The Cost of Free Speech

Unbiased news is hard to come by these days, but with the help of the internet via blogs, photos, and videos, it is becoming easier to clue into the events happening world wide that are not covered by the mainstream media. We rely on these independent news sources to go out into the world and capture what is actually happening. As of recent, during the coverage of protests, particularly the Occupy Wall Street protests, the police have been targeting journalists and photographers. Josh Stearns has created a running tally of journalists arrested while participating in protests.

“Between September 2011and September 2012 more than 90 journalists have been arrested in 12 cities around the United States while covering Occupy protests and civil unrest. This number includes an array of people who were documenting and reporting on Occupy events including professional press, freelancers, photographers, independent filmmakers, and citizen journalists.”

The Occupy movement thrived from its use of the internet, with the ability to grow far beyond the reaches of New York City, the internet was used as a catalyst for expansion and awareness. With journalists and photographers being targeted, people far removed from the scene have less access to what is actually happening, a fact the NYPD and police across the country are quite conscious of. Not only are these journalists being arrested, many have faced physical violence and the destruction of their equipment without reason. Journalists photographing or taking video of violent police interaction with protesters often faced violence themselves. Jack Mirkinson with The Huffington Post, wrote about the violence that ensued in November 2011, the height of the protests in New York,

“ Lucy Kafanov, a reporter for the RT Television network, said she was hit with a police baton while trying to film the protests.” 

The First Amendment gives the press specific rights and grants the people the right to peaceably assemble. So how are these arrests being justified? 

Glen Greenwald commented after the UC Davis pepper spray incident;

“Despite all the rights of free speech and assembly flamboyantly guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, the reality is that punishing the exercise of those rights with police force and state violence has been the reflexive response in America for quite some time.” "

The problem is, as more stories come out about the violence journalists are facing, the less likely people are to go out and participate in social movements, as journalists or activists. If we never challenge this treatment things will never change, we could potentially lose even more of our so called "freedoms.