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Wasn’t there a thing where the police arrested press on national tv, with badges and everything? Didn’t a photographer for the news have their eye shot out by p

Wasn’t there a thing where the police arrested press on national tv, with badges and everything? Didn’t a photographer for the news have their eye shot out by police? Who can trust any claims that they aren’t targeting journalists to arrest given this?

meragrin_ 6y ago
Yes there was "a thing where the police arrested press on national tv". That does nothing to change the fact the "Freedom of the Press Foundation" inflates their "arrest" numbers by including journalists being caught up in "kettles" for a short time and released once they got around to checking for press. It is all in their data. They don't even try to hide it and do not see it as disingenuous to include them as arrested or detained.
manfredo 6y ago
Several journalists violated dispersal orders and curfews, and were subsequently arrested and their arrests were recorded. But the police were also arresting non-journalists violating the curfews. There's zero indication that police were targeting journalists. In fact, the opposite many journalists were released hours after being arrested. Contrary to what seems to be common belief, being a journalists does not confer any special rights or exemptions
- SamoyedFurFluff 6y ago
  There is in fact indication that journalists have at least been targeted in Portland according to an ACLU case, which results in a judge putting a restraining order on the police. I’m not a law person, so if you know better on the nuances please educate me on the matter but this legal judgement implies to me that journalists do have some special status and that it is is inappropriate to target them for arrests.
  - manfredo 6y ago
    It's a violation of civil liberties for the police to unjustly target anyone. If the police for some reason didn't like a certain hairdresser and targeted him or her, then the same protections would kick in.
newacct583 6y ago
Josie Huang in LA (KPCC, NPR) was tackled and arrested while screaming "I'm a journalist" and wearing her press badge, yeah. It wasn't on national TV, it was captured by someone else (the "amateur" press that people think shouldn't be covered) with a phone. See: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/josie-huang-reporter-arrest-los-angeles-sheriff https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/josie-...
- manfredo 6y ago
  For context, more than 3,000 were arrested in LA county during the period of unrest last summer: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/03/george-floyd-protests-los-angeles-arrests https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/03/george-floyd... Pointing to individual instances of reporters being arrested obscures the broader picture: level of unrest unprecedented in decades promoted curfews which many disregarded and were subsequently arrested. A slim minority of those were journalists. To put this in perspective, 117 people categorize as journalists (the majority were self employed) were arrested in 2020 as per an earlier HN post [1]. Contrast this to 3,000 total arrests in LA county alone. And that figure for LA is from early June. As I pointed out, journalist arrests are disproportionately concentrated in areas that saw widespread rioting [2]. The idea that police in the US are targeting journalists is unsubstantiated. Journalists are putting themselves in positions in which any normal person would be arrested, and the police are treating them like any normal person. 1. https://freedom.press/news/2020-report-journalists-arrested-us/ https://freedom.press/news/2020-report-journalists-arrested-... 2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25434409 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25434409
  - newacct583 6y ago
    > Journalists are putting themselves in positions in which any normal person would be arrested, and the police are treating them like any normal person. Which is exactly why we expect journalists to have special protection, and thus why we track violations of these norms. And things are clearly getting worse. The point isn't to find an excuse for the police here, it's to recognize that a problem exists and find a solution.

meragrin_ 6y ago

Yes there was "a thing where the police arrested press on national tv". That does nothing to change the fact the "Freedom of the Press Foundation" inflates their "arrest" numbers by including journalists being caught up in "kettles" for a short time and released once they got around to checking for press. It is all in their data. They don't even try to hide it and do not see it as disingenuous to include them as arrested or detained.

manfredo 6y ago

Several journalists violated dispersal orders and curfews, and were subsequently arrested and their arrests were recorded. But the police were also arresting non-journalists violating the curfews. There's zero indication that police were targeting journalists. In fact, the opposite many journalists were released hours after being arrested. Contrary to what seems to be common belief, being a journalists does not confer any special rights or exemptions

SamoyedFurFluff 6y ago
There is in fact indication that journalists have at least been targeted in Portland according to an ACLU case, which results in a judge putting a restraining order on the police. I’m not a law person, so if you know better on the nuances please educate me on the matter but this legal judgement implies to me that journalists do have some special status and that it is is inappropriate to target them for arrests.
- manfredo 6y ago
  It's a violation of civil liberties for the police to unjustly target anyone. If the police for some reason didn't like a certain hairdresser and targeted him or her, then the same protections would kick in.

newacct583 6y ago

Josie Huang in LA (KPCC, NPR) was tackled and arrested while screaming "I'm a journalist" and wearing her press badge, yeah. It wasn't on national TV, it was captured by someone else (the "amateur" press that people think shouldn't be covered) with a phone. See: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/josie-huang-reporter-arrest-los-angeles-sheriff https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/josie-...

manfredo 6y ago
For context, more than 3,000 were arrested in LA county during the period of unrest last summer: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/03/george-floyd-protests-los-angeles-arrests https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/03/george-floyd... Pointing to individual instances of reporters being arrested obscures the broader picture: level of unrest unprecedented in decades promoted curfews which many disregarded and were subsequently arrested. A slim minority of those were journalists. To put this in perspective, 117 people categorize as journalists (the majority were self employed) were arrested in 2020 as per an earlier HN post [1]. Contrast this to 3,000 total arrests in LA county alone. And that figure for LA is from early June. As I pointed out, journalist arrests are disproportionately concentrated in areas that saw widespread rioting [2]. The idea that police in the US are targeting journalists is unsubstantiated. Journalists are putting themselves in positions in which any normal person would be arrested, and the police are treating them like any normal person. 1. https://freedom.press/news/2020-report-journalists-arrested-us/ https://freedom.press/news/2020-report-journalists-arrested-... 2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25434409 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25434409
- newacct583 6y ago
  > Journalists are putting themselves in positions in which any normal person would be arrested, and the police are treating them like any normal person. Which is exactly why we expect journalists to have special protection, and thus why we track violations of these norms. And things are clearly getting worse. The point isn't to find an excuse for the police here, it's to recognize that a problem exists and find a solution.