John Ziegler Cuffed, Stuffed for Covering Katie Couric Journalism Award

John Ziegler, the provocateur behind "Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Sarah Palin was Targeted," tried to cover attendees of the Walter Cronkite Awards Dinner, but was met with forcible resistance.

Campus police at USC set up a barricade for Ziegler that would have prevented him from having access to attendees. Their rationale was based on classifying Ziegler as a "protester."

When he set up near the entrance to the event, the police took action. Here's the video:



Full Video:

Link:

I'm no legal expert, so those police might have had some kind of legal fig leaf for what they did, but it was just plain wrong.
I got to know John Ziegler at CPAC, and although I could not disagree with him more, I consider him a friend. As a liberal, I knew that he intended to be provocative at the dinner. His press release made that obvious: (via email)

USC is giving Couric the award for "Impact on the 2008 Election," specifically for her "extraordinary, persistent and detailed multi-part interviews with Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin."

Ziegler noted, "This award is absurd on its face. Obviously Couric is being rewarded for the perceived result of the interview and not any alleged journalism involved in it. My documentary. Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted proves that, if anything, Couric should have been condemned, not honored for what happened there."

I certainly don't agree with him that Couric's Palin interview was advocacy, not journalism. If I'm Katie Couric, or the awards organizers, I don't want John Ziegler around making a nuisance of himself, bothering attendees. But here's the thing: This is America, and he gets to do that.

If you're going to give an award for excellence in journalism, which is all about asking people questions they don't necessarily want to answer, John Ziegler gets to do that. He wanted to be in a place where attendees could talk to him if they chose to, and to give away copies of his movie. Like him or not, agree with him or not, in a free country he gets to do that.

Tommy on: Daily Dose:

• * President Obama Shows Best Defense Against Pirates: Dead Pirates
• * Palin Compromises on Abortion, Stimulus, but Never Levi
• * Sarah Palin Porno Parody Actress in Eminem's New Vid, and on Tour

Tommy on: Twitter