According to Mayor Michael "I Have an Army" Bloomberg, talking on radio this morning about the criticism he's received about preventing the press from covering his eviction of Occupy Wall Street protesters from Zuccotti Park, “We didn’t keep anybody from reporting, they just had to stand to the side while the police did their job."
And how, exactly, is a reporter supposed to do her or his job when the police prevent this reporter from seeing what other police are doing?
And why, if Bloomberg and the police "didn't keep anybody from reporting," did Bloomberg after the Zuccotti Park eviction order the NYPD - his "army" - to keep their hands off reporters covering these events?
The answer, as the New York Times reported, is that a "coalition" of media representatives pressured Bloomberg into saying the right thing.
He also complimented his army aka police for doing "a great job" in their evictions at Zuccotti. Is that why the coalition of media people complained? Is preventing reporters from doing their jobs, roughing them up in some cases, not to mention the unconstitutional eviction of the Park itself, a "great job"? Is Bloomberg already reneging on his order to police to leave reporters alone? Didn't take long.
Fortunately, cellphones in the hands of uncredentialed, every day people have shown America and the world the truth - people put in the hospital (one, a former Marine, in critical condition), tear-gassed, shoved up against a wall (an elderly woman) - all by police, who are supposed to protect not assualt law-abiding people.
I'll give Bloomberg this - so far, none of the worst offenses by police have happened in New York City. But pointing to a worse evil does not justify one not quite as bad, and Bloomberg by his talk and actions is well on the way to making New York, a city I was born in, lived all my life, and love, into a totalitarian town.
-Paul Levinson, PhD, Professor of Communication & Media Studies, Fordham University
And how, exactly, is a reporter supposed to do her or his job when the police prevent this reporter from seeing what other police are doing?
And why, if Bloomberg and the police "didn't keep anybody from reporting," did Bloomberg after the Zuccotti Park eviction order the NYPD - his "army" - to keep their hands off reporters covering these events?
The answer, as the New York Times reported, is that a "coalition" of media representatives pressured Bloomberg into saying the right thing.
He also complimented his army aka police for doing "a great job" in their evictions at Zuccotti. Is that why the coalition of media people complained? Is preventing reporters from doing their jobs, roughing them up in some cases, not to mention the unconstitutional eviction of the Park itself, a "great job"? Is Bloomberg already reneging on his order to police to leave reporters alone? Didn't take long.
Fortunately, cellphones in the hands of uncredentialed, every day people have shown America and the world the truth - people put in the hospital (one, a former Marine, in critical condition), tear-gassed, shoved up against a wall (an elderly woman) - all by police, who are supposed to protect not assualt law-abiding people.
I'll give Bloomberg this - so far, none of the worst offenses by police have happened in New York City. But pointing to a worse evil does not justify one not quite as bad, and Bloomberg by his talk and actions is well on the way to making New York, a city I was born in, lived all my life, and love, into a totalitarian town.
-Paul Levinson, PhD, Professor of Communication & Media Studies, Fordham University
my interview of NY Night News about Bloomberg, OWS, the press
Occupy Wall Street Chronicles, Part 1
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