Against police violence and racism – media workers in the USA are under fire

Alan Cassidy from Washington

Updated 3 hours ago—

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The unsavory consequences of the protests that flared up everywhere in the United States after the death of African American George Floyd include the attacks on journalists who report on these protests. According to a count by the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Committee to Protect Journalists, 279 violations of press freedom have occurred since the unrest began. 67 journalists were physically attacked, 40 reported tear gas attacks, 23 pepper spray attacks, and 69 media bullet wounds. At least 45 journalists were arrested.

This is a grim record, especially for a country like the United States that is committed to pushing governments abroad to uphold press freedom.

“We see targeted attacks against media professionals.”

Dokhi Fassihian, director of the U.S. division of the Reporters Without Borders organization

Many of these attacks occurred at the beginning of the protests in Minneapolis, the city where Floyd was killed in a police operation – and where the authorities temporarily lost control of the situation. There was freelance photographer Linda Tirado, who lost her left eye after being hit by a rubber bullet from the police. There was Ed Ou, a video journalist for NBC News, spraying pepper spray on the cop’s face and then hitting him with a stick. And there was the high-profile arrest of CNN journalist Omar Jimenez, who the police handcuffed while he was broadcasting live from the protests with his crew.

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The attacks, however, were by no means limited to Minneapolis. Journalists from various cities in the United States reported attacks and arrests. “We’re not talking about isolated actions here,” says Dokhi Fassihian, director of the US department of the Reporters Without Borders organization. “This shows a shocking pattern of abuse by the police.” The attacks could not be explained by the fact that the police officers were overwhelmed and that journalists could not distinguish them from alleged rioters. “We see targeted attacks against media professionals,” says Fassihian.

Despite clear identification

In fact, many journalists have released videos that document the attacks on them or show how they were arrested, even though they had clearly identified themselves as media professionals. “Press, press, press,” cried Vice News reporter Michael Anthony Adams when he got into a police operation in Minneapolis. In his recording of the incident you can hear a police officer answering him: «I don’t care. Get down with you. » Then he sprayed Adam’s pepper spray on his face. Such incidents are an attack on the freedom of the press guaranteed by the constitution, Fassihian says, “and they are therefore also an attack on democracy”.

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Except for the governor of Minnesota, who publicly apologized for arresting the CNN team in Minneapolis, most cities, states, and police have not even declared the attacks. “This is not acceptable,” says Fassihian. The Reporters Without Borders require the governors to investigate all cases and hold the police officers responsible.

It’s not the first time …

Journalists have already been attacked in previous protests. At least eleven female journalists were arrested during the riots in Ferguson that broke out in 2014 after the killing of African American Michael Brown. According to many observers, the current extent of violations is unprecedented. Professional associations and organizations like Reporters Without Borders see the main reason for this in the rhetoric of US President Donald Trump, who has gradually increased his verbal attacks on the media and individual journalists. “He demonizes the media,” says Fassihian. “We have long warned that this would leave traces, and now we are seeing the result.”

Not all attacks on the protests are attributable to police officers. At least 25 journalists reported attacks by other people. In Pittsburgh, demonstrators attacked and injured a local station cameraman. In Washington, protesters attacked a Fox News crew and threw bullets at them. “A substantial part of the population no longer has any trust in the media and no understanding of the work of journalists,” says Fassihian: “We are at a dangerous point.”

Published: 06/05/2020, 08:13 PM-