On Sat, 8 Jul 2000 00:35:54 -0500 (CDT) MichaelP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Arrested for being a biased enviro journalist ? > >Cheers >MichaelP >============== > >Environment ENS -- Environment News Service > >Environmental Journalist Faces Federal Prosecution for Reporting the >News > >By Cat Lazaroff > >BOULDER, Colorado, July 7, 2000 (ENS) - U.S. Congressman Mark Udall, a >Colorado Democrat, has asked the federal Department of Justice to >intervene in the prosecution of a Colorado reporter arrested for refusing >to leave the scene of an environmental protest. The case points out the >problems that journalists sometimes encounter in accessing sites of >conflict between government and the people it serves. > >Brian Hansen, a reporter for the Boulder based "Colorado Daily," was >arrested on July 6, 1999, while covering a protest at the Vail ski resort, >located on lands leased from the U.S. Forest Service in Colorado. Hansen >was charged with refusing to leave an area that had been closed for >reasons of "public safety," a federal criminal misdemeanor. If convicted, >Hansen could be fined $5,000, or sentenced to six months in jail, or both. > >Hansen says he was just doing his job - reporting the news. The federal >government says Hansen was breaking the law by refusing to leave a federal >closure area. > >In a letter written Wednesday to Robert Rubin, U.S. Assistant Attorney >General, Congressman Udall asks the government to "take a hard look at >this case and determine if its continued prosecution is absolutely >necessary for justice to be properly served." > >Udall stresses that he is not trying to "second guess" the arresting >officials or suggest that the U.S. not take legal action to enforce proper >federal orders. "But I do think that prosecutors, in considering whether >to press a case, should recognize that there is public interest in such >events as this protest," Udall writes, "that members of the press are >likely to seek to cover them, and that a reporter could inadvertently be >arrested because of misunderstandings as to his role and presence at the >site." > >Hansens arrest may have stemmed from a series of misunderstandings on >Hansens part and that of the various federal officials involved in the >early morning raid that led to the arrest of Hansen and six protesters. > >Less than a week earlier, at least 40 activists met on Vail mountain to >protest the expansion of the Vail ski resort within White River National >Forest. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) approved the Vail construction in >1997. But several groups, including the Coalition to Stop Vail Expansion, >the Coalition of Forest Defenders, Colorado Wild and Earth First!, say >White River is habitat for endangered lynx, and the construction could >lead to the extinction of the Colorado lynx population. > >Protesters erected a road block on the main construction road and chained >themselves to construction equipment. Activist Joel Lathbury of Earth >First! barricaded himself in an overturned car known as a batmobile with >his arm chained to a block of reinforced cement, also known as a "road >dragon," embedded in the ground beneath the car. The car effectively >blocked the only other official road leading to the construction site, >called the Category III roadless area. > >Other protesters locked themselves to heavy equipment, or to a specially >constructed tripod blocking the loggers passage. > >At about 5:00 am July 6, dozens of USFS law enforcement officers, >reportedly in full riot gear, stormed the barricades. Some of the officers >were brought in from the Pacific Northwest region, where the USFS has had >more experience dealing with protesters. Eagle County Sheriffs Department >officers were also on the scene. > >Hansen wanted to remain in the area to monitor official attempts to remove >Lathbury and others at the blockade. He was on assignment for the >"Colorado Daily," and was displaying his official press credentials. > >Federal officials told Hansen he would have to move about a mile down the >mountain to an area where a public information officer of the USFS would >keep him apprised of developments at the blockade. Hansen refused, >pointing out that he would be unable to report adequately on the events >from that distance, and asserting his rights as a journalist to report the >news from the site. > >Hansen did not leave, and was quickly arrested. He was handcuffed and >placed on a bus near the blockade. From the bus, he could see other people >moving about near where he had been arrested. When he asked why those >people were not being arrested, Hansen was told that those people were >legally behind the lines of the official federal closure area. The >reporter says no one ever told him he was so close to that line - and if >they had, he would gladly have moved those few feet to avoid being >arrested. > >"When I was taken into custody, I had absolutely no idea that the southern >boundary of the enclosure was apparently just behind me," Hansen told ENS. > >Neither did the two other journalists on the scene - "Colorado Daily" >photographer Mark Slupe and "Vail Daily Trail" reporter Robert Kelly Goss. > >"Goss was physically backed down the mountain, and ended up with nothing >to report, nothing to see," said Hansen. "Goss is much more familiar with >the layout, geography and nomenclature of the roads than I am, but he >didnt get it either." > >Hansen thinks there is more to his arrest than a simple misunderstanding. >Months after his arrest, he learned of a federal law that requires the >notification of the U.S. attorney general prior to the filing of any >criminal charges against a reporter arrested in the course of covering a >story. > >On his own behalf, Hansen has sent requests to the attorney generals >office and other federal offices looking for evidence that notification >had occurred in his case. In response, after several months of delay, >Hansen received official word that no such documents can be found. > >Along with that response, on May 11 Hansen received a note stating, "for >your further information, the decision to arrest and prosecute you was >based on the fact that you were a protester not that you were a member of >the news media." > >Hogwash, says Hansen. "They knew days, even weeks before the raid that I >was a reporter. There was absolutely no question why I was there. They >knew exactly who I was." > >In fact, Assistant District Attorney Craig Wallace, the attorney charged >with prosecuting Hansens case, told the court in evidentiary hearings that >the federal government has no intention of arguing that Hansen was acting >as a protester, and said the government knows full well that Hansen was >there in his role as a journalist. > >The charge against Hansen is just one of violating a federal closure area >- a mechanism used increasingly by the federal government and local police >to keep protesters away from controversial scenes. At the World Trade >Organization meetings in Seattle last November, police set up a 50 square >block "no protest zone," inside of which members of the public were >arrested on little or no provocation. At the meetings of the World Bank >and International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC this April, hundreds of >protesters were arrested after being corralled between police lines during >a peaceful protest. Three time Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Carol >Guzy of the "Washington Post" was among those rounded up. > >Just this morning, the USFS began attempting to remove a six week long >road blockade at the Eagle timber sales in the Mt. Hood National Forest >near Portland, Oregon. The Cascadia Forest Alliance, one of the groups >opposing the timber sales, reports that more than 100 law enforcement >officers appeared on the scene, some in full riot gear and camouflage, to >remove about 20 protesters. > >The protesters were blocking access to logging of more than 500 acres of >roadless area within a drinking water watershed. "Removal of the road >blockades is extremely dangerous, putting the lives of peaceful protesters >at risk," said the Alliance in a statement. > >The USFS has put a federal "closure" on a large area of public land around >the road blockades, making it illegal for members of the public to be >present. The courts have sometimes found such closures to be >unconstitutional, because they restrict free speech, freedom of the press >and the right to assemble. > >When Hansen and the six protesters arrested at Vail first appeared in >court, an attorney representing Vail Resorts prompted the prosecuting >attorney to ask that all seven defendants be barred from returning to Vail >until they were acquitted. The judge refused, saying that defendants - >presumed innocent until proven guilty - cannot be barred from public >lands, including the National Forest lands on which the Vail resort is >expanding. > >Hansen, still handcuffed, could not take notes at his own first court >appearance. Nor were Hansens attorney, or the editor of the "Colorado >Daily," present in the courtroom. Both had been told that Hansen would be >held overnight, and would not appear in court until the following day. > >Hansen feels his trial is an attempt by the federal government to shore up >the legality of federal closure areas. If he is convicted, Hansens case >could set a precedent allowing federal agencies to bar journalists from >such areas across the country. > >He notes that the federal prosecutor, during evidentiary hearings, >repeatedly questioned Hansens ability to remain unbiased in his continuing >coverage of clashes between protesters and federal land managers, >including the ongoing investigation of a 1998 firebombing at Vail. > >"I strongly reject the notion [that I am biased]," said Hansen. "Even if >that was true, and it is not, so what? Doesnt the First Amendment apply to >people who have opinions?" > >The judge in Hansens case seemed to agree. During closing arguments in the >evidentiary hearings on May 25, Federal Magistrate Judge James Robb >interrupted arguments by the federal prosecutor that Hansen was too biased >to justify his presence on the basis of journalism alone, and the court >"should forget the lofty, high-sounding [First Amendment] principles" that >Hansen and his attorney worked to articulate. > >"Mr. Wallace, I'm reminded of Thomas Jefferson," said Judge Robb, "who >once opined that 'Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a >government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should >not hesitate for a moment to prefer the later.'" > >Hansens lawyers have until July 17 to respond to information provided by >the federal prosecutor, after which the judge will rule on Hansens motion >to have his case dismissed. > >But more conflicts over the federal governments right to close off >controversial areas could come as early as next week. On Monday morning, >activists at Mt. Hood National Forest plan a massive non-violent civil >disobedience protest to defy the closure around the Eagle Creek timber >sales. > >====================== > >*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material >is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest >in receiving the included information for research and educational >purposes. Feel free to distribute widely but PLEASE acknowledge the >source. *** > >-- >For MAI-not (un)subscription information, posting guidelines and >links to other MAI sites please see http://mai.flora.org/ > > <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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