Club Online Zoom Event – George Floyd Protests: The Growing Threats to Journalists Covering Unrest in the United States

Violence against journalists by police and protesters has been widespread in the United States since demonstrations began over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker says that an “unprecedented number of journalists were assaulted, arrested or otherwise prevented from documenting history”, and recorded more than 400 incidents across 60 cities. In this discussion, Joel Simon, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, will look at the growing threats to journalists in the United States, and Amelia Brace, U.S. correspondent for Australia’s Seven Network, will describe her experiences from the front line, including being beaten by police in Washington.

Joel Simon has been executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists since 2006. He writes and speaks widely on press freedom issues and is the author of three books, mostly recently, We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages, and Ransom (Columbia Global Reports, 2018). Prior to joining CPJ in 1997 as Americas program coordinator, Simon worked for a decade as a journalist in Latin America.

Amelia Brace is the U.S. correspondent for Australia’s Seven Network and has been covering the protests that erupted following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. She and cameraman Tim Myers were broadcasting live from Washington’s Lafayette Square on June 1 when police cleared demonstrators to allow President Donald Trump’s photo-op outside St John’s Church. She was struck by a truncheon, Myers hit with a riot shield and both were struck by rubber bullets and tear gas. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an investigation into the incident, prompting a pledge from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that his department would look into the treatment of foreign journalists covering the protests.