By Hanna Grissel
Since construction began on the Dakota Access Pipeline, it has been met with an unprecedented number of protests held by those who call themselves protectors. Members of Native Nations, environmentalists, farmers, water protectors, private landowners, and more have come together under one cause: to protect the sacred burial grounds of a sovereign nation, the water that is shared with all in the region, and the environment we will all pass down to our children. This is a fight that most conscious people would deem moral when faced with the facts.
Which is clearly why the mainstream media have been out there “protecting” us from what’s happening around the pipeline. Luckily, we do have journalists out there risking arrest and even receiving unconstitutional charges in order to document what’s happening. And because of their actions, we’ve actually seen the mainstream-media conglomerates start to take this issue seriously.
Though, I’ll still argue, not seriously enough. Protectors and journalists alike are facing violence and prison time for expressing their First Amendment rights. This is not just an unjust punishment for them. These actions are an attack on every American’s right to express the First Amendment and an attack that is setting an Orwellian precedent for the future.
I am speaking of award-winning journalist Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now” and her charge of inciting a riot. The incident surrounding this charge refers to her documentation of a peaceful action, which was led with prayer, in the hopes of blocking the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on sacred water sources and burial lands belonging to the Sioux Nation. Supposedly, her coverage of private security siccing attack dogs on the peaceful protest warrants this charge.
You heard that right: Groups of peaceful protesters were attacked with dogs. Here’s the kicker, the Morton County Sheriff’s Office just concluded an investigation on the guards who used attack dogs, and it turns out none of them were properly licensed to do security work in North Dakota.
In the end, Goodman’s charges were overturned in court. Still, prosecutors say they may continue their investigation and bring other charges against her. Surely this is a win for journalistic freedom as of now, but it’s also a reminder that too often, corporate interests are allied with the U.S. government. This has the potential to compromise constitutional freedoms for the pursuit of economic gain.
Despite Goodman’s attention, lesser-known journalists aren’t receiving nearly as much support. Two documentary filmmakers, Deia Schlosberg and Lindsey Grayzel, are still facing charges for documenting protests around other oil pipelines.
The conspiracy charges they’re facing could amount to decades in prison time — prison time they would be subject to for nothing more than recording and reporting on highly controversial corporate interests.
These infringements on the rights of journalists and protectors should make it to prime-time news. With so much of our political leanings focused on the infringement of our Bill of Rights, it should also be alarming to the lengths at which our news sources are going to “protect” us from knowing they are being attacked.
At this point, we have insurmountable evidence that the United States is working with corporate interests, against the interests of citizens, and it’s time to take a stand. We must fight to protect our First Amendment.