Amy Goodman, host of the independent news program "Democracy Now!," questioned Harrington about why police arrested her and two of her producers. The producers had been reporting on Monday's arrests when they were swept up in the arrests themselves, she said.
She rushed from interviews with delegates at the Xcel Energy Center when she heard the producers had been arrested and were bloodied, Goodman said. She said she asked officers why the journalists were being detained, and they arrested her.
Goodman was cited for obstructing legal process; the producers were arrested on suspicion of felony riot.
"What is your policy with the press?" Goodman asked Harrington. "How is the press to operate in this kind of environment?"
Harrington said "if there's an unlawful assembly or we're in the midst of a riot," police announce loudly that people need to leave the area.
"If reporters fail to do that, if they are in the midst of the riot, we can't protect them," he said. "It would be very difficult for us in a moment of that kind of chaos to be able to make those kind of fine distinctions."
Pretty crazy stuff...sad that a non-mainstream political media org. like Dem. Now! is dragged down like this. The story as a whole is interesting.
1 comment:
I heard about this as well and was equally riled up. I've been on Democracy Now!'s website at least one a week for the past year or so. Great source.
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