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TAMPA, Fla. —
Protesters might not be the only people filling local jails during the
Republican National Convention.
Journalists could face
detentions — even arrests. And though Tampa police say they’re working very
hard to make sure it doesn’t happen, it might be inevitable.
That’s because these
two groups don’t see eye to eye.
About 15,000
journalists are expected at the convention in August. Many have good
relationships with the law enforcement agencies in their cities. They’re used
to broad access.
“However, we’re
dealing with the largest event in the city’s history,” said Tampa police
spokeswoman Laura McElroy.
To Tampa police,
journalists are like any member of the public. If police need to clear an
area they deem dangerous, reporters and photographers will have to leave,
too, McElroy said.
It’s “physically and
logistically impossible” to allow a group of people to stay in an area where
police are trying to gain control, McElroy said.
Journalists will be
able to stand nearby so they can cover the event, McElroy said, though
specifics on how far back will depend on the circumstances.
This strategy irks
some journalists, who believe they have the right to be where news is
happening. At the 2008 convention in St. Paul, Minn., as many as four dozen
journalists were arrested — some during moments that weren’t chaotic.
Tampa police say
they’re training to make pinpoint extractions of violent people, avoiding
mass arrests whenever possible. But if sweeping detentions do happen,
journalists could be included.
Tampa Bay Times Editor
and Vice President Neil Brown said Times journalists will act professionally,
wearing visible credentials and avoid situations that threaten public safety.
“We come to this work
with the presumption that our reporters and photographers will abide by the
law, but under the First Amendment they have an important job to do to report
on events and keep the residents of Tampa Bay informed,” Brown said. “If our
journalists are on public property and doing their jobs professionally, I see
no reason for conflict with authorities.”
The Reporters
Committee for Freedom of the Press, a national nonprofit group, is preparing
for rocky relations between police and reporters.
“Unfortunately, almost
every major political event in the past 12 years has included the arrest of,
interference with or outright assault on journalists covering the news,”
director Lucy Dalglish wrote in a letter this month to Tampa officials.
Dalglish said police
“grab everybody and take them to a holding area,” where they might sort
through who’s who.
Some worry this
“catch-and-release” system could hamper journalists covering protests outside
the convention.
Of the four dozen
journalists arrested at the St. Paul RNC, few received as much attention — or
brought as much backlash to police — as Democracy Now host Amy Goodman.
Problems started as
Goodman, host of a politically progressive syndicated radio and TV show,
approached police, asking for details on why they detained two of her
co-workers.
According to Goodman,
as she walked up to the line of police officers and requested to see their
commanding officer, she was pushed through the line and arrested for — among
other things — crossing the police line.
“It was so out of
control and ridiculous,” Goodman said recently, noting that she and the
staffers were clearly identified as journalists.
A YouTube video showing her arrest now
has over 1 million views and sparked a huge controversy at the time. The city
of St. Paul later declined to prosecute working journalists arrested during
the convention, including Goodman and her staffers, according to the
Minneapolis Star Tribune.
But the Democracy Now
journalists eventually sued the Minneapolis and St. Paul Police Departments,
the Ramsey County Sheriff and U.S. Secret Service personnel, announcing a
settlement last year that included a $100,000 payment and required training
for police on the First Amendment rights of journalists.
Goodman said she fears
a $10 million insurance policy insisted on by local governments and paid by
the convention led police in 2008 to adopt an “arrest first, sort it out
later” approach, free from concern about lawsuits and settlements like hers.
McElroy said that’s
not the case in Tampa. Local authorities want to avoid the headlines and the
courtroom, she said.
McElroy sits on a
committee that has been studying past conflicts between journalists and
police. They’re watching videos and reading reports. And they’re adding to a
training curriculum for all local RNC security officers.
She said she wasn’t
able to discuss details as it’s still being developed.
“But what we’ve been
doing is coming up with visual examples of law enforcement clashes with the
media,” she said. “We can show that video to law enforcement officers.”
Goodman’s case is one
of them.
Jane Kirtley, a journalism
professor at the University of Minnesota, said the biggest problem in 2008
was a lack of training.
With a host of
different law enforcement agencies providing crowd control, there were no
clear rules on how journalists were to be treated.
Kirtley suggests Tampa
police have press liaisons travel with contingents of officers to handle
problems as they occur. She also says police or city officials might consider
credentialing some journalists, who would be allowed to remain in areas where
the general public has been ordered away.
“As much as I hate the
notion of the government licensing journalists, I think the lack of a
credential really helped contribute to the problems,” Kirtley said.
McElroy said police
most likely won’t credential any reporters outside the convention.
Tampa police plan to
meet with local media this summer, and McElroy said the hope is some of these
issues can be resolved.
Others aren’t sure
that’s possible.
“Bottom line: We’re
always going to be where the story is,” said Duchesne Drew, who served as
assistant managing editor for local news at the Minneapolis Star Tribune
during the 2008 convention. “They can take the position that we’re just like
the general public. But then they’ll have to arrest us, and they will get
sued.”
Jessica Vander Velde
and Eric Deggans write for the Tampa Bay Times, which is partnering with
POLITICO to cover the 2012 presidential campaign.
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