Police Attacking Journalists During Protests
Journalists have made numerous reports this past weekend of attacks on themselves by police. This has occurred in many jurisdiction and (especially in Minneapolis) to many different news sources. I’ve created this spreadsheet to keep track of police attacks on journalists so I can tell when I’m hearing a new story and when I’m just hearing repetition of an incident I already heard about.
Spreadsheet does not include any instances where journalists were clearly hit simply because the police fired into a large group of people or where journalists were behaving in an aggressive manner. Watch the surreal TV footage of Minneapolis police arresting a CNN reporter moments after he tells them that he and his crew will go where ever police tell them to go. In this and other instances, police seemed to go out of their way to arrest journalists who were doing what they have done in countless protests past – lingering in the midst of events in order to report on the news.
Found other incidents of this? Send me the information, including link to source, and I will include it in spreadsheet. I’m especially interested in jurisdictions other than Minneapolis, in order to see how widespread this is.
2 June 2020: Thanks to Catherine White for additional entries.
Additional Incidents:
Asheville NC: Police attack medical personnel who had set up first aid station in street in case of injuries in protest. Police charged after curfew, destroying medical supplies and hitting/decking people clearly marked as medical staff. Group said they had official permission to be out after curfew.
NY Times article links to Trump war on news organizations; reports on incidents in LA, NYC, Denver.
US Press Freedom Tracker listing incidents
Nieman Foundation at Harvard University: police attack journalists > 130 times since 28 May.