Kentucky Photographers at GOP Convention Released From Jail
Two University of Kentucky student photographers and a Kentucky Kernel photo adviser were released from police custody this morning after being arrested Monday afternoon in St. Paul, Minn., while taking photos of protests outside the Republican National Convention, the Kernel reports. The two students were charged with felony rioting, while the adviser was charged with rioting. The police continue to investigate the preliminary charges, although no formal charges have been filed so far.
Including the three, police arrested 286 people Monday as protesting outside the convention turned to rioting that required officers to use pepper spray and rubber bullets to contain the crowd.
Both student photographers work for the Kernel but weren't there on newspaper business. If convicted, the three would receive a minimum sentence of one year in jail and a minimum fine of $3,000.
Tags: University of Kentucky | Republican National Convention
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Ron Paul
This is exactly the kind of thing that has caused Ron Paul to gain such a large following of former GOP supporters. Instead of the government and its organizations serving the people, they are serving the political parties and major corporations. The common citizen has been all but completely disenfranchised of the truth (and therefore political self-determination) by popular media, which relies heavily on the established parties and their respective apparatuses for news, and (both as a result of the aforementioned and separately) advertising dollars. Some establishment journalists would counter that with the advent of the internet, individuals can choose alternative sources if they feel the news they are receiving is biased, but this is not currently the case. "Alternative" news sources simply do not have the type of market penetration and brand name familiarity that the establishment outlets have. Those with some brand/name recognition are largely viewed with a tremendous amount of suspicion by most Americans, and most Americans do not get their news from alternative sources (i.e. sources besides their local newspapers, news programs, and national news programs on major broadcast networks). The competition between cable networks and consolidation of media ownership has created a nearly impenetrable lock on the supply of commonly known facts, and it is a shock to me that these news stories have even seen the light of day. It is an absolute travesty that the police and military have become the pawns of individual politicians, corporations, and political parties. The end result is a trampling of the rights of journalists who are actively attempting to record actual events and report real news.
Maybe it was the police who over-responded
Alison, in your post you say that "protesting outside the convention turned to rioting that required officers to use pepper spray and rubber bullets to contain the crowd." It turns out that many journalists who were simply covering the demonstration outside the convention were arrested without cause, often having their press credentials ripped off their necks. The two students you write about, and their adult adviser, can no doubt corroborate that.
In the case of political protest, we shouldn't always be so quick to take the police version at face value. I'd be very interested to hear what these student journalists have to say, and whether or not the police allowed them to keep the photos their constitutional rights allow them to take.
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