Cops nab WNET MetroFocus journalist at Wall Street protests

A Web editor with WNET’s new MetroFocus local news and culture site was arrested while reporting on citizen journalism at this week’s protests on Wall Street. John Farley wrote that he was “thrown against a wall and handcuffed with hard plastic zip-tie restraints. I sat on the sidewalk with about 50 others. I yelled over and over, ‘I’m press! I’m with WNET MetroFocus! Please do not arrest me.'” Farley said he didn’t have press credentials because MetroFocus is less than three months old, so it doesn’t yet meet NYPD’s criteria for news organizations. He was in custody for nine hours, eight of which were in a jail cell at the 1st Precinct, and released around 10:30 p.m.