Pixiq

No surprise here …

Of course they’re dropping the charges. The RNC has come and gone, and pesky journalists were corralled in the mean time. No point in pressing charges and ending up with a wrongful arrest suit or whatever.

I believe that while the decision to drop the charges were based on political considerations, which were in large part based on political pressure that was brought to bear after the arrests took place, there were also several sound legal reasons to drop the charges.

One of them rested on the requirement that in order to prove that they had violated the order, the news folks would have had to hear the order to begin with.

In almost every instance in St Paul where these orders were supposedly issued, no one heard them. Most of the time the reason that they didn’t hear them was that the police used very few bullhorns when attempting to issue these orders.

I personally raised this issue with a Sgt Martinrz, the St Paul PIO on Thursday afternoon on the lawn of the State Capitol before the last major march and free-for-all.

The failure of police to adequately use proper sound equipment at major rallies and protest marches has been one of my major concerns over the years, and the day before I had witnessed a situation where a member of CODE PINK had been given a an illegal assembly order by an Ramsey County Sheriff’s deputy in the midst of a free-wheeling, and very loud protest by the group in front of one of the entrances to the arena.

The only problem was that he walked over and told her in a normal tone of voice without a bullhorn to disperse, that all but precluded anyone else from hearing him. I just happened to hear him because I was a couple feet away making a picture of him as he was walking over to the woman. Everyone around him was screaming and shouting and what finally happened was that one of the CODE PINK people announced the order on her bullhorn.

The fact that after spending almost $25 million dollars in each city this year in direct costs associated with the police, that their failure to adequately prepare to communicate with protesters while at the same time spending hundreds of thousands – and in some instances millions – of dollars on tear gas, pepper spray, riot gear and very, very few bullhorns would and could have been a powerful defense.

I know that in addition to the PIO I raised this issue with a half-dozen lawyers and members of the Legal Observer Teams that were on the streets

As I told one of my colleagues who was arrested, his defense was short and sweet: “Order, What order? We didn’t hear no stinking order.”

Let the litigation begin!

The mere fact these charges were dropped should be enough to pursue civil actions on the part of the journalist IMHO!

The dog and pony show that was the RNC will forever paint a picture of Police abuse of power, played out to a worldwide audience showing we have taken two steps back as citizens of a “free” country.

The way I read the constitution in no way distinguishes between a “citizen journalist” and a “credentialed journalist” both of which have protection under the document. It appears on the surface that St Paul has now opened the proverbial can o worms for a courtroom debate on the definition of “Journalist”.

Absent of a Federal Shield Law one must rely on the particular states version and how it defines a journalist. Limiting the conveyance of the title ‘journalist’ would go directly against the First Amendment of the US Constitution the way I read it. There are no Journalistic Guilds or licensing required for journalist, in essence it is a protected activity granted under the First Amendment.

The popularity of the internet has really become a double edge sword. Bloggers and independent media organizations are no less journalist that Katie Couric who we see daily on the evening news. Who decided that these 40+ people which charges were dropped on were any more a journalist that a person filming material to place on You Tube?

Minnesota has a “Free Flow of Information Act” with the definition of journalist as stated here
:
“person who is or has been directly engaged in the gathering, procuring, compiling, editing, or publishing of information for the purpose of transmission, dissemination or publication to the public”
This was established in 1973 and Amended in 1998 under Minnesota Statutes, Sections 595.021 to 595.025 and titled “Minnesota Free Flow of Information Act”

A good Constitutional Lawyer should be able to use this to have all charges dismissed against anyone who had in their possession any of the following items, which should appear on an inventory of their property at the time of arrest… Paper and writing instrument, audio recorder, still camera or a video camera!

I whole heartedly agree

Charges against Portland Indymedia journalists have not been dropped. Portland Indymedia videographers Wendy Binion and Alex Lilly, as of Monday 22nd, are still facing charges and are “under investigation”. Wendy Binion (videographer) is facing felony conspiracy to riot charges. She was arrested in a park on her way to use a restroom after filming key note speakers(before the permitted march even started). She was clearly marked as Press with a press pass and clearly covered in media equipment. Her arm was fractured in her arrest even though she was shouting “I am press. I am not resisting”. Alex Lilly(videographer, writer, & artist), as well as members of Glass Bead Media, are currently working on a documentary film in St Paul about the RNC and as a result are still under heavy surveillance and subject to harassment including raids and excessive detainment. There may be other independent journalists still facing charges and similar harassment. Please do not forget them.