On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 2:05 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 1:29 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 12:28 PM, Mark J. <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> > Amy Goodman, who fronts the daily lefty radio-TV program "Democracy >> > Now!", and two of her producers are suing the cities of Minneapolis >> > and St. Paul, along with Ramsey County, the police departments and >> > several officers, over arrests made while they were covering protests >> > in August 2008, claiming that their efforts at newsgathering were >> > being interfered with, therefore violating First Amendment rights: >> > >> > http://www.twincities.com/ci_15022173?nclick_check=1 >> >> I remember we had a decent debate about this incident on the message >> board when it happened, and I remember not siding with Goodman, but >> not entirely siding with the police either. >> > > And I remember siding entirely with Amy, and I am glad she is doing this, > and wondering what took her so long. >
And now, about 17 months later, The Man (Minneapolis and St Paul Police Departments, and the federal Secret Service) have settled with Amy, agreeing to pay a total of $100,000 and hold extra training for police on the first amendment rights of journalists (see http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/settlement-reached-arrests-rnc-journalists-14658080 ). "Goodman said, the settlement 'should be a warning to police departments around the country to stop arresting and intimidating journalists. We see the financial settlement and the requirement that the police departments receive First Amendment training on the rights of the press as a major step forward.'" A small but significant victory - the police really did overreact at the Republican Convention in Minneapolis, though they see this as a small price to pay for their over-controlling tactics. Goodman is easy to make fun of, and a little bit of her goes a very long way, but I am glad there are people like her around. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
