Needless confrontation is very bad, particularly protesters confronting the so-called "corporate media". I'm not going to argue with you on that.
The media are alternately symbiotic and adverse to both the protesters and the police; a good story can result from violence from either side. Hostility from the protesters can result in the kind of coverage KATU gave last weekend, and police terrorism results in KPTV's coverage, particularly if an individual officer intentionally targets the media, like Sgt. Mark Kruger directing his pepper spray at KPTV's camerawoman during the August 22 Bush protests.
I consider pepper-spraying anyone not attacking the police to be police brutality, or as I prefer to call it, police terrorism.
Meanwhile, there are reports coming in from people arrested that the police committed Eighth Amendment violations while the protesters were in custody. We'll have to check those out...
Re: Portland protests
The media are alternately symbiotic and adverse to both the protesters and the police; a good story can result from violence from either side. Hostility from the protesters can result in the kind of coverage KATU gave last weekend, and police terrorism results in KPTV's coverage, particularly if an individual officer intentionally targets the media, like Sgt. Mark Kruger directing his pepper spray at KPTV's camerawoman during the August 22 Bush protests.
I consider pepper-spraying anyone not attacking the police to be police brutality, or as I prefer to call it, police terrorism.
Meanwhile, there are reports coming in from people arrested that the police committed Eighth Amendment violations while the protesters were in custody. We'll have to check those out...