Straight Talk

Groups criticize police targeting of journalists at G20 protests in Toronto

by Stephen Hui on June 28th, 2010 at 9:16 PM
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      Groups representing Canadian journalists say they’re disturbed by reports of members of the news media being intimidated, roughed up, and arrested while covering the protests against the G20 summit in Toronto.

      Canadian Journalists for Free Expression released today (June 28) a partial list of journalists reportedly targeted by police:

      ”¢ Two National Post photographers Brett Gundlock and Colin O’Connor were arrested and charged;
      Ӣ CTV News Channel producer Farzad Fatholahzadeh was detained;
      Ӣ Freelance journalist Jesse Rosenfeld was beaten and arrested by police;
      Ӣ Liem Vu, an intern with the National Post, and Lisan Jutras, a Globe and Mail journalist, were among those detained for four hours at Queen and Spadina;
      Ӣ Real News journalist Jesse Freeston was punched in the face by a police officer;
      Ӣ Torontoist journalist Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy was struck by a police officer with a baton;
      Ӣ Video journalist Brandon Jourdan was thrown to the ground and beaten by police.

      In its press release, CJFE cited “reports that journalists on several occasions were stopped from covering the protests”. It’s backing calls for an inquiry into security plans and police tactics around the G20 summit.

      “Based on the facts available to us at this time, we’re very disturbed by what appears to be overly aggressive tactics directed both at protestors and the media,” CJFE president Arnold Amber stated in the release. “When a major disturbance occurs in Canada’s largest city, the role of the journalist is to inform the public. All accredited journalists had been vetted by security officials. There is no reason for them to have been detained or attacked while doing their work.”

      The Canadian Association of Journalists said today that it expects the authorities to investigate any incidents involving police harassment and abuse of journalists.

      “Police must understand that, like them, journalists have a job to do in the public interest,” Mary Agnes Welch, president of the CAJ, said in a press release. “Lumping us in with protesters or blocking us from covering events is not consistent with the democratic principles that police are sworn to uphold.”

      You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenhui.

      Comments

      7 Comments

      theduke

      Jun 28, 2010 at 11:48pm

      Well.....450 citizens+ 20 journo's on 20 cops ....and so called 'Journo's' provoking, poking, antagonizing, and trying to make a name for ones self...yes you know its true....it's bound to happen.
      The idea of a safe zone for secured persons is just that ...'SECURE". This has nothing to do with free speech, or 'claimed rights', its about SAFETY.
      Protest all you will, without the security of the educated leaders ( not the hippies, followers, whiners, social welfare rapists), the utter lower demographic will rise to the top;you have welfare cheques because we allow it.....dont make us take it away.

      RodSmelser

      Jun 29, 2010 at 7:52am

      ===>>> theduke

      You sound like the guy who talks about welfare-transit.

      Rod Smelser

      Hu Gadarn

      Jun 29, 2010 at 8:02am

      Create havoc and expect a response. But that is the point of those who create havoc (radical leftists), i.e. expect the rest of us to react and to support those who do so in our name (police).

      James Larssonn

      Jun 29, 2010 at 8:57am

      I noticed a lot of the journalists who got caught up in the heat of the action were from CanWest media services, what, no glib remarks from the Straight?

      Its no use for protesters to cry and wail that we aren't doing anything, that we're spending too much on security, that we're not pursuing global issues. WE ARE. Just let it go, this isn't the fascist police state dictatorship you keep moaning about, if we aren't giving as much aid as you like then I suggest you go ask your Member of Parliament why, because its not the PM's fault.

      Oh we spent a billion on security and only a billion on global aid. Oh woe is me, why is our society so corrupt by the elitists? We only spent a billion on security because of s**thead protesters swarming a meeting. Maybe if all the protesters stayed home and donated their fares for planes, trains and gas money for automobiles we'd actually make up a couple million to alleviate poverty. But no, idiots had to spend money on the corporations that they claim to hate, the corporations they claim are doing bad things.

      You can't protest about people making less than $1 a day while you have an iPod in your pocket MADE BY SOMEONE BEING PAID LESS THAN $1 A DAY! You decry the oil industry YET YOU FLEW AND DROVE TO TORONTO! You dislike the police even though they're YOUR ONLY HELP WHEN YOU GET SEXUALLY ASSAULTED OR STABBED! You call the government all sorts of names and yet you do not remember that THE GOVERNMENT IS ALLOWING YOU TO HAVE UNRESTRICTED INTERNET, A FREE PRESS, RIGHTS TO LIVE NORMALLY, PROTECTION FROM CRIME, A TOP NOTCH LEGAL SYSTEM, ETC ETC.

      If you disagree with any of my points and continue to think that the protesters are all in the right then you should get out of Canada, become an expat, we'll still let you be a Canadian citizen abroad, because your thinking is not what Canada is.

      Where's my credibility? My family has been contributing to Canadian society for the past 200 years. There's my credibility.

      Strategis

      Jun 29, 2010 at 12:35pm

      By targeting peaceful protestors and journalists indiscriminately, and giving the vandals a free ticket to break windows and trash police cars, the police and their handlers have managed public perception by shaping the events of the day. Journalists were prevented from documenting the events on the ground, and will be less likely to put themselves in harm's way (from the rubber bullet and stick wielding police), and the public can be systematically misinformed by the central propaganda office. Protestors will be discouraged from showing up at future protests.

      By allowing the vandalism the police and security establishment justify their own existence and the billions of dollars a year they draw from the public purse.

      A public inquiry could be useful to expose the facts, but if it's like others it will drag out over a decade, and by the time they come up with a report this weekend and meaningless conference will be long forgotton.

      Future conferences of this kind should be held on deserted islands or on military vessels where they can be ringed by naval destroyers for security. That will save alot of costs for the taxpayer. No one cares about these international politicians who hide behind billion dollar security fences. They may as well be using teleconferencing to work out their Orwellian schemes for global damnation.