Citizen journalists arrested again – How to defend press freedom?

On November 7, hoards of people marched on Taipei Songshan Airport to protest over the Ma-Xi meeting. Amongst the protestors were two citizen journalists conducting a live news broadcast. When the police began arresting protestors at the scene, the two citizen journalists provided documentation of their press status to the police.

However, despite the fact that another journalist was allowed to leave the scene by the police, the two citizen journalists’ press status was dismissed and they were arrested. If time had been spent understanding citizen journalists, it would have revealed that they spend their own time and money buying equipment and conducting live news reports simply to help people better understand the true situation of various topical issues. Concerns have been raised that the arrest of these two citizen journalists for “inappropriate and illegal behavior” will produce a chilling effect on future frontline reporting. 

Citizen journalists arrested again – How to defend press freedom?
URL:https://www.peopo.org/news/291201 

(以下是中文對照)

公民記者再度被逮捕 記者如何維護新聞採訪自由

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十一月七號民眾為抗議馬習會，前往松山機場抗議。抗議現場有兩位公民記者，進行新聞直播。警方開始逮捕現場民眾時，兩位記者表達身份並出示證件。警方不予理會，逕行逮捕；現場有另一位媒體記者警方允許他離開現場。若進一步去認識這些直播的公民記者，都是利用工作或課餘的時間，秉持一個想讓更多人真實了解現場狀況的目的。他們自己花錢購買設備，並花時間進行直播。逮捕記者是警方檢方失當違法的行為，但更嚴重的是恐怕會造成媒體記者在新聞現場、不敢到第一線採訪或取得畫面的寒蟬效應。