United States: CFWIJ Concerned Over Attacks On Women Journalists Covering #Blacklivesmatter Protests In The United States.
Location: United States
Date: June 1, 2020Murder of Minneapolis resident George Floyd on May 25th 2020 by the police forces sparked fury and erupted demonstrations across the United States. Across fifty states in America, protestors are demanding justice and an end to racial inequality and police brutality. As streets heat up countrywide many journalists covering the story on the ground are being targeted, with multiple cases of brutal attacks by police forces causing injuries.
With the majority of reporters attacked being women, the Coalition For Women In Journalism is concerned about the current stance of the authorities on women’s rights, freedom of press and freedom of expression.
Freedom of the press—the right to report news or circulate opinion without censorship from the government—is considered “one of the great bulwarks of liberty,” and is protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
By the time this report is published we have been made aware of the following attacks on women journalists on site:
Los Angeles Times reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske posted a video on Twitter detailing how Minnesota State Patrol fired tear-gas canisters at her and other media outlets at “point-blank range” while they were outside the city’s fifth precinct in Minneapolis.
Minnesota State Patrol just fired tear gas at reporters and photographers at point blank range. pic.twitter.com/r7X6J7LKo8
— Molly Hennessy-Fiske (@mollyhf) May 31, 2020
Freelance photographer Linda Tirado suffered a severe injury to her left eye leaving her permanently blind according to her Twitter account.
“I was aiming my next shot, put my camera down for a second, and then my face exploded,” she said in a telephone interview after being released from the hospital. “I immediately felt blood and was screaming, ‘I’m press! I’m press!’”
an update: I am permanently blind in my left eye, and the docs absolutely refuse to let me go back to work for they say six weeks. I’m definitely not allowed to be near smoke or gas.
— Linda Tirado (@KillerMartinis) May 30, 2020
Usually if I had to stay home I’d spend a lot of time amplifying folk but reading hurts today
Sarah Belle Lin is another freelance reporter who faced police violence, even after identifying herself as a journalist and invoking her First Amendment rights while covering protests in Oakland, California.
I was hit by the police by in the inner thighs. I am injured. I repeated my First Amendment rights. Oakland #GeorgeFloyd protest. pic.twitter.com/1Gm6Se1LQ8
— Sarah Belle Lin (@SarahBelleLin) May 31, 2020
On Saturday, Detroit Free Press Senior News Director announced on his Twitter account of his team getting pepper sprayed by the police while a woman photographer among the crew got her equipment slapped out of her hand.
Several of our @freep journalists got pepper-sprayed tonight by Detroit Police, one directly in the face as he held up his media badge. A photographer had her livestream camera slapped out of her hand by another DPD officer as she tried to do her job. This is not OK. See this: https://t.co/PMq8IAnawi
— Jim Schaefer (@DetroitReporter) May 31, 2020
Clearly targeted attacks of the security forces included threats such as in the case of Minneapolis based reporter Madeleine Baran along with her colleague Samara Freemark. Both reporters had to “call it a night” when the police did not lower their weapons pointed directly at Baran and Freemark’s heads.
A Minneapolis police officer pointed a weapon at me at @sfreemark’s heads, while we were standing on Nicollet and 32nd covering the protests. I yelled that I’m a journalist. He did not lower his weapon, so we ran. Calling it a night.
— Madeleine Baran (@madeleinebaran) May 30, 2020
CBC Senior Correspondent Susan Ormiston was hit by a rubber bullet while reporting in the midst of protests in Minneapolis.
.@OrmistonOnline is right in the middle of the protests in #Minneapolis, she even got hit with a rubber bullet herself. She tells me how the community is reacting to the anger erupting over the death of #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/GEBpK4Y9M0
— Wendy Mesley (@wendy_mesley) May 31, 2020
In the meanwhile on Friday, WAVE 3 reporter Kaitlin Rust and photojournalist James Dobson had pepper bullets fired at them by a Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officer while covering protests following the murder of Breoanna Taylor at her home during a police raid.
Fox news also reported their correspondent Leland Vittert as having been attacked by protestors in Washington.
CBS5 reporter Briana Whitney was also attacked by a civilian man on live television while reporting on protests outside Phoenix Police Department headquarters, “ I feel violated, and this was terrifying. Let us do our jobs. We are trying our very best” said Whitney on the attack.
All such incidents prompted the Committee to Protect Journalists Program to issue a statement on Saturday calling out on authorities “to instruct police not to target journalists and ensure they can report safely on the protests without fear of injury or retaliation.”
The Coalition for Women in Journalism urges all parties to stop targeted attacks on journalists, media crews, and news organizations covering the demonstrations. CFWIJ would like to remind authorities of the first amendment rights of all; especially those who play a critical role in documenting issues of public interest.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.