Amy Eddings - Weapon Or Shield: How IMF Protestors And Police Use The Media

Washington Post photographer Carol Guzy recently won her third Pulitzer Prize, for her photographs of the ethnic Albanian refugees of Kosovo. In 1995, she won the prize for her coverage of Haiti before and after the United States intervened there.

So it's a good bet she knows her way around an event like the one she was covering in Washington, where the Metropolitan Police arrested 600 people who were demonstrating against forced prison labor. Guzy told National Public Radio's Jackie Lydon she was walking around a line of police, who were cordoning off protestors and several journalists, when she came up behind one of them.

Guzy: "And he grabbed me and pulled me out and another officer took me at that point and was walking me down the street. And um, I wasn't physically trying to get back to the area, I was just questioning him, and saying, 'well, there's all these other photographers there,·you know·I can't work this far back down the street,' blah blah blah. He started twisting my arm really hard and I complained about it. He started twisting harder, and I said, 'hey, what are you doing? I'm the press.' And he handed me off and said, 'okay, you're arrested.' And handcuffed me and threw me on the bus."

Suddenly, Guzy was not only reporting on the story·she was a part of it, she was arrested and charged with marching without a permit. Protestors sporadically tried to storm police lines, and were held back with pepper spray, tear gas, and nightsticks. The day after Guzy was arrested, an Associated Press reporter was clubbed in the back by an officer with a nightstick. An AP photographer was knocked unconscious, with a cut to his head, although it wasn't clear who did it. But the overwhelming chaos and violence of the IMF protests last year in Seattle were averted, the delegates' meetings were held as planned, and in the end, police chief Charles Ramsey expressed no regrets.

Ramsey: "I make no apologies for anything that anybody did during this time. I think you saw a level of professionalism that we have not seen in this country from police for a very long time."

But the media weren't the only ones covering the protests. The police had their own video camera crews on the streets. Executive Assistant Police Chief Terrance Gainor says the tapes will be used for training, for prosecuting criminals, and for intelligence gathering, and are not meant to indicate that the police don't trust the media to tell both sides of the story. Gainor says the media played a vital role in developing trust between police and protestors,·like the time he mapped out a plan with demonstrators who wanted to submit themselves for arrest.

Gainor: "And the protestors felt they couldn't trust me, that I might go back on the agreement. I actually pointed to the scores and scores of photo and media, and I told them, 'They're capturing every moment. And if I go back on my word, or you go back on your word, you're actually going to scuttle whatever message you're trying to deliver, and I'll be held forever responsible.' So in many respects media played a positive role for us. "

For protestors, though, the media -- or, more precisely, the corporate media -- played a more complicated role. Many activists think the media distorts their anti-globalization message, out of respect for their corporate bosses,·and they jeered.
Protestor: "F*** the corporate media! F*** the corporate media!"
Man: "Let's remain calm now, come on, don't ruin this·."

Others worked on honing their message for the mainstream media's huge audience. Jason Mark is with Global Exchange, a human rights organization in San Francisco.

Mark: "We put together a four or five page document, suggested talking points, that was a distillation of very complex issues. These issues are incredibly complicated, and a lot of people want guides for how to talk to them."

The guide suggests describing the movement as one that will "put the brakes on the global race-to-the-bottom in living standards" It encourages activists to be prepared, and to be brief: "The more you say, the less control you have over what gets printed or aired," warns Global Exchange.

For ultimate control over the story, though, tell it yourself. In Washington, as in Seattle, a coalition called the Independent Media Center helped demonstrators report on their activities. It issued press badges to people who wanted to use the Center's office and equipment. For mainstream media types like Guy Raz, who is a reporter for NPR, this may have led to the run-ins between journalists like Carol Guzy and the police.

Raz,: "And so there were a lot of people with signs around their necks that said 'press' snapping pictures, videotaping, recording. So I think it was difficult to discern who was actually covering this for the organization and who was covering it for a newspaper or magazine or television station."

This issue of who's "legitimate" and who's not is exactly what the Independent Media Center is trying to subvert. Its philosophy is that there's no such thing as objective journalism, especially from corporate media, and that anyone can -- and should -- tell their side of the story. But Free Speech TV program director Eric Galatas, who's also a member of the IMC, says concerns over the watering down of press credential privileges misses a larger point about the events in Washington.

Galatas: "Certainly, members of the press should have freedom of the press. Under the Constitution, that's our right, and they should be allowed to exercise that right, without arrest. But, at the same time, peaceful demonstrators, out exercising their right of assembly and protest, should have those rights as well. So both groups should be outraged by the actions in DC ."

Civil rights organizations are looking into the conduct of the Police and the treatment of arrested demonstrators, but the media aren't complaining. Journalists forgive the police any improprieties, explaining that the mood was tense, and there were large, disruptive crowds and it was easy to get confused. But with all the recordings and video images from all three parties -- the police, the activists, and the media -- someone should be able to sort out the story.

For On The Media, I'm Amy Eddings