Reporters For Right-Wing Publication Daily Caller Beaten By NYPD, Helped By Protesters

[kpete]

Reporters For Right-Wing Publication Daily Caller Beaten By NYPD, Helped By Protesters
By Zaid Jilani posted from ThinkProgress Special Topic on Nov 17, 2011 at 2:30 pm

The Daily Caller's Michelle Fields faced abuse from the NYPD and help from protesters.
The right-wing Daily Caller website has been anything but kind to Occupy Wall Street, even going so far as to condemn the protest movement as generating riots, murder, and arson.

But when a couple of Daily Caller employees were at Occupy Wall Street this morning, it was the very protesters they had been demonizing who ended up helping them out. Daily Caller reporter Michelle Fields — who faced off with actor Matt Damon earlier this year over education policy — and videographer Direna Cousins both claim they were attacked by the New York Police Department (NYPD) while covering the raucous protests in the Financial District today. Fields added that Occupy Wall Street protesters immediately came up to her to offer their help:


“Direna had a camera in her hand and I had a microphone, and we were being hit,” she said. “When I fell to the ground I said at one point, ‘I’m just covering this! I’m covering this!’ And the officer just said, ‘Come on, get up, get up,’ before pulling me up by my jacket.’” “The protesters came up to me right away and asked if I needed any medical assistance. They were actually very kind and helpful. It was the police officers who were very aggressive,” Fields added.

MORE:

http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/11/17/371349/reporters-for-right-wing-publication-daily-caller-beaten-by-nypd-helped-by-protesters/

......................

While covering Occupy Wall Street’s “Day of Action” Thursday morning, Daily Caller reporter Michelle Fields and videographer Direna Cousins were struck by NYPD officers as police tried to clear Wall Street of protesters.

“The police officers were beating the protesters with batons, and were also beating the media,” Fields told TheDC. “They hit Direna and me with batons. They hit other members of the press in order to get them to move out of the street.”

Both were struck, but neither sustained injuries that required hospitalization.

Clear indications that Fields and Cousins were members of the press didn’t stop the NYPD beating.



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/11/17/daily-caller-reporter-videographer-assaulted-by-nypd-during-occupy-protests/#ixzz1dzeY94OY

[Fumesucker]

1. K&R, thanks for posting.. n/t

[valerief]

2. I want to see Bloomberg show up there in disguise and see what it's like.

Of course, he knows and DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT anyway, but I'd still like to see it.

[HereSince1628]

3. Oops. Collateral damage!

Seems like maybe it lit up some generally neglected and underutilized neurons.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

4. "They were actually very kind and helpful."

Note the tone of surprise in that statement. :D

I LOVE this story!

[kenfrequed]

8. Indeed

Maybe it will engender a bit more sympathy for those progressives that do the protests.

[arcane1]

10. One can hope so!

Though I predict there will be more than a few wingnuts who throw her under the bus. Either way, it gets their attention! :)

[dotymed]

11. "They" will have a million excuses.

She should not have gotten in the way of NY finest doing their job. They tried to help her after they realized she wasn't one of the rabble.....

[tblue37]

21. Sounds like Bill O'Reilley's amazement after eating in an African-American

restaurant that the patrons there actually used utensils and were not shouting out "Gimme some more iced tea m****rf**ker!"

[glowing]

23. I was just thinking about that example of when O'Reilly went to

lunch in a predominantly black neighborhood at a restaurant owned and operated by a black proprietor. I think he was having lunch with Al Sharpton if my me more is correct.

[Roland99]

29. once out of their ivory towers, reality tends to set in. Too bad it doesn't stay.

remember Shepard Smith and Geraldo's "awakenings" in New Orleans after Katrina? Didn't matter long-term to them, though.

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. And the gap between us and the 1% widens ever further.

Thank you NYPD, our unifying force! :rofl:

Thanks for the story. :hi:

[formercia]

7. We couldn't do it without them

:rofl:

Giuliani's Legacy.

[Botany]

6. They were actually very kind and helpful.

Yes, that is how we tend to be. :rofl:

[madfloridian]

9. Would that be this Michelle Fields of Matt Damon fame?

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/7922

Many someday she will realize liberals and teachers and protestors are not her enemy.

[Brickbat]

15. Yep, same one.

[DeSwiss]

12. That's right.....

...beat us until we're all together. One unbroken phalanx.

- One. That. Will. Not. Be. Stopped.

K&R

[PETRUS]

13. Oooh! A "teachable moment." K&R

[chervilant]

14. IF,

and only if, the cognitive dissonance doesn't usurp the neural pathways...

[Rex]

16. Land of the Free.

[Huey P. Long]

20. ...'whoever told you that was your enemy'.

[stillwaiting]

17. Has to happen to THEM before they get it.

Not too smart.

Hopefully she will change her attitude towards OWS, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

I will certainly give her the kudos she would deserve if she does change her opinion, but she will be under a lot of pressure to not do so.

We'll see!!

[tblue37]

22. Remember this quote?

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.---Upton Sinclair

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/u/uptonsincl138285.html

[hifiguy]

18. You can dodge karma, but not

forever.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Douglas Carpenter]

24. shows why we must always be a good witness with our lives so that others might see and believe

O8)

[era veteran]

25. Quit us using their terminology, not a baton, a club is what

it is. Baton, French for stick or pole is a soft word to use.

[VWolf]

28. Reminds me of a Simpson's episode from years ago

Bart: Wow, is that your club?
Officer: Yes, but we prefer to call it a baton.
Bart: What's it used for?
Officer: We club people with it.

[era veteran]

30. I remember that now.

The Simpson's are great at pointing a finger at America's realities and incongruities.

[jerseyjack]

26. WOW ! Who ever knew the cops could act like shits?

--and DOUBLE WOW !! Imagine. OWS people actually being helpful. (Do I need to look for the sarcasm icon)

[fasttense]

27. Beating up reporters along with protesters, is this what democracy looks like?

Looks exactly like a banana republic to me.

[stlsaxman]

31. Me thinks Fields and Cousins are not long for their jobs...

they didn't successfully disrupt the peaceful protesters- FIRE THEM!1!

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. Same pair that threw gotcha questions at Matt Damon during SOS march

Their Karma pretty much sucks.

[DaveJ]

33. What a naive reporter, she thought this was a free country, with freedom of press. Silly. nt

[Deep13]

34. Ironic? ...

If Alanis Morrissette and O Henry got together and had a baby, it would be this exact situation.

[The Straight Story]

35. k&r (nt)