It's Outrageous That I'm Facing 45 Years in Prison for Filming a Climate Protest

Clerk Note: Freedom of the press was written into our Constition, of course that was back in the day when printing presses were heavy to move about and conceal. It is also written into our Constitution that when the elected officials vote/sign treaties and internal laws, they become the law of the land, our land, our nation. If not our military, then military tactics deployed by the police are enforcing commerce instead of the rights of the citizens with long-standing treaties. Don't we look silly that the UN is judging the USA for not living up to things. The UN should put some election inspectors on the ground in the USA, for when the exit polls deviate (by more that 2%) from the machine counted votes.

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It's Outrageous That I'm Facing 45 Years in Prison for Filming a Climate Protest

Filmmaker arrested for documenting last week's #ShutItDown protests speaks out

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/10/18/its-outrageous-im-facing-45-years-prison-filming-climate-protest

By: Deia Schlosberg
Date: 2016-10-18

My name is Deia Schlosberg and I am an independent filmmaker and climate reporter. I was arrested while filming an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in North Dakota and I'm currently facing felony charges that I believe are unjust. I am a climate reporter; my specialty is following the story of how humankind is creating a grave problem for civilization by continuing to flood the atmosphere with greenhouse gases through the burning of fossil fuels and other industrial processes. I don't think there is nearly enough reporting on climate change nor the movement of people around the world working to lessen the impacts of climate change.

When I was arrested, I was doing my job. I was reporting. I was documenting. Journalism needs to be passionately and ethically pursued and defended if we are to remain a free democratic country. Freedom of the press, guaranteed by the First Amendment, is absolutely critical to maintaining an informed citizenry, without which, democracy is impossible.

It is the responsibility of journalists and reporters to document newsworthy events, and it is particularly important for independent media to tell the stories that mainstream media is not covering. The mainstream did not break the story on fracking nor did it break the story about what is happening at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota, nor the stories told in my most recent film with Josh Fox, How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change. With this and other recent films, I have sought to portray and humanize the climate movement that is fighting for all of us with integrity, resilience and deep compassion.

Journalist and documentary filmmaker Deia Schlosberg, pictured here at the 35th College Television Awards, was arrested for filming those taking direct action against the fossil fuel industry. (Photo: Danny Moloshok / Invision)

Accordingly, I felt I had a duty to document the unprecedented #ShutItDown climate action, which stopped all Canadian oil sands from entering the United States. Canadian oil sands importation is a controversial issue that is not getting the coverage it warrants, especially considering that the extraction and use of oil sands has a profound impact on every person on this planet.

I'd also like to call attention to two reporters covering the same action in Washington State, Lindsey Grayzel and Carl Davis, who are facing preliminary felony charges as well. For reporters who are simply doing their job, which is their constitutionally protected right, to be facing such charges is an outrage.