Several members of the media reported being blocked from covering the Occupy Wall Street raid overnight, with police pushing them back from the action and preventing reporting and photographing.
At one point, journalists who identified themselves as working for the New York Post and New York Daily News were pushed back by police in riot gear, along with NBC New York’s Chris Glorioso.
Officers moved media away from the perimeter of Zuccotti Park soon after police began clearing protesters.
Asked for an explanation on why the press was not being allowed to document the event, an official with the NYPD’s public information office said “right now this is where you guys are allowed to be.”
At one point, Glorioso was escorted away from the site by an inspector, right past Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who declined to comment.
“I have to keep you moving, go to the end of the block please,” the inspector said. “I have to move you from this area. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Using the hashtag #mediablackout, journalists tweeted throughout the raid about their dustups with police.
New York Times reporter Brian Stelter tweeted that a Post reporter said he was “roughed up” by police, and NY 1 Education reporter Lindsey Christ tweeted that journalists were being “thrown to ground and pushed to wall if they get in front of the wrong officer.”
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3 Responses
It’s about time the press gets challenged on their assumption of the supreme right to access, especially in view of their often distorted reporting of events. I would really like to see a serious national campaign to take away some power from the media.
EzratHashem, I think you are seriously underestimating the importance of a free press. Historically, the press and searching reporting have been important means to moderating and informing the public. It is so important, in fact, that it is enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution:
Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press….
The Supreme Court has consistently held that a free press is fundamental to a functioning democracy; and indeed we see that fascist and totalitarian regimes often suppress the media in the beginnings of their campaigns.
Why don’t you think that a free press is important? Would you rather the government be able to take action on our behalf without being subjected to public scrutiny? Isn’t that the foundation of democracy?
This is begining to look more and more like the work of Israeli shot police Yasamnicks)