Record Breaking Number of Journalists Arrested in the U.S. This Year • Hacker News Board

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

#221

Post by giantg2 » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 8:06 PM UTC

indigochill wrote: post #18

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.

I was also thinking it could be a contributing factor on the causal side too. I hate how this works, but it happens in many other parts of life too - if you look official, like wearing a uniform or having professional equipment, then you are treated better or given the benefit of the doubt.

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

#222

Post by ehejsbbejsk » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 8:06 PM UTC

pitaj wrote: post #202

ehejsbbejsk wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see a lot of “libertarians” on HN and SV in general. Edit: Ok now I am getting downvoted because I called them libertarians when they’re libertarians.

They call themselves "libertarians" while being, in fact, quite authoritarian. Libertarians support criminal justice reform, including reducing the power of police.

Libertarianism changed a great deal in America in the past 20 years. It’s not what it used to be and has been usurped by the right wing and corporate types.

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

#223

Post by astura » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 8:06 PM UTC

user764743 wrote: post #144

Reading the comments in this thread and I am amazed at the sudden pro-authoritarian shift seen on HN lately, what's going on?

It's truly scary times we live in... It feels like the entire word has developed an authorization bend.

The United States has a sitting president who is attempting a self-coup with the majority of the legislatures in his party supporting it, or at least not condemning it.

It's just... shocking.

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

#224

Post by caycep » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 8:06 PM UTC

tristor wrote: post #190

user764743 wrote: post #144

Reading the comments in this thread and I am amazed at the sudden pro-authoritarian shift seen on HN lately, what's going on?

I don't see a pro-authoritarian bent in the comments in this thread. What I see a lot of is people pointing out that the definition of "journalist" is very very loose in 2020, and that has an effect on the arrest stats. Many many many people have watched with their own eyes, live on video, what's been going on through the course of this year. We've seen CNN and ABC reporters shot with rubber bullets and accosted on l…

This may dovetail into some of Ben Thompson's stratechery posts into what actually is journalism in this day and age of zero friction and marginal costs to publish/disseminate information...the traditional definitions themselves are changing

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

#225

Post by lawnchair_larry » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 8:07 PM UTC

i_haz_rabies wrote: post #75

indigochill wrote: post #18

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.

We will look back on the ruination of journalism as a profession as one of the most consequential changes of these last two decades.

We almost certainly won’t. If anything is ruining journalism, it’s themselves, not this.

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

#226

Post by war1025 » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 8:07 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #208

mattacular wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN is pretty conservative on average.

It's mostly technology workers, who tend to be largely liberal. Are you sure it's conservative?

I would guess it's actually that HN has members who aren't from the major tech metros, and people outside of those areas tend to be more conservative (in a relative sense at the very least).

For many, this would be the main place they ever come across those people, which would make it seem unusually conservative.

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

#227

Post by spookybones » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 8:08 PM UTC

tristor wrote: post #190

user764743 wrote: post #144

Reading the comments in this thread and I am amazed at the sudden pro-authoritarian shift seen on HN lately, what's going on?

I don't see a pro-authoritarian bent in the comments in this thread. What I see a lot of is people pointing out that the definition of "journalist" is very very loose in 2020, and that has an effect on the arrest stats. Many many many people have watched with their own eyes, live on video, what's been going on through the course of this year. We've seen CNN and ABC reporters shot with rubber bullets and accosted on l…

I haven’t seen anyone alleging to be a journalist throwing rocks and molotov cocktails. Can you verify this? If this is something we’ve all seen a lot of, then somehow I missed it.

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

#228

Post by muststopmyths » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 8:08 PM UTC

tristor wrote: post #190

user764743 wrote: post #144

Reading the comments in this thread and I am amazed at the sudden pro-authoritarian shift seen on HN lately, what's going on?

I don't see a pro-authoritarian bent in the comments in this thread. What I see a lot of is people pointing out that the definition of "journalist" is very very loose in 2020, and that has an effect on the arrest stats. Many many many people have watched with their own eyes, live on video, what's been going on through the course of this year. We've seen CNN and ABC reporters shot with rubber bullets and accosted on l…

> but we've also seen a lot of "journalists" throwing rocks and molotov cocktails on live stream and doing other criminal acts.

Have we ? Would you like to point out more than 0 ? Since it's "a lot".

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

#229

Post by bjourne » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 8:08 PM UTC

tristor wrote: post #190

user764743 wrote: post #144

Reading the comments in this thread and I am amazed at the sudden pro-authoritarian shift seen on HN lately, what's going on?

I don't see a pro-authoritarian bent in the comments in this thread. What I see a lot of is people pointing out that the definition of "journalist" is very very loose in 2020, and that has an effect on the arrest stats. Many many many people have watched with their own eyes, live on video, what's been going on through the course of this year. We've seen CNN and ABC reporters shot with rubber bullets and accosted on l…

> but we've also seen a lot of "journalists" throwing rocks and molotov cocktails on live stream and doing other criminal acts.

I'd like to see some evidence of that happening on scale. If there is no such evidence, I think, perhaps, your comment proves the parent's point.

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

#230

Post by three_seagrass » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 8:08 PM UTC

tristor wrote: post #190

user764743 wrote: post #144

Reading the comments in this thread and I am amazed at the sudden pro-authoritarian shift seen on HN lately, what's going on?

I don't see a pro-authoritarian bent in the comments in this thread. What I see a lot of is people pointing out that the definition of "journalist" is very very loose in 2020, and that has an effect on the arrest stats. Many many many people have watched with their own eyes, live on video, what's been going on through the course of this year. We've seen CNN and ABC reporters shot with rubber bullets and accosted on l…

Journalist is not loosely defined. FTA:

>While we recognize the importance and the rights of the private citizen who snaps a photo or video of an arrest, this site will only cover individuals who self-identify as journalists and have some track record of journalistic work.

Splitting hairs over the semantics of the word 'journalistic' is an attempt to discredit the study about authoritarianism being at an all time high in the U.S.

You have only to look at the numerous comorbid attempts to throw out broad swaths of democratically placed votes to see that it's not about "but are they a true journalist?"