As Violence Escalates in Ferguson, ‘Reliable’ and ‘MediaBuzz’ Discuss Press Freedom

By Merrill Knox 

With tensions continuing to rise in Ferguson — where Missouri Governor Jay Nixon announced today that he has signed an executive order deploying the National Guard to the area — media coverage of the protests was a topic of discussion on both CNN’s “Reliable Sources” and Fox News’ “MediaBuzz” this weekend. Three more reporters were arrested in Ferguson overnight, with several more reporting being detained or threatened.

On “Reliable Sources,” Brian Stelter interviewed Al Jazeera correspondent Ash-har Quraishi, a member of the crew that was hit with tear gas while covering the protests last week. “I do feel like we were targeted because after we retreated back, there was a crowd that did go towards our camera equipment and that was caught on camera,” Quraishi said.

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On “MediaBuzz,” Howard Kurtz rejected Joe Scarborough’s suggestion that Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowrey‘s arrest was self-promotional. “Scarborough is entitled to his opinion, absolutely … but the fact that they were actually arrested, and the charges were so trumped up that they were thrown out, shows what a difficult situation it was.”

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