So Much for Free Press
Arbitrary arrests and assaults of journalists in Minneapolis spell trouble for American democracy.
Imagine being arrested or assaulted by the police as a reporter because you were doing your job. You work with a reputable, well-known reporting agency and tried to work with the officers in the area to make a compromise. Unfortunately, in 2020, some reporters don’t have to imagine it. They experienced it themselves. Omar Jimenez, a CNN correspondent, was arrested on live TV as he was covering violent escalations in the Minneapolis protests against the police brutality that led to George Floyd’s death. He and his crew were later released after being detained and explaining that he was with CNN. Police on the scene say that the CNN crew refused to move, but the footage that CNN released shows Jimenez actively negotiating with the officers in the area saying that they can move to another location.
During the arrest, the police did inform him of his arrest. Informing someone of the reason they were arrested is merely good police practice and is not constitutionally required, unlike reading Miranda rights. In the video, the officers did not mention Miranda rights at all, let alone read or recite them. While anyone might forget to say or do certain things in a high-stress situation, Jimenez’s arrest took place when he was as calm and non-confrontational as anyone could be under arrest. Although some have suggested that the arrest was staged or that Jimenez was too close to the protest, it wouldn’t make sense for Omar Jimenez to use his real name or otherwise identify himself during a staged arrest.
The Minnesota State Patrol Tweeted stating that “In the course of clearing the streets and restoring order at Lake Street and Snelling Avenue, four people were arrested by State Patrol troopers, including three members of a CNN crew. The three were released once they were confirmed to be members of the media.” However, it seemed that Jimenez’s press badge and his army of cameramen, likely with heavily branded equipment, weren’t enough to confirm that he was with the media. As such, Ava DuVernay, the director of films such as Selma and When They See Us, called Minnesota State Patrol’s statement “erroneous and disingenuous” and told them to “stop tweeting and learn how to do [their] jobs properly”.
Omar Jimenez was not the only reporter to face unfair treatment at the hands of the Minneapolis police. Molly Hennessy-Fiske, a Los Angeles Times reporter, recalled being fired at with rubber bullets and tear-gassed when she tried to cover the protests. Carolyn Cole, the photographer she was with, was pepper-sprayed despite wearing a flak jacket that labeled TV”. She escaped the scene with an 18-year-old protester who she was sheltering and sought treatment for her injuries. Having covered stories that involved protests and those that took place in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hennessy-Fiske knows that journalism can be a dangerous job. This was still the first time that police fired at her.
Andy Mannix, a Star Tribune reporter who covers federal courts and law enforcement, was “shot in the thigh” with a blue-capped projectile. Mannix identified the projectile as a rubber bullet. Another Twitter user confirmed this and went on to comment that this rubber bullet was intended for use from a 40-yard distance, not in the close proximity typically seen in crowd control. On the day he was shot, Mannix wrote that four officers were fired regarding the death of George Floyd. NBC later reported that Derek Chauvin, the officer that knelt on George Floyd’s neck for over eight and a half minutes, faced charges of third-degree murder and manslaughter. In Minnesota, third-degree murder is a charge that one would receive for dangerous conduct that wasn’t necessarily intended to kill someone or for giving away, selling, delivering, or administering controlled substances without the appropriate authorization. Manslaughter is a term used to characterize impulsive or negligent killings. Considering that kneeling on someone’s neck for over eight minutes takes a sustained, conscious effort, George Floyd’s family thinks these charges do not reflect the severity of this crime.
To be honest, I have never been more embarrassed to be an American. In a country that explicitly protects freedom of the press, these events should never have taken place, unprovoked attacks on reporters should not take place. If this continues, it will make the concept of freedom of the press meaningless and send the message that police officers are effectively above the law. With such senseless violence being recorded on a regular basis, one has to wonder what corrupt police officers do off camera and out of uniform.
