I just have to link to this. A reporter from the NY Times was assaulted for trying to take photos of people putting up illegal posters. Here is why the reporter isn’t pressing charges:
“While my assailant’s actions were frightening, they resulted in part from what he interpreted as provocation: that is, my taking pictures after he had explicitly warned me not to. He did not take my wallet, cash or briefcase; something he could easily have done while I was on the ground. Nor do I recall him using much more force than was needed to wrest the camera from me. He didn’t kick me gratuitously when I was down. He did what he threatened to do, but no more.
In the greater scheme of things, my quarrel isn’t with him, anyway. It’s with the suits who made the decision in the first place to undertake an illegal marketing campaign.”
This sort of “looking at the situation from 100-feet” type of thinking from someone who was assaulted and had their camera broken is somewhat inspiring to me. It seems lately our society is really quick to get law, a judge, or “their friends” involved.
(Source: Illegal Signs and a Reporters Broken Camera – City Room – Metro – New York Times Blog)
[Via: Jason Kottke]
2 Comments
i think one big reason he’s not pressing charges is he can’t identify the perp. also, he’s a photog for the NYT and everything’s insured. on top of everything, the still had the photos.
Albert: You might be right about all of those things.