Journalists arrested, roughed up as police clear Zuccotti Park of OWS protesters

Storify by Ben Doernberg
Journalists said they were shut out and roughed up as the New York Police Department cleared Zuccotti Park of Occupy Wall Street protesters in the early morning hours Tuesday. “I’m w/ a NY Post reporter who says he was roughed up by riot police as Zuccotti was cleared,” tweeted Brian Stelter of The New York Times. “He thinks violence was ‘completely deliberate.’ ” Julie Walker, a freelancer for NPR, and Jared Malsin were reportedly arrested. Josh Harkinson, a staff writer for Mother Jones, made it into the park and observed the police arresting protesters (which he described in tweets later), but said he was hauled out when he told a police officer he was working for Mother Jones. “I decided it would be better to stay out of jail and keep reporting on what’s going on tonight, so I let him haul me out, arguing with him,” he tweeted. Josh Stearns, associate program director at Free Press, is updating his ongoing Storify of journalist arrests at Occupy protests. || Update: Several more journalists arrested when protesters returned Tuesday morning (Guardian) | Society of Professional Journalists says charges against journalists should be dropped (SPJ) || Earlier: Three-time Wisconsin ‘Photographer of the Year’ arrested during Occupy rally || Related: Occupy Oakland and news media coexist uneasily (The Bay Citizen)