October 08, 2008
NEW YORK An audio piece called Journalism Under Siege at the RNC has been released.
The piece -- co-produced by the Media Minutes team of Stevie Converse and Candace Clement for Pacifica Radio's Sprouts: Radio from the Grassroot program -- looks at the arrests and detentions of journalists covering protests outside last month's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.
Among the many arrested were Democracy Now! host/King Features Syndicate columnist Amy Goodman and Associated Press staffers.
Promo copy for the program reads:
"American national political conventions have long been known for wacky party hats, a multitude of political buttons, showers of confetti, and long-winded speeches -- inside the convention centers.This program features interviews with Ben Garvin of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Lucy Dalglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Bob Steele of the Poynter Institute, Nancy Doyle-Brown of the Twin Cities Media Alliance, Dan Gillmor of the Center for Citizen Media, Lambert Rochfort of Pepperspray Productions, Jason Barnett of The UpTake, and Theresa Nelson of the Minnesota ACLU.
"Outside those walls, in the streets of the host cities, both the Democratic and Republican national conventions are symbols of political unrest and police crackdowns -- and increasingly, a militarized system of silencing voices of demonstrators and journalists covering the stories that happen in those streets.
"What are the rights of journalists covering stories in public places? Who can be called journalists? And why is journalism still important?"
Journalism Under Siege at the RNC can be heard here.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/departments/syndicates/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003872336
