Journalists aressted outside Republican National Convention

By: Erin Floro

On September 5, 2008 at the Republican National Convention many reporters were arrested while trying to photograph the anti-war protestors. The St. Paul police told everyone to leave and no one did, even the reprters. This was in violation of the law, but they were just doing their job! The police didn't care who was who, everyone was getting sent to jail.

Nathan Weber, a photojurnalist was shooting pictures Monday and police threw him to the ground, beat him, and then arrested him. This is absurd, police could tell who was a journalist and who wasn't. Police used grenades, smoke, pepperspray, and tear gas on both reporters and protestors. A journalist stated "It's not hard to see who's media and who's not, even if you have two cameras, a tool belt, and a credential handing around your neck, it's pretty clear who's media and who's a protester." They confiscated many of the journalists equipment and personal belongings. I feel this was completely unnecessary

Reporters had dealt with covering the stories of the debates before, no one was as strict as in Minnesota, they had no tolerance for anyone there. Some of the major reporters there were photojournalists from the University of Kentucky and their student advsor, Associated Press journalist Matt Rourke, Twin Cities journalist, and many more. Sometimes journalists will do whatever it takes to get a story.