It’s a newspaper’s duty to print the news and raise hell

Freedom of the press is a fragile thing. Ideally, reporters are supposed to be able to do their jobs without hindrance from the state. In real life, however, government and business work hard to deflect or mislead reporters.
The past two years have seen freedom of the press, guaranteed by the First Amendment, take several hard hits. Not legally speaking, of course. On paper the First Amendment is still intact. But in the streets, where it really counts, freedom of the press has never been more imperiled.
Locally, Brian Hansen, who until recently worked for the Daily, was arrested for holding his ground when Forest Service law-enforcement officials ordered him away from a protest he had been covering above Vail. Specifically on location to observe and report on the way the protest was resolved, Hansen felt he had a duty to remain.
The federal government saw his arrest as a way of gaining a federal precedent that would give law enforcement more power in dealing with reporters, allowing federal officers to go about their business in greater secrecy. After a year of prosecuting him, the U.S. attorney’s office finally dropped the charges Thursday, ending an unnecessary and expensive ordeal for Hansen.
While the immediate danger has passed, the Forest Service took the opportunity provided by Hansen’s case to draw up guidelines for their officers to use when arresting reporters. A spokeswoman for the Society for Professional Journalists, which, together with the Daily, has covered some of Hansen’s legal costs, has described these guidelines as “very troubling” and “patently offensive.” If nothing else, the guidelines indicate the government’s determination to treat news gathering as a suspect activity.
Nationally, demonstrations in Seattle, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Los Angeles resulted in reporters being arrested and beaten in what has evolved into an overt effort on the part of police to bar the independent media from doing their jobs.
In Seattle, where police initiated violence against non-violent protesters, several reporters were arrested, threatened with pepper spray and gassed. Those arrested were released the next day with apologies.
In the nation’s capital, police treated ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates with respect, but everyone else as suspects, clubbing reporters whose credentials were in full view, forcing them away from scenes they were covering, and failing to acknowledge media accreditation when it suited their purposes.
In Philadelphia, police harassed staff at the Independent Media Center, threatening to shut down the office, which was being used by reporters from independent media organizations across the nation.
In Los Angeles, a convenient bomb scare closed the IMC temporarily, following repeated and unjustifiable police threats to shut it down. Witnesses claim that police tried to drive reporters away by deliberately targeting them with rubber bullets during the LAPD’s violent crackdown on protesters, most of whom were peacefully listening to a concert in the permitted protest zone.
Together, these events paint a picture of government, specifically law enforcement, that is increasingly hostile to the progressive movement and increasingly reluctant to allow reporters access to their handiwork. They want to crack skulls, spray people’s eyes and gas crowds without being held accountable.
And, for the most part, they’re succeeding, as the corporate media for the most part carry law enforcement’s message to their readers.
Yet, as society’s hired henchmen, law enforcement merits intense scrutiny, perhaps more than most government agencies. And scrutiny is what we at the Daily will continue to provide.
Wilbur F. Storey is from the Colorado Daily U. of
Colorado.