Geez, he looks like he's about 16. No wonder he's so naive.
Posted on 08/23/2014 12:44:20 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
I had been on the ground helping Al Jazeera America** cover the protests and unrest in Ferguson, Mo., since this all started last week. After what I saw last night, I will not be returning. The behavior and number of journalists there is so appalling, that I cannot in good conscience continue to be a part of the spectacle.
**A clarification edit: I am not a full-time employee of any Al Jazeera branch or network. I am a freelance journalist who contributes to several media platforms.
Things I’ve seen:
-Cameramen yelling at residents in public meetings for standing in way of their cameras
-Cameramen yelling at community leaders for stepping away from podium microphones to better talk to residents
-TV crews making small talk and laughing at the spot where Mike Brown was killed, as residents prayed, mourned
-A TV crew of a to-be-left-unnamed major cable network taking pieces out of a Ferguson business retaining wall to weigh down their tent
-Another major TV network renting out a gated parking lot for their one camera, not letting people in. Safely reporting the news on the other side of a tall fence.
-Journalists making the story about them
-National news correspondents glossing over the context and depth of this story, focusing instead on the sexy images of tear gas, rubber bullets, etc.
-One reporter who, last night, said he came to Ferguson as a “networking opportunity.” He later asked me to take a picture of him with Anderson Cooper.
One anecdote that stands out: as the TV cameras were doing their live shots in front of the one burnt-out building in the three-block stretch of “Ground Zero,” around the corner was a community food/goods drive. I heard one resident say: “Where are the cameras? I’m going to go see if I can find some people to film this.”
Last night a frustrated resident confronted me when he saw my camera: “Yall are down here photographing US, but who gets paid?!”
There are now hundreds of journalists from all over the world coming to Ferguson to film what has become a spectacle. I get the sense that many feel this is their career-maker. In the early days of all this, I was warmly greeted and approached by Ferguson residents. They were glad that journalists were there. The past two days, they do not even look at me and blatantly ignore me. I recognize that I am now just another journalist to them, and their frustration with us is clear. In the beginning there was a recognizable need for media presence, but this is the other extreme. They need time to work through this as a community, without the cameras.
We should all be ashamed, and I cannot do it anymore. I am thankful for my gracious editors who understand that.
**Addition: After being accused of not doing any work in Ferguson, and having never once contributed to the reporting coming out of there, I politely ask you to read what I have written: http://america.aljazeera.com/profiles/s/ryan-schuessler.html
If you lie down with dogs you’ll get up with fleas....
Geez, he looks like he's about 16. No wonder he's so naive.
Heck. My dog sleeps on the bed occasionally. He don’t have fleas.
These urinalisters lay down in bed bug infested pit toilets to sniff Obama’s pants and wonder why they stink.
He’s but a pup….in grad school. Lesson learned.
Yeah.. he's a blogger.
Works for moslem news, appalled in America, who knew.
After the first day it was a freak show of drama queens wanting 15 minutes of fame.
During the time of Roman emperors they created entertaining distractions so the masses would ignore reality and that’s what happened in Ferguson.
The MSM carrion monkeys. Worse than hyenas, they serve no useful purpose except to sow disinformation, mayhem and defamation everywhere.
Methinks he doth protest too much.He stinks to high heaven.
“-Another major TV network renting out a gated parking lot for their one camera, not letting people in. Safely reporting the news on the other side of a tall fence.”
He was referring to MSNBC. I noticed during their programs that there was an 8 foot (estimate) iron fence behind their reporters, all the time. It didn’t stop some from throwing rocks at Chris Hayes, which was the highlight of their coverage.
I thought it was cute how MSNBC made the residents seem like zoo exhibits in cage. Some residents were acting like a certain zoo animal.
No, not a blogger. That’s the new media.
No, this aspiring multimedia mogul (Masters Degree in Journalism in progress) is the vanguard of the New New Media.
That’s the media that will soon replace the Old New Media.
In his own words, Ryan is a “Multimedia Storyteller” based in Columbia, Missouri.
Think of him as Uncle Remus with a Brownie 8mm movie camera, a projector and a boom box.
Ha! They ought to build a fence around Ferguson and charge the MSM to come in.
This young journalist is beginning to realize that, by and large, the American press is a corrupt and narcissistic bunch who care nothing for honest reporting and truth. They are helping to destroy their country..Makes one wonder what they are smoking.
Wow....if this kid thinks the current media whores are bad in Ferguson, wait until the railroading trial of the white cop begins....that’s when the fun will start. All the Obama ass-sniffers will be out in force.
You want to see them acting insane? Work on a presidential campaign. I did.
“-Journalists making the story about them”
Which is exactly what this liberal, bed-wetting buffoon is doing.
At least he has a conscience. May not last long in the business.
SCUMEDIA
EWWWWWW. That is just wrong
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