I don’t consider myself a reporter. I’ve written a few journalistic articles, conducted a few interviews and done some work regarding breaking news, but I’m an editorialist at best. I write my own opinions because a few people have seen fit to give me a little soapbox from which to shout out my thoughts into the ephemeral void that is the Internet. Sometimes, for whatever reason, people listen. More often, I’ll get a handful of likes on the Facebook link, and the world keeps on turning. That’s fine by me.
I don’t consider myself a reporter, but I hold them in the highest esteem. Our country cannot remain free if the press is prevented from doing their job. Journalists have a right and indeed a professional obligation to report the news for public consumption. That right is enshrined in the first amendment to our nation’s Constitution.
Over the past few weeks, the University of Missouri has been wracked by student-led protests over the administration’s handling of racial issues on campus. The group, going by the name of Concerned Student 1950, established an encampment on campus and has put pressure on the administration to enact change. They have even succeeded in forcing the resignations of the university president and chancellor -- but say that more change is needed.
I won’t comment on the causes of the protest because, frankly, I don’t know enough about them to speak intelligently. What I want to talk about today is an incident that recently occurred regarding these protests.
Tim Tai, a freelance reporter, went to the campus quad to snap a few pictures of the protestors’ encampment. When he got there, he was blocked from approaching the tents by protestors who demanded that he leave. One of them even went so far as to say he didn’t have a right to take their pictures. Tai was surrounded by shouting and shoving activists, who attempted to physically force him away by intentionally walking into him and claiming they were being pushed.
Two of the most vocal individuals, as seen in the video here, have been identified as Janna Basler, the University’s assistant director of Greek life -- who argues with Tai for a time and attempts to push him away -- and Melissa Click, an assistant professor of communications at MU who calls out for “muscle” to forcibly remove the reporter. They accused Tai of violating the protestors’ right to privacy.
This is an assault on the first amendment. This is an assault on the most basic rights of journalists. And this is an assault on reason. You do not have a right to privacy while in a public place, particularly when you’re engaged in political activism. The press has every right to take your picture in a public space -- whether you want them to or not. You do not have the right to physically restrain or shove a reporter because you don’t want them covering your event.
Every single student who engaged in this episode of civic censorship should be ashamed. In promoting their cause, they have trampled on the Bill of Rights. As for the two University employees who were documented attempting to stop Tai from doing his job as a journalist? Frankly, they should be fired. What kind of example is the University of Missouri setting if they continue to employ individuals who willfully fight against the freedom of the press? The two women either have no conception of what the First Amendment entails, or they simply don’t care. This is especially true when it comes to Click; she is a professor of communications. Her job is to educate students on the media and to instill in them a sense of value for freedom of speech. Instead, she called for a journalist to be forcibly removed from a public space.
What kind of freedom fighters are these?
