Friday, February 24, 2012

Journalism as an expression of "Terrorism"

USA agencies use terminology such as "low-level" Terrorism when describing journalists who document abuses by the USA against Human Rights.

2012-05-17 "Tracking Journalist Arrests at Occupy Protests Around the Country, Part One" by Josh Stearns [http://storify.com/jcstearns/tracking-journalist-arrests-during-the-occupy-prot]:
I have been tracking, confirming and verifying reports of journalist arrests at Occupy protests all over the country since September. Help me by sending tips and tweets to @jcstearns and tagging reports of press suppression and arrests with #journarrest.
Between September 2011 and the end of April 2012 80 journalists have been arrested in 12 cities around the United States while covering Occupy protests. This number includes an array of people who were documenting and reporting on Occupy events including professional press, freelancers, photographers, independent filmmakers, and citizen journalists. Scroll to the bottom for the most recent updates. For a quick list of arrests and a break down of their affiliation and occupation see this spreadsheet.
For arrests after May 1, 2012, please see Part Two of this tracking effort. [http://storify.com/jcstearns/tracking-journalist-arrests-at-occupy-protests-aro]


2012-02-24 "NYT Lets Unnamed Officials Smear Critics as 'Terrorists'" by Steve Rendall from "Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR)" [http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2012/02/24]:
[ ... ]
Earlier this month, in a story (2/6/12 [www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/world/asia/us-drone-strikes-are-said-to-target-rescuers.html]) about a new Bureau of Investigative Journalism report [www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/02/04/get-the-data-obamas-terror-drones/] about CIA drone strikes targeting rescuers and funerals, the Times granted anonymity to a U.S. official [www.fair.org/blog/2012/02/06/nyt-lets-nameless-official-smear-drone-researchers-as-al-qaeda-fans/] who equated the nonprofit news outlet's researchers with Al-Qaeda sympathizers:
[begin excerpt] 
A senior American counterterrorism official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, questioned the report's findings, saying "targeting decisions are the product of intensive intelligence collection and observation." The official added: "One must wonder why an effort that has so carefully gone after terrorists who plot to kill civilians has been subjected to so much misinformation. Let’s be under no illusions--there are a number of elements who would like nothing more than to malign these efforts and help Al-Qaeda succeed."
[end excerpt]
[ ... ]

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