Iran Reports Conviction of Washington Post Reporter
“Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, imprisoned in Tehran for more than 14 months, has been convicted following an espionage trial that ended in August, Iranian media reported Monday,” Carol Morello and William Branigin reported Monday for the Washington Post. “The verdict — belated and opaque — was strongly condemned by the journalist’s family and colleagues, as well as the U.S. government.
“State-run TV and the Iranian Students’ News Agency both quoted Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, a spokesman for Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, saying Rezaian, 39, had been found guilty. But Mohseni-Ejei offered no specifics on what charges and whether a sentence has been imposed.
“ ‘He has been convicted, but I don’t have the verdict’s detail,’ said Mohseni-Ejei, a hard-liner and former prosecutor who criticized Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for shaking hands with President Obama during a chance encounter at the United Nations last month, comparing the gesture to consorting with the enemy.
“Rezaian faced four charges — the most serious of which was espionage. The judge who heard the case is known for handing down harsh sentences, and Rezaian potentially faces a sentence of 10 to 20 years. . . .”
Morello and Branigin also wrote, “Martin Baron, executive editor of The Post, called the guilty verdict ‘an outrageous injustice’ and ‘contemptible.’ . . .”
Prosecutor Defends Finding of “Reasonable” in Rice Shooting
“Cuyahoga County’s top prosecutor responded to a series of criticisms levied by activists and families of victims of police violence who expressed disappointment over his office’s release of two reports that concluded the Cleveland police shooting death of Tamir Rice was ‘reasonable,’ “Kris Wernowsky reported Monday for the Northeast Ohio Media Group.
Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty’s office released two reports from use-of-force experts — one a Denver prosecutor, the other a retired FBI agent — that examined the evidence in the shooting. Both concluded that while the shooting of the 12-year-old boy was tragic, it was reasonable for officer Timothy Loehmann to shoot Tamir on Nov. 22 outside the Cudell Recreation Center.
“Any suggestion that this office is protecting police is baseless and soundly rebutted when our record of prosecutions against police is reviewed,” he said in a statement released through his spokesman Monday night.
“Perhaps some of these community activists are outcome oriented and have understandably had their emotions regarding the absolutely tragic death of a child to influence their position,” he added.
“ACLU Ohio Executive Director Christine Link said in an interview Monday that the public loses confidence in police-involved shooting investigations when prosecutors rely too heavily on the opinions of current or former law enforcement officers.. . .”
Police See Body Camera Videos, but Not Public
“In the turbulent year since Michael Brown’s death sparked protests in Ferguson, Mo., and beyond, politicians, law enforcement officials and community activists have seized on body cameras as a vital reform capable of restoring transparency and trust to police interactions with the public,” Kimberly Kindy and Julie Tate reported for the Washington Post’s Sunday print edition.
“But in Burlington [Iowa] and elsewhere around the country, police and other officials are routinely blocking the release of body camera videos while giving officers accused of wrongdoing special access to the footage.
“Nationwide, police have shot and killed 760 people since January, according to a Washington Post database tracking every fatal shooting. Of those, The Post has found 49 incidents captured by body camera, or about 6 percent.
“Just 21 of those videos — less than half — have been publicly released. And in several of those cases, the footage, as in Burlington, was severely cut or otherwise edited.
“Meanwhile, virtually all of the 36 departments involved in those shootings have permitted their officers to view the videos before giving statements to investigators, The Post found. Civil and human rights groups fear that access could help rogue officers tailor their stories to obscure misconduct and avoid prosecution. . . .”
- Editorial, Daily News, New York: Arresting development in James Blake probe
- Editorial, New York Times: A Law That Hides Police Misconduct From the Public
- Jaeah Lee, Mother Jones: Outrage is Boiling Over the Outcome of New Probes Into the Police Shooting of a 12-year-old. Here Are 6 Takeaways.
- Goldie Taylor, Daily Beast: So Killing Tamir Rice Was…Reasonable?
- Zoeann Murphy, Washington Post: Police body cameras: A struggle over who controls the footage (video)
Ferrier Named to Lead Journalism That Matters
“The Journalism That Matters (JTM) board elected Dr. Michelle Ferrier, associate dean for innovation, research/creative activity and graduate studies at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University, as president of the organization on Oct. 4, replacing Chris Peck, former editor of the Memphis Appeal and outgoing president of ASNE,” the college announced on Monday.
In announcing its most recent newsroom diversity figures, the American Society of News Editors reported that “ASNE has focused more heavily on diversity through community engagement in the past few years by partnering with Journalism That Matters, a nonprofit that convenes conversations to foster collaboration, innovation and action so that a diverse news and information ecosystem can thrive. . . .”
The college announcement continued, “Ferrier has been on the board of JTM for more than five years and has developed new programs for JTM such as the Create or Die series of events in Detroit and Greensboro that birthed media entrepreneurship innovations in those areas and across the United States.
“Ferrier will lead one of the nation’s most visionary organizations that for more than 14 years has led conversations helping professionals to navigate the changing role of journalism. A signature approach of JTM has been to bring diverse stakeholders to the table and use unconference practices to foster breakthrough conversations and action.
“A former newspaper columnist and managing editor for online communities, Ferrier has been a pioneer in digital media and content/learning management systems. Ferrier is a researcher and practitioner around online communities, hyperlocal online news, media entrepreneurship and online education. Ferrier is also the principal investigator for The Media Deserts Project that examines the changing media ecosystem using geographic information system technologies. . . . “
O’Reilly Admits Factual Errors in Piece on Dearborn
“Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly admitted to factual errors in a piece that aired on O’Reilly Factor Thursday night, but remained firm in his defense of the feature as satire,” Randall Yip reported Saturday for his As Am News site.
“In the segment called Watters World, correspondent Jesse Watters traveled to Dearborn, Michigan where the population is about 50 percent Arab, many of them Muslims.” The Arab American News reported last week, “The video segment aired on the O’Reilly Factor Monday night; a day later, close to a dozen calls for bombing Dearborn surfaced on Fox News’s Facebook page. City officials and community activists condemned the news network for its inaccurate portrayal of the city. . . .”
Yip continued, “Dawud Walid, the executive director of the Michigan Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations appeared on the show Friday to take O’Reilly to task for many factual errors in the piece.
“Walid called the feature ‘old tired bigoted frameworks’ about the community of Dearborn.
“O’Reilly admitted to several errors after they were pointed out by Walid.
“The story incorrectly stated the police chief of Dearborn is Muslim when he’s a Lebanese Christian.
“The story failed to correct a false assertion by a person interviewed that a Muslim woman was killed there for simply having a condom and that there are honor killings in Dearborn. . . .”
Morocco on “Campaign of Intimidation” Against Press
“As he sits in a jail cell with seven other inmates, Hicham Mansouri, an investigative journalist, worries about his colleagues on the outside,” Aida Alam reported Sunday for the New York Times.
“For now, at least, they remain free.
“ ‘They got to me as a warning to the others,’ said Mr. Mansouri, referring to other members of the Moroccan Association of Investigative Journalism. ‘Moroccans should start getting concerned about what is happening in their country. The media is more repressed.’
“About a year ago, Morocco, a monarchy that cultivates a pro-democracy image, embarked on a campaign of intimidation against the press, arresting journalists and activists and even deporting foreign reporters. Mr. Mansouri’s case is one of the examples of the crackdown on opposition independent voices that emerged after the 2011 revolutions in the region emboldened democracy advocates.
“In May, a judge sentenced Mr. Mansouri, 35, to 10 months of prison on adultery charges in a country where sex outside marriage is illegal. He was accused of having an affair with a married woman. Human Rights Watch denounced the trial as politically motivated and falling “short of due process and fair trial standards.’ . . .”
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