The North Dakota judge hearing the state's case against Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman tossed the "engaging in a riot" the charges out on their ear.
Reporting -- even reporting from, as the local prosecutor alleged and probably is correct about, "the sole viewpoint of justifying the actions of the protestors," acts up to and including crossing fences and closing emergency valves on an oil pipeline -- is not a crime. It's a Constitutionally-protected activity. Even if the reporter is a jerk; even if the reporter has in the past urged denying due process to persons or groups of whom she disapproves.
There are accounts of similar arrests targeting journalists, specifically ones with a large following and a strong slant towards the anti-pipeline side. Hello, North Dakota, meet The Streisand Effect. Better you should maybe listen to your judges.
Update
2 days ago
5 comments:
While it would be fun to think that "journalists" with whom one disagrees should be silenced for the good of the community, one must temper such amusing thoughts with their obvious counter: "How would you like it if they did that to YOU?"
The fact is that everybody really needs to calm down and get a grip.
The further fact is that nobody is going to do that until after November 8 -- and probably not then, either.
It was a nice Republic while we had it.
As someone who lives in ND, I thought the prosecutor was probably going out on a limb unless they had evidence that said reporter engaged in criminal tresspass or similar.
That said, the whole pipeline mess has been poorly reported in the major media, and the 'outrage' is mostly manufactured, as something less then 20% of the protesters are locals.
*shrug* Joys of the times.
"Better you should maybe listen to your judges."
Uhm, about that...
Including those judges appointed by radical Progressives?
Yes, Anon. Try to keep up. If you don't like it, vote harder. Work for impeachment.
Yeah, dammit. Remember that whole "rule of law" thing? Game has rules. Play by 'em, or admit you're hoping to "vote from the rooftops."
Hey, guess what? That rooftop thing is something sane people try to avoid until every other option has been exhausted.
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