20 October 2003 >> I was now completely encircled. When I tried to escape, the protesters then started smacking the camera with their signs, while others were shoving me from different directions. I started retreating, pushing my way back from the loudspeaker, all the while leaving the camera running and asking the protesters why they weren’t letting me film. Just when the scuffle between me and the protesters seemed like it was about to take a turn for the worse, I remembered that there were some cameras present from a few mainstream media outlets. I started yelling, “Why are you trying to censor me?” The idea was to attract the other cameras, thinking that the protesters would back off if their actions were captured by the news media. The gambit worked: we were soon surrounded by cameras. Video >>

16 October 2003 >> I was now completely encircled. When I tried to escape, the protesters then started smacking the camera with their signs, while others were shoving me from different directions. I started retreating, pushing my way back from the loudspeaker, all the while leaving the camera running and asking the protesters why they weren’t letting me film. Just when the scuffle between me and the protesters seemed like it was about to take a turn for the worse, I remembered that there were some cameras present from a few mainstream media outlets. I started yelling, “Why are you trying to censor me?” The idea was to attract the other cameras, thinking that the protesters would back off if their actions were captured by the news media. The gambit worked: we were soon surrounded by cameras. More >>

14 October 2003 >> A reader writes to share his experience with belligerent protesters in Las Vegas. More >>

13 October 2003 >> I spent Saturday filming a pro-Palestinian rally at Rutgers University. While there, participants and organizers alike tried to shut down my camera. For a while, they surrounded me and hit the front of my camera with signs to stop me from filming the rally’s speakers. Eventually, they backed off after realizing that cameras from several other media outlets—including NBC News, WCBS-TV, and Channel 12 New Jersey—were capturing their actions.

Update: Apparently, I am not the only one to have faced the wrath of protesters seeking to censor citizen journalists. More >>

4 October 2003 >> If Arnold Schwarzenegger really does admire Hitler, then all the previous misuses of the so-and-so-is-just-like-Hitler accusation may prevent people from taking it seriously against Schwarzenegger. And, if this charge is merely a cheap attempt to inflict political damage, then it just increases the probability that voters won’t pay any attention to legitimate accusations in the future. More >>