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Sep

5

MEDIA COVERAGE ON THE ARREST OF AMY GOODMAN AND TWO DEMOCRACY NOW PRODUCERS

publicado en JUDICIALES Y POLICIALES |

Amy Goodman, one of four journalists arrested at an anti-Republican National Convention protest, tells her story

Amy Goodman, the host of the popular radio and television program “Democracy Now!” was at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul on Monday, interviewing members of the Alaska delegation, when her phone rang with alarming news.

“I got a call that two of our producers had been bloodied by the police,” Goodman said. “I did not stop running until I got to where they were.”

The producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, had been reporting on the protest of the convention that was the unfolding several blocks away. Most of the estimated 10,000 people in the march were peaceful. But, according to police, a group of about 200 had fractured off and were breaking windows, slashing tires and harassing delegates.

Police arrested 286 people, according to the Associated Press. Kouddous and Salazar were among them. Matt Rourke, a photographer with the AP, was also arrested.

News gathering is a constitutionally protected activity in the United States. But although Kouddous, Salazar and Rourke were wearing credentials that identified them as members of the press, they were held on riot charges. Salazar suffered a bloody nose after being dragged, face-down on the ground, according a statement released by “Democracy Now!”

When Goodman arrived at the scene 20 minutes later, she asked the riot police if she could see her producers, who were being held in police vehicles. “I just said, ‘I want to talk to a commander,’ ” said Goodman, who had her own press badge slung around her neck. “They didn’t skip a beat; they just started arresting me.”

The scene was captured on video — a clip that was one the most-viewed videos on YouTube.com on Tuesday. In it, Goodman is seen pleading with the police while her arms are twisted behind her back and into plastic handcuffs.

All four journalists were released hours after being arrested. Goodman was officially charged with obstruction of a legal process and interference with a peace officer.

“Democracy Now!” plans to continue its coverage of the protests despite the police presence, which Goodman described as “overly aggressive.”

“I was very angry. This was a violation of my rights,” Goodman said. “But
it’s so much bigger than us. When the press is shut down, it’s closing the eyes and ears of a critical watchdog in a democratic society.”

Los Angeles Time

Journalist Amy Goodman confronts police chief over her arrest
By Mara H. Gottfried
mgottfried@pioneerpress.com

“Democracy Now!” host Amy Goodman questioned St. Paul’s police chief this morning about why police arrested her and two of her program’s producers Monday.

Goodman described how two producers, reporting on arrests Monday, were also arrested. Goodman said she was on the convention floor, interviewing the Minnesota and Alaska delegations, when she heard that her producers had been arrested and were bloodied.

Goodman said she immediately ran from the Xcel Energy Center to the site of the arrests, in a parking lot at Seventh and Jackson streets.

“I went up the riot police line,” Goodman said. “I said, ‘I’d like to talk to a commanding officer.’ ”

She said tried to ask why the producers were under arrest.

“They took me, handcuffed me immediately, said, ‘You’re under arrest,’ ” Goodman said. “They pushed me to the ground. I said, ‘You can clearly see I have all the proper credentials, I have my security clearance for the (convention) floor.’ ”

Goodman was cited for obstructing legal process, a misdemeanor. The producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, were arrested on suspicion of felony riot. Goodman said she was released after about three hours, and the producers after about five hours. Kouddous and Salazar have not been charged.

Kouddous said he and Salazar had just returned from covering Monday’s peace march and were going through footage when they saw, from the window of their Jackson Street office, riot police on the street. Salazar
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grabbed a camera and he got a microphone.

“Police kept saying, ‘Move back, move back’ and so we’re moving back with the protesters and filming the entire time,” Kouddous said. “They basically corralled everyone into a parking lot.”

Salazar, who said she and Kouddous were wearing press passes, said she asked police, “Where can I go? I’m trying to move through these cars.” She said she shouted at police that she was with the press.

“They just knocked me to the ground, grabbed my arms,” Salazar said. An officer put his boot between her shoulder blades and someone grabbed her leg, she said. They ordered her to put her face on the ground.

When Kouddous saw what was happening, he said he told police, “I’m media, she’s my colleague, please release her.”

Kouddous said two or three officers then grabbed him. He said they threw him against a wall and to the ground. An officer kicked him twice in chest, Kouddous said.

All three said they were arrested by Minneapolis police officers, who are among the officers from other agencies assisting St. Paul police with RNC security.

Goodman asked Harrington during this morning’s press briefing, “What is your policy with the press? How is the press to operate in this kind of environment?”

“Reporters have rights,” Harrington said. He said “if there’s an unlawful assembly or we’re in the midst of a riot,” police announce loudly that people need to leave the area.

“If reporters fail to do that, if they are in the midst of the riot, we can’t protect them,” Harrington said. “It would be very difficult for us in a moment of that kind of chaos to be able to make those kind of fine distinctions.”

If journalists are arrested, Harrington said police try to review their cases quickly and get them released, pending further investigation.

“The fact that a person is a reporter or has a credential doesn’t give them additional rights to commit any crimes, though,” Harrington said. “I don’t know your case, I haven’t seen your video, so I really can’t respond to what you’re saying happened.”

Goodman asked Harrington, “What is the crime that the reporters committed by reporting on what is happening?”

Harrington responded, “I can’t answer that question because I haven’t seen your video.” He told Goodman she could file a complaint with police if she felt officers acted inappropriately.

After the press conference, Goodman said: “This is unacceptable. What is the policy they have for the press when they’re clearly marked, clearly identified? … We were there to document what was taking place, not to be arrested.”

Associated Press photographer Matt Rourke, who was photographing the arrests, was also arrested. He has been released and the Ramsey County attorney’s office said no charges were expected.

Fuenter:Pioneer Press

‘Democracy Now!’ host back at work day after arrest

By ANTHONY LONETREE, Star Tribune

A day after being arrested with two of her producers during a Monday street skirmish, “Democracy Now!” radio and TV host Amy Goodman was back at work today, challenging St. Paul’s top cop and planning a return to the convention floor.

The alternative broadcaster was handcuffed and stripped of her Monday floor credentials, she said, after she rushed to the scene of a mass arrest near Jackson Street downtown hoping to extricate two producers caught up in the crackdown.

The producers — Nicole Salazar and Sharif Abdel Kouddous — eventually were arrested on suspicion of felony riot, and Goodman was cited for misdemeanor interference with a peace officer. They were jailed for five hours; Goodman for about three, she said.

“How is the press to operate in this kind of environment?” Goodman asked Police Chief John Harrington during one of the city’s daily Republican National Convention briefings.

The chief said that he’d yet to review the specifics of Monday’s incident. But he said that police seek to give ample warning before breaking up what they deem as unlawful assembly, and that if journalists don’t clear the scene, he added, it is difficult for officers to look at protesters and reporters and “to make those kinds of fine distinctions.”

The allegations against the three will be fully investigated, Harrington said.

Afterward, Goodman said she was outraged that the chief offered no immediate pledge to see that charges against the three would be dropped.

According to her account, she was at the Xcel Energy Center preparing to interview members of the Minnesota delegation when she got word of her producers being entangled in police action against a rogue band of protesters.

Police moved in quickly, Goodman said, and Salazar, who was taping the altercation, found herself backed up against a car. Salazar shouted, “Press, press,” Goodman said, but the producer was forced to the ground, and had a boot placed in her back.

There had been no order by police to disperse, Goodman said.

Kouddous told reporters today that he, too, was in the parking lot when it was rushed by officers, and despite holding out his “Democracy Now!” press badge, he was shoved against a wall. His chest was bruised, he said, and his upper left arm bloodied.

Goodman added that after telling authorities that she had credentials, which she was wearing at the time, she said a Secret Service official pulled them off and said, “Now, you don’t.”

Asked if she’d ever been arrested before, Goodman recalled being detained by Indonesian soldiers during that country’s invasion of East Timor, “one of the most brutal occupations of the century,” she said. But, no, she said, not during any convention, and she has been covering them, she said, since 1988.

From her neck dangled floor credentials for today’s session.

“I expect to work today,” she said.

Fuente:Star Tribune

Four arrested covering protest at GOP convention

New York, September 2, 2008—A camera crew, broadcast host, and photographer were arrested Monday while covering protests at the Republican National Convention in St Paul, Minn. Police in downtown St. Paul swept up the journalists while arresting more than 250 other people during an unruly end to an otherwise peaceful anti-war protest, according to news reports and CPJ interviews. All three were later released.

“I held up my press pass as I was filming,” said one of those arrested, Nicole Salazar, a producer and videographer for the nationally syndicated radio and television program, “Democracy Now!” Salazar suffered a bloody nose after being pushed by officers into a parked car, she told CPJ. Sound technician Sharif Abdel Kouddous was arrested as he was coming to her side and holding up a press pass, he told CPJ.

“Democracy Now!” host Amy Goodman was arrested after she approached a line of police to inquire about the status of her arrested colleagues. Her arrest was captured on film.

Associated Press photographer Matt Rourke was also arrested during the protests. “Covering news is a constitutionally protected activity, and covering a riot is part of that coverage,” the news agency quoted David Ake, an AP assistant bureau chief in Washington, as saying.

“We are concerned that police in St. Paul prevented journalists from covering a breaking story,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “All four journalists were clearly there to do their jobs. We urge authorities to drop any pending charges and allow journalists to continue with their work.”

Police arrested 286 people during Monday’s event, AP reported. An estimated 10,000 people took part in a peaceful anti-war march, AP said, but small groups broke windows, slashed tires, and harassed delegates. The journalists were arrested as police were attempting to coral protestors into a parking lot in order to make arrests, Kouddous told CPJ.

An agent with the U.S. Secret Service, which is overseeing security for the Republican National Convention, later confiscated Kouddous’ daily press pass for the convention center, the journalist told CPJ. The same agent confiscated Goodman’s press pass, he said. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said he could not immediately respond to the report that an agent had confiscated convention passes.

No charges were filed against AP photographer Matt Rourke, the news agency reported, citing Phil Carruthers, director of the prosecution division of the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. Felony riot charges were pending against “Democracy Now!” journalists Kouddous and Salazar, while Goodman was charged with obstruction, according to a statement from “Democracy Now!” Janet Hafner, a spokeswoman for the Ramsey prosecutor, said she could not immediately confirm the status of the charges today.

Fuente:Committe to Protect Journalists

AP photog arrested while covering anti-war protest

By SCOTT BAUER – 2 days ago

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An Associated Press photographer and a Democracy Now! TV and radio show host were among those arrested at an anti-war march on the first day of the Republican National Convention. Both were released hours later.

Police said Tuesday they arrested 286 people during Monday’s event. Most of the estimated 10,000 people in the march were peaceful, but small groups that police said numbered about 200 broke windows, slashed tires and harassed delegates.

AP photographer Matt Rourke was covering the protest when he was swept up by police moving in on a group of protesters in downtown St. Paul. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was arrested as she asked police in riot gear about the status of two producers who had been arrested, one of whom she had heard was bleeding. The producers also were released later.

David Ake, an AP assistant chief of bureau in Washington, said he was concerned by the arrest of Rourke, a Philadelphia-based photographer.

“Covering news is a constitutionally protected activity, and covering a riot is part of that coverage,” Ake said. “Photographers should not be detained for covering breaking news.”

Phil Carruthers, director of the prosecution division of the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, said Monday night that no charges against Rourke were anticipated. Rourke, held on a gross misdemeanor riot charge, was released early Tuesday.

Democracy Now! producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties, Democracy Now! said in a statement. Democracy Now! said Kouddous and Salazar were arrested on a felony riot charge while Goodman was charged with misdemeanor obstruction of a legal process and interference with a peace officer.

All three appeared on Goodman’s show on Tuesday and recounteDemocracy Now! host Amy Goodman was among 284 people detained outside the Republican National Convention here as police clashed with demonstrators on the streets of St. Paul.

Goodman was arrested near the XCel Center, where the convention opened Monday, at approximately 5 p.m. Minnesota time.

According to a statement issued Dennis Moynihan and Mike Burke of Democracy Now!:
Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfuly detained. They are Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Kouddous and Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman’s crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.

Ramsey County Sherrif Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were being arrested on suspicion of rioting. They are currently being held at the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul.

I was with Goodman earlier Monday afternoon, as she was reporting on the major anti-war demonstration. She and her crew were, as always, interviewing everyone they could in the calm, assured manner that has made the daily Democracy Now! program a widely-watched and well-regarded news programs on radio and cable television stations across the country.

Moynihan and Burke, in their statement, say that:
Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and condemns this action by Twin Cities law enforcement as a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amendment rights of these journalists.

They are urging journalists and concerned citizens to contact the office of St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman (651-266-8535) and the Ramsey County Jail (651-266-9350) and demand the immediate release of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar.

The calls are important.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Lawyers Guild are also on the case.d their experience. A video of Goodman’s arrest, aired on her program and also posted on YouTube, shows her begging police not to arrest her before being taken away in handcuffs.
On the Net:
Goodman’s arrest: www.youtube.com/watch?voYjyvkR0bGQ

Fuente: The Nation

For journalists & photogs, it’s a rough convention

By DAVE DAVIES
Philadelphia Daily News

daviesd@phillynews.com 215-854-2595
If police and protesters skirmish around the Republican National Convention, count on Philadelphia Associated Press photographer Matt Rourke to be in the middle of the action.

He was rewarded for his efforts Monday by being doused with pepper spray, knocked down and arrested by St. Paul police.

Rourke was shooting photos of the protesters at a parking lot at 7th and Jackson streets, in downtown St. Paul, when police converged from three directions on protesters that they regarded as particularly troublesome.

“We were encircled, and as I moved toward the officers in front of me in a passive manner, my legs were taken out from behind in an aggressive manner,” Rourke said yesterday after 12 hours in jail.

“I went down pretty hard, causing me to scrape my elbows and knee a bit.”

Rourke said that officers ignored his RNC credentials and pleas that he was a journalist as they took his camera, turned him over and wrapped his hands in plastic cuffs.

In the parking lot with Rourke was a crew from the radio and TV program “Democracy Now!” Producers Nicole Salazar and Sharif Abdel Kouddous were also wearing RNC press credentials when they were also thrown down and arrested.

“I was kicked in the chest several times,” Kouddous said. Salazar was taken away with a bloody nose.

Rourke said that earlier in the day he was hit with pepper spray several times by police and that they at times seemed to be aiming directly at him.

“I wasn’t given an opportunity to wash [the pepper spray] off in prison,” Rourke said.

Rourke was released at about 2:30 a.m. and was back on the job yesterday. Prosecutors say that there are no plans to charge him.

When “Democracy Now!” host Amy Goodman heard of her producers’ arrest, she ran to the scene, where a video shows her immediately being arrested when she tried to speak with police.

St. Paul police spokesman Peter Panos didn’t return a call for comment yesterday, but Police Chief John Harrington told reporters in a briefing that he thought police “did not overreact. They responded appropriately” in dealing with demonstrators.

When Goodman confronted Harrington at the briefing about the arrests of journalists, Harrington said that he couldn’t address the specifics of their cases.

He said that police issue clear warnings to protesters and journalists before making arrests, but said that it can be hard to make distinctions in a chaotic situation.

“If a reporter is committing crimes while they’re under their credentials,” Harrington added, “I think they become regular citizens.”*

Fuente: Philadelphia Daly News


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