NYPD’s Arrests of Citizen Journalists Should Spark Outrage

Last week, New York City police officers arrested four well-known activists for filming them. Copwatchers — people who regularly film and document police activity — have often been targeted by cops who don’t want to be recorded, despite reminders that recording police interactions is legal in the city. While legal protections for filming police are still unclear in some parts of the country, the invaluable role that copwatchers play as journalists — acting as the eyes, ears and media of the streets — deserves to be recognized.

Much was made in the media about the 2014 arrests of the Huffington Post’s Ryan Reilly and the Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery by local police in Ferguson, Missouri, after the police killing of Michael Brown. HuffPo released a statement condemning Reilly’s arrest. The Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Columbia Journalism Review also objected. Reilly, a reporter at media powerhouseHuffington Post (where I occasionally blog), and Lowery, who has produced some top-notch copaganda since then (FAIR Blog, 2/12/16), were roughed up and arrested, apparently for nothing.
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35385-nypd-s-arrests-of-citizen-journalists-should-spark-outrage