Oops, I meant to say, New York Police assaulted female "Russia Today" producer/reporter Lucy Kafanov; striking her with a club while she was filming and reporting during the November 17 Day of Action:
Mass arrests & violence on Broad and Beaver. Officer hit my arm with club. Another photog got shoved. Police beat protesters
She later
reports:
my bruise is coming along nicely.
Can you imagine what the reaction of the U.S. media would be if, say a Russian police officer struck a female Fox News reporter in the arm while they were filming a demonstration in St Petersburg?
There have been numerous confirmed, admitted to, reports that American police are arresting, detaining, blocking legitimate access of, and otherwise deliberately interfering with the credentialed mainstream media from reporting. From not allowing news helicopters into the airspace, to blocking them from walking along the streets to where the protests are occurring, to arresting and, yes, clubbing them, when they are reporting on site, this is a deliberate and ongoing police policy.
While the media is reporting this to itself on tweets and blogs, so far they have refused to go public, and report this part of the story to general public. I am hopeful enough to suspect that many of the frontline reporters would like the media suppression part of the story to be reported, but that it is the editors and higher-ups who are blocking this. According to the New York Times, but only in an online blog, one journalist told a police officer “I’m press!” and the officer just responded “Not tonight.”. At least 26 reporters have been arrested. Why is this not a front page story everywhere, everyday?
The ongoing police effort at media suppression should be itself a leading news story; front page headlines in the major papers and as a lead story on network news. The most extensive ongoing reporting of this I can find has been by JC Stearns and the folks at RCFP.
This is meant as an action diary. Please call, repeatedly, and demand honest coverage of the police initiated violence, including the suppression of their own mainstream media. When I called out the NY Times in a comment on this, their reporter did actually respond, claiming that a report, in an online only blog piece, counted. Needless to say, the NY Times never included the media suppression in their reporting of the "violence".
Only pressure, shame, scorn and repudiation heaped on them by viewers will have any effect.
EVERYBODY WHO READS THIS, CALL THEM ALL (h/t to Catskill Julie for list):
Associated Press NYC
212-621-1500
Ask for Bureau Chief Amanda Barrett
(Can also get contacts for bureaus and reporters in your city from the main operator)
AP Washington
202-641-9400
Dow Jones Newswire
212-426-2400
USA Today
Dennis Kelly, editor 703-854-6536
CNN Atlanta (national bureau)
404-827-1500
CNN
212-275-7800 NYC Bureau
Reuters
646-223-4000
Ask for Maureen Bavdek, NYC Desk Editor
646-223-6000 Newsroom Voicemail, follow prompts
MSNBC
212-664-5222
NPR national news desk
202-513-2420
LOCAL New York
NY Times Metro Desk
212-556-1533
NY Daily News City Desk
212-210-1585
NY Post
(212) 930 8500
WNBC-TV
212-664-2731
WCBS-TV
212-975-5867
WABC-TV
212-456-1114
New York 1
212-379-3311
WOR-TV
(201) 330 2215
WNYW-NY FOX
212-452-3808
WPIX-TV
212-210-2411
WNYC-AM & FM / NYC NPR affiliate
newsroom@wnyc.org
646-829-4400
Patricia Willens is the News Director
WOR-AM
212-642-4467
Fox and Friends
212-301-3800
WCBS-AM (All news radio)
212-975-5867
WINS-AM (All news radio)
212-315-7090
Next up: Was the police attack on the medic tent in Zuccotti Park, with destruction of medical supplies and medical records a HIPPA violation or a War Crime? Hint: both.
