ABC - ABC DEFENDS ARRESTED REPORTER

ABC DEFENDS ARRESTED REPORTER

Civil liberties and journalist organizations have joined ABC-TV in asking Denver authorities to drop charges against ABC reporter/producer Asa Eslocker. Eslocker was arrested Wednesday while attempting to shoot interviews on the sidewalk outside the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver for an ABC investigative report about links between political donors and Congressional lawmakers. Footage taken by Eslocker's cameraman shows an officer telling Eslocker that the sidewalk is owned by the hotel and that he is trespassing. (The hotel later acknowledged that it did not own the sidewalk.) In a letter to the Denver city attorney, ABC observed that Eslocker was "standing on public sidewalks covering an event of public significance and performing a press function protected by the First Amendment." Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, commented, "Arresting a reporter for simply doing his job is both unconstitutional and un-American." The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said that it was "alarmed by the arrest and harassment" of Eslocker and asked Denver officials "to respect the rights of citizens, including journalists, to be on public property." Meanwhile, on his blog, ABC News anchor Charles Gibson, observing that Eslocker was released on $500 bail, remarked, "We got a kick out of the fact that he swiped his corporate credit card to put up the five hundred."

29/08/2008