Posted on 01/06/2023 1:17:02 AM PST by linMcHlp
EXCERPTS:
PHOENIX [AZ] — A Wall Street Journal journalist said his rights were violated when Phoenix police detained him while reporting on a story.
Cell phone video shows Dion Rabouin, a markets reporter with WSJ, being handcuffed and placed in the back of a Phoenix police cruiser in November of 2022.
The Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Matt Murray sent a letter to Police Chief Michael Sullivan saying, "I am appalled and concerned that officers at your department would attempt to interfere with Mr. Rabouin’s constitutional right to engage in journalism." Additionally, they are determining what further action will be taken in response to the detainment.
(Excerpt) Read more at 12news.com ...
There are numerous you tube videos on Phoenix and Mesa PD. None of them make the PD look good.
Rabouin said, “I was under the very clear impression that my rights had been violated, and I wanted to file a complaint.”
Maybe the WSJ should assign him to report on the J6 political prisoners and then ask him about civil rights violations.
I’m gonna cut the cops some slack here. I do not imagine that they strolled up and put the dude in cuffs and then started asking questions. Something happened to cause them to detain the reporter.
Was it something he said? Was it an attitude? Was it merely for their protection until they could verify his credentials? Afterall, he was released in 15 minutes.....according to him.
If all it takes to avoid arrest is to say you are a reporter working on a story, then all of us should be able to play that game. James O’Keefe would tell us ‘good luck’.
EC
The media talks about freedom of the press, implying THEY have rights we do not. Insane reading of the Constitution. What if “the press” is not journalists, but anyone, any ordinary Joe, who can publish his beliefs or news?
“The Freedom. . . of the Press,” from 1791 to 1868 to Now — Freedom for the Press as an Industry, or the Press as a Technology?
2011
Volokh, Eugene. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0rq4651r
You’re 100% correct. The media have no credibility when they claim that some jackass with a journalism degree and a press credential has rights that don’t extend to “ordinary” citizens.
The wsj now engages in journalism? When did they switch to journalism from deepstate propaganda?
Do you read WSJ ?
If Dion was standing on public property and the bank employees asked him to move away, he did not have to move. If he was standing on bank property, he would have to move off, to public property.
In this case, the dispute would be that the bankers asked him to leave, and the reporter said that they didn’t. Rather than debate this, Dion should have simply walked over to public property, and the police should have allowed him to do this. The police could arrest him for trespassing if he didn’t, but would risk a ‘he said, they said’ debate while under oath. It would be best for the police to avoid this.
If he was standing on public property the whole time, there is an issue: Do the police have the right to order someone who is lawfully standing on public property to move away? There’s not enough information here to make such a judgement.
From the information given, I blame the police for escalating the incident.
“Do you read WSJ?”
NO, and for the same reason I no longer watch fox news.
Not since Rupert Murdoch turned control of his network to his liberal kids and Paul ryan.
Pick up a week’s editions.
They might change your mind.
The police were way off-base here. The reporter did nothing wrong. Nothing.
And it really doesn’t matter whether this guy was a reporter or not. The police needlessly escalated the situation. People who are doing nothing wrong can be approached by the police, and maybe be asked a question or two. But they sure don’t deserve being handcuffed and placed in a police car.
A quick addition to my post #12. The reporter has his version of events. The cop will certainly have a different version Who is correct? Watch the video. There is an independent witness who videoed the arrest. Her story matches the reporter’s.
Exactly.
Owners and employees of the Wall Street Journal have no rights as part of the press. They've been giving illegal political contributions-in-kind for decades.
The WSJ would have had some credibility if it had made this point. Instead, it raised its objection to the police conduct on the basis of this silly crap that the guy was “engag[ing] in journalism.”
Screw the police … and screw the Wall Street Journal, too.
It’s a bit of a side point. But it’s worth noting that because of the 1A, everyone in the United States is a journalist. You don’t need “press credentials” to claim Freedom of the Press protection.
It would have been nice had the WSJ made that point.
Even the “independent” video shows him standing right next to the bank. The sidewalk is bank property and the parking lot is bank property.
So some dude is lurking in front of a bank, in shorts and a t-shirt, questioning customers as they’re leaving. Nothing suspicious about that./s
Sounds like the popo ran his ID to confirm his story and then let him go.
Phoenix and Mesa have possibly the worst PDs in the country. There are videos all over YouTube of them violating civil rights and otherwise abusing their authority.
Cell Phone + YouTube = Free Press
Citizens are exposing police excesses all over this country. Check First Amendment Auditors on YouTube.
“Suspicious behavior” is a subjective thing. Regardless, the police have the right to investigate a person they deem suspicious. But they do not have the right to detain (or worse yet, handcuff) someone for mere suspicious behavior. There has to be an actual crime.
And trespassing is not a crime until after the person has been told to leave private property, and then he refuses to leave. That does not seem to be the case here.
The behavior of this cop stinks. Beyond violating this man’s rights, it gives more ammunition to the BLM crowd.
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