WV arrest casts a shadow over the Constitution

[spanone]

(CNN)Journalism, already under attack by the Trump administration, became a literal target in West Virginia when on Tuesday, a reporter named Dan Heyman of Public News Service was arrested at the state Capitol while trying to ask a pointed question of Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, who was visiting with White House adviser Kellyanne Conway -- and who later commended the police for taking that action.

No matter which way you lean politically, this story should concern you. Every unwarranted attack on members of the press is a reckless step away from government accountability.

For months on the campaign trail, candidate Donald Trump would take time during rallies to call members of the press "scum" and urge crowds to jeer at them, lambasting them as "illegitimate," "horrible people," and so on.

As President, he has kept up the vitriol, routinely calling any report he doesn't like "fake news" and branding the free press, protected by the Constitution, as "the enemy of the people."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/12/opinions/west-virginia-reporter-arrest-louis-opinion/index.html

[defacto7]

1. it's puzzling how the administration and GOP

think they can get away with this stuff. It will either come back to haunt them through the law or lawsuits because of ignorance or they know something we don't.

[mopinko]

2. oh hell no.

a million times hell no.
i hope he sues their asses off.

[sheshe2]

3. +1000

[spanone]

6. deprived of his constitutional rights.... where does this end?

[sheshe2]

4. K&R

[Amaryllis]

5. MOre:

"Heyman then did what good reporters do: he got as close as possible, held up a recorder and shouted the question again.
For the record, it was a pretty good question. Heyman wanted to know if, under the health care law championed by Secretary Price, being a victim of domestic violence would count as a pre-existing condition that might not be covered by the administration's slimmed-down version of insurance.
GOP's health care plan is an oncoming catastrophe
GOP's health care plan is an oncoming catastrophe
"Do you think that's right or not, secretary?" Heyman asked, according to sections of the recording he made and shared with the Washington Post. "You refuse to answer? Tell me 'no comment.'"
I've been in journalism since my teen years, and that's how members of a free press do their job. For his trouble, Heyman -- who had already been screened by security and was wearing a press pass -- was taken away in handcuffs by capital police, held in custody for hours and only freed when Public News Service posted $5,000 bail.
He is charged with willful disruption of government processes, and could face up to six months in jail if convicted. The criminal complaint against him claims Heyman "was causing a disturbance by yelling questions at Ms. Conway and Secretary Price."