LAPD Made Sure The Whole World Ain't Watching

Submitted by Ruth Fowler on

Ruth Fowler's picture

As both a journalist who occasionally freelances for the mainstream media, and an Occupier, I find myself in a conflicted position regarding reporting on Occupy LA. My personal affinity towards the movement means that I am loathe to write about it in the mainstream media with any kind of objectivity. The flipside of this is that rarely is the mainstream media itself impartial or unbiased. I do, however, frequently pass on accurate information to publications such as The Guardian when it does not conflict with the solidarity of the movement. For example, The Guardian's recent reporting on Eviction Night was crap, so I wrote in and corrected it with accurate details. I'm sure they probably ignored me. But anyway.

Referring again to The Guardian, a recent article by Naomi Wolf, entitled The Shocking Truth About the Crackdown on Occupy, caused a furore across the internet. It's advent was timely, given the tweets sent out by the LAPD today announcing a media pool for Occupy LA:

#LAPD meeting to do lottery to select “pool media” for future #OccupyLA activity. Interested media in pool must have rep attend mtg @ 7:15pm
 
RT @DavidBegnaud: #LAPD media relations to hold news conference at 7:15pm tonight @LAPDHQ regarding #occupyla #ktla

The repercussions of this are tremendous: this essentially means from now onwards, only a limited number of pre-agreed media endorsed by LAPD are allowed on Solidarity Park (formerly known as City Hall) property to report on Occupy LA and our battles with the LAPD and City Council's attempts to evict us. I immediately emailed a member of the press who was in this meeting representing a MSM publication, and received this response:
 
They were only going to let in one media outlet for each medium (print, tv and radio) but we convinced them to let in three....the only media eligible for pool were those who were on the LAPD press release list and able to get to headquarters with an hours notice. So very few were represented at the meeting. I asked about independent radio/blogs and they said that only media with LAPD-issued badges would be allowed in the vicinity. I asked about those already at the camp and they said after the unlawful assembly order everyone who doesn't leave will be arrested, even those who are journalists. Our attorney was looking into whether there were legal challenges to be made.

Once again, a clear violation of First Amendment Rights is occuring over Occupy LA and its eviction. It remains to be seen whether other members of the MSM excluded from the pool adhere to it or not, but the banning of MSM from the scene of Occupy LA during its eviction severely inhibits the press from reporting fairly and accurately, as well as protecting Occupiers from police abuses, which are frequently deterred by the presence of the media. Last night, on the street, one of the chants heard often was "The Whole World is Watching".

LAPD listened to that, and instantly addressed it, so that they can make sure the whole world isn't watching. Only those MSM outlets they choose to filter our information are going to be watching Occupy LA and LAPD's attempts to evict us.

Note: California Penal Code Section 409.5 clearly states reasons that the LAPD and other agencies may close areas due to public health concerns, riots, civil disturbances or calimities (earthquakes, fires, floods, etc)  -- but -- Section D of 409.5 states:

(D) NOTHING IN THIS SECTION SHALL PREVENT A DULY AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF ANY NEWS SERVICE, NEWSPAPER, RADIO OR TELEVISON STATION OR NETWORK FROM ENTERING THE AREAS CLOSED PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION. (bold mine)

14 Comments

This info needs to get out widely!

Submitted by Lee on

How can this info get out more broadly and create pushback? Your blog post is not even featured on this website yet. One thing it shows is that, regardless of the relatively low police violence toward Occupy LA so far, they are treating it as a war. This kind of limited pool coverage was first used to control public awareness about the war in Iraq, I think, and was based on the Pentagon's research about how to avoid what happened with the US public turning against the war in Vietnam. 

 

Leone

The LA Times actually

Submitted by PC on

The LA Times actually mentioned it in one of their stories about the non-eviction Monday morning. As far as I know, they have not publicly taken a position against it and I personally wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them to do so...

I have Eyes

Submitted by yellowfinch1 on

I have eyes and and the capability to record any abuse I see with my phone. I used to hate social networking, but thank God for it now! You young people woke me up! I am 54 years old, female,losing my home to foreclosure, underemployed, followed all the rules, paid my taxes, educated my children,never took charity-always gave; I am the 99%. So  me and my old eyes are on our way down there now, I will help serve unbiased media-I will witness and I will stand with those brave and strong enough to occupy. As Michael Moore so eloquntly put it; there are more of us then there are of them. I owe it to the occupy people to go stand with you Thank you, thank you, thank you!

JoAnne P Sparrow

On Press Pools...

Submitted by jessicapupovac on

The so-called text message press release sent out by the LAPD tonight pisses me off.

In an astonishing display of presumption, they announced that they would establish a “pool media” through which they would start allowing reporters into the occupied area, or so says Ruth Fowler.

If you are going to invoke historically rare and extreme press policies, at least get the reference right.

Ashamed of our country

Submitted by chris310 on

This has really made me ashamed of living here.  I love our country but hate our government and law enforcement. I mean, I really hate them. Where is the uprising about how the PD acted by restricting free press, violent attacks on people leaving the Occupation, etc. What shocks me is just how angry the PD are when they attack the citizens here when the PD are only exploited by the 1% to protect their agenda. It is only getting worse.

supporter of OLA thinks this should not be made about the LAPD

Submitted by sa1975 on

Guys, I'm going to come across as a b*tch, but it has to be said.  

What happened between the cops and OWS in NYC and Oakland was krap.  I'm grateful that OLA did not incite violence and that the cops were non-violent. 

Mind you, you ARE provoking the cops.  

IF what I heard about DHS is correct, then the mayor may have been acting out of tolerance.  I know that you have to work with the organizers of the nationalized movement but I think OLA should have worked with the city, at least for PR reasons.

I understand that resistance is necessary evil, however resistance should be used as a measure of LAST resort.  

The movement from what I understand is dissent against the banks.  We ALL know that people get nasty and mean when any issue comes to money.  Get some thick skin.  Affluent money managers have been severely libeled, by Bloomberg and the WSJ when they attempted to call the banks out.  I sound like a bitch, but for the trouble you're almost risking losing any relevance to the cause when you have so much more potential.  

You're also in Southern California which means that you're surrounded by materialism and superficiality.  People here are very image conscious, they put themselves in debt for life simply to look wealthy.  People don't always pride themselves on intellegence (see Adam Corrolla) and this area is full of Boomers who like to take out adjustable rate mortgages to buy homes they can't afford to make real estate excessively expensive, even when it's economically unthinkable.  Again, people are simply greedy and not super intellegent.  That's how it is. 

There will be a resistance simply due to perceived superficial images.  Los Angeles is not like San Francisco.  Nobody here will look down on you for taking an office space.  Actually the better you treat and pamper yourselves, the more respect you'll get from the local populace.   

About the cops.  I noticed that they would rather not arrest the Occupiers.   Believe me, they'll take you to traffic court faster than a NY minute to get their $460 fine for minor traffic violations so yes they are aggressive.  However, in this case I noticed that there was a lot of tolerance towards OLA and yes I can say that I'm happy with them.  

The Mayor has  his own issues with Wall Street regarding the interest rate swaps.  Cool  

A lot of people here have made a killing without Wall STreet, if you haven't noticed James Cameron blew Wall Street out of the water in profits with his last movie.   These people won't be so quick to condemn your movement because many people in NY are there because they want to be Wall Street.  

But at the same time you WANT to work WITH the people here and it's almost better to get less coverage if you're getting the right coverage.  They were curious about what you were up to.   THey didn't already know.  

WIN THE AUDIENCE.  

ASSERTIVELY.  

IN FIRST PERSON.  

Don't wait for the media.  Tolerance is a super-wonderful human quality.  But don't push it.  Nobody goes to Skid Row.  Nobody cares if you feed and house them.  

If Skid Row comes to you...again, an office space may have been a better idea?  

LA isn't the safest town in the world.  I personally think that Santa Monica or even a spot on campus somewhere would be a better location.  The students are a valuable reference for people with questions on how to work on grievances with the government, etc.  

Skid Row and the anarchists are hiding the benefits of this movement to the public.  I wouldn't go to put up with that, I actually left San Francisco to get away from it.  

When the cops got stuck at City Hall the other night, violent crimes in neighborhoods went up.  People want the cops back in their respective areas.  

And lastly, I have no grievances with the LAPD or the Mayor.  They didn't sell $600 trillion worth of counterfeit subprimes.   I don't want to make this about the cops, it should've been a minor setback to the movement and the objective needs to remain about empowering democracy over racketeers.  

 

Peace and Hugs!  

 

 

I tend to think...

Submitted by jmd8800 on

A blogger on OccupyLA website should not be involved with facilitation committee...... Kinda like a New York Times political columnist also working as a senator. Too much conflict of interest for me.

Hopefully things for OccupyLA will get into focus now. wouldn't want LA to be left out of the revolution.

"Since we don't know where we're going we have to stick together in case someone gets there." Ken Kesey

Nonsense it IS about LAPD and the entire police state country

Submitted by Acristofani on

"win the audience"

To try to 'win the audience' via mainstream media (which is what by default he's talking about) is probably the most wasteful, self-fulfilling, counterevolutionary mistake OLA continues to make.  There is nothing that can be done about the smear stories.  The 1% owns the media that generate them.  You ignore them and tell the truth and live principled.  The truth is:  everything ruth said.  And it gets worse after this--police brutality I witnessed myself.

When in doubt tell the truth. - mark twain

Not Public Menace, It was Enforcement and Arrests CA PC 636(a)

Submitted by Pini on

Your initial error to classify this as a "public menace." Nothing was "taped off" initially.

The police were arresting people for "violations of law" and citizen journalists can easily be charged with a felony being. A citizen liable for a felony under CA Penal Code 636 (a):

"Every person who, without permission from all parties to the conversation, eavesdrops on or records, by means of an electronic device, a conversation, or any portion thereof, between a person who is in the physical custody of a law enforcement officer or other public officer, or who is on the property of a law enforcement agency or other public agency, and that person's attorney, religious adviser, or licensed physician, is guilty of a felony."

The police unions got the law against police being recorded passed.  Police can record you but you can't record them if they are arresting someone or you. That includes journalists, paid or not.

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