Amy Goodman, one of four journalists arrested at an anti-RNC protest, tells her story

Amy Goodman, the host of the popular radio and television program "Democracy Now!" was at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul on Monday, interviewing members of the Alaska delegation, when her phone rang with alarming news.

“I got a call that two of our producers had been bloodied by the police,” Goodman said. “I did not stop running until I got to where they were.”

The producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, had been reporting on the protest of the convention that was the unfolding several blocks away. Most of the estimated 10,000 people in the march were peaceful. But, according to police, a group of about 200 had fractured off and were breaking windows, slashing tires and harassing delegates.

Police arrested 286 people, according to the Associated Press. Kouddous and Salazar were among them. Matt Rourke, a photographer with the AP, was also arrested.

News gathering is a constitutionally protected activity in the United States. But although Kouddous, Salazar and Rourke were wearing credentials that identified them as members of the press, they were held on riot charges. Salazar suffered a bloody nose after being dragged, face-down on the ground, according a statement released by "Democracy Now!"

When Goodman arrived at the scene 20 minutes later, she asked the riot police if she could see her producers, who were being held in police vehicles. “I just said, 'I want to talk to a commander,' ” said Goodman, who had her own press badge slung around her neck. “They didn’t skip a beat; they just started arresting me.”

The scene was captured on video -- a clip that was one the most-viewed videos on YouTube.com on Tuesday. In it, Goodman is seen pleading with the police while her arms are twisted behind her back and into plastic handcuffs.

All four journalists were released hours after being arrested. Goodman was officially charged with obstruction of a legal process and interference with a peace officer.

"Democracy Now!" plans to continue its coverage of the protests despite the police presence, which Goodman described as "overly aggressive."

"I was very angry. This was a violation of my rights," Goodman said. "But
it’s so much bigger than us. When the press is shut down, it's closing the eyes and ears of a critical watchdog in a democratic society."

-- Kate Linthicum

Photo of Amy Goodman by Michael Keel via Democracy Now!

Comments

[Hmmmm]

She was clearly ordered back by the police and she chose to ignore their orders and pushed herself at them. She deserved to be arrested. Just because she is a journalist doesn't give her carte blanche to order them around while several police are working at maintaining order. I am bothered by her attitude. I also will tell you I'm a staunch democrat and a former journalism student if that makes any difference. Shame on her for disobeying good policemen risking their lives at what they do.

[sean k]

RURAL AMERICAN? No, really? Could have fooled me. You seem so educated and enlightened. Interesting how you failed to mention what kind of 'mischief' Goodman was involved in. Apparently it was asking to speak to a commander after her producer was dragged by the face across the pavement. Everyone who supports Mc Cain and the GOP make sure to read RURAL AMERICAN's post. These are you peers and like minded supporters. Still feel superior?

[jobservation]

I am appalled at how many people in this country have been pushed to such a reactionary state of mind that they think it's perfectly fine for journalists wearing press badges to be even so much as troubled, let alone arrested, while doing their jobs.

Look, folks: There is always a Hitler waiting in the wings. Get over your fears and turn off the talk radio and do please leave off with making yourselves out to be victims of "left wing" media. It is just pathetic. The media in this country are all pro-corporate and supine as whores; it's just that the right-wing organs don't even have to pretend that they care about democracy or equality.

I am still not giving up hope on this country becoming a civilized community of informed adults, in spite of the tide apparently rising for the Fourth Reich.

[Tharms]

Folks, this is just a taste of the fascism we can expect if we allow our government to continue on this path. And no, this is not a Left versus Right thing, it is a Government versus us thing. People should not have to be afraid of their government, or of goons dressed in black swaggering through our streets arresting people for asking questions.

[Ed L.]

The American government should crack down on the press and disallow these sorts of crazy public demonstration - just like they do in China. It's was the crazy liberal media criticizing China during the olympics...

Palin is my hero. I don't care if she's unqualified, she's pro-choice and love guns. She's going to save the world.

[greg]

Are all of you people that brainwashed into thinking protestors are terrorists? You can't ask an officer to talk to a commander, wow, heil Hitler becasue we must be in Nazi Germany now...

[Anon]

Pete,

At 8am today you said, "I couldn't be happier that four journalists were arrested as part of a police crackdown on violent protesters. "
Please consider that the police may have been"obstructing justice" by arresting the media which documents happenings. This documentation could be needed in proving police brutality- whether it happened or not or proving whether certain people were actually involved in the violence or not. The MEDIA should be considered a PUBLIC SERVICE just like the police. They should have special priviledge or access to places just like the police. They serve our democracy as part of the checks and balances on our system. They record events for historic accuracy. Would you feel so glad if the journalist arrested was Barbara Walters or Wolf Blizter? It will be VERY HARD to sort out who did what in the courts without any video evidence since they were arresting all the journalists with cameras. Think about it. What are the police so afraid of that they need to arrest journalists? What are they doing that they don't want to be seen on camera? You would think the police would actually want to have as many cameras rolling as possible to be able to sort things out later.

[Me]

People who justify the actions of the police based on "trying to prevent a riot" need to understand that this is the kind of stuff that starts riots. The police are there to serve and protect us, not bully and beat us down.

[tm]

Journalists being arrested. A complicit populace applauds it. Protestors of the arrests arrested. A complicit populace applauds it. A few in the complicit populace notice that their friends/neighbors/relatives are among the arrested protestors and express concern. They're arrested. A complicit populace applauds it, and throw a few of the friends/relatives/neighbors under the bus to show their "loyalty" -- and avoid arrest themselves. Suspicion rises. Enforcers beat the suspicious into submission.

A vision of the United States of America, circa 1935. Circa 2008?

"It Can't Happen Here," by Sinclair Lewis.

Read it. Know it. Believe it.

[maggie]

If the media is so liberal and leftist, why isn't the story of the arrest of Amy Goodman, one of the few remaining independent journalists in America, being covered on it? It's outrageous she was arrested, and even more outrageous that fellow journalists are not covering it.

It's just painfully obvious that some commenters have never even seen her program, Democracy Now on TV or heard it on the radio, or read her book, or heard her speak.

[Brian Alexander]

Why can't the liberals allow the Republican Convention to proceed without their disruptions?"

Because this is suppose to be a free country (it is not) and there is suppose to be a first amendment. That is why?

When Hitler was taking over Germany, don't you think people should have spoken up? How far does the US government have to go before you think they have gone too far. Will it not be too late when that finally sinks into your brain???

[A young point of view]

Hi.
I know that many people here would never respect the views of a fifteen year old. And I know that most of my opinions will probably be influenced by the adults in my life. But I like to think that I can be unbiased about this event.
I watched the video, I watched it twice. I believe that because a police officer is a human being who can be afraid and have bursts of adrenaline, mistakes are going to happen. Now before I get my head bitten off, I have to admit that arresting a reporter for wanting to know what happened to her producers is very, very wrong, and that we do have certain rights that cannot be taken away.
As Americans, we have a duty to protect our given civil rights. But, we need to know that everything has a limit. Power for the people is good, but Anarchy is not. I hate to think that as a country we must always be divided. Can't we reach some kind of a balance?
You may not realize it, but politics really affect people my age. It SCARES us. When I look to the future I don't see a warm and welcoming place, and that concerns me. And I think it should concern you too. The children of this country will run it someday. Do you really want this country to be ripped apart and broken for your kids and your grandchildren?
Think about it. It doesn't seem right.
If we keep fighting and getting violent over things like, a small protest, or a reporter looking for her producers, we will not be able to last. It won't work.
I'm not super left-wing, or super right-wing. And I don't know nearly enough about all of this. But I do know that without peace within our own societies, we will never be able to survive in the long run.

[Casey]

Thanks you, Arvin, for your comments. It seems harder and harder to find any news organization not beholden to stockholders shaping the "news."

[Sean Socco]

it would have only taken one cop out of the hundreds there to talk to her and it would have all worked out fine.

[dzent]

Sue the hell out of them, Amy. I hope you bankrupt the Twin Cities entirely for the behavior of their cops. This seems to be the only way to get their attention these days. The "posters" suggesting otherwise on these boards are mostly cops themselves or republican shills with money in security companies like Blackwater. Sue them until they back off all of us. We're Americans too, and it's our constitutional right to protest the last eight years of endless war, lies and robbery of our national wealth.

[Barbara, from Orlando]

Clearly it is the intention of the authorities to discipline us Americans, to show us their power, to train us to obedience.

A reasonable police response responding to her inquiry about her journalists would have denied them this function.

How fortunate for authoritarian governments everywhere that there are citizens like Rural American, Decline to State and Russ Miller of Ft. Worth to support them in their efforts, freedom-lovers each and every one

[Thomas]

I hope most of you making these evil comments end up on the wrong side of the police state yourselves.

Goodman was trying to gain access to her two colleagues. They heard the riot police and went out to film. Note they were on the police side, not amongst the rioters. Despite having PRESS CREDENTIALS AROUND THEIR NECKS, they were knocked down and handcuffed, one of them was kicked several times. She heard about it and ran from several blocks away to find them. She was angry and they pulled her over and arrested her.

Before being hoarded onto police vans, a secret serviceman came around and ripped their press credentials and convention pass off their necks.

But none of this matters to you fascist sympathising maniacs. First you want Muslims rounded up, then communists, then liberals, then I assume paleoconservatives and libertarians are next, since they are "unpatriotic" for opposing "terrorism". YOU ARE THE TERRORISTS!

[Thomas]

I hope most of you making these evil comments end up on the wrong side of the police state yourselves.

Goodman was trying to gain access to her two colleagues. They heard the riot police and went out to film. Note they were on the police side, not amongst the rioters. Despite having PRESS CREDENTIALS AROUND THEIR NECKS, they were knocked down and handcuffed, one of them was kicked several times. She heard about it and ran from several blocks away to find them. She was angry and they pulled her over and arrested her.

Before being hoarded onto police vans, a secret serviceman came around and ripped their press credentials and convention pass off their necks.

But none of this matters to you fascist sympathising maniacs. First you want Muslims rounded up, then communists, then liberals, then I assume paleoconservatives and libertarians are next, since they are "unpatriotic" for opposing "terrorism". YOU ARE THE TERRORISTS!

[Freedom Now]

Amy Goodman is an activist more than a journalist.

She thinks that she is entitled to special privileges because she masquerades as a journalist.

Here's some advice for anyone with similar delusions of grandeur... when you show up at a riot, listen to police instructions. Get out of the middle of the street and back on the sidewalk. Don’t expect a customer service representative to kiss your butt and wait on your inquiries.

If you disagree with me, then why don’t you just step outside to an intersection and stand there. See what happens when a cop comes and tells you to get back on the sidewalk…

Its not a Starbucks where she can insist on speaking to the manager so she can whine about customer service like the arrogant rich snob that she really is.

[Thurber]

Most of the comments I read here are utterly ignorant.

First of all, She was trying to find out what the hell happened to her colleagues, hearing they had been attacked, and they arrested her.

Second of all, people can protest whatever the hell they want. It's Freedom of speech and it makes this country great and if you don't agree with that you are about as American as Joe Stalin.

Third, Brian Alexander has the dumbest post I have ever read on any comment board.

It's events like this that shame the American people.

[Anti Gestapoite]

ANY reporter has the right to question and report ANYTHING a policemen is doing. ANYTIME. Regardless of a "Riotous" situation. I did not see any violence occurring around those cops. You could not hear any OTHER arrests being made when she got arrested. Those cops were sure in a stand-off and fighting back TONS of violent protesters at the time she was arrested. You say that she was CAUSING A POTENTIAL RIOT?
What are YOU smoking. She was exercising here rights and they were CLEARLY violated.

Forever Against SS Tactics,
AG

[Jon Rohr]

I don't remember any conservative journalists being arrested when the Democrats were in power. Neither do I remember designated areas where "Free Speech" is 'allowed' and where it isn't. I don't remember the press having their faces smashed in and dragged across pavement either.

I DID hear one of the police on the recording making a comment about how Ms. Goodman supposedly violating HIS constitutional rights somehow - mocking the constitution he has sworn to uphold as a representative of the government.

Your political party being in power does not give you more rights than everyone else nor does it mean that the rightful laws of this country no longer apply to you because you have 'powerful friends.'

Stop worshiping hegemony or when the pendulum inevitably swings everyone you pissed on for the last 8-12 years will come looking for you.

The viciousness I have read in some of these responses that my fellow 'citizens' have posted here is shameful. To call someone a terrorist because they fail to immediately snap to at a questionable order from a 'peace officer' serves only to make the word itself meaningless. Reserve it for when it is appropriate & stop dehumanizing people for the 'crime' of not sharing your opinions.

If a friend or co-worker of mine just had their face smashed in by the police I would also aggressively ask them what happened and why. Her mistake was apparently trying to talk to them as humans instead of yelling at them from behind the police line. Which sort of behavior seems less unreasonable? That they were released later with no charges filed proves that everyone here making claims that they were somehow part of the demonstration that they were reporting on patently false.

This is not about Amy Goodman and her producers personally being arrested. Who cares? What matters is that Press Passes issued by the police department in the first place are utterly worthless to protect the freedom of the press. ANY press.

[Matt]

I love all these posts. Julian equating the producers and children where Amy Goodman is the mother. The comparison would be more accurate if there was a group of rampaging kids breaking windows in the neighborhood and the G-8 summit was in the house next door. is AMy Goodman the mother of these producers? Are they not adults who can take care of themselves? What gives AMy Goodman the right to speak to a commander? Because she is press? Becaus she is pushy? She was told by police to get back to the sidewalk and refused, that is why she was arrested. She was arrested because she refused a police order, not because she is a journalist. Like it or not the police have a right and responsibilty to restore order during time of perceived rioting.
I also like the comparison to the Boston Tea party by True Patriot. The dupming of the tea was directed at the tea tax imposed on the colonies. WHat were the protesters doing breaking the glass and slashing tires, protesting the corning glass works in New York or the Goodyear plant in Ohio? Secondly, most of the Founding Fathers were wealthy land owners and businessmen; which would be todays Republicans. These same people pledged their Lives, Fortunes and Sacred Honor and risked everything during this time. Most of the Loyalists fled to New York and Canada, need i say more. The Declaration of Independence is still valid except for the fact we are not without representaton. In fact the Democrats took over Congress after the 2006 election and have done what?... nothing!

[Matt Duffy]

Dear 'Jesse',

Read don't skim. Democracy Now is not a protest group. Amy Goodman was not protesting. She is a journalist who went WITH HER FULL-CREDENTIALS to check on her producers. Her arrest was completely unwarranted. Why is there trouble at the RNC? Maybe people don't like being told what they can do with their own bodies. Maybe people don't like that the current administration completely ignores our seriously ill planet, and doesn't care about the health of every citizen. Maybe it is because people are sick and tired of the last 8 years of lies and are disgusted by the Republican administration who has perpetrated them.

[Seth White]

Freedom of the press is one of our most cherished and important rights in this country.

This is a violation of the very basic principles of democracy. And all of you ignorant people who support imprisoning journalists over politics diminish the sacrifice of millions of Americans who died for our liberties.

I'm sickened at this kind of behavior and even more so by those who defend and support the inexcusable trampling of our rights.