On dvaphoto you can read the full story of the arrest of photographer Ethan Welty in Colorado following his coverage of an environmental protest at the Valmont Power Plant near Boulder on Tuesday April 27th. He was photographing from outside the plant where 4 environmental activists were arrested for 2nd Degree Criminal trespass.
Police named him as one of the arrested activists, and the press, including AP ran the story without checking the facts, and much of the media are still ignoring Welty’s attempt to point out to them that he was acting as a journalist and did not take part in the protest, staying outside the plant.
You can see Welty’s pictures from the event on Photoshelter, and his web site is also worth a look for his other work. As Matt Lutton says in his post, “This is an issue not just of press freedom for an independent photographer covering an event but of Ethan Weltys ability to fight false accusations and bad reporting which have brought his name into media reports of the event.“
