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Giuliania Press Secretary Orders Arrest of Reporter

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rathi

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Reporter Arrested on Orders of Giuliani Press Secretary

This is quite disturbing. The press secretary just point at a guy and he gets arrested on trumped up charges and removed from the conference? He was charged with trespassing even though he had the press pass and the CNN people asked him to stay. Matt Lepacek maybe a little wacky with 9/11 conspiracies, but that is no excuse to have him falsely arrested. I hope the press secretary and the police get hammered with such a blatant violation of the 1st amendment.
 
This is absolutely atrocious. Arresting a man (a reporter I might add legally allowed to be there) because he asked a "touchy" question is downright horrible. What is this country coming to if this kind of action is not looked down upon?

I'm waiting to here people "support" this decision :roll:
 
Watching the video link, my impression is that the Giuliani spokesperson was correct when he referred to Lepacek's so-called questioning as a "sabatoge attempt". Lepacek wasn't really interested in answers, he was only interested in making a nuisance of himself and thereby getting himself noticed. Sophomoric and stupid. Much like the shouting down of speakers in college venues when their pov isn't the same as yours. Just my opinion. YMMV.
 
oldreliable67 said:
Watching the video link, my impression is that the Giuliani spokesperson was correct when he referred to Lepacek's so-called questioning as a "sabatoge attempt".
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What, asking questions that are "touchy" and could cause some interesting responses is a "sabatoge attempt"? Arresting people for practicing their 1st Amendment rights is wrong, no matter how you look at it.
 
Kasmos said:
What, asking questions that are "touchy" and could cause some interesting responses is a "sabatoge attempt"? Arresting people for practicing their 1st Amendment rights is wrong, no matter how you look at it.
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Again, just my impression of the specifics shown on the vid...

The questions and the questioner went way beyond being "touchy". The aggressiveness and in-your-face tactics used by Lepacek were not those of a reporter seeking responses to difficult questions. They were the well-known tactics of a demonstrator at a confrontation with an authority figure, pressing for and seeking a response that would be video-taped and permit him to claim victim status. In this, he succeeded.

Let me clarify and be clear: Even though I deplore his tactics, you are quite right that arresting Lepacek was wrong, both for the reasons you mentioned as well as tactical from a campaign viewpoint. The Giuliani representative erred tremendously and played right into Lepacek's hands. A more appropriate response in this situation would have been to acknowledge Lepacek's questions and then assert his opinion of them as a form of heckling, perhaps offer to meet with him after the press conference so as to stay with the published agenda for the meeting (recall that Lepacek wanted the G. rep to go over to a seat and watch their video, which he said would take, IIRC, "about 20 minutes" - clearly not something for which the G. rep should interrupt the meeting). Subsequently, should Lepacek have continued to press his agenda, the G. rep should have ignored Lepacek or at the most, reminded him of his offer to meet with him afterwards. Perhaps not a perfect response, but better than winding up giving Lepacek a valuable PR tool.
 
oldreliable67 said:
Again, just my impression of the specifics shown on the vid...

The questions and the questioner went way beyond being "touchy". The aggressiveness and in-your-face tactics used by Lepacek were not those of a reporter seeking responses to difficult questions. They were the well-known tactics of a demonstrator at a confrontation with an authority figure, pressing for and seeking a response that would be video-taped and permit him to claim victim status. In this, he succeeded.

Let me clarify and be clear: Even though I deplore his tactics, you are quite right that arresting Lepacek was wrong, both for the reasons you mentioned as well as tactical from a campaign viewpoint. The Giuliani representative erred tremendously and played right into Lepacek's hands. A more appropriate response in this situation would have been to acknowledge Lepacek's questions and then assert his opinion of them as a form of heckling, perhaps offer to meet with him after the press conference so as to stay with the published agenda for the meeting (recall that Lepacek wanted the G. rep to go over to a seat and watch their video, which he said would take, IIRC, "about 20 minutes" - clearly not something for which the G. rep should interrupt the meeting). Subsequently, should Lepacek have continued to press his agenda, the G. rep should have ignored Lepacek or at the most, reminded him of his offer to meet with him afterwards. Perhaps not a perfect response, but better than winding up giving Lepacek a valuable PR tool.
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Very nice post, I understand your point of view now.
 
This is f@ckin' disgusting! Good thing we only have another year and a half, at the most hopefully, of stories like this. More proof that POS "republicans" actually respect and uphold the Constitution.
 
Doremus Jessup said:
This is f@ckin' disgusting! Good thing we only have another year and a half, at the most hopefully, of stories like this. More proof that POS "republicans" actually respect and uphold the Constitution.
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You surely don't believe this kind of ineptness is solely the province of one party or the other?
 
I am glad they kicked the guy out........The only reason he was there was to disrupt the proceedings........
 
Navy Pride said:
I am glad they kicked the guy out........The only reason he was there was to disrupt the proceedings........
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Perhaps so, but he was legally there, and even if they could kick him out, (Debatable) there's no reason he can be arrested for it.
 
rathi said:
Reporter Arrested on Orders of Giuliani Press Secretary

This is quite disturbing. The press secretary just point at a guy and he gets arrested on trumped up charges and removed from the conference? He was charged with trespassing even though he had the press pass and the CNN people asked him to stay. Matt Lepacek maybe a little wacky with 9/11 conspiracies, but that is no excuse to have him falsely arrested. I hope the press secretary and the police get hammered with such a blatant violation of the 1st amendment.
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Oh please your source is Alex Jones and the guy was working for info-wars, I'm sorry but I'm quite sure that there is more to the story than this conspiracy hack Jones is letting on.
 
oldreliable67 said:
You surely don't believe this kind of ineptness is solely the province of one party or the other?
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Well, I sure as hell don't think that "inept" would be the most appropriate word, that just sugar-coats the whole situation. But, I wouldn't put it past some in either party to pull sh!t like this.
 
Doremus Jessup said:
Well, I sure as hell don't think that "inept" would be the most appropriate word, that just sugar-coats the whole situation. But, I wouldn't put it past some in either party to pull sh!t like this.
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The guys a nut not a real reporter he was there to disrupt not to conduct a serious interview. Just like Jones this guy is an ambush journalist.
 
Oh please your source is Alex Jones and the guy was working for info-wars, I'm sorry but I'm quite sure that there is more to the story than this conspiracy hack Jones is letting on.
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I agree that he probably a hack and not a good reporter.The correct response would be to revoke his press pass and evict him from the building. Arresting him on trumped-up charges is what dictators do, and should be punished harshly.
 
rathi said:
I agree that he probably a hack and not a good reporter.The correct response would be to revoke his press pass and evict him from the building. Arresting him on trumped-up charges is what dictators do, and should be punished harshly.
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Was he asked to leave before he was arrested? If so then he was trespassing.
 
He was on private property. He was asked to leave. He didn't. That's called trespassing.

Case closed, discussion over.
 
RightinNYC said:
He was on private property. He was asked to leave. He didn't. That's called trespassing.

Case closed, discussion over.
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But wait are you saying that Alex Jones misrepresented the story? Noooooooo!!!!! My whole Orwellian construct is shattering around me, maybe the world isn't controlled by Satan worshippers, maybe 9-11 wasn't an inside job after all, oh fuc/k what ever will I do now, thanks alot Right thanks a god-damn lot!!!
 
RightinNYC said:
He was on private property. He was asked to leave. He didn't. That's called trespassing.

Case closed, discussion over.
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So if I'm a reporter, and I go to a press conference which is on private property, and I ask a question that the speaker doesn't like, and I get asked to leave, I MUST leave or get arrested? What's the point of allowing press in (especially if I had a badge) if that's the case? You can't pre-select news reporters like you pre-select presidential debate audiences.

I agree that he was trying to cause a stir by asking the questions he did, but that doesn't deter the fact that he had every right of being there, and no right of getting arrested. People can't just ask news reporters they don't like to leave, and then arrest them if they don't.
 
Doremus Jessup said:
Well, I sure as hell don't think that "inept" would be the most appropriate word, that just sugar-coats the whole situation.
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Thats why we have vanilla and chocolate. "Inept" seems entirely appropriate to me.
 
Kasmos said:
So if I'm a reporter, and I go to a press conference which is on private property, and I ask a question that the speaker doesn't like, and I get asked to leave, I MUST leave or get arrested? What's the point of allowing press in (especially if I had a badge) if that's the case? You can't pre-select news reporters like you pre-select presidential debate audiences.

I agree that he was trying to cause a stir by asking the questions he did, but that doesn't deter the fact that he had every right of being there, and no right of getting arrested. People can't just ask news reporters they don't like to leave, and then arrest them if they don't.
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No one has the right to be on private property if they are asked to leave freedom of the press does not equate to freedom to tresspass.
 
Kasmos said:
This is absolutely atrocious. Arresting a man (a reporter I might add legally allowed to be there) because he asked a "touchy" question is downright horrible. What is this country coming to if this kind of action is not looked down upon?

I'm waiting to here people "support" this decision :roll:
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All right. I'll bite. If that obnoxious "reporter" got in my face at such an important event, acting stupid like he was acting, my first instinct would be to punch his stupid face in. I don't know if it's right or not, but I'm glad he got cuffed and stuffed. :rofl
 
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