I know that
when I riot, I bring an expensive camera with me.
Seems I have this in common with
Matthews and his camera were photographed by Associated Press photographer Matt
Rourke in the thick of the riot as cops used pepper spray to subdue the crowd.
Though Matthews and the other photographers present insisted they were not part
of the riot, police went ahead and arrested everyone in the vicinity.
I also have in common with Matthews the fact that I am a student journalist.
And perhaps it's because of this similarity that I am intrigued by what
unfolded next.
According to a follow-up article by the Associated Press that was posted on the
First Amendment Center Web site, AP photographer Matt Rourke was also arrested
at the time of the riot, but was released uncharged just hours later, while
Matthews, along with fellow student photographer Britney McIntosh, were held in
jail for two nights and charged with felony rioting.
The AP also reported that police kept the cameras Matthews and McIntosh had
with them at the Republican National Convention.
The pictures Matthews and McIntosh had taken somehow permitted confiscation of
their cameras, whereas Matt Rourke--at the same event, arrested at the same
time--got to keep his camera, and is thus the reason we have photographic
documentation of what occurred.
The larger question here, evidently, is if members of student media have
different rights than their professional counterparts. And should they?
In my opinion, no.
The police treating the student journalists differently than "real" journalists
implies that student journalists are simply "play" journalists. That the work
we do is somehow not as significant, not as real as the work of someone
perhaps only a few years older than us.
Student journalists do not plagiarize. We do not make up sources. We do not
show bias. We do not commit any of the cardinal sins of journalism
Yes, we tend to make more mistakes than our professional counterparts. Yes, our
work often cannot rival that of people who are paid to do this job and don't
have to balance it with classes, homework and other jobs.
But I've never met a fellow student journalist who, in doing his or her job,
thinks, "Well, it's okay if this is sub-par, because I'm only a student." Or,
"This doesn't really matter; I'm only working for a student publication."
What if we
really did think like that?
Student journalists don't expect to be treated the same as professional
journalists in the sense that we score the same high-profile interviews or get
invited onto Larry King's panel.
We do
expect, however, to be treated the same when it comes to having the same basic legal
rights afforded to all other members of the media.
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