When is a Journalist a Rioting Protestor - Freedom of Speech

[USS Monitor]

This made me furious when I heard about it. There's a terrifying attack on freedom of speech right now, and hardly anyone seems to care. People are claiming to champion free speech with regards to political correctness, but when it comes to ACTUAL PEOPLE GETTING ARRESTED FOR FULFILLING THEIR FUCKING JOURNALISTIC OBLIGATION they turn a blind eye. Anyone ok with this is offering their support for the enemies of democracy and freedom.

On the other side of the coin, we've got people that seem to have forgotten that the risk of getting arrested is part of the deal when you use civil disobedience as a form of protest. We admire a lot of people that used civil disobedience to protest in the Civil Rights Movement, but those people still got arrested. Freedom of speech isn't a free pass to fuck up other people's property and then say, "But I was protesting an important issue!"

In the case of these journalists, they have not been convicted of anything and it may have been muddled whether they were participating in the protests or just reporting on them. We don't know if they will actually get convicted, or if they will get charges dropped or acquitted.

[USS Monitor]

Okay, first of all, RT is essentially a mouthpiece of the Kremlin, and I would not trust anything it reports on politics, particularly American politics.

Yeah, and CNN and MSNBC,etc can be corporate apologists and/or turn a blind eye to political corruption when it slights the Democratic party, and Fox News is well...Fox...telling the 'truth' as always.

[...]In all likelihood, if this person is being charge and facing prison simply for filming a protest, the courts will overturn it. The First Amendment is still generally respected by the courts.

The charges were dropped. But there shouldn't have been a charge in the first place. If it is 'private property' as some of the corporate shills in the state try to claim, then this is the equivalent of charging a reporter for filming a protest at Walmart.

Then there is well, the ethical issues like:

• Bulldozing sacred sites to native Americans.
• Building an oil pipeline under/over a river that just happens to be the major water source of the area.
• The government giving the middle finger to Native Americans and their rights...like they have for the past 240 years.
• Using dogs, tear gas, and all those lovely things to put down protesters.

It all has to make people sick who read about it, unfortunately corporate America often wins over human rights and over what is ethically right in America.

Newsflash: Police don't have psychic powers that enable them to immediately recognize who is an innocent bystander and who is a participant in an incident. Sometimes people are going to get arrested due to confusion, and then when their role is cleared up, the charges get dropped.

There is no reason something like this couldn't happen at a protest at a Walmart, or why it would be handled differently.

[MERIZoC]

This made me furious when I heard about it. There's a terrifying attack on freedom of speech right now, and hardly anyone seems to care. People are claiming to champion free speech with regards to political correctness, but when it comes to ACTUAL PEOPLE GETTING ARRESTED FOR FULFILLING THEIR FUCKING JOURNALISTIC OBLIGATION they turn a blind eye. Anyone ok with this is offering their support for the enemies of democracy and freedom.

On the other side of the coin, we've got people that seem to have forgotten that the risk of getting arrested is part of the deal when you use civil disobedience as a form of protest. We admire a lot of people that used civil disobedience to protest in the Civil Rights Movement, but those people still got arrested. Freedom of speech isn't a free pass to fuck up other people's property and then say, "But I was protesting an important issue!"

In the case of these journalists, they have not been convicted of anything and it may have been muddled whether they were participating in the protests or just reporting on them. We don't know if they will actually get convicted, or if they will get charges dropped or acquitted.

I'm not talking about the activists (though I think we should be locking up oil execs and not environmental protesters anyway). That the reporters are being charged is proof enough of a broken system. And this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Amy Goodman was arrested the other week for filming the Standing Rock protests (charges dropped today thank god). In 2013, Exxon tried to block reporters from reporting on one of their spills. Idiotic complaints over "trespassing" are being used to silence journalists and crush criticism. That's unacceptable in any free society.

[Auristania]

She absolutely should not get arrested for fucking filming a disobedient and stupid action.
God, what is the US coming to.

oligarchy?

OIL-igarchy

[New Rogernomics]

Newsflash: Police don't have psychic powers that enable them to immediately recognize who is an innocent bystander and who is a participant in an incident. Sometimes people are going to get arrested due to confusion, and then when their role is cleared up, the charges get dropped.

She was not charged necessarily by the police, but by the state's attorney as a result of various criminal complaints, and he had some kind of political vendetta against Goodman, so much for innocent till proven guilty:

In one email, state’s attorney Ladd Erickson alleged that Goodman “was not acting as a journalist”, according to Democracy Now! However, the original trespassing complaint noted that she is a reporter, with prosecutors writing that Goodman “can be seen on video identifying herself and interviewing protesters”.

The judge threw out the riot charge today:

On Monday, judge John Grinsteiner ruled that the state lacked probable cause for the riot charge, blocking prosecutors from moving forward with the controversial prosecution.

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... rrest-riot

There is no reason something like this couldn't happen at a protest at a Walmart, or why it would be handled differently.

Well yeah, especially at the GOP/Democratic convention perhaps, but she was as far as I have read, not arrested, but summoned to appear at court.

[MERIZoC]

I think you might be conflating this case with the Goodman one, Roger, though its quite the coincidence they happened at the same time.