During the protests that erupted in response to the killing of Michael Brown by a Ferguson,
Missouri, Police Officer, numerous reporters covering the story have been arrested by law
enforcement. Some journalists even claim that they were assaulted and harassed. Actions
that Press Freedom Groups are condemning as violations of the journalists’ first amendment
rights. But what are those rights exactly?
Well, the First Amendment gives citizens the right to freedom of speech and freedom of
the press. These are the rights that enable reporters to say and print whatever stories
they want. And if that was all reporters ever did then there would be no issue. But they
also investigate incidents, gather information, and attempt to access people, places and things...
And there is no constitutional amendment to protect those rights.
So their freedoms can be limited. For example, journalists can be denied access to prisons
or prisoners. They can also be denied access to people in protective custody and crime
scenes. Government meetings, transcripts and information can be labeled classified, and
kept from journalists. In some instances, the Government can also intimidate journalists
by withholding access to officials or by forcing them to reveal their sources under threat
of imprisonment. All examples of how our freedom of the press is not technically free.
And to make matters worse, journalists’ constitutional freedoms can also temporarily
be taken away by law enforcement. And Ferguson is a perfect example of this. The journalists
arrested there were all in public, attempting to gather news via observation and interview.
All of which is 100% legal. Despite that, police still arrested or detained these journalists,
removing them from the situation and preventing them from further reporting on it. And these
journalists couldn’t claim freedom of the press to get out of being illegally detained.
Freedom of the press may be a powerful argument in court, but it is not a particularly persuasive
argument when someone is arresting you.
Now, the only recourse that the these journalists have is to file a lawsuit or have an after-the-fact
discussion with officials. But the damage is already done, they can’t go back in time
and reclaim their freedom of the press from the night before.
In Ferguson, reporters have been illegally detained numerous times. They’ve also been
illegally prevented from taking pictures or video. And there is nothing they can do to
And that is one of the many reasons that international groups like Reporters Without Borders and
Freedom House give the US a poor Freedom Of The Press Ranking. The US is currently tied
for 30th on the Freedom House list and 46th on the Reporters Without Borders list.
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