Over the weekend a journalist was arrested in Washington, D.C., while trying to report on Occupy events. Thanks to citizen journalists on the ground we have footage of the arrest, in which you can hear the journalist shouting for help. It’s hard to watch, but it’s even harder to know that these types of arrests keep happening. We must take a stand with the arrested journalists and ensure that law enforcement stops trampling the First Amendment.
Please join the more than 16,000 people who support the arrested journalists and stand in defense of the First Amendment.
Journalist Jacquie Kubin, an editor at the Washington Times, gets arrested at CPAC in Washington, DC on February 10, 2012. Video footage by @Timcast and @Karlwitak.
Last week police arrested eight journalists covering Occupy events and Josh Fox, the Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker trying to cover a federal hearing in Congress.
There’s no doubt about it: Freedom of the press is under attack. The situation has gotten so bad that the U.S. has plummeted 27 spots in Reporters Without Borders’ global press freedom index to number 47 worldwide. Kristin Hanes, one of the journalists who was arrested, put it best when she tweeted:
“Whenever journalists are arrested/detained for reporting the news, everyone’s freedom is at risk. That is what frightens me most.”
Fight for our freedoms. Stand with Kristin Hanes and the arrested journalists. SIGN THE PETITION.
More than 50 journalists have been arrested since the Occupy movement began last September, striking a blow to the First Amendment. The good news is that journalists are starting to fight back against these abuses. A coalition of New York media groups has issued two letters calling on the NYPD to do more to protect the First Amendment. In Oakland, journalism organizations sent a letter condemning recent arrests and calling for a meeting with city officials.
Now it’s our turn. Sign on to support journalists who are fighting back for the First Amendment.
Over the next year there will be political conventions in North Carolina and Florida, global economic summits in Chicago and more Occupy events nationwide. We are prepared for the possibility of journalist arrests at these events, and will be there tracking every detainment and working with people like you on the ground to make sure that reporters are in the streets, not behind bars.
There are still journalists facing charges and fighting court battles right now. They need to know that we are fighting with them to safeguard the First Amendment.
Sign the letter now and we’ll deliver your letters of support directly to the journalists who have been arrested and to the organizations that defend them.
Thanks,
Josh Stearns, Tim, Tessa and the rest of the Free Press team
I was arrested for the second time on Sunday, January 1, 2012, on 13th Street and 5th Ave in Manhattan. The first time was on Saturday, October 1, 2011 on the Brooklyn Bridge. I am one of those still facing charges and fighting court battles right now.
I was covering Occupy Wall Street on November 17th, 2011 and a protester told me,