Reporters have to be able to put things on the record without getting a record.

Thanks to haddayr's posts, I was aware of—and thunderstruck by—the police arrest of press during the Republican National Convention. I was horrified because it was wrong, but I couldn't articulate exactly why.

Last week, WNYC's On the Media featured an excellent interview with Amy Goodman which provides that crucial context:

Let's say your editor wants you to cover what’s going on in the convention, and you want to go outside ‘cause you see there are thousands of people that are out there, and maybe you could do that and then run in and do the job that they asked you to do, and maybe you could even get some of that into your story.

You’re not going to risk it if you could be arrested [LAUGHS] if you go outside and then you’re not there to do what your editor wanted you to do. It has a chilling effect. It prevents journalists from doing their job but it also really hurts the public. Reporters have to be able to put things on the record without getting a record.

Complete audio and transcripts here.

No Palin Pity Party Here

I've been doing a good job avoiding the mainstream media lately, because I didn't know that "Everyone seems to be oozing sympathy for the fumbling vice-presidential nominee."

Salon's Rebecca Traister, who often gets on my last nerve, gets it totally right in her article The Sarah Palin pity party.

I agree with [the Atlantic Monthly's] Coates that the McCain camp was craven, sexist and disrespectful in its choice of Palin, but I don't agree that the Alaska governor was a passive victim of their Machiavellian plotting. A very successful woman, Palin has the wherewithal to move forward consciously. What she did was move forward thoughtlessly and overconfidently, without considering that her abilities or qualifications would ever be questioned.