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Police Overwhelmingly Responsible for Attacking Journalists

41 points by jessaustin 6y ago

linsomniac 6y ago
It seems an odd, self-defeating choice, for police to attack journalists who are documenting a protest against police brutality, doesn't it? It makes you wonder, if they are so willing to attack someone who is obviously broadcasting the attack, with clearly marked "Press" identification, how they are likely to act when there is less scrutiny...
- jessaustin 6y ago
  A similar question could be raised about why they're overwhelmingly brutalizing and arresting (not necessarily in that order) peaceful protesters rather than "looters" who even when they're not actually undercover cops are allowed to loot without interference. We know the police are not smart or well-organized enough to have some sort of national master plan. So, either these choices reflect local incentives that are intelligible to officers on the scene but not to us on the outside, or their decision process is so degraded that they don't possess the ability to act in even their own best interests. Can we please just fire all these clowns already?
jessaustin 6y ago
This is an interesting study in HN ranking penalties. Two hours in, there are 25 points and we haven't sniffed the front page. Currently ranked #126. Meanwhile links of similar vintage with 5, 15, 12, 6, and 6 points are at #9, #11, #17, #20, and #28 respectively. b^) I guess we're lucky not to be flagged out of existence.
- _bxg1 6y ago
  I think it also factors in the velocity of upvotes. I.e., I've seen things with 3 upvotes make the front page, presumably because they happened very rapidly.
  - jessaustin 6y ago
    Velocity is change over time, right? 25 votes divided by 2 hours is greater than 6 votes divided by 2 hours: velocity is not the explanation. The explanation is either an inherent penalty on "theintercept.com", which I wouldn't even fault given their over-the-top Russiagating and their sordid history of burning confidential sources, or as seems more likely we have a lot of bootlickers on HN who are overusing the "flag" button.

41 points by jessaustin 6y ago

It seems an odd, self-defeating choice, for police to attack journalists who are documenting a protest against police brutality, doesn't it? It makes you wonder, if they are so willing to attack someone who is obviously broadcasting the attack, with clearly marked "Press" identification, how they are likely to act when there is less scrutiny...

jessaustin 6y ago
A similar question could be raised about why they're overwhelmingly brutalizing and arresting (not necessarily in that order) peaceful protesters rather than "looters" who even when they're not actually undercover cops are allowed to loot without interference. We know the police are not smart or well-organized enough to have some sort of national master plan. So, either these choices reflect local incentives that are intelligible to officers on the scene but not to us on the outside, or their decision process is so degraded that they don't possess the ability to act in even their own best interests. Can we please just fire all these clowns already?

jessaustin 6y ago

This is an interesting study in HN ranking penalties. Two hours in, there are 25 points and we haven't sniffed the front page. Currently ranked #126. Meanwhile links of similar vintage with 5, 15, 12, 6, and 6 points are at #9, #11, #17, #20, and #28 respectively. b^) I guess we're lucky not to be flagged out of existence.

_bxg1 6y ago
I think it also factors in the velocity of upvotes. I.e., I've seen things with 3 upvotes make the front page, presumably because they happened very rapidly.
- jessaustin 6y ago
  Velocity is change over time, right? 25 votes divided by 2 hours is greater than 6 votes divided by 2 hours: velocity is not the explanation. The explanation is either an inherent penalty on "theintercept.com", which I wouldn't even fault given their over-the-top Russiagating and their sordid history of burning confidential sources, or as seems more likely we have a lot of bootlickers on HN who are overusing the "flag" button.