Sep

2

Amy Goodman Arrested

Filed Under action alert, activism, media, politics  | Posted by Cara |

UPDATE: Video of Democracy Now! producer Nicole Salazar’s arrest is now available. She filmed it herself. Trigger warning, because it’s very disturbing. And thanks to Ashley for the link.

Amy Goodman is a journalist with Democracy Now!, feminist, activist and all around one of the most bad ass women I can think of. I’ve have the privilege of watching her speak at two separate Planned Parenthood functions, and she is both riveting and inspiring. Both times she had me nearly in tears. But beyond all of that, the simple fact is that she didn’t do anything to deserve arrest. And yet, at the RNC, arrested she was. For doing her job as a journalist.

The video is below. It’s upsetting.

From CREDO Action:

Jailing journalists is unacceptable in a democracy. But that’s exactly what is happening at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

Award winning journalist and host of “Democracy Now” Amy Goodman was arrested by St. Paul police while covering a protest outside the Republican National Convention. Though clearly identified as press, Goodman was charged with “obstruction of a legal process and interference with a ‘peace officer.’” Two of her producers were arrested for “suspicion of felony riot.”

[. . .]

Goodman and her producers were released last night. (An AP photographer was also arrested and released). But the charges are still pending.

This story has been virtually ignored by the mainstream press. The cable channels are providing extensive coverage of events related to the Republican National Convention, but there has been a virtual news blackout on the arrest of Amy Goodman and the Democracy Now team.


Through CREDO Action you can write to major news outlets demanding that they cover this story. Because there is no excuse for the lack of reporting on this issue. (What, are they afraid that they’ll arrest Anderson Cooper, too?)

Through Free Press, you can write to St. Paul authorities to demand that charges are dropped and that journalists stop being intimidated and harassed.

This is our fucking First Amendment rights at stake. This is unacceptable.

Oh, and by the way? This has been going on for a couple days. Amy Goodman was not the first journalist to receive this treatment — though she did cover the raids personally, and I wouldn’t doubt if that’s why she was targeted.

For more, check out Democracy Now!’s website. As one would expect, they have all of the latest updates.

ETA: BFP has a lot more, including video of Amy Goodman discussing her arrest and the arrest of the other Democracy Now! personnel.

cross-posted at Feministe


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Comments

12 Comments so far

  1. jovan byars on September 2, 2008 9:42 pm

    Thanks for reporting this, Cara. Right now, I am paying attention to Tropical Storm Hanna, which could drastically impact my area on Friday.

    With this video, now people all get to see the true Republican Party colors and their true platform: a dictatorship similar to Saddam Hussein and Robert Mugabe. I really hope that each of the mainstream media outlets expose this blatant abuse of power by the Saint Paul PD. Not only should the charges against the Democracy Now! trio be dropped, but all of the officers involved in this fiasco should be terminated.

  2. Ashley on September 3, 2008 5:01 pm

    FYI, the video of Nicole Salazar’s arrest came out today too, and it’s some of the most disturbing tape I’ve ever seen.

  3. Cara on September 3, 2008 5:23 pm

    Do you have the link, Ashley?

  4. Ashley on September 3, 2008 5:46 pm

    Yeah, here you go. It’s also on the SAFER blog in the updates on the post on Amy Goodman’s arrest.

  5. Cara on September 3, 2008 5:54 pm

    Whoa. Thanks Ashley, I’ve added it to the post.

  6. Ravenmn on September 4, 2008 11:24 am

    Fake track back: http://ravenmn.blogspot.com/2008/09/welcome-to-twin-cities-i-begin-with.html

  7. Dave on September 6, 2008 11:52 am

    The email of the police chief of St Paul is john.harrington@ci.stpaul.mn.us , in case anyone wants to complain

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    IMPORTANT: Cara writes about Amy Goodman’s arrest and why you should care. A lot. So, by the way, do a lot of other folks. Does anyone else feel like it’s an Orwellian morning? In 1984?…

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