12-13-2011, 12:06 PM
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Keeneland
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 14,153
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New York Times
Can't post the whole article here, of course, but please click and read the entire thing, it's about a page long:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/ny...and-fists.html
New York Times - Gotham
Reporters Meet the Fists of the Law
By MICHAEL POWELL
Published: November 21, 2011
Quote:
In the aftermath of the Occupy Wall Street eviction from Zuccotti Park, a mayoral aide e-mailed reporters.
The aide, Stu Loeser, said that he had heard of journalists “supposedly” wearing police press badges who “allegedly encountered problems on the streets of New York.”
As I sling nouns and verbs for a living, I almost admired his artful euphemisms. A less refined sort might phrase it this way:
Over several days, New York cops have arrested, punched, whacked, shoved to the ground and tossed a barrier at reporters and photographers.
... snip ...
Reporters with The Associated Press and The Daily News were arrested while taking notes. A radio reporter was arrested as she recorded several blocks from the park.
... snip ...
Another truth co-exists. At least since the Republican National Convention of 2004, our police have grown accustomed to forcibly penning, arresting, and sometimes spraying and whacking protesters and reporters.
.. snip ...
Their letter offered five examples. I’ll mention one: As the police carried off a young protester whose head was covered in a crown of blood, a photographer stood behind a metal barricade and raised his camera. Two officers ran at him, grabbed the barrier and struck him in the chest, knees and shins. You are not permitted, the police yelled, to photograph on the sidewalk.
... snip ...
There is another problem: a police pass has become a ticket for a quick removal. My Times colleague Colin Moynihan stood on that darkened square last Tuesday morning when a police spokesman shouted, “Who has press credentials?”
Many reporters and photographers dutifully raised their hands. With that, the police removed the “credentialed” reporters, under threat of arrest, to a press pen, out of sight of the square. Only shouts and yells could be heard.
E-mail: powellm@nytimes.com
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