thank you. they say a picture is worth of thousand words so how many words is this worth video of police violently pepper spraying peaceful student protesters at u.c. davis so what's next now and will these students become the new faces of the movement. and protesters aren't the only ones feeling the burn of police pepper spray and the occupy wall street rallies one after another journalists are being arrested and maced simply for doing their jobs so in a country that prides itself on the freedom of the process why are so many

journalists silence. back to square one seems the more things change the more they stay the same at least that appears to be the case in egypt where protesters are once again rising up and as the death toll mounts with police brutality is it possible the police in cairo are taking cues from police in the u.s. . it's monday november twenty first four pm in washington d.c. i'm christine rushing r t. a let's begin this afternoon with one of the many ways in which the occupy wall street movement continues to evolve and this change though not necessarily a good thing for those who have been following it closely reading articles about it and watching reports about and events unfolding there because some of the very key

people trying to get the story to report on it are being kept far away from it in some cases being arrested by police even though many of them are wearing police issued press credentials argy course on a saucer churkin all looks deeper into the question of whether the first amendment to the constitution could be taking a beating. freedom of the press worse is the press suppressed a new reality for journalists reporting in the us the arrested and blocked from coverage that you know that the goal is not something that we see happening and i've read that right now my freedom in the first amendment is down a tuesday morning p.t. twenty one year old and only because miller was tear gassed by police it's a case of pretty disgusting and really hurts your eyes a lot another journalist kristin when handcuffed while text messaging then held for several hours i was arrested on the brooklyn bridge on october first. then there is

the brutal detention of caught on tape by a call the one caught literally came out from behind the router working the group. and estimated twenty six journalists have so far been arrested covering occupy wall street protests the majority are members of alternative media the media is there to be a watchdog to report the news not to give you gentle soundbites that don't hurt your millionnaire ears not hurting millionaire ears or the corporate media often covering the action from behind the barricades rocks rocks but in the crowd many journalists have been blocked regardless of their press passes which may as well be just too much d.c. for the first passes and were even threatened to have their media credentials taken away. kicking press can't press passes this unprecedented behavior it's shocking to me you know it's just that our liberties as individuals

and as journalists are getting rolled back billy and not long ago journalists in america used to be respected but now being a journalist you have absolutely no credential that will keep you from getting arrested in your chest as much at risk of getting arrested as everyone else times are different and some rights simply gone out the window the united states has changed. twenty years ago when i got into this job if you had press credentials you could go anywhere and it really was a free pass to police brutality and occupy wall street protests to speak recently and some officials even attempted to keep it under wraps they want to keep it on the theory that they can so that they can feel like it was actually make excuses for blocking the press given by authorities of barry but many are just not buying it and media journalists don't have the right to videotape police activities. it almost sounds a lot like when bush invaded iraq and he said well you're not allowed to see the

things because that hurts or freedom the u.s. has always prided itself in press freedom it has tried to revive ground by lecturing other countries but with the occupy wall street protests and really in all sorts of skeletons in america's closet the concept could be right on its way to becoming a thing of the past because there's a trick in our our teeth you are. all right over the last two months we've seen countless examples of people wanting to exercise their freedom of speech and of the press and of their rights of the people to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for redress of grievances unfamiliar well if you want i want free movement isn't in fact the embodiment of the first amendment i don't know what it is except it seems on all of those levels it is now being violated we just showed you the stories of a few people but i want to talk now to someone who has been documenting all of this tracking the various attempts by police and other officials to suppress the press

josh stearns is an associate program director at free press he's in northampton massachusetts. hey there josh how many examples are actually out there of the numbers in the process of journalists either being arrested or pepper sprayed or being kept out of the way i wish i could count the number the total press suppression is. almost impossible to count this point right now we know that twenty six journalists have been arrested and thirteen of those who did it in just the last week in new york while and i want to talk to you about what you've seen in terms of the methods in which journalists are being prevented from covering occupy wall street across the country of course their arrest as you mentioned there are also journalists i read being put in chokeholds but it seems like so many are simply just blocked access talk a little bit about this that's right that's one of the most agri things here is the fundamental and direct meaningful way in which the york city conspired to keep

journalists out of the picture they really kept you know four or five blocks back from where the raid on zuccotti park was happening and then you can literally see if you get close who are stuck in the mix who if they are on the ground trying to cover this had things like their cameras were broken they were republish sprayed so it's a range of activities as much as trying to ground helicopters news helicopters to places like c.b.s. couldn't cover the news so interesting i remember that the airspace being blocked. i want to talk though about some of these discussions about police issued a press credentials i know in many cities it seemed that least that police officers don't consider you a journalist unless you had you know the official city issued press pass that didn't necessarily prevent them from arresting i know at least five people with official and wiping the press has were arrested i also want to show you a photo we have a photo of journalist susie cagle i think we're looking for right now susie actually is going to be on our show this evening at eight pm but if we don't have

it that's fine but basically this is a photo of her it shows her in hand has there she is and you can see clearly around her neck she has a press pass on she's been handcuffed on the other hand you know from what police say everyone's a journalist these days you know anyone can start a blog and call themselves a number of the pie. so i guess i want to get your take what's the bigger picture here i mean should press credentials even matter well let's start with those press credentials that were there as you saw in the video that introduce a segment police were actually tearing press credentials off of people's neck they were ignoring press credentials and they were saying they don't count and yet their defense later on afterwards the mayor's office actually said well more people should get press credentials we had people calling the police department to find out what that took and the police for us and they don't give press credentials road of us events so we're getting these conflicting messages and i think the fundamental answer is that the press credential system is broken especially at

a time when i mean stream media is you know pulling their farther away from the daily coverage of these important votes and we need alternative media and citizen to get to be in there i think that if you're committing an act of journalism you should be protected i think that's a really interesting point you know here we are in two thousand and eleven it's not just you know the new york times in the wall street journal and you see a.b.c. c.b.s. i mean there are countless networks out there international networks kaliz websites that are widely read by a lot of people around the world with journalists who might find that they have a little bit of a hard time getting credentials so i guess i'm just wondering your thoughts on this this one and i police that you know they can't credential everybody that everybody can't necessarily good journalists. well the first amendment was written to only apply to people with press credentials so the first amendment is a fundamental doctrine it's the it's a theory and the principle that our nation was built upon it's what helps our

democracy run we need to have news and information that meets the needs of communities and we need people there covering it and if press credentials are the only way to do that and we're limiting those voices dramatically and i think that again the first amendment has to apply to all people you know as you probably know . he has been covering occupy wall street since the first day and you know we've been out there and this is a story that we've really been focused on just the treatment of journalists there and i know that we recently ran a story last week and there was a comment on our you tube page that basically said you know i don't hear any of these imbedded journalists in a war saying stop the shooting i can get hurt you know so basically this person saying why should they get special privileges here what do you have to say to that mentality i've heard that from a few different people saying you know what certain ones you have to follow the same rules of law that everybody else does well i mean it's an interesting question

if we need journalists to cover our rules and our laws and the breaking of those rules and laws we need just to be able to go in and be part of the mix to actually witness that we need people to bear witness and if they can't do that then what we need journalists to do what we what can we rely on them to do i think that's you know short sighted say that shows need to obey the laws and i think it misses the whole point that many of these journalists were doing exactly what they're supposed to do you know as a journalist who's going to cover a breaking news story on a private property can you blame him for trespassing if he's trying to cover the story we need to have a nuanced understanding of the responsibilities of journalism and we have to hold journalist high standards absolutely but we also have to protect and i know you mentioned just a little earlier that from your accounting at least two. any six people members of the press have been arrested i want to put up just for our viewers some of the names. and affiliations of those people these are people who have been arrested

people who have legitimate jobs with you know legitimate news sources and these people have been arrested simply by for doing their jobs so we wanted to put these names just to show that you know this is real they're actually names and faces that go with with this story and finally i just kind of want to talk to you a little bit about what you think is coming next a lot of people very concerned when they're seeing not just in new york not just in oakland is seeing journalists freedoms being really really trampled on could this be part of a larger trend that is going to start to be accepted well you know in fact in two thousand and eight at our own see national convention the republican national convention there was fifty journalists arrested in under four days and people like any goodman concoction out how the press credentials ripped off from back at that point so this isn't something brand new and that's the troubling thing if you look at the statements from the society for journalist the. reporters can you confirm

the press of these other press organizations they all say this is a growing trend that we we must speak out now we must get involved in this fight now because we're going into an election year and this election is going to cover it differently than any other election because we're going to have more citizen journalists we're going to have more new independent alternative and nonprofit journalists and we need to make sure that they can get the stories they need to get to keep us informed yeah i think it's seems like the police departments and some of the city officials really need to understand you know the age of technology has arrived there's nothing you're going to be able to do to stop it so you might as well figure out a better way to deal with it and so the program director and free press and josh stearns want to thank you so much for weighing in on everything that you've gotten and thanks so much for having me. it is of course not just journalists who are arrested and handcuffed and by no means handcuffs are the only weapon police officers are using to try to break up these protests you may have seen this video over the weekend but i really got to show it again this is video from the

university of california at davis i was. just unbelievable video here of how close these police officers are standing and spraying these students who are sitting down some of them are trying to cover their faces with their clothing and there are reports that many police officers actually forced open people's mouths and pepper sprayed down their throats and some of the students were apparently coughing up blood forty five minutes later i should mention as well you know this behavior you're seeing right now this is actually forbidden in california prisons pepper spray not allowed to be used on a seated prisoner and any prison guard who does would face immediate disciplinary review for the use of excessive force as far as punishment for these officers that you're seeing here all two of them were paid on were placed on paid administrative leave is going to the point here where you can't just point the finger you can't

speak these situations as just a few bad apples because you know what this is happening all over the country now it is now been more than two months the occupy wall street movement has highlighted police brutality in ways it never has before. look at what happened we can't forget the scene of course of the occupy protests to oakland california earlier this month where a wrong war veteran scott olsen was hit in the head with a tear gas canister his skull was fractured and there was also another incident that got a little bit less coverage this was a few days later another brutal incident in oakland with another war veteran. all right this video was just released over the weekend but what you're seeing

happen very early in the morning of november third down there you see iraq and afghanistan war veteran caveman's a baggie being shot and then brutally beaten by this police officer he was later taken to the police to the hospital with a lacerated spleen. and coming up at five pm we will speak to a student from u.c. davis to give us a first hand account on what went down there between the police and the protesters . still ahead here on our t.v. all too familiar scenes coming out of egypt tonight rioting and chaos and crackdown against the military government these protesters helped put in power in the first place our team is on the ground and will have more next. i was there the police left. i. was

tested nobody seems to know. but never a pepper sprayed the face right part of the argument that they're being overly dramatic. blow to the capital account i'm more or less for. well it's not just on the streets of the cities in the us that we're seeing police in riot gear using tear gas and rubber bullets to try to exert power and control

over large groups of people as happening now on the streets of cairo egypt as well we're nine months after the revolution there but also their leader hosni mubarak people are rising up once again they are demanding that the military hand over power to a civilian government that has been extremely violent there over the last three days with thirty three people reported dead and more than a thousand injured thousands of people have come out to protest and as a side note there are dozens of tweets and even discussions on state t.v. there of people saying you know well in the west they suppress the protests so why can't we do it here a sign egyptian police maybe taking notes from oakland police and wiping the officers are about regardless the situation is extremely tense in egypt and our own policy here is on the ground there and gives us a look at what's happening. well tens of thousands of protesters have gathered there is you can see behind me the mood is included be upbeat the people here are

very very angry very very frustrated and they say they going no way they put paid to sit what's a way to be pulled a second resolution out many of the protesters i've been talking to say that they hate to die for the cause that we just heard reports that a few people have been badly injured possibly killed there are still radek some violence amongst the protesters and security forces it's very difficult to tell exactly what's going on inside this crowd and certainly people are afraid they frightened but people saying that they really have a real sense of making history and making sure that this time the tough it is fresh and will work the violence that we've seen over the last few days has been the worst violence witnessed in egypt son was this the last that's the cables that the army and the police force to be activists with many people saying that this violence point to be a shambles and the way they operate with the army but the six weeks that they feel

that the firing and the decision that they still won and say that is the way we said what the files on the street despite the fact that they are parliamentary elections the scheduled one day the first such elections it was right it first because it did often this election will be fair and that even if that if the intention to remain in power most people here in fact all the people getting are still there has been any change anything the only thing that's changed is that that configuring when we saw this first of elation there was a real sense of hope a real sense of wanting to make a different country and a sense that it could be achieved there's a lot of despondency here there's a lot of disappointment and that's why we're witnessing this outburst of anger and frustration on the streets of toughness square it's also raised the question of the . viability of those elections and i spoke to you about those elections that are supposed to happen on monday o'grady several political parties as well as

independent candidates say that they will be suspending their elite trial platforms the irony of all of this is that egyptians are going that the violence we are witnessing here might be a good enough excuse for the military council in power to respond those elections so you could see this kind of violence and this kind of outpouring of anger backfire on the people but again stating to protesters the city listening to the slogans soden scorning on the military to step down a certain saying that tough here has really taken on if this is an inspiration to people that this revolution perhaps the way that the first revolution failed they are insisting that this revolution will succeed. that was are just policy they are in cairo well london police are rewriting one of the golden rules coming up next r.t. the love thy neighbor style later especially if they're planning a protest on public networking sites and not all brits are liking

a cup of tea that story coming up next. what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions to break through. who can you trust no one who is your view with the global machinery see where are we heading state controls capitalism is called

session so when nobody dares to ask we do our tea question more. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so. you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and hears you some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. all right shifting gears a bit it's is the british government has blamed social networking sites for spreading on rust during the august riots across england and in an attempt to prevent similar trouble in the future one part of london is now proposing to monitor online activity at youth centers but as argued laura smith reports it's a risky game that may breach the vital bond of trust between young people and social workers. the reality of life in east london young teens take

part in a workshop on gun violence but the government laid the blame for august riots firmly at the door of gangs one london council is talking about making youth workers by on their members and monitor their social network activities anything suspicious would be passed to a special anti gang unit but the m.p. for hackney where some of the worst on record to place says it's not the technology to blame when you had rights in this country in the plot when there was no internet . text message so it is not so that's. the real causes of riots rather than blaming the messenger and there's a real possibility it will backfire some young people begins to club is a safe haven in an uncertain world and message monitoring could undermine the impatient relationship between you and vulnerable teen making it less likely to

turn to them in a crisis and more susceptible to guy overtures and ultimately crime and violence during the riots social networks like twitter and blackberry messenger were used by rioters to pinpoint the next location in marked for destruction the government went as far as proposing shutting down the services while two men were jailed for four years each inciting writing on facebook but teens say spying risks isolating the very people they're trying to help. people. stop and think are undoubtedly social issues and solving them requires walking a fine line between coming down hard on troublemakers and preserving civil liberties for everyone but it's clear that this measure which would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to enforce could also cost the trust and goodwill of the

thing at risk youth the operators are so concerned about laura smith r.t. . coming up next on our t.v. capital account let's check in with lauren lister to see what's on today's agenda all right lauren i feel like all eyes around the country are on washington and they're about to hear about a super fail from our super committee i'm imagining you're going to touch. christine you are right you're predicting our agenda by all these days that is top on the agenda because as a supercommittee moves towards what looks like a super failure we're going to look at whose interest they really need these serving because we know that the country could face another downgrade as a result of not coming up with a decision here at least that is the risk being posed so then whose interests are at stake you know we know that two hundred corporate interests special interests have been lobbying the super committee so we'll look at that role and just bigger picture the broader role of kind of crony capitalism in this whole process really really interesting with what i've read about it at least is that the amount of

times that they've met as a group democrats or republicans together has been so few and it hasn't been for several weeks so pretty interesting when you look at just a few more seconds lauren what else do you got for us really quick resting our viewers are not i don't want to miss there was a twitter war involving one of our guests who we had on the show last week i'm not going to say who it was but it was him versus nuri al roubini he's a very well known economist also known as dr doom they've been do get it out over the causes of the great depression over gold over fiar currency there was last night it's carried over into today and we're going to bring you all the details it's quite intriguing you know me i was always good when there's twitter wars you know it that always makes it so much more exciting all right lauren thanks so much for giving us a little preview. and for us not going to do it but for more on the stories we covered go to r.t. dot com slash usa or check out our youtube page at using dot com os r.t.

america you should also follow me on twitter at christine for the hour and forget for watching once again capital account with laura lister is next. issue is that so much of you going to be given a lot of people a variant of the uncertain future of the eurozone grapples with the single currency what is the future of political union to save the euro was it necessary to beat.

the official g.o.p. cation join the i pod touch from the point you sound. like. video on demand. on the registry now with the palm of your. machine on the cong. liz completely. up to.