Police Arrest Canadian Journalists at Scene of Car Crash
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Two journalists were recently arrested this week by police at the scene of a fatal car crash in Hamilton Canada.
This hits home for me because I live in Hamilton. As a Canadian, the issue of overzealous police arresting photographers and journalists for the crime of photography always seemed like a US issue or a problem in meaner parts of the world.
To be honest, I never thought that something like this could happen in my home town.
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According to CBC news reports “Freelancer Dave Ritchie and Global News’s Jeremy Cohn were arrested”.
Video of the arrest of Global New’s Jeremy Cohn was immediately posted online, while video of the arrest of Dave Ritchie has not yet surfaced.
According to Jeffrey Dvorkin, the director of the University of Toronto’s journalism program: “The fact that the police thought they could restrict them in this way is an affront to journalism and to the law,” “Clearly the journalists were not doing anything untoward.”
If Photography Is A Crime In Hamilton Canada…
Of course, the most disturbing aspect of this story is that a 10 year old girl lost her life.
However, this incident also highlights just how vulnerable all photographers and journalists are when it comes to interactions with police – especially if you’re a freelancer.
We have published many stories where photographers and journalists are threatened, assaulted and arrested by police officers and members of the public.
The fact that photography is not a crime notwithstanding, what many of these stories have in common is how quickly things can escalate from a minor confrontation to a serious incident. They also show just how important it is to have a video recording of any altercation – you can see how screwed many photographers and journalists would be if someone did not happen to record video of these events.
If something like this can happen to a photographer in Hamilton Canada, it can happen to you anytime, anywhere.
For now, the best that we can do is be prepared and at the slightest indication of a confrontation with police or a member of the public, pull out your phone and start recording. Then as difficult as it may be the only thing you can do is stay calm and remove yourself from the situation (if you can).
How Are Photographers and Journalist Treated by Police Where You Live?
What is the perception of photography and journalism where you live?
Do you think something like this could happen in your home town?
Have you ever been in a confrontation with police or a member of the public over photography?
How did you handle the situation? What would you recommend?
Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
JP Danko
JP Danko is a commercial photographer based in Toronto, Canada. JP can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
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27 responses to “Police Arrest Canadian Journalists at Scene of Car Crash”
They have and breed a mentality of “Us vs Them…us being them” whether or not you’re a criminal or not…if you’re not a cop, you’re “little people”.
That’s how it is. But how many, and when they will understand that all over the world, the police defend politicians and do not defend and protect the interests of citizens.
They were told many times to move behind the line, the journalists didn’t listen.
what did they nick them for? taking photos?
Been Canadian
Is that an offence now? :(
Photographers get arrested because they don’t listen. It was a fatal crash, if police says do not photograph, or go away, do it, for crying out loud!!! Is it so important for someone to photograph a fatal car accident with a little girl involved in it ? Are you so after that Pulizer and that 15 minute fame??? That’s why you get arrested! Now a days photographers lost their human inside at least most of the journalist ones, and this is what sickens me. Now they run all over the place whining “ooh they have arrested us like criminals” … well they did, and if I was a cop, I’d also do it!!!
You sure use a lot of excessive punctuation!
Also you’re wrong.
” photographers lost their human inside ” – 20 years ago I was a new reporter covering the courts. After a particularly gruesome murder case, in which the defendant was found guilty, the defendant’s mother ran sobbing from the courtroom. Photojournalists, both still and video, chased her and cornered her in a phone booth as she screamed and as her son was being convicted 25 to life. I stopped being a reporter after that day. It was disgusting. So much of journalism is sensationalism, from WeeGee on.
If you agree with any kind of censorship do not complain about the government throwing people in jail when they investigate politicians and take shoots of police brutality
It just seems to me that whoever was filming was just getting in the way and being a nuisance. What was he looking out for anyway? Police abuse? Nothing seemed to be happening. What’s there to film?
The cop looks a bit like Brad Pitt with Bieber hair….
Arrest first and ask questions later.
He was punished on scene by getting poked in the eye with a police radio antenna.
I doubt that they were just arrested for no reason
Thats because the POLICE have something to HIDE!
(Note: This is a general observation, not a comment on this particular
event. I won’t comment on this particular event as I feel there’s a lot of
information missing and the article is extremely one-sided.)
As someone who’s been in this business for wellover 20 years now, I’m surprised not more ‘journalists’ get arrested. Maybe it’s a generational thing… But what I see more and more on a daily basis is an complete disrespect for common decencey and authority by ‘journalists’. I see them parking their cars where they are obstructing traffic or, even worse, hindering first responders. Breaking all kinds of traffic rules and ordnances. Walking where they shouldn’t, hindering people, trampling evidence, getting in the way. And when confronted, they immediately become very argumentative, aggressive and start shouting about their ‘freedom of press’ and ‘right to be here’.
And the classic “I dindonuffin” response.
And then make an angry twitter post about how the “Police is waging war on the freedom of Press”
Generally, you being told to behave decently has nothing to do with restricting your ‘freedom of press’ and you turning this into something bigger than it is is what gets you in trouble.
And then yelling that your rights are violated and that the police is “restricting the freedom of press” is just plain childish. A bit like people getting caught red-handed and then claiming they only got arrested because of their race..
Grow the f**k up.
As a press photographer, I deal with police on a daily basis…. and unless you push the envelop you will never get tie-wrap or silver handcuffs….. would love to see the “other side” video..
Good I’m glad he got arrested just seemed to be be in the way I hope someone goes and stands in his way while he tries to work
Cross a police line, go to jail. It works the same way in the US.
Nice one sided article JP. And to think, I used to have respect for you.
Seriously, I arrived at the scene of a jumper on the highway in my hometown, a bunch of kids ran down with a camera and started to record. First thing the firefighters helping said when they saw this is “they record and submit to websites and try to get likes or money”. I really think people should stay away, especially in situations like this one where there was a fatality.
Another dickhead (or perhaps two) confusing their rights with common decency. If the one that got arrested was also in the officer’s face while he was trying to do his job, he probably got what he deserved. But since we barely have half the story here, there’s no way to tell who was right, and who was wrong.
Anyone that agrees with any kind of state applied censorship should not complain when the government arrests journalists for investigating politicians and should not complain when police takes cameras, footages or even kills photographers when they expose police brutality:
ps: fuck the state
Two things, for whatever they’re worth…
1) A video of a photographer/journalist/dude-with-a-camera being arrested is no further proof of government censorship and oppression than a politician being arrested is proof of a “war against democracy.” What’s the backstory? It may have been an unjust arrest, or may have been very well-deserved.
2) All of this talk about journalistic decency (or lack thereof) being a problem unique to the current generation is simply near-sighted, at best. What about the work of Alexander Gardner (though, often credited to Matthew Brady) during the American Civil War which largely focuses on legitimate dead, decaying humans on the battlefield? What about war correspondents throughout the twentieth century whose images accurately depict the horrors of conflict? What about the work of Dorothea Lange whose work during the Great Depression showed the most heartbreaking and destitute moments of people’s shattered lives? What about the hoard of journalists crowded into the basement of the Dallas police station, wildly snapping photos of a wounded Lee Harvey Oswald moments after being shot by Jack Ruby? I have a copy of a local newspaper from the 1940s that, on the front page, features a photo of the bloody corpses of a family killed in a traffic accident.
If you ask me, our society has, if anything, become less accepting of gruesome and invasive images in media. Television broadcasts and online news articles often include images with blurred faces to protect identities and pixelated gore to cushion our delicate sensibilities. And newspapers rarely ever feature an image more disturbing or invasive than something found in a Disney movie.
The task of photojournalists is to capture what is, as it is, no matter how pretty or grotesque it may be. The line between duty and decency is a fragile one and can only be walked by those who are there.
Your headline writer should think first. The rather than identify the journalist as Canadian it would have been more useful to identify the police as Canadian. The article was about the fairness of Canadian law and enforcement officers not about Canadian journalists. I would be willing to wager that if 100 people scanned that headline they would have assumed the aggressive enforcement was done by police in America. Ironically 1st Amendment based laws in the USA are much more liberal than the right to free speech in Canada. Recording of events in a public space fall under the rubric of free speech.
The video proves nothing. We have no idea what led up to the arrest, only what happened afterwards. I believe that photographers have Rights, but not over laws. The video just shows an arrest being made but nothing about what caused the arrest. What were they photographing? Were they interfering with the investigation or medical help? Were they messing up evidence in relation to the cause of the wreck? I refuse to draw a conclusion from what is written in this article nor shown in the video.
I do not think there is right or wrong. There are rules, guidelines and policies for everyone involved in these situations. It is also true that some from this side or the counterparts, either you are for or against, whomever they are, they might go off limits, and depending on what side you are in, it is acceptable or wrong. This video contains or shows part of the story, not the whole event or incident. Therefore, I can not be objective in my comment or opinion. I do agree with some intelligent people here who try to be as accurate as possible and not biased in their insights. From the outside without being totally in the situation, speculation is easy and inaccurate.