St. Paul Won't Prosecute RNC Journalists On Misdemeanor Charges
ST. PAUL, MN (September 18, 2008) – St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman released a statement today saying that journalists arrested on misdemeanor charges during mass protests at the Republican National Convention will not be prosecuted.
The city's decision applies only to people who are identified as journalists. The statement said that the city attorney's office will "use a broad definition and verification to identify journalists" due to the growing media profession in print, broadcast, and Internet reporting.
Many "independent" journalists and "video bloggers" were among those who appeared to be targeted by police during round-ups and arrests.
Press freedom organizations have identified at least 42 journalists who were arrested covering protests during the RNC week, of which 11 are photojournalists. The Minnesota Independent says that as may as 50 of the 800 people arrested on the convention's first and last days were there to cover the RNC.
The misdemeanor charge that St. Paul will not prosecute is the "presence at an unlawful assembly" citation that many journalists were given.
The statement says that city attorney John Choi will review each case individually.
In his prepared statement Coleman said, "This decision reflects the values we have in St. Paul to protect and promote our First Amendment rights to freedom of the press. ... A journalist plays a special role in our democracy and that role is just too important to ignore."
When photojournalists covering the RNC protests were arrested, detained, and their equipment confiscated, the National Press Photographers Association registered a strongly-worded objection with the St. Paul police chief, John M. Harrington.
""We understand the need for police to arrest those persons involved in rioting or causing a public disturbance," NPPA president Bob Carey told the city's top police officer. "Our specific concern is the manner in which law-abiding photojournalists, who were simply doing their job, were targeted by police officers. ... News photographers carry equipment that makes us easy to identify. We're obviously media. There's no excuse for physically assaulting or arresting a photographer who is not creating a disturbance. Mere presence in a public place does not qualify as a disturbance. Neither does photographing a news event or a melee."
Meanwhile, this week two Minneapolis City Council members have called for a public hearing and an independent investigation into how law enforcement behaved and the actions they took against protesters and journalists during the RNC week.
A story in the Southside Pride reported by Dennis Geisinger says that two former federal prosecutors, Tom Heffelfinger and Andy Luger, have been commissioned by the City of St. Paul to review police actions during the RNC, but their review will not investigate individual complaints.
Charges of misdemeanor obstruction of a police officer were dropped against Democracy Now! anchor Amy Goodman and her two producers, it was reported today.
Earlier this month felony rioting charges against University of Kentucky students Ed Matthews and Britney McIntosh and their student advisor, Jim Winn, were dropped "pending further investigation." They had been arrested on the first night of RNC protests.
Subject Of An Upcoming Panel Discussion
There's a RNC Media & Police Panel discussion coming up on Monday, September 22, at the Coffman Memorial Union Theater at the University of Minnesota beginning at 7 p.m.
Moderated by Al Tompkins of The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, journalists who covered the RNC will join representatives from law enforcement, city government, and media law experts to discuss what happened that week that led to so many journalists being arrested.
"If you were arrested, gassed, hassled, or otherwise directly involved, you might want to be seated in the front row," Mike Zerby of the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communication said.
More information about the panel discussion is available online at www. mnspj.org , and Zerby says that the panel discussion will be Webcast live online at www.theuptake.org.
NPPA Marketplace
- Join the NPPA
- NPPA members receive a wide range of benefits, from educational opportunities to mentoring, exclusive discounts, insurance options, business tips, and much more.