Has the media in Ferguson been "caged"?

[annabanana]

Every on site reporter I've seen this morning is reporting from a "shopping mall" "some distance" from. . . .whatever it is they're reporting on at the moment.

Do we have any free range correspondents out there anymore?

[jwirr]

1. Don't know but last night they were kept at a range that their cameras could not get good pics.

[In_The_Wind]

2. Maybe the media doesn't feel safe reporting on location.

[RKP5637]

3. Is there even a mayor or city council? It seems such a weird place, like the cops own

the place. And now everyone is locked out. It all seems really really weird. The city seems to have no spokesperson, or if they do, I've missed it ...

[nenagh]

4. annabanana, last night some DUers posted links to

live coverage from Ferguson... from social media sources..

Their coverage was very good.. and they were much closer to the scene.

On CNN this am, a professional journalist said that the social media journalists very much added to the recording of the scene.. that they happened to be in a different location and saw and recorded more.

The links were in a post by bigtree at 12:25 am last night.. Other DUers posted links throughout the thread.

(eg, a policeman told one of the social media reporters that the cannisters of gas were smoke and not tear gas.. where the rest of the media were guessing tear gas.

The social media reporters were told by police to remain in one area... but more for their safety, I think)

[bigtree]

5. YES, yes

. . . just posted this response:

. . . The majority of the major news media LEFT shortly before the curfew.

The media who remained, independent sources and others, were ORDERED to stand in a small 'zone' which was a good distance from the demonstrations and ORDERED to stay there or else subject themselves to arrest (or 'worse' as the bullhorn announcements by police repeatedly informed those gathered).

Most of what folks who watched those live feeds saw and have commented on has been confirmed by several sources (tear gas included, which was initially DENIED by police as being used) and much of the major news reports have included events and detail that was impossible for these reporters at the scene to witness up close or otherwise.

What are the sources, I wonder, for their information? Police?


Alex Howard @digiphile (Justice Reporter for @HuffPostPol.) · 1h
“All of us in the press pen were threatened with arrest if we left the area”—@ryanjreilly, #CNNreliable. Reminiscent of ‘free speech zones.’

[annabanana]

7. YIKES!

I hope there is more regular media access tonight.. Shameful that corpo-media isn't reporting this development..

[Rex]

9. See, they didn't care when it was US in 1st amendment zones...

You think the M$M will notice...oh wait they all left town. Wonder if it is because international aid is now entering the country and they don't want some of their viewers to see it?

Goes against their already scripted narratives.

[MostlyAmused]

6. Tim Pool (timcast) was livebroadcasting on the streets.

Tim was close enough to the shooting last night to feel a bullet fly past him and yell shit shit shit. His raw footage is up at Vice. At one point after the curfew, just before or after the tear gas was launched he said there seemed to be more reporters than protesters present in the very thinned-out crowd. If you want as close and real-time a view as possible, watch his live feeds. Tim's stream and alderman Antonio French's twitter feed are about as good as it gets for immediate info.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. TURN OFF YOUR CAMERAS LETS GO BUDDY TIME TO GO I NEED YOU TO STOP FILMING

TURN OFF YOUR CAMERAS OFF OFF TURN OFF YOUR CAMERAS OFF OFF TURN OFF YOUR CAMERAS OFF OFF TURN OFF YOUR CAMERAS OFF OFF