Police attacks against journalists across the U.S. since May 28 • Hacker News Board

Re: Police attacks against journalists across the U.S. since May 28

#331

Post by vkou » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 8:57 PM UTC

elliekelly wrote: post #127

sixothree wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Third party oversight. This country was founded on checks and balances. There are no checks to their power as it stands now.

> Third party oversight. Aren't the journalists supposed to be the third party oversight? Showing and telling the rest of us what's happening so that when one side oversteps we as a society can take action to correct it?

The journalists are clipping context out of video that they are broadcasting.

The pink umbrella bit was clipped out of the riot started by police in Seattle on Monday - instead the news agencies started showing footage after pepper spray was deployed.

In Canada, the CBC cut a video right before a police van physically drove its way through a crowd. [1] Anyone else doing that would be described as vehicular assault, possibly attempted manslaughter.

The press isn't holding the police accountable for any of this. It's pushing a narrative that "The appropriate amount of force was used against rioters", without showing the inappropriate use of force that started the riot.

[1] https://twitter.com/_llebrun/status/1267209166545981445?s=20...

Re: Police attacks against journalists across the U.S. since May 28

#332

Post by untog » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 8:57 PM UTC

DiffEq wrote: post #320

untog wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sure, clearly the cops handled this wrong, but what got Floyd there in the 1st place? What? Seriously, what? Are you suggesting that the police should be free to pick and choose who they kill based on whether they are a "model citizen/saint" or not? "Do not kill a person unnecessarily" should be a universal rule the police work to. It doesn't matter one bit who they are interacting with.

Do you have a reading comprehension disability? I am pretty sure I did not say they should have killed him.

Then why does it matter whether he is a "saint" or not? I could see your argument if he was angrily brandishing a gun and they had to make a quick decision to act, but that's very obviously not the case.

Re: Police attacks against journalists across the U.S. since May 28

#333

Post by bananaphone234 » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 8:58 PM UTC

jascii wrote: post #133

Disclaimer: I am a bleeding heart liberal and this may filter my observations. I have been to a few rallies/vigils/marches lately and all incidences of violence that I have witnessed either in person or through media has been instigated by the police. As far as I know,every documented case where a formerly peaceful crowd turns into chaos has been started with police shooting pepperspray, teargas, or whatever into the…

From what I've seen is everything is peaceful during the day time, but after the curfews or when it becomes an unlawful gathering (i.e. blocking interstates etc.) is when police intervene. Which is what they job is supposed to be. The methods used for crowd control are acceptable when things reach the above mentioned criteria. Protests during daylight hours, and not breaking other laws is fully protected by 1st amendment, and I have seen no sign of police missteps in my city during these lawful peaceful demonstrations.

Re: Police attacks against journalists across the U.S. since May 28

#334

Post by unethical_ban » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 8:58 PM UTC

DiffEq wrote: post #320

untog wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sure, clearly the cops handled this wrong, but what got Floyd there in the 1st place? What? Seriously, what? Are you suggesting that the police should be free to pick and choose who they kill based on whether they are a "model citizen/saint" or not? "Do not kill a person unnecessarily" should be a universal rule the police work to. It doesn't matter one bit who they are interacting with.

Do you have a reading comprehension disability? I am pretty sure I did not say they should have killed him.

Get out of here. You whine about people putting words in mouths after saying

* We're calling Floyd a saint * We support looting * We don't take covid seriously

And you say a whole slew of accusations that you KNOW aren't widespread (and likely untrue) and don't post sources. And you'll say something like it's a liberal media coverup, but you won't have shit to back up your claims.

Re: Police attacks against journalists across the U.S. since May 28

#335

Post by bigfudge » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 8:59 PM UTC

lostmsu wrote: post #109

xedeon wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OUR LATEST DATA: 192 total press freedom violations —31+ arrests —131 assaults (108 by police, 23 by others) —30 equipment or newsroom damage. Assault category breakdown: 45 physical attacks (30 by police) 30 tear gassings 17 pepper sprayings 46 rubber bullet/projectiles https://twitter.com/uspresstracker/status/126787802436572365...

Nothing here shows intent to apprehend specifically journalists. Wikipedia shows >5,000 arrests overall: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests . Which I bet means journalists were arrested way less, than an average protesting folk.

Are you suggesting > .6% (31/5000) of the protesters were journalists? That seems implausible.

Re: Police attacks against journalists across the U.S. since May 28

#336

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 8:59 PM UTC

SpelingBeeChamp wrote: post #214

jwilber wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s the same here in Seattle as it was while I was in Berkeley during Ferguson. People protest peacefully, and police shoot tear gas into the crowd and attack whomever they can get their hands on. I’ll admit, the outright brutality I saw in-person in Oakland was worse than what I’ve seen here in the recent days. In Oakland, the police would purposely corral protestors into groups and literally beat the shit out of t…

"numerous videos show police breaking windows themselves" I don't believe you. The umbrella guy breaking the AutoZone window with a hammer has no connection to any police department. Someone made that up on social media and people shared it because that's what people do. The only video I know of showing officers breaking a window is out of Seattle. It shows officers responding to a burglary in progress at a Target st…

[deleted]

Re: Police attacks against journalists across the U.S. since May 28

#337

Post by viraptor » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 8:59 PM UTC

jonlucc wrote: post #130

itsspring wrote: post #20

When "Freedom of the Press" is under attack, newspapers/press/media have had their legal counsel file lawsuits against the government. But with the demise of revenue for many newspapers (and many going out of business), I wonder if they will take those expensive steps.

If they don't respond in their reporters' interest, they won't have reporters risking arrest and hazard to report for them.

It's not that clear cut fortunately. There are people who do this because they really believe it should be done. Even without large org support, they'll be out there.

See for example https://unicornriot.ninja/ which was on the ground, live streaming from the early days of the protest in Minneapolis.

Re: Police attacks against journalists across the U.S. since May 28

#338

Post by CamperBob2 » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 9:02 PM UTC

AlexandrB wrote: post #233

colllectorof wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>the police is desperately trying to set a narrative to justify a history of violence by escalating more violence, but please, someone, restore my faith Seems fairly accurate. I'm just annoyed that many people can't grasp that awful police behavior and awful behavior from other actors are not mutually exclusive. There is lots of unjustified police violence and provocations against perfectly peaceful protestors. There…

One of the sides mentioned has a monopoly on the lawful use of force. Shouldn't we expect better from them in return?

No, the police do not have a monopoly on the lawful use of force. Not in the USA... or, at least, not in most areas of the USA.

It's ironic that the people trying their best to change that are also the ones who are most closely aligned with the victims of police brutality, politically speaking. One of many things I don't understand.

Re: Police attacks against journalists across the U.S. since May 28

#339

Post by dzonga » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 9:03 PM UTC

in zimbabwe, the police was once put on lockdown. & guess what the protests were peaceful, no looting etc. america needs to do the same. otherwise, this is another pointer show america has been a 3rd world country. i'm sure you know where else journos are harassed.

Re: Police attacks against journalists across the U.S. since May 28

#340

Post by Shivetya » Tue, Jun 02, 2020, 9:04 PM UTC

jascii wrote: post #133

Disclaimer: I am a bleeding heart liberal and this may filter my observations. I have been to a few rallies/vigils/marches lately and all incidences of violence that I have witnessed either in person or through media has been instigated by the police. As far as I know,every documented case where a formerly peaceful crowd turns into chaos has been started with police shooting pepperspray, teargas, or whatever into the…

Well I would hope that many BHLs or similar, I am a Libertarian, as asking themselves, how did blue cities get to this point. The Democratic Party has been pretty much in control of politics in most major US cities for decades; it is only common rebuttal here on many stories that cities are losing out to rural suburban areas at the national level to Republicans.

The question they should ask is, why did the party turn from the people who put it into power and become beholden to public employee unions which encompass police, fire, education, if not regular government employees. Easy answer, the support where the money comes from. People decry corporate money in politics but this money is more poisonous because of its out sized influence because of pressure they can put on any politician who tries to stand up to them; just go google stories of these unions protesting in the streets of the homes of politicians making moves against them, they have bought billboards and even homes nearby to put pressure down.

TL,DR : This is all about money. The politicians have been more than willing to turn a blind eye to police malfeasance; if not problems in fire departments and education; because the money is too good and the groups involved have very big influence over the citizenry.