DAVID SHUSTER: For the press, covering the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York has led to a series of violent confrontations, not with the protesters but with the New York police. Hundreds of arrests were made Tuesday when a camp at Zuccotti Park was broken up. Hundreds more when Occupy staged a march and rally on Thursday. Among them — ten working journalists, including half with official NYPD credentials. Photographers seemed to be special targets for the police, at least those that tried to work close to the action, instead of within the confines of a special press pen blocks away.
(Excerpt from video clip) MAN: She's a journalist. She works with me. She's a journalist!
SHUSTER: This camerawoman with the French news agency AFP filmed her own arrest.
(Excerpt from video clip) WOMAN: I'm with the press. Please let me out. Please let me out. Please let me out. I'm with the press. I'm with the press.
(Excerpt from video clip) MAN: Nobody gets out.
(Excerpt from video clip) WOMAN: I'm with the press. Please!
(Excerpt from video clip) MAN: You're under arrest.
(Excerpt from video clip) WOMAN: I'm with the press.
(Excerpt from video clip) MAN: Get back in there.
(Excerpt from video clip) WOMAN: I'm with the press.
(Excerpt from video clip) MAN: Lock her up. Somebody lock her up.
SCHUSTER: A New York police spokesman insisted he didn't see any journalists manhandled, and that reporters were kept away from Zuccotti Park for their own safety. Local and national media groups disagree. The New York Times, Post, and Daily News joining NBC Universal, Dow Jones, Thompson-Reuters and others in a letter to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly demanding a meeting, and insisting that police actions of the last week have been more hostile to the press than any other recent memory.
The letter specifies journalists have been "identified, segregated, and kept from viewing, reporting, and photographing," "restricted to a 'press pen' away from the action." And that there were "numerous incidents where police officers struck or otherwise intentionally impeded photographers." For his part, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg insisted the press was kept away from the story for their own safety.
For more on the NYPD's efforts to keep the media from reporting its efforts to suppress Occupy Wall Street, we're joined by Jonathan Turley, constitutional law expert and professor at George Washington University and a "Countdown" contributor. Jonathan, always great to see you.
TURLEY: Hi, David.
SHUSTER: The mayor and the NYPD's claim that they're keeping the press from the story so journalists can be safe. Is there a safety clause in the First Amendment that's been kept from us?
TURLEY: Well, unfortunately, that is something of a mantra in cases of police abuse of reporters. They're always saying that "We're doing this for your own safety. We're keeping you from the scene so that you won't be hurt by the felon." Even when the felon is in cuffs, and in a cruiser, this is something that reporters deal with all the time.
Many of us have represented reporters, and we're constantly rebutting those arguments and saying "You're clearly trying to keep our clients and journalists from these news-making scenes, and also from seeing things that may be embarrassing. You know, I am lead counsel in the current World Bank case — which is now almost ten years old — of a mass arrest in Washington D.C., including journalists, including credential journalists. It was the same exact scene that you're seeing in New York. And officers again said that they never really saw any credentials. But, the fact is that journalists were being kept out of what was — has been shown to be — an unconstitutional mass arrest of people without probable cause.
So, we see this happen with great regularity. And, you know, the problem is that, you know — we're not getting any responsible public officials who are coming forward and saying this is wrong. And instead, we're having some Orwellian language coming out of people like Mayor Bloomberg saying that, you know, the protesters were denying people free speech. And, you really just sort of take a double take and go — Really? How?
SHUSTER: How do the courts — or how have they usually — dealt with these sort of arguments? Whether it's "Oh, we're protecting reporters for their own safety." Or, these, I mean, bizarre claims that somehow reporters were trespassing in Zuccotti Park the other night, and were therefore arrested.
TURLEY: Well, the problem is that these types of abuses generally go without any penalty whatsoever. What happens is they prevent reporters from being present, of seeing what people allege to be abuses, and then, they release the reporters. And so, there's not much of an ability to bring a lawsuit, because there's no criminal charges. And, many police officials know that. So, they can really get away with this.
The only weapon that the media has, and has always had since the beginning of this republic, is to let citizens know, to let the public know that this is happening. I mean — for the vast majority of American citizens — their eyes and their ears remain the journalists, who are the boots on the ground, who are trying to get close to the action so they can see what the government is doing.
SHUSTER: Speaking of action, we just saw the video of some demonstrators essentially pulling apart a barricade. I'm so intrigued by this effort in New York City to actually put the press in some sort of pen where they can't actually see what's taking place. Is that a new tactic? And have city governments been able to get away with that before?
TURLEY: That is a — that is a very common tactic, to create press areas that just happen to be removed from areas that could be embarrassing, or areas where they could film abuse. And it is something that the press always works against. But, this is very, very common for the police to try to pen in the media.
What's happening in New York is far more aggressive than we've seen in many years. It was a clear and well-planned effort by the police to pen in the media and prevent them from seeing things that the police did not want them to see — which is to clear out hundreds of people, conducting massive arrests, and the types of problems that that produces.
SHUSTER: I've been going down to Occupy D.C. every couple of days. It doesn't look like the police are going to clear up that camp. But, if they tried to do it — for myself and other journalists, what's the guidelines now? Or what's the legal advice you would give us, for those of us who want to cover a story, and simply report out what's happening.
TURLEY: Keep your credentials open and obvious, make sure you repeatedly state that you are a credential journalist. Go to -- ask to talk to a supervisor. That is, you're going to have beat cops who say "You got to go into that area." Demand to talk to their supervisors. Get those names. Make it clear that you're recording their names. You know, you've got to be very aggressive, most journalists are -- well-trained, and well-suited to play that role. But you can't accept this effort to be cordoned off so that they can regulate what you see and what you film.
The -- the point about trespass is important. It is often the case that journalists are told "You're trespassing, and I can arrest you." Well, if the scene is a protest and demonstration, and people are all trespassing, the selective removal of journalists is a violation of policies and rules governing the media. You should not be restrained.
And finally, keep a number of a lawyer handy. You know, you've got to be assertive and there's a lot of us out there to make sure that you do your very important job.
SHUSTER: Well, Jonathan, no worries. I have your number on my speed dial, so. Jonathan Turley, thanks as always. We appreciate it.
TURLEY: Thanks, David.
SHUSTER: Thank you.
