Journalists have explicit protection in the first amendment. Many people (including some police) believe you have to have credentials to be a journalist, but th

Journalists have explicit protection in the first amendment. Many people (including some police) believe you have to have credentials to be a journalist, but that's not so. Of course if the government can determine if someone is a journalist or not, it's not a freedom; so anyone can be a journalist. The whole credentials thing is for accessing secure areas like the White House, etc. Freedom of speech also protects filming police as does the right to petition government for redress of grievances. Also, let me just say our first amendment gives us very strong protections from tyranny, as it is with our current state of rogue police departments and officers. If it weren't for the first amendment protections, we would be making very little progress here and probably regress. For people who want to chip away at first amendment protections for political points, you do so at your own and all our peril. Make no mistake, Derek Chauvin is in prison and that is progress. Progress partially made possible by the right of the people who filmed his murder of George Floyd.