WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JUNE 11, 2020 13
BY JUDY PATRICK
Within the journalism community,
there’s outrage over the
assaults our fellow journalists
have endured covering the unrest in
America sparked by the death of a black
man, George Floyd, in police custody in
Minneapolis.
We recognize that those reporters are
bearing witness to the events unfolding
before them. They are there to hold those
in power accountable for their actions. Attacks
on journalism diminish the people’s
right to the truth about what the government
is doing in their name. This is serious
and needs to be addressed.
But let’s be frank. Protesters, business
owners and police offi cers are being attacked
as well. There’s plenty of violence
to go around, especially when night falls.
America’s outrage is focused, as it should
be, on the racial injustices that permeate our
society. To seriously address these fundamental
problems, demonstrations and protests
need to be followed by lots of dialogue,
education, research and real change.
Yet to be successful, the sun must shine
on that process. We need to build understanding
and consensus, and for that we
will need journalists every step of the way.
Without them, we will fail.
The ongoing attacks on journalists in
America, especially by police, is truly
unprecedented. To be sure, journalists
in many other countries face far more
adversity. But this is America, the leader
of the free world, where the free press is
one of our fundamental values and sets the
standard.
Covering protests, especially chaotic
ones, has always been tough. Reporters
are used to getting jostled, taunted and
sometimes threatened with arrest. And
while the level of aggression has been increasing
in the last decade, the number of
attacks of the past few days are far beyond
anything we have ever seen before.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, run
by the Freedom of the Press Foundation
and the Committee to Protect Journalists,
typically investigates 100 to 150 incidents
of attacks on U.S. journalists a year. On
Monday, the group was investigating more
than 100 incidents from the fi rst three days
of the current protests alone.
Journalists don’t like becoming part of
the story. It’s a distraction from the central
story, which in this case is the unprecedented
display of national outrage sparked
by systemic racial discrimination.
But it is because the central story is so
important that these shameful attacks
must be called out and denounced. Other
countries may be able to control and limit
their press by intimidation and violence
but that can’t be allowed to happen here
in America.
Why this is happening should be no big
surprise. Since taking offi ce, President
Trump has put a big fat “enemy of the people”
stamp on every journalist’s forehead.
He affi rmed it with a tweet at the height of
the protests this past weekend. He’s done
more than give the attackers license to act;
he’s emboldened them.
This is about far more than journalists’
personal safety. This is about democracy.
This is about the public’s right to know.
This is about an institution that, despite
its lapses, strives to help us build a better
society.
Judy Patrick is the vice president for
editorial content at the New York Press
Association.
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OP-ED
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