That means 130 attacks in 7 days. Of credentialed journalists who identified themselves as such. And it doesnt include all the bystanders attacked by police for using their smartphone cameras. The American Civil Liberties Union has now sued Minneapolis for violating the right to freedom of the press. JL
Laura Owen reports in NiemanLab, Harvard:
Although in some incidents it is possible the journalists were hit or affected accidentally, in the majority of the cases we have recorded the journalists are clearly identifiable as press, and it is clear that they are being deliberately targeted. This pattern of violence against journalists is replicated in several cities, but appears most intense in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker counts 233 total press freedom violations
As Black Lives Matter protests spread across the country one week after a white police officer allegedly murdered a black man, George Floyd, it’s becoming clear that attacks by police on journalists are becoming a widespread pattern, not one-off incidents. While violence against press-credentialed reporters covering the protests may still be dwarfed by violence against the American citizens who are protesting, incidents are piling up — and are getting more attention in part because the journalists being attacked include those from large mainstream news organizations.A number of efforts are underway to try to track the attacks on journalists, which are often first documented on Twitter. Bellingcat senior investigator Nick Waters had documented 138 incidents by 12:20 PM ET on Wednesday afternoon (#101 occurred outside the White House, when federal law enforcement attacked a group of protestors and journalists with tear gas, allowing the president a clear path to walk to a photo opportunity in which he held a Bible in front of St. John’s Church.) A story on Bellingcat’s site, “U.S. Law Enforcement Are Deliberately Targeting Journalists During George Floyd Protests,” provides more insight into some of the incidents, and notes:Although in some incidents it is possible the journalists were hit or affected accidentally, in the majority of the cases we have recorded the journalists are clearly identifiable as press, and it is clear that they are being deliberately targeted. This pattern of violence against journalists is replicated in several cities, but appears most intense in Minneapolis.The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker counts 233 total press freedom violations, which it categorizes like this. Most of the documented violations have taken place in Minneapolis.
You can check our work in the public spreadsheet below. Note: some reporters in multiple ways, hence the number disparity.
Also, this just preliminary data. The final numbers will eventually be released—with news stories on each—on our website. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
If you're a journalist who's been arrested, gassed, or shot -- get in touch with us at the @USPressTracker so we can document your case.
Our team is investigating literally dozens of press freedom violations across the country as we speak. twitter.com/uspresstracker…
I’ve never seen so many incidents with police and reporters simultaneously in different cities. Tension between cops and reporters is nothing new. Aggression on reporters in multiple locations nationally at same time is something different. twitter.com/johnmdonnelly/…
This is the thing, to me, that feels different. This is the action where the police are crossing a line in terms of press freedom that they hadn’t routinely cross before at 2014-2019 protests. Your “new” and “increasing” narratives are now accurate twitter.com/jimnelsontv/st…
This post was last updated on Tuesday, June 2 at 3:30 PM ET.
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