Whatever one thinks about the Occupy movement, or about a bunch of noisy young people blocking traffic in places they shouldn't, the arrest of a journalist covering news is very troubling. Disconcerting, in a creepy, police-state sort of way.
Journal Sentinel editor Martin Kaiser said the photographer did not ignore any commands from the officers. "She was clearly not part of the protest," Kaiser said. "... Her arrest was completely uncalled for and violates the First Amendment."
In this era of protests aplenty — with Madison having a well-earned reputation as a hyper-hot-spot for protests — it's good to remember the First Amendment and what it does for us, with "us" meaning our community and not simply the news media.
Gene Policinski of the First Amendment Center put it this way when writing about the arrest of a reporter in Nashville, Tenn., at an earlier Occupy event: "So when police improperly arrest a journalist who simply is reporting at a scene, they do more than violate one person's rights — they attack our collective, constitutional right to know from a free and independent source what our government is doing so that we may hold it accountable."


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