The First Amendment is nonnegotiable
There is no reason to arrest a journalist in the course of doing her job. Freedom of the press is enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution to ensure that the people will always know what their government is doing in their name. Detaining a member of the press for lawfully covering a protest against police actions is chilling, and unacceptable.
Tara O’Neill, a Hearst Connecticut Media reporter who frequently covers law enforcement issues and especially Bridgeport police, was briefly taken into custody Thursday night. City police were breaking up a demonstration to mark the anniversary of a young person’s death at the hands of that same police department, an understandably fraught situation but one that is without question in the public interest to know about.
O’Neill clearly identified herself as a member of the media. She told an officer who approached her, “This is a public sidewalk and I’m the press.” Just the same, she was handcuffed and taken into custody.
It was a confusing scene, including many officers and an unhappy though by all accounts peaceful crowd. But there was no mistaking what O’Neill
said, and no question at all as to her right to be where she was. The police erred badly in taking her into custody.
As O’Neill told it, the officer who arrested her “profusely apologized and said he didn’t know I was the media.” Even so, the First Amendment also protects the rights of people to assemble peacefully, which was also abridged, and not only in her case.
If police are not trained to know not to arrest someone who is reporting on the scene, then it’s frightening to think what else their training has missed. This is basic knowledge for anyone in law enforcement.
Free press advocates called the arrest “disturbing,” “chilling” and “extremely troubling,” all of which is true. What was not helpful was Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim calling the protest a “very difficult situation.” It is not difficult, and is in fact to be expected, that police don’t arrest members of the media.
Police departments around the state are facing incidents that are undermining the public trust and the willingness of people to work with law enforcement toward common goals. These include the recent fatal shooting by police of a driver in Wethersfield, the wounding of a woman sitting in her car in New Haven and an incident in Bridgeport where 17 officers faced discipline over misconduct allegations including using excessive force and lying to investigators.
The incident under protest Thursday night, the killing by Bridgeport police of a city teenager two years ago, angered many in the community, not least because the officer responsible was cleared of wrongdoing and continues to serve.
As police across the state look to rebuild the public’s trust, they cannot ignore the rights of the public to know what their government is doing. Full understanding of the rights and duties of the media is not something to hope for — it’s a demand.
If police are not trained to know not to arrest someone who is reporting on the scene, then it’s frightening to think what else their training has missed.