseph Welsh of Traverse City face assault and battery charges.
Prosecuting Attorney Noelle Moeggenberg filed the charges. She says it appears they targeted Quealy because he was doing his job.
“I believe there was some political motivation.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker shows there has been a substantial increase in physical attacks on U.S. journalists in the past two years.
Earlier this year, police arrested a Leelanau County man for allegedly attacking a TV news cameraman who was recording a Governor Whitmer event.