6 ms·

In some protests, when things get violent, is it easy to spot a journalist or do they just look like other protestors? honest question.

warent 6y ago
Usually they're pretty easy to spot by the microphone they carry, the docile behavior, sometimes an official nametag/badge/card, and the loudly announced "I'm a journalist" But the police have even been arresting people who show all those signs
jakelazaroff 6y ago
Many are clearly journalists, e.g. Omar Jimenez, the CNN reporter who was arrested on live TV along with his camera crew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftLzQefpBvM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftLzQefpBvM
ausbah 6y ago
journalists and other reporting figures usually have a lanyard saying "Press" I believe? totally anecdotal, but I've seen more than few instances of police brutalizing press members like other protesters unfortunately. I think such press members are easily identifiable, the police just don't care
- dmurray 6y ago
  > totally anecdotal, but I've seen more than few instances of police brutalizing press members like other protesters unfortunately. This is one of those situations where the opposite would be even worse: if the police were roughing up protesters just for being in the wrong place, but leaving journalists alone to keep them onside...
Zak 6y ago
It is conventional in non-oppressive societies for police to only arrest the people who are actually being violent or destroying property. Police arresting people at protests who aren't being violent, including journalists, merely for being in proximity to those who are violent or for sharing similar political objectives is a warning sign that a society is becoming oppressive.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
ultrarunner 6y ago
As far as journalists are concerned, they feel they were specifically targeted because they were journalists. A search [1] pulls up several examples of these claims. Some of the photos make it pretty hard to give police the benefit of the doubt (as far as whether journalists and protesters are hard to tell apart). Even still, what we have is a situation where people were attacked and permanently injured by police. For example, Linda Tirado was permanently blinded in her left eye from police shooting a less lethal foam bullet. A photo of the officer aiming at her [2] leaves little doubt that he intended to shoot her. In my mind, that leaves two possibilities: journalists were regularly physically attacking police officers, or police officers— unprovoked— attacked and maimed journalists covering the situation. Neither of these should be true in any capacity. This is, of course, to step over the other oft-repeated claims by protesters that police were responsible for most of the violence. Given that the protests were largely due to police violence, this doesn't paint the situation in a better light. [1] Setting region to US may return better results: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=protest+police+targeted+journalists https://duckduckgo.com/?q=protest+police+targeted+journalist... [2] https://www.startribune.com/photographer-sues-says-officers-blinded-her-in-eye-with-nonlethal-shot-during-mpls-unrest/571266322/ https://www.startribune.com/photographer-sues-says-officers-...
- Fellshard 6y ago
  It's part of a self-proclaimed journalist's pitch in a scenario like that, honestly. "I am a real journalist, and the proof is that they tried to arrest me."
dawnerd 6y ago
In some of the higher case arrests, it was very clear that the person was a journalist. Protestors don't usually carry expensive camera gear and wear "PRESS" vests. Police don't care though, they've beat and maced journalists in front of other press.
maxk42 6y ago
It absolutely does NOT matter if someone is identified as press or not. If a protest is declared an unlawful assembly and people are ordered to disperse then journalists must obey the orders given by police too. They do not have special privileges that exempt them from following lawful orders by police.

warent 6y ago

Usually they're pretty easy to spot by the microphone they carry, the docile behavior, sometimes an official nametag/badge/card, and the loudly announced "I'm a journalist" But the police have even been arresting people who show all those signs

jakelazaroff 6y ago

Many are clearly journalists, e.g. Omar Jimenez, the CNN reporter who was arrested on live TV along with his camera crew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftLzQefpBvM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftLzQefpBvM

ausbah 6y ago

journalists and other reporting figures usually have a lanyard saying "Press" I believe? totally anecdotal, but I've seen more than few instances of police brutalizing press members like other protesters unfortunately. I think such press members are easily identifiable, the police just don't care

dmurray 6y ago
> totally anecdotal, but I've seen more than few instances of police brutalizing press members like other protesters unfortunately. This is one of those situations where the opposite would be even worse: if the police were roughing up protesters just for being in the wrong place, but leaving journalists alone to keep them onside...

Zak 6y ago

It is conventional in non-oppressive societies for police to only arrest the people who are actually being violent or destroying property. Police arresting people at protests who aren't being violent, including journalists, merely for being in proximity to those who are violent or for sharing similar political objectives is a warning sign that a society is becoming oppressive.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

ultrarunner 6y ago

As far as journalists are concerned, they feel they were specifically targeted because they were journalists. A search [1] pulls up several examples of these claims. Some of the photos make it pretty hard to give police the benefit of the doubt (as far as whether journalists and protesters are hard to tell apart). Even still, what we have is a situation where people were attacked and permanently injured by police. For example, Linda Tirado was permanently blinded in her left eye from police shooting a less lethal foam bullet. A photo of the officer aiming at her [2] leaves little doubt that he intended to shoot her. In my mind, that leaves two possibilities: journalists were regularly physically attacking police officers, or police officers— unprovoked— attacked and maimed journalists covering the situation. Neither of these should be true in any capacity. This is, of course, to step over the other oft-repeated claims by protesters that police were responsible for most of the violence. Given that the protests were largely due to police violence, this doesn't paint the situation in a better light. [1] Setting region to US may return better results: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=protest+police+targeted+journalists https://duckduckgo.com/?q=protest+police+targeted+journalist... [2] https://www.startribune.com/photographer-sues-says-officers-blinded-her-in-eye-with-nonlethal-shot-during-mpls-unrest/571266322/ https://www.startribune.com/photographer-sues-says-officers-...

Fellshard 6y ago
It's part of a self-proclaimed journalist's pitch in a scenario like that, honestly. "I am a real journalist, and the proof is that they tried to arrest me."

dawnerd 6y ago

In some of the higher case arrests, it was very clear that the person was a journalist. Protestors don't usually carry expensive camera gear and wear "PRESS" vests. Police don't care though, they've beat and maced journalists in front of other press.

maxk42 6y ago

It absolutely does NOT matter if someone is identified as press or not. If a protest is declared an unlawful assembly and people are ordered to disperse then journalists must obey the orders given by police too. They do not have special privileges that exempt them from following lawful orders by police.