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Topic: Credentialed Reporters Arrested at RNC: A Trend?
| Author | Message |
| Lula | Posted – 9/3/2008 1:18:18 PM | show profile I realize this could easily go under "Current Events" but it seems like a pretty huge "media issue" to me. Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman was arrested at the RNC for covering protests, along with two of her producers. All three had press passes waiving, announced themselves multiple times as media/press, and were nevertheless manhandled and arrested. Just thought it was worth putting out there - I find it a bit disturbing. Story: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/2/amy_goodman_two_democracy_now_producers Footage: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allison-kilkenny/amy-goodman-arrested-at-r_b_123051.html |
| Louisewasnothalfbad | Posted – 9/4/2008 1:40:40 AM | show profile Bull. Amy was arrested to arguing with police about the arrests of her producers. Too bad Democracy Now doesn't have lawyers. Goodman's a very tough and tenacious reporter but she's not remotely objective. |
| Lula | Posted – 9/4/2008 3:42:12 PM | show profile Yeah, I never said anything about her being an onjective reporter. She was arrested while reporting (asking questions about a police action). Her press pass was ignored. It's debatable whether she actually broke a law or not. I'm not sure why it doesn't trouble more people that she was arrested for asking questions. Regardless of whether you like her or not, regardless of whether she's objective or not, she's a reporter, no? There's no need to get snippy. |
| pamelabeth | Posted – 9/4/2008 4:04:05 PM | show profile i, too, was disturbed by this. on what grounds were they arrested? |
| aoscruggs | Posted – 9/4/2008 11:39:10 PM | show profile We should be disturbed; she wasn't the only one arrested Check this out from Romenesko's blog "Kentucky Kernel adviser James Winn and two University of Kentucky student photographers aren't expected to be charged after spending about 36 hours in a St. Paul detention center. "From my perspective, it was fairly obvious I was a journalist," says Winn. But officers at the protest scene "had everybody in a circle and they were putting people into processing no matter what their appearance was. I don't think I was treated terribly unfairly. It's part of the process." Read the rest at http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45 |
| Stanley_Milgram | Posted – 9/5/2008 8:52:17 AM | show profile interesting note: KPFK, the Pacifica station that broadcasts Democracy Now!, covered the story about the pre-emptive raids on protesters as well as credentialed journalists the first day of the convention. Now of course, representatives of that station are being arrested. The longer I live in Europe, the funnier it seems to me that Americans think they're the freeest people on earth. |
| Lula | Posted – 9/5/2008 12:25:24 PM | show profile Charges The two Democracy Now! producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, are being charged with felony charges of "Probabley Cause Riot." The PC riot charge is, from what I've been able to dig up, a way for the arresting officer to bypass the examination of any real evidence. It would imply that the producers were not attempting to report a story, gather information, or stand witness (which their press passes gave them legal right to do), but rather were directly involved in the group/public actions on the streets. I find this extremely hard to believe, given the presence of said press passes and a running camera (which were later forcefully removed from their persons by police), and their vocal identification of themselves. Amy Goodman was charged with "misdemeanor obstruction of legal process and interference with a peace officer." This one would be a little easier to argue, although it's questionable whether asking questions constitutes obstruction or interference. The footage shows her clearly standing to the side, still, asking questions rather meekly/politely. She's being shouted at by officers, and she continues her questioning, and is then forcefully pushed and arrested. The obstruction is clearly not from Goodman's side. I don't doubt that in crowd-control situations, things get blurry. But when a clearly credentialed press reporter is merely identifying herself and asking questions, and she is forcefully arrested for that very action of doing her job, I find it to be an appalling breach of freedom of the press. The fourth estate has long been considered a valuable and essential public sector, afforded certain rights and permissions. When a government takes these rights and permissions away (forcefully or otherwise), they limit the power of the citizenry to which they belong. It is at just such chaotic moments as the RNC that we need those people actively doing their jobs. If they are arrested for it, they cannot then report about what is going on, and we are left to simply "trust" those with guns and batons to use them fairly. Seems like a pretty big deal to me. |
| Lula | Posted – 9/5/2008 12:25:55 PM | show profile Excuse me, that should be "PROBABLE cause riot" in the first sentence. |
