Occupying the First Amendment

[marmar]

from YES! Magazine:



Occupying the First Amendment
220 years after the Bill of Rights, how we’re still fighting for free speech.

by Josh Stearns
posted Dec 15, 2011


Today, we celebrate the 220th anniversary of the Bill of Rights. However, this celebration is overshadowed by three months of journalist arrests and press suppression across the U.S.

Since the middle of September more than 30 journalists have been arrested while trying to cover Occupy Wall Street protests in cities from Atlanta to Los Angeles, Boston to Oakland. Hundreds of others journalists have complained about press suppression and harassment, including everything from physical abuse to the use of strobe lights to blind cameras.

This is a reminder that it is not enough to celebrate our freedoms. We must also defend them. In response to the widespread reports of altercations between press and police and the documented efforts by mayors in New York City and Los Angeles to strictly limit press access during raids on Occupy encampments, journalism organizations like Free Press, the Society for Professional Journalists, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the National Press Photographers Association have been working to defend journalists. In New York City, thirteen major news organizations came together to demand an immediate meeting with the NYPD to address their concerns.

Their meeting resulted in a formal directive from NYPD police commissioner Raymond Kelly, ordering police officers not to interfere with press. However, just weeks after that order the NYPD has arrested more journalists and has continued to block and intimidate reporters. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/occupying-the-first-amendment