US police target dozens of journalists during protests

Ali Velshi of MSNBC said on Sunday that before being targeted, “we put our hands up and yelled ‘we’re media.’” The police responded “we don’t care” and shot them a second time.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
On May 26, 2020, people protested against police violence after the death of George Floyd. Focus on one protester with a "Justice for George" sign. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
On May 26, 2020, people protested against police violence after the death of George Floyd. Focus on one protester with a "Justice for George" sign.
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Across the US, journalists are being targeted by police, according to numerous reports from journalists often attacked or arrested while filming or who documented their injuries. The unprecedented wave of assaults on journalists, particularly in Minneapolis, appears to be unique in recent US history.
The list of reporters attacked by police include a CNN crew that was arrested while doing a live broadcast. Police, for no apparent reason – and without explaining why they were detaining the crew – arrested them one by one, including correspondent Omar Jimenez. In Louisville police opened fire on a WAVE 3 News crew while it did a live shot. The journalists were clearly visible and the police targeted them on purpose. The reporter, Kaitlin Rust, was covering the events and narrated the attack.
Nick Waters at Bellingcat, which conducts investigations of various open source events, compiled a list of known incidents. He has documented twenty known incidents. They including the following that occurred in Minneapolis: Swedish and Norwegian journalists shot with rubber bullets; a photojournalist blinded in one eye; a CBS news crew purposely shot with rubber bullets in broad daylight; state police shooting at Molly Hennessy-Fiske; Michael Anthony Adams of Vice News being pepper sprayed in the face and detained, with a rifle pointed at his team; an Australian news crew being handcuffed; and the purposeful targeting of MSNBC’s news crew led by Ali Veshi.

In addition, other journalists from Reuters were attacked by police and a journalist from the Minnesota Star Tribune had his window shot out by police with some kind of non-lethal round in south Minneapolis near the corner of Lake and Chicago. A WCCO-TV cameraman was also arrested in Minneapolis. Other journalists were attacked in Denver, New York and Washington DC by police.
The numerous incidents, adding up to dozens over two days, point to a growing assault on journalists in the US and a lack of protection for the press by law enforcement. In numerous videos, police can be seen detaining journalists who show their credentials, without any reason given. In other videos, police purposely turn their weapons on journalists, showering them with rubber bullets, pepper spray or other ordnance. While no journalists have been killed yet, the large number of injuries and detentions has raised flags with many in the media.
The New York Times covered the story of reporters shot in the eye in Minneapolis and a reporter hit with a ball of pepper spray in Louisville.
Tony Webster, a journalist, raised concerns on May 29 that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s emergency curfew did not exempt journalists. “Reporters who go out tonight to document interactions with police and military could face 90 days in prison and a $1,000 fine.” The US Bill of Rights usually guarantees the rights of a free press, and an amended curfew order appeared to exempt journalists from being sent to prison and fined for doing their jobs covering police and protesters. No elected officials in Minneapolis or Minnesota have explained why so many journalists were attacked and detained, nor have they appeared to speak out about press freedom during the crisis.
On Saturday video surfaced of more police and National Guard driving through a residential neighborhood shooting at civilians on their porches with non-lethal rounds while shouting “light em up” to encourage the shootings. That same mentality appeared to underpin widespread attacks on journalists across the US over the last three days.
Ali Velshi of MSNBC said on Sunday that before being targeted, “we put our hands up and yelled ‘we’re media.’” The police responded “we don’t care” and shot them a second time. Andrew Kimmel, a video producer, also posted video claiming police slashed the tires of his and other cars in a parking lot. The continuing and increasing reports of assaults on journalists from almost every well known US network, including attacks by protesters, is one of the disturbing phenomena of the recent crisis.
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