First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

We checked and there is no permission given to the government to shoot members of the press with rubber bullets under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Yet, that’s been happening. Two Los Angeles Times journalists covering the protests in Minneapolis recently — Molly Hennessy-Fiske and photographer Carolyn Cole were targeted — along with colleagues from other outlets. The two Times journalists were fired upon with rubber bullets and tear gas, then pursued when they sought shelter.

In an editorial, the LA Times reported, “The media’s job is complicated by a president who routinely refers to the media as ‘the enemy of the people,’ a freighted designation that historically has come with official crackdowns and persecutions.”

Here are some of the incidents listed in the Times:

• The Nieman Lab, which covers trends in journalism, reported Monday that journalists had been attacked by police officers more than 110 times since May

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• Nick Waters, who reports for the online investigative news site Bellingcat, has been keeping a running compilation of reports on Twitter of journalists attacked as they cover protests around the nation.

• A photographer in Indianapolis was threatened by a police officer brandishing a rifle that fires “less than lethal” ammunition. A TV crew was targeted with rubber bullets while broadcasting live in Louisville.

• Adding an international dimension, the Australian government has launched an investigation into the police tear gas assault on an Australian TV crew airing live from outside the White House.

• CNN reporter Omar Jimenez and his crew were arrested, also live on the air, in Minneapolis, as was a local TV crew – two among a series of abuses there.

African American journalists have reported being singled out, including a reporter for the Detroit Free Press approached by a police officer as he stood amid a small group of white journalists.

• Protesters, themselves, have targeted the media. A throng vandalized CNN headquarters in Atlanta. Protesters battled a Fox TV crew outside the White House.

• A mob assaulted a photographer in Fayetteville, N.C. as he took video of them looting a store.

As dispiriting as it is for journalists to be attacked by members of the public, it is even more problematic — and dangerous for democracy — when the attackers are sanctioned by the government.

It’s not paranoid to think that attacks in those — and scores of them nationwide — are acts of government intimidation intended to dissuade those who would bear witness.

America is a far better place when media employees can do their jobs — protected by the First Amendment — without facing the personal dangers from government officials, law enforcement workers and overreacting individuals.

The democratic foundation established for the people who live in the United States should be powerful enough to protect all its citizens.

More hazards are occurring with direct attacks on journalists and that is an extremely un-American mistake that savagely damages our democratic principles.