At two separate protest marches or rallies, two different journalists for a media outlet I'm with reported that they were harassed, chased, blocked from taking photos of protesters or interviewing people; they even had protesters take photos of their press passes and one female reporter was pursued down an ally, very scary. Those were BLM protesters and one appeared to be an organizer, with a bullhorn.
One would think that when protesting in a public place, you would WANT publicity from media especially if the media outlet is fair, neutral, or favorable to your cause, as were the cases here. One photographer was surrounded and taunted including by some people up close and not wearing masks.
After covering another rally, yet a third journalist of ours was chased down and blocked in on a cul-de-sac by white supremacist counter-protesters, which was even scarier. He feared he was about to be attacked physically and called me. I advised him to turn on the radio full blast to get residents nearby to come outside and put his emergency flashers on as it was after dark. Fortunately the supremacist thugs left and he was able to escape but we have not assigned him again since they now know his car and license plate. This is getting both creepy and scary!
A local TV station tells me that one camera crew was similarly harassed by protesters recently and the same thing happened to a crew in the Bay area near San Francisco. We're in Southern CA. I'm told that some media outlets are now hiring body guards for their journalists, which our nonprofit community outlet can't afford. Others are backing off covering protests at all to protect the safety of reporters.
Reporters for the same outlet suffered abuse by police, too, at different rallies. One was hit repeatedly by pepper balls in what appeared to be intentional targeting of media (he wore a yellow caution vest, had a press pass around his neck and had a long-lens camera, and was near a group of other photographers all with TV cameras; he had even identified himself to police at the scene as media.). Protesters helped our photographer clean out his eyes which were burning; he couldn't even breathe.
Two other photojournalists were tear-gassed peripherally though not targeted specifically the same night while covering riots and looting after a protest in La Mesa, CA.
I've learned that milk neutralizes pepper spray in the eyes (water reportedly makes it worse) while tear gas is best rinsed with water.
Anyone attending or covering a protest may want to consider carrying these items in a backpack, just in case.
We are also considering getting a hidden camera like the one Greg Palast wears in his fedora hat, solely for use at protests, to protect our reporters from being abused or blocked from doing their jobs at times when blending in instead of standing out might be safer.
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