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Felony Charges for 6 Reporters at Inauguration Protests

nytimes.com

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Re: Felony Charges for 6 Reporters at Inauguration Protests

#21

Post by knowaveragejoe »

ramenmeal wrote: post #11
jeffdavis wrote: post #8

This kind of reporting encourages people to form opinions before the facts are in. None of us know what really happened there, but it will probably get sorted out soon. By that time, it's too late because we've already jumped to a conclusion.

They were charged for lighting a limo on fire. Not exactly reporting.

Where in the article does it state this? As far as I can tell, they were swept up with others during one of the few violent parts of the protests and are now being charged on what is effectively a technicality.

Re: Felony Charges for 6 Reporters at Inauguration Protests

#22

Post by gukov »

brotherjerky wrote: post #9
gukov wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He meant to say HR 347.

That makes more sense: > Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011 [sic] - Amends the federal criminal code to revise the prohibition against entering restricted federal buildings or grounds to impose criminal penalties on anyone who knowingly enters any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority. Defines "restricted buildings or grounds" as a posted, cordoned off, or otherwise res…

> "HR 347, just signed without fanfare or news coverage by Barack Obama makes it illegal to protest anywhere the Secret Service is present. Who is present everywhere that Barack Obama goes? That's right, the Secret Service. Ergo, it is illegal to protest Barack Obama."

Re: Felony Charges for 6 Reporters at Inauguration Protests

#23

Post by Nerdfest »

spraak wrote: post #7

I'd like more context to what is happening in the cover photo of the article, because as far as I can tell there's nothing happening to warrant pepper spray

I saw a few videos on mainstream news from that day and it looked like police were indiscriminately spraying both protesters and bystanders. I'm amazed it wasn't covered more, but I guess there's bigger problems.

Re: Felony Charges for 6 Reporters at Inauguration Protests

#24

Post by pcr0 »

jeffdavis wrote: post #8

This kind of reporting encourages people to form opinions before the facts are in. None of us know what really happened there, but it will probably get sorted out soon. By that time, it's too late because we've already jumped to a conclusion.

Sorted out soon? The reporters have court dates set in mid-February and March[0]. Now every other reporter is under the chilling effect of knowing they might arrested and taken to court for simply covering a protest.

[0]: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/24/journalists-ch...

Re: Felony Charges for 6 Reporters at Inauguration Protests

#25

Post by sjg007 »

suprgeek wrote: post #13

This is just the beginning. Our great leader has repeatedly egged on his supporters to attack the media. He constantly criticizes any media agency that dares report facts that are personally embarrassing to him. Or ones that make him look bad or anything that shows that he is not as popular as he claims, or... Imagine that you are a police officer and find some media people among a crowd (who may or may not have set…

Trump will pardon... And I mean this in a bad way. I believe that rogue cops will view this as open season.

Re: Felony Charges for 6 Reporters at Inauguration Protests

#26

Post by hudibras »

curiousgeorgio wrote: post #19
jeffdavis wrote: post #8

This kind of reporting encourages people to form opinions before the facts are in. None of us know what really happened there, but it will probably get sorted out soon. By that time, it's too late because we've already jumped to a conclusion.

Agreed. I read the article waiting to see the other side of the story, or a least some hints as to what possible justification there could be for the charges. When the other side of the story isn't even mentioned, I'm not sure it qualifies as journalism (even for an opinion piece, that's pretty lousy). It seems we've entered an era of mostly one-sided journalism - a.k.a. persuasive storytelling.

Here's the other side of the story, it's right in the article:

>The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington declined to comment Wednesday on why the journalists had been charged along with protesters.

Re: Felony Charges for 6 Reporters at Inauguration Protests

#27

Post by FrancoDiaz »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #16
FrancoDiaz wrote: post #5

The NYT or the charged journalists never claimed that they were actually acting in a journalistic professional role during the riots.

"At least six journalists were charged with felony rioting after they were arrested while covering the violent protests that took place just blocks from President Trump’s inauguration parade in Washington on Friday, according to police reports and court documents." Literally the first sentence of the article.

You would've thought that the two journalists questioned by the NYT would have defended themselves by saying that they were there working a professional capacity. But they didn't.

I'm not buying just because NYT says they were "covering" the protests.

Re: Felony Charges for 6 Reporters at Inauguration Protests

#28

Post by problems »

suprgeek wrote: post #13

This is just the beginning. Our great leader has repeatedly egged on his supporters to attack the media. He constantly criticizes any media agency that dares report facts that are personally embarrassing to him. Or ones that make him look bad or anything that shows that he is not as popular as he claims, or... Imagine that you are a police officer and find some media people among a crowd (who may or may not have set…

He'll be lucky to get the 20% tariff on Mexican imports he currently wants. I'll be surprised if he manages to do anything seriously speech crippling.

Re: Felony Charges for 6 Reporters at Inauguration Protests

#29

Post by AnthonyMouse »

FrancoDiaz wrote: post #27
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"At least six journalists were charged with felony rioting after they were arrested while covering the violent protests that took place just blocks from President Trump’s inauguration parade in Washington on Friday, according to police reports and court documents." Literally the first sentence of the article.

You would've thought that the two journalists questioned by the NYT would have defended themselves by saying that they were there working a professional capacity. But they didn't. I'm not buying just because NYT says they were "covering" the protests.

That is the opposite of what reporters would do. You immediately tell them you're a journalist and they give you special treatment. You don't want special treatment, first you want to write a story about what they do to non-special people.
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