Freedom of the press? Not at the Dems' convention, there ain't

[thatcrazycajun]

Just as my party was giving me a reason to be proud of being a Democrat by officially nominating the first African-American to head up a major-party ticket, it gave me a reason to be ashamed of being one. An ABC News producer was arrested today by Denver police for doing his job: take pictures of people who've given hefty chunks of cash to the Democratic Party. (ABCNews.com feed) Did party leadership lean on the city to do stuff like this to any pressie they caught making a nuisance of him/herself? Seems a fair question.

I don't know which is worse, the arrest of a journalist for trying to air the truth or the courting of elites with special privileges while speakers from the floor whale on "the rich" and laud the party as a friend of the working class. If this happened in St. Paul next week, I wouldn't be a bit surprised; this is the sort of thing any Dem or liberal knows to expect from the GOP. But our party is supposed to be better than this. This gives the GOP "truth squad" camped near the convention—not to mention Rush Limbaugh and his ilk—a prime opportunity to call Dem party leaders hypocrites...and be right.

Memo to Rep. Nancy Pelosi: Madame Speaker, this is emphatically not the way to convince Main Street America that you care more about them than about Wall Street...or that they should vote Obama/Biden this fall.

ADDENDUM, Wed. 10:14 PM: In answer to requests for details, here is a FireDogLake.com summation of the story, with links to further information. I am by no means suggesting that the producer was being monitored live by party leaders, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that somebody ordered an excessive clampdown with an eye toward "managing" news coverage.

Comments

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

Okay, so, what is the whole story?
Seriously, what came before and after?
What didn't we see?

An ABC News reporter was arrested today by Denver police for doing his job: trying to ask questions of people who've given hefty chunks of cash to the Democratic Party.

Where was this mentioned?

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

The Denver Police -- actually many police forces operating under Denver police authority -- are generally showing a zero tolerance policy toward anyone breaking any rules.

Do you seriously suggest that someone from the DNC was monitorng the conversation and directed the police to pick off a reporter because the reporter was questioning a fundraiser? Or is it that the reporter continued to follow the fundraiser past the the convention line and got nailed the same way that ANYONE crossing the convention security line would get nailed.

Prove the first and I will be most interested. Otherwise, your preemptive shame is a little . . . silly. I just got back from Denver and saw the security ratchet up from pretty loose Sunday night/Monday morning to armed fortress this afternoon. Anyone who crossed a security line without proper credentials, even if wearing press credentials, would get nailed faster than you can say "no, these aren't forged and I'm not carrying a bomb."

BTW, a brief illustrative tale: On Monday night, I got handed a rather juicy and outrageous story that had me in full spate typing up a nasty blog entry. But before posting, I decided to email the person involved and asked: "IS this true."

Turns out, it was far more complicated. Since I actually did minimum due diligence first, I avoided slandering someone and embarrassing myself.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

Well, I found this interesting, clicked on the link, & did some speed reading through all the flak. One source states the camera was blocking an entrance, the hotel asked him to move, nada, the police asked him to move, nada, so, busted. I don't know which side is true, and yes, the Denver cops are out in swarms, but they have good reason to be on heightened alert: there has already been one credible threat on Obama discovered (some racist yahoos bearing serious armament and stating they were going after Obama), so, unlike most times, this time I just might give the cops the benefit of the doubt.

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

A police official later told lawyers for ABC News that Eslocker is being charged with trespass, interference, and failure to follow a lawful order. He also said the arrest followed a signed complaint from the Brown Palace Hotel.

So, does the hotel have rights in this or not?

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

There is a Democrate here in Detroit that is going to end up spending less than a day in jail for shoving a police officer while on duty. Yeah, special treatment.

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

So Randy Moss got away with NO time served for "bumping" a police officer with his car in Minneapolis.
What's your point?
Stupidity and privilege are everywhere.
And that guy was the mayor (which you failed to mention, doesn't make it right, but it completes the picture). If he was a Republican they would have treated him the same way.

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[(Anonymous)]

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