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Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

freedom.press

121–130 of 527 posts

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#121
post #101
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How’s that? Seems like it’s just saying “we’re not going to treat you like a journalist if you don’t claim to be one, and you can’t claim to be one without having done any work before.”

> "this site will only cover individuals who self-identify as journalists and have some track record of journalistic work" They're saying that they use journalistic work as a standard of who's a journalist... that's circular.

[deleted]

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#122
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's a double-edged sword. On one side, the death of traditional journalism really has opened up folks' eyes to bias in reporting. Having one or two main-stream news sources really opens up the possibility for bias becoming truth. On the other side, now that everyone is a reporter, people roll around inside whichever cocoon of bias makes them feel the best. It's very frustrating, and overwhelming.

> On one side, the death of traditional journalism really has opened up folks' eyes to bias in reporting. Having one or two main-stream news sources really opens up the possibility for bias becoming truth. This is not what I see happening. Instead what happens is people see news they disagree with and deem it biased. So they find a news outlet that they agree with and decide that’s the real news.

So here's the dilemma I'm faced with. As someone who wishes to consume news that is as factual as reasonably possible, while also being aware that at least some bias is inevitable (no matter how well-intentioned the author may be)... how does one evaluate a news source for its trustworthiness, short of physically observing an event for yourself?

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#123
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's a double-edged sword. On one side, the death of traditional journalism really has opened up folks' eyes to bias in reporting. Having one or two main-stream news sources really opens up the possibility for bias becoming truth. On the other side, now that everyone is a reporter, people roll around inside whichever cocoon of bias makes them feel the best. It's very frustrating, and overwhelming.

> On one side, the death of traditional journalism really has opened up folks' eyes to bias in reporting. Having one or two main-stream news sources really opens up the possibility for bias becoming truth. This is not what I see happening. Instead what happens is people see news they disagree with and deem it biased. So they find a news outlet that they agree with and decide that’s the real news.

All you had to do was read their entire post

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Portland and watched many of these press people via Twitter. The reality is that many of these “press” are activists who document their activism and the activism of their comrades. They call themselves press, but they are press+activist. As a result they are often in the crowd of people throwing stuff at police, while screaming “hey you fucking fascist, aren’t you embarassed to be an authoritarian?” I am no…

Well I think you almost nailed the point - when the police declare a riot, and start rounding everyone up who doesn't disperse, the media gets rolled up with that as well many times - especially if you are livestreaming via a gopro and not with a NBC news truck (though we saw journalists with institutional backing get hit with rubber bullets this year as well)

> not with a NBC news truck

Reminder that a CNN journalist was arrested during a live broadcast this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftLzQefpBvM

I'm not sure riot declarations are supposed to allow the police to arrest journalists this way. (And if they are, we should challenge them on Constitutional grounds.)

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#125
How does the number of journalists compare to previous years? How does this compare with other years that featured similar amounts of public protesting and social unrest? How long were journalists kept in custody?

The number of arrests is certainly concerning, but I think there is a lot to consider with 2020 and that statistic alone isn't enough for me to conclude we are sliding into an authoritarian police state. It's definitely something that should be investigated further, though.

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#126
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a completely circular definition (as far as I can see).

I think it's more of a "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck." If you call yourself a journalist and have a record of reporting on things, then by this definition you are one. But you can't decide you are a persecuted journalist because you got arrested.

I've thought that there was nothing special about journalists such that you required a rigorous definition. Journalists shouldn't have more power than citizens, journalists are citizens that choose to exercise their civil rights to bring information to the public.

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#127

One line from the report jumped out at me as I was skimming it: > About half the journalists here are freelancers, who may lack the institutional support of a newsroom and the financial resources for a potentially expensive legal defense. I hadn't really thought of the value of legal defense from journalism institutions (as opposed to non-institutional platforms like Substack) before.

Isn't it common knowledge that Gawker was a media company that irreverently covered silicon valley until it was bankrupted through litigation? The law courts are the main way that journalism is attacked in non-autocratic countries. Strong freedom of the press laws are celebrated, because they are constantly under siege by powerful people, who once targeted, would rather not have them.

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#128
This is because Black Lives Matter™, and because black lives matter. This isn’t a hyper escalation against freedom of the press, per se, it’s an escalation of police on citizen violence that came about when police felt threatened when folks got a little extra vocal about how the racist cops boys club has little to no accountability when harming citizens they’re supposed to protect. I think this narrowly focuses on transgressions against journos. What the YoY stonks increase on Americans shot by rubber bullets?

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#129

Nothing like one of these threads to remind us that "Hacker" News is full authoritarian and fascist sympathizers.

It’s also good to see how the far left thinks every one that isn’t 100% with them is a fascist.

It's not that everyone who's not far left is fascist, it's that being a mealy-mouthed "both sides have a point" "well how were they supposed to know they were journalists" centrist when one side is getting more and more brazen about squashing basic freedoms is just legitimizing the fascists.

This has turned the "center" into a compromise between having rights and not having them rather than a compromise between best ways to administer government while respecting an agreed-upon set of rights.

You can be a centrist somewhere between left and right and still come down on the side of rights & freedoms every time.

Re: Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year

#130
post #9

In some protests, when things get violent, is it easy to spot a journalist or do they just look like other protestors? honest question.

In some of the higher case arrests, it was very clear that the person was a journalist. Protestors don't usually carry expensive camera gear and wear "PRESS" vests. Police don't care though, they've beat and maced journalists in front of other press.
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