Democracy in action. America is truly a model to the world for freedom of the press. Nowhere has this been more clearly demonstrated than in New Orleans:
when they realised Oleniuk had photographed them hitting looters, they hurled him to the ground, grabbed his two cameras and removed memory cards containing around 350 pictures. His press card was also torn from him. When he asked for his pictures back, the police insulted him and threatened to hit him.
Hard to believe how easy it is to set up a police stage. Machiavelli warned us and we weren’t vigilant.
There is a strong video compilation of New Orleans television coverage at Salon.com which covers much of the madness. After a strong dose of spin on how things are under control, this video will take you back to reality.