Convention Blog

Forum: Media And Police At The RNC

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:29:18 GMT

Dozens of journalists, including WCCO photographer Tom Aviles, were arrested during the RNC two weeks ago in St. Paul. Some of us, including WCCO photographer Dave Chaney and me, got caught up in the chaos and were in the middle of smoke grenades and flash bangs when officers dispersed a crowd that refused to leave the street in front of Mickey's Diner.

Long after the smoke has cleared and the arrested journalists prepare to take their cases to court, there is a lot of debate on how far journalists should go to do their jobs and what can be done to prevent so many journalists from being arrested in the future. This debate is somewhat new to us in Minnesota but other jurisdictions, including Los Angeles, have already come up with some guidelines for allowing media access to areas otherwise off limits.

One of the biggest challenges: who, and how, do you define who qualifies as a journalist these days in a world of bloggers and other new media?

This Monday at 7 p.m., Al Tompkins from the Poynter Institute will moderate a panel at the University of Minnesota called "The Media and Law Enforcement at the RNC - What Went Wrong, What Went Right?"

Its sponsors include the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the . Panelists will include a top St. Paul police official and members of the news media. I also plan to be there, along with my daughter who is studying journalism at the U.

Should be a very interesting, and lively, discussion! I have posted some reports and raw video below from some key "hot spots" during the RNC which I hope gives you a better picture of four days on the streets of St. Paul, which were unlike any I have ever experienced in 31 years on the crime beat. Hope you will check them out and come by on Monday night.

RAW VIDEO
NOTE: These videos are unedited and contain strong language.
RNC Protesters At Mickey's Diner
RNC Protesters On John Ireland Bridge
CODEPINK Protesters On Wabasha Street

REPORTS, ETC.
Police Clash With Protestors
Protestors Stop Traffic In St. Paul
'Democracy Now' Confronts Cops About Arrests
WCCO-TV News Crew Surrounded By Protesters
Police Fire Gas Into Crowds
WCCO Crew Gets Look At The Other Side Of Protests

Update: From the LA Times: Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton announced today his plans to discipline 11 officers and called for the termination of four others for their roles in a May Day melee last year in which police were accused of using excessive force to clear immigration protesters and journalists from MacArthur Park. Read the article by clicking here.

Posted by: Caroline Lowe, reporter, WCCO-TV

Cheers For An Arrest

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:41:49 GMT

The crowd cheered as cops scooped up a guy who had been taunting them and shouting obscenities at the protesters.

Posted by: Caroline Lowe, WCCO-TV reporter

Tense Start To The Rally

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:28:12 GMT

The protest rally is off to tense start. Two people were arrested by cops as the crowed taunted in front of Capitol.

Police said both people were arrested for criminal damage to property. Everyone is on edge.

Click here to watch raw video of the arrests.

Posted by: Caroline Lowe, WCCO-TV reporter

RNC Welcoming Committee Addresses Media

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:24:23 GMT

After spending most of the week silent to the media, members of the RNC Welcoming Committee opened up in a nearly two-hour press conference. Compared to many of the press conferences I've covered, this was a mostly one-way affair, with few questions answered directly. (At one point, an answer was fielded by a representative only after she found the correct page in her notebook.) To other questions, they offered information about their lawyers' presser later this afternoon. Interesting, though, that the location where they were raided ...

... has a clear, if distant view of the State Capitol and Xcel ...

Six representatives for the RNC Welcoming Committee spoke:

(from left) Celia Kutz and William Gillis

Betsy Raasch-Gilman

As the presser was held inside the space raided and briefly shut down last Friday, they kept the damaged door preserved and the projector being used to watch what they insisted was "a documentary" in its original position. Very media saavy. (Before the conference started, someone in the crowd asked if FOX News was there. Their photographer identified herself.)

Anyway, most of the conference was devoted to topics and statements they had already disseminated earlier in the week (the presser at Bushville on Tuesday morning, for example). On the other hand, they did offer comment on two of the hottest, most bloggable aspects of the protests, arrests and raids: that Macy's window and those buckets of urine. Watch this video to hear Betsy Raasch-Gilman talk about the window and whether or not she felt it constituted a violent act. And, because I know you're going to want to, click here to hear William Gillis' comments about urine and the media/police fascination with what he described as "scatology."

Another thing those videos, I think, make clear is that, whatever the intentions of the RNC Welcoming Committee or any other protesters arrested by police for alleged violent acts, they know a good sound bite. Representatives from both the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign as well as the Hip-Hop Congress were invited to give statements to the media as well, and among the easily clippable bon mots I caught:

-- (On the number of felony-level arrests) "Urine is not a felony."
-- (On arrests that don't translate to charges) "Whoops has to stop being acceptable."
-- (On their perception of media indifference to their cause) "We can only write a press release so well."
-- (On being homeless and outspoken) "A closed mouth doesn't get filled."

"This is not a game," was what one of them kept repeating. "You can quote me on that ... The neutrality of the media is a liability." What do you think? Has WCCO managed to strike an accurate balance of the politics surrounding security in the Twin Cities during the RNC? Earlier this week, Jason DeRusha addressed the role and responsibility of media in covering the event, especially as it related to citizen journalists. In any case, the question will be put to the test at about 4 p.m. at the State Capitol, as the RNC Welcoming Committee has promised another demonstration.

Posted by: Eric Henderson, web producer, WCCO.COM

Day 4 On The Security Beat

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:14:38 GMT

Day 4 of the RNC is off to a slow start on security beat. Photographer Dave Chaney and I wrapped up Day 3 about 1 a.m. with arrests in downtown Minneapolis of about 100 young folks who were hanging out and sitting in the streets after the Rage Against the Machine concert at Target Center.

The crowd was rowdy and was taunting cops but nobody got violent or broke anything downtown. It reminded me of bar closing time downtown when the crowds spill out into the streets.

At the daily police briefing this morning, the St. Paul police chief said he thought things are going well from law enforcement perspective. He said officers are prepared to work with protesters to keep a march peaceful this afternoon and ready to respond with force if things become disruptive as they did the first two days of RNC.

Dave and I got caught in the clash Tuesday night when police used smoke canisters and flash-bang devices to clear the street in front of Mickey's Diner, so we remembered to pack some face masks yesterday and today.

We didn't have to use them last night in Minneapolis and hope we don't need them today after the rally and march in St. Paul. 4:00 is the scheduled kick-off time at the State Capitol.

Posted by: Caroline Lowe, WCCO-TV reporter

Crowd Cheering Released Protestors

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:41:41 GMT

Here are the latest arrest figures:

- 319 total arrested in disturbances in St. Paul this week.

- 32 Cases were heard in night court this evening.

A large crowd outside the law enforcement center is clapping as people are freed. Police are standing by to keep the peace.

Posted by: Liz Collin, reporter, WCCO-TV

RNC Welcoming Committee

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:44:19 GMT

One of the biggest complaints about the people causing trouble during the protests is that they don't answer questions. I've been to several news conferences by the Republican Welcoming Committee, going back months, and they never take questions. They use fake names. It's silly.

This just in: According to the latest "Press advisory" from the group titled "RNC Welcoming Committee to Unmask, Answer Questions", the group will take media inside their "convergence center" tomorrow at 10 a.m.

They say they "will show the true faces and stories of the RNC Welcoming Committee."

I'm skeptical, but that's pretty much my job. WCCO will be there tomorrow.

Posted by: Jason DeRusha, WCCO-TV reporter

Police Ready For Trouble

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:25:44 GMT

Just saw first arrest of man outside Target Center. Heavy police presence as folks line up for concert.

Posted by: Caroline Lowe, WCCO-TV reporter

RNC Day 3 Peaceful Thus Far

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:57:02 GMT

Browsing through blogs and Twitters and viewer comments, it's not too difficult to find people decrying the media coverage of the scattered pockets of protest that fell somewhat short of "peaceful." The numbers that have been accepted as mantra: 10,000 showed up to rally and march peacefully, 200 to 300 were arrested by police, coverage of the protests on the whole has been about 50-50 between the two.

(One number I believe could also be thrown into the mix is how many journalists -- professional and grassroots alike -- are also wandering around through the streets. They are legion, and easily as everpresent downtown as people holding Ron Paul signs or placards reading "McCan't." The high-profile arrest of Amy Goodman of Democracy Now says a tad less to be about overreactive authoritarianism as it does offer testament to just how many of us are in the mix, ready to have our cameras up when the black helmets and pepper spray canisters come out. WCCO alone has devoted four crews to cover protest activities.)

Maybe it's the air in St. Paul (which is starkly cooler, the humidity all but evaporated) that has shifted media attention on protesters back onto the peaceful. Indeed, where else could it be? Ramsey County reported a total of 3 arrests on Wednesday as of 4:45 p.m., only one of which related to a possible felony.

Match that lack of criminal activity with that flood of journalists milling about, and you get cameras trained on novelty, especially in Rice Park, which represents the closest spot masses of people can get to outside Rivercenter and Xcel. Here a stonefaced journalist takes detailed notes by a woman using two pigs to illustrate her point.

I saw a news camera trained on a street saxophonist for what seemed like minutes (minutes!) of b-roll. A few minutes ago, we offered a video stream of police and protesters seemingly getting ready to clash that lasted for all of four minutes before we realized nothing happened. Is love finally in the air? This video seems to suggest it is. Lucy even got back to reading her book today.

There were, of course, protests, but they were by and large peaceful, if still resolutely outspoken. At one point in Rice Park, a group of 9/11 conspiracy theorists converged with a small bunch of Ron Paul supporters and the group staked out the giant MSNBC stage set up in the middle of the park.

Here's MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell talking while the group behind her chanted "9/11 was an inside job." It was clearly audible through her microphone.

Sure they were espousing a quintessentially controversial viewpoint, and yes they were using the media to further their message, but the protest was peaceful and the most violent action it begat was some athletic eye-rolling from others nearby. Certainly none of the confusion and chaos that marked Monday afternoon and Tuesday evening. Wednesday afternoon's dissent almost seemed organic and natural, exactly how those 10,000 people would likely wish to have their message presented.

Posted by: Eric Henderson, web producer, WCCO.COM

Felony Charges

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:32:28 GMT

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office has charged 16 adults and 5 juveniles with felonies following their arrests related to protests in St. Paul. Six other cases are pending.

Prosecutors also dismissed 27 cases.

The St. Paul City Attorney charged another 47 people with gross misdemeanors. A few more cases were released pending further investigation.

Posted by: Toby Collodora, executive editor, WCCO.COM