Web journalist detained by bodyguards

The founder of the Alaska Dispatch, a Web site out of Anchorage, was handcuffed and detained at a rally for U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller. A private security team, hired by Miller, arrested Tony Hopfinger for trespassing and assault after Hopfinger followed Miller to the exit, asking questions and taking video.

Miller has stopped speaking to Alaska media. The Dispatch, the Anchorage Daily News and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner have filed suit to obtain work records from when Miller was a county attorney in Fairbanks.

Details are pretty shaky, and so far, all three major text news sources in Anchorage have somewhat different details.

The Dispatch: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/dispatches/news/7187-miller-guard-says-editor-refused-to-leave-private-event

ADN:
http://www.adn.com/2010/10/17/1506223/miller-security-guards-handcuff.html

AP: http://newsminer.com/bookmark/9950699-Journalist-handcuffed-at-Joe-Miller-town-hall

Miller's press release, calling the "liberal blogger" angry and violent: http://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=4ed896e60d9a1d9a10dec11a0&id=5f2e885647

 

I don't care what you think about bloggers, or how annoying this guy might have been -- it is an absolute fucking outrage of the highest order that hired, poor-man's-Blackwater goons of a candidate for U.S. Senate took it upon themselves to "arrest" a reporter for the crime of being a pain in the ass, i.e., doing a reporter's job. It's telling that the Anchorage police showed up and told Miller's jackboots to let the guy go. Or maybe Miller wanted to prove his anti-government credentials by not calling public authorities to handle any arrest.

By the way, I would feel the same if this were a right-wing blogger chasing a liberal candidate. What does it say about a candidate that if you're a reporter who's not playing nice, he's going to have his gendarmes lock you to a chair?

 

The Anchorage police should have arrested those fascist security fuckheads for assault and unlawful confinement.

I hope Hopfinger sues. And wins. Big.

 

See: Germany, 1930's.

Don't want to see it? Don't inflict your obliviousness on those of us who give a shit.

 

I don't care if it's legal to make that kind of arrest under Alaska law.
If the blogger was simply banished from the premises, it would be one thing. But Hecht is right - this is borderline Nazi behavior.
Can't wait for Hunter-Gatherer Barbie's reaction to her boy's peeps' screwup - will she actually defend it?

 

I thought this still had relevance, but maybe I'm mistaken.

 

Disgusting behavior by the bodyguard, surely just taking orders from this idiot who hired him.

"Fulton said that as a security guard he is familiar with state law, and he believes he has the legal authority to police "private events" no matter where might take place. He refused to answer how exactly a member of the public attending Miller's town hall meeting at a public school was supposed to know it was a private event, but said the Joe Miller sign outside was the giveaway.

The meeting was open to the public. There were no names taken at the door. Reporters were not asked to apply for credentials.

"This is a simple trespassing issue," Fulton insisted, but no one else trespassing in the hallway with Hopfinger was detained."

And then there's this:

"Despite Fulton telling Alaska Dispatch and various other media outlets that he knew he was dealing with a reporter, the Joe Miller campaign promptly put out a press release saying, "It is also important to note that the security personnel did not know that the individual they detained was a blogger who reporting on the campaign [sic]."

The press release was headlined "Liberal Blogger Loses it at Town Hall Meeting," although Miller knows well that Dispatch, which is involved in a lawsuit to obtain Miller's Fairbanks personnel records, is not a "blog" but an established online news magazine."

Politicians LOVE to tell lies. They can't help themselves. And they wonder why the public doesn't trust any of them.

 

I got bored after the first 140 characters. Text me about the rest. K Thx bye.

 

They are who we thought they were.

 

Not to mention, it's longer than 6 inches. That breaks Gannett's First Five Grafs rule.

 

Joe Miller's Joke Book.

 

I like the ad in the upper right corner about getting a new career in Homeland Security.