The war on photography is a national concern.
Mickey H. Osterreicher is the general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association and edits the organization’s Advocacy Committee blog. He spoke with James Estrin. Their conversation has been edited.
Q. It seems like photographing in public is becoming a crime.
A. Literally every day, someone is being arrested for doing nothing more than taking a photograph in a public place. It makes no sense to me. Photography is an expression of free speech.Since 9/11, there’s been an incredible number of incidents where photographers are being interfered with and arrested for doing nothing other than taking pictures or recording video in public places.
It’s not just news photographers who should be concerned with this. I think every citizen should be concerned. Tourists taking pictures are being told by police, security guards and sometimes other citizens, “Sorry, you can’t take a picture here.” When asked why, they say, “Well, don’t you remember 9/11?”
I remember it quite well, but what does that have do to with taking a picture in public? It seems like the war on terrorism has somehow morphed into an assault on photography.
Q. What’s caused this?
A. It’s been a perfect storm. There’s 9/11, and now photojournalists who traditionally worked for newspapers are losing their jobs and becoming freelancers who may not have the backing of their news organizations. You have Occupy Wall Street, where police didn’t want some of their actions to be photographed. And now everybody with a cellphone is capable of recording very high-quality images. And everyone has the ability to upload and share them almost instantly. There is no news cycle — it’s 24/7 with unlimited bandwidth.
Q. What does a professional photographer need to know about their right to photograph?
A. If you’re out in public, you can take pictures. And you can report to your heart’s content. The problem is whether they know their rights or don’t know their rights and are willing to assert their rights.
Now, when I say that, that doesn’t mean that you can get up within two inches of a working police officer and stick your camera in their face. One of the things I prided myself on when I was a photojournalist was not affecting the situation. You want to be invisible. You get in, you get out, nobody gets hurt. You do your job, and that’s what your main responsibility is. It’s not to become the news story. Be respectful, be polite, act professional.
But even in certain cases when photographers have carried around the law and shown it to police officers and law enforcement, it hasn’t mattered.
Unfortunately, a lot of officers will say “because I said so.” It works for your mother, but it doesn’t really work for police. They have to be enforcing a certain law, and they can’t just make it up.
If you’re stopped on the street, stay calm. Be reasonable, be cooperative — as cooperative as you can. By cooperative, I don’t mean you have to show them your pictures when they ask. If you’re not getting anywhere ask to speak to a supervisor.
When all else fails, unless you’re willing to be arrested, you have to consider trying a different approach. Walk away, and see if you can get another angle. As news photographers, you’re there to break a new story, the last thing you want to do is stand around arguing with somebody while the images you want to take disappear.
For the general public, just be aware that this may happen to you. Tell them, “I’m on a public street, this is America, I can take pictures.”
Q. So the law is supposed to be, anywhere the public can go, the press can go, at least?
A. The press may not have any greater right than the public, but they certainly have no less right than the public. And unfortunately we’re finding that that is not the case anymore. When you’re identified as being a member of the press, you are often restricted from doing your job.
What we’re seeing is photographers being charged with disorderly conduct, trespass and obstruction of governmental administration for doing their job. I call it the catch and release program. Almost always the D.A. will drop the charges immediately. But in the meantime, the police have managed to stop the person from photographing.
Q. Most people don’t know that it’s legal to take a photo on the street without asking people. People often say to me while I’m shooting “you have to ask my permission.” What exactly is the law on that?
A. If you’re in public, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy. That’s the difference between what is public and what is private. It’s the reason that all those security cameras that are on every city street are allowed to photograph us, because when we’re out in public we have no reasonable expectation of privacy. http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/criminalizing-photography/?smid=tw-nytimes
Lawyer details how 9/11 led to a war on taking pictures in public.
http://www.businessinsider.com/press-photographer-police-photos-public-2012-8
NY photojournalist gets cameras back after arrest, but not press credentials.
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/184930/arrested-new-york-photojournalist-gets-cameras-back-but-not-credentials-robert-stolari/
Police sought cellphones for video of times square shooting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/nyregion/the-police-sought-cellphones-pictures-of-times-square-shooting.html?_r=1
Want to report a crime? Well, politician says, there's an app for that.
A new smartphone app called the “Brooklyn Quality of Life” developed by a Brooklyn politicianallows New Yorkers to report crimes – without going to the NYPD. (Another app. that encourages citizens to spy on each other)
Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) plans to unveil an app Sunday that goes around cops, letting users snap a picture of suspected criminal activity or make a voice recording describing what they’ve seen and submit it anonymously. A team of retired law enforcement volunteers will share it with investigators through a private Facebook page.
“It does away with the fear that people have — I don’t want to walk into a precinct. I don’t want to call the police and have them come to my house because the bad guys are going to see them,” Adams said.
Adams, a former cop, insisted he’s not encouraging people not to call the police — but said many people in high-crime neighborhoods won’t report what they know about criminal activity no matter how much they’re urged to do so because they fear retaliation or don’t trust the police.
Adams said he planned to fully brief the NYPD about the app and hoped they would get onboard with using it for leads.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/report-a-crime-nypd-politician-app-article-1.1134736