I have been tracking, confirming and verifying reports of journalist arrests at Occupy protests all over the country since September, 2011. Help me by sending tips and tweets to @jcstearns and tagging reports of press suppression and arrests with #journarrest.
Storified by Josh Stearns ·
Mon, Aug 20 2012 17:49:58
Between September 2011 and July 2012 83 journalists have been arrested in 12 cities around the United States while covering Occupy protests. This number includes an array of people who were documenting and reporting on Occupy events including professional press, freelancers, photographers, independent filmmakers, and citizen journalists. Scroll to the bottom for the most recent updates. For a quick list of arrests and a break down of their affiliation and occupation see this spreadsheet.
SEPTEMBER 2011 - one arrest
On September 24, 2011, public television reporter John Farley was arrested.
PBS reporter jailed while covering “Occupy Wall Street” protests in NYC – Boing Boing
By Xeni Jardin at 12:48 pm Wednesday, Sep 28 While working on a story about citizen journalism at the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York for PBS affiliate WNET Thirteen, John Farley was arrested, along with the demonstrators whose stories he was covering.
Salon
Observations of a Jailed Journalist | MetroFocus | THIRTEEN
On Sept. 24, while working on a story about citizen journalism for my employer, I found myself arrested, along with many other people. My arrest gave me a unique vantage point on the risks and rewards of citizen journalists, those non-professionals who capture stories (usually without pay) using videos and images via portable technology like a cell phone camera.
Charges dropped against first reporter arrested at Occupy Wall Street
A good sign came out of New York City's criminal court yesterday for journalists who have been swept up in arrests at the Occupy Wall Str...
OCTOBER 2011 - ten arrests
Natasha Lennard was arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday, October 1, 2011.
A reporter working for the NYT, Natasha Lennard, wrote to editors while covering #OccupyWallSt, "I'm being arrested." http://t.co/df6HACBQ
— brianstelter ·
Sat, Oct 01 2011 15:50:30
#OccupyWallStreet I got let go. After hours on police bus. Most ppl still handcuffed on buses. Trying to find space for us in precincts
— natashalennard ·
Sat, Oct 01 2011 18:49:05
Occupy Wall Street: New York Times Reporter Arrested During Protest - The Hollywood Reporter
The Occupy Wall Street protests continue to gain media attention as thousands marched towards the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday, leading to hundreds of arrests by the NYPD, and the closure of the bridge. A freelance reporter for the New York Times, Natasha Lennard, was among those arrested. "'They can't arrest us all, right?'
Kristen Gwynne, a staff member at AlterNet, was also arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge on October 1, 2011.
Trapped with hundreds of people on the Brooklyn Bridge. Cops making mass arrests. We can't move.
— kristengwynne ·
Sat, Oct 01 2011 14:36:10
NYPD Mass Arrests of Occupy Wall Street Protesters: Firsthand Account from AlterNet Staffer Trapped on Bridge
At the time of this posting, hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters, members of the press and bystanders are being penned by the police on the Brooklyn Bridge, waiting to get arrested one by one. (The livestream is in the previous post.)
Just got out of jail...Still love #OccupyWallSt
— kristengwynne ·
Sun, Oct 02 2011 00:30:10
Stephanie Keith, freelance photographer, was arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge on October 1, 2011. She was able to sell many of her photos of the arrests on the bridge to the Associated Press.
Stephanie Keith, 40, a freelance photographer arrested on Saturday, backed up claims by those online, saying she also was confused by the police tactics. Keith told the Daily Dot in a phone interview that she was in the front of the crowd, and was among the first to be arrested.
At the beginning of the confrontation, police read from a prepared statement, telling protesters they would be arrested if they blocked the road. But she said, “no one except the few people in the front heard the police, because the chanting was so loud,” Keith said. “The people in the back had no idea the police had said anything.”
— ·
Fri, Feb 24 2012 19:12:08
Occupy Wall Street – the story of the Brooklyn Bridge 'trap'
To the hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters hemmed in on Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday, it felt like a trap. Hundreds of people had st...
Journalist Marisa Holmes is arrested on September 25th whiling filming Law Student Robert Stephen's protest in front of the bank that took his parents home.