Police To Decide Who Is A Journalist?

Press credentials apparently are no longer valid on Wall Street unless police issue them.

"John Farley, a reporter with WNET/Thirteen’s MetroFocus, was standing on the sidewalk interviewing two women who had been pepper sprayed during the Occupy Wall Street protest when it happened to him.

For Natasha Lennard, a freelancer for The New York Times’s City Blog, it happened as she live-tweeted events while walking alongside the crowd of protestors “taking” the Brooklyn Bridge.

And for Alternet freelancer Kristen Gwynne, who was among the bridge crowd, it happened while she was talking with protest participants.
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"The New York Press Club unequivocally supports the right of legitimate working journalists, credentialed by NYPD or not, to freely report on events and issues of interest and value to the public without fear of arrest, detention or prosecution. A free press is a fundamental American principle. Upholding that principle is a core mission of the New York Press Club."

More here at the Columbia Journalism Review.