It's a chilling thought to any journalist: That you could be arrested for doing your job.

That appears to have happened to New York documentary filmmaker Andrew Berends (pictured), who (according to this AP dispatch) was arrested in Nigeria - accused by the military of spying in that nation's troubled oil region.

The anti-censorship group Reporters Without Borders has condemned the arrest of Berends and his interpreter, Samuel George, in the town of Port Harcourt on Sunday. Berends was released after 36 hours and told to return for more questioning; George is still in custody.

Word of Berends' detainment spread quickly across the Web, thanks to e-mails sent around by editor Aaron Soffin (who edited some of Berends' documentaries) and filmmaker James Longley (who directed the Sundance entry "Iraq in Fragments").

And if you think what happened to Berends can't happen in America, I direct you to this news of the violent arrest of Amy Goodman and two of the producers of her "Democracy Now!" radio program in St. Paul at the Republican National Convention.

Goodman was charged with obstruction of a legal process and interference with a peace officer. The producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, face felony counts of "suspicion of rioting" - even though they identified themselves as members of the press. The three were covering the anti-RNC protests, and the riot-squad response by St. Paul Police.

Salazar captured footage of her own arrest:




Here's the video of Goodman's arrest:

Labels: journalism, politics