- Jesse Freeston
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Jesse Freeston 
Jesse Freeston filming, image by Burt RiviereResidence Canada Nationality Canada Occupation Journalist
Jesse Freeston is a Canadian video and print journalist. In addition to producing video news for The Real News Network, Freeston's articles have been published in various independent publications, such as The Dominion, Rabble.ca, and Narco News. His stories focus on Latin American politics, the military-industrial complex and economics but he is mostly known for exposing fraud [1] in the Honduran election of 2009, and for his coverage of the 2010 G-20 summit in Toronto. His video news story "Bursting Officer Bubbles"[2] captured Toronto Police 52 Division Constable Adam Josephs threatening a G-20 protester who blew bubbles during a demonstration. The story received international coverage. Freeston's video was widely circulated leading to Josephs becoming dubbed "Officer Bubbles". During the Summit, Freeston was injured when a police officer punched him.[3]Contents
Honduran Elections 2009
In 2009 Jesse Freeston covered the Honduran coup that ousted president Manuel Zelaya and in November reported on the election that propped up the coup forces in the country from the capital of Tegucigalpa. In a December 8, 2009 story for The Real News, Freeston reported the majority of Hondurans boycotted the election and exposed that,according to the Honduran Electoral Tribunal's own internal figures, the voter turnout was not 62% as election winner Pepe Lobo and Western media reported but actually 49%. No independent international elections monitoring groups participated in the election and according to Freeston's report the high turnout figure was apparently invented by President of the Electoral Tribunal, Saul Escobar, on election night.[1] Freeston was featured on Honduran Radio Globo alongside Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and American University Anthropologist Adrienne Pine, on December 22, 2009 where he spoke about electoral fraud.[4]
Canadian Mining in El Salvador
In 2008 Freeston reported from El Salvador on Canadian mining company Pacific Rim's attempt to mine gold in the country. He documented how the locals' fight against mining led to splits in the community and violence in a phenomenon he calls "social contamination".[5] His videos document the popular resistance to mining and the $150 million lawsuit Pacific Rim launched against the country for alleged losses when, after months of exploration, it was denied a mining permit. In a November 15, 2009 story for The Real News, Freeston interviewed Tom Shrake, the CEO and President of Pacific Rim about the lawsuit. In the interview Shrake claimed Pacific Rim followed El Salvador's mining, investment, and environmental laws and was therefore denied a mining permit illegally. Freeston's investigation from San Isidro revealed contamination of the country's little-accessible water, ecological damage, substandard wages along with other social and environmental reasons were behind the resistance to the proposed mining project.[6] He also reported on cases of murder and torture of anti-mining activists, such as that of Gustavo Marcello Rivera Moreno, whose death was allegedly linked to the mining project. In 2009 Freeston covered the El Salvadoran elections from the country's capital, San Salvador. He documented the historic ascension to power of former guerrilla group FLMN as well as allegations of election fraud.[7]
G-20 Coverage
During the 2010 G-20 Summit in Toronto Freeston published over a dozen video stories for The Real News. Most of his stories focused on police brutality and repression against activists before, during, and after the Summit.[8] Freeston was himself the target of police violence when he was attacked during one of the demonstrations. He spoke about his injury in a CTV interview after the incident and again on Jun. 28 2010. "I was taken back by my collar, I was thrown against bikes and then one officer punched me twice in the mouth." [3] In another CTV interview he said "I then had my mic stolen from me by one of the officers as you'll see in the tape, and it was only after a few other journalists gathered around and put pressure on them that they returned my mic within a few minutes." When asked by a journalist whether he believes he was targeted, he answered, "there's a pattern here. We've seen numbers of journalists that have gone through similar things. I wasn't detained, there's numerous journalists who were detained and we see a real pattern here throughout the weekend of journalists being denied access." [3] Along with Bert Riviere, Freeston covered the $1.2 billion budget allocated to the security forces for the Summit as well as the ongoing investigation of police conduct during it.[9] Freeston's coverage of the Summit also followed the story of Alex Hundert, a Kitchener-based activist with a student anti-war group AW@L who was arrested before the Summit began, charged with conspiracy alongside other activists, and banned from speaking to the press.[10] On September 17, 2010 Hundert was rearrested for speaking on a panel at Ryerson University in Toronto.[11]
Officer Bubbles
During the 2010 G-20 Summit in Toronto, one of Freeston's news videos included Constable Adam Josephs who, while watching a protester blow soap bubbles at the line of police, threatened her with arrest. A segment of the longer news video featuring Const. Josephs went viral on YouTube and was featured on major Canadian and U.S. networks, including Global, CTV, and Fox News. According to Jesse McLean of the Toronto Star, "The original video of Const. Josephs became a symbol for what many viewed as heavy-handed policing during the G20 summit that brought world leaders to Toronto in June." [12] Josephs later filed a lawsuit against Google-owned YouTube to reveal the identity of users who posted a "collection of eight cartoons... that show a police officer resembling Josephs engaging in abusive acts of power. The animations depict an officer named “A. Josephs” arresting a variety of people — from Santa Claus to U.S. President Barack Obama — as well as punching a news photographer." [12] Josephs' lawsuit also targets 24 YouTube users who commented on the animation.[13] However the lawsuit did not target the original news video.[14] The cartoon was removed by YouTube but later re-uploaded with dozens of users commenting on it in defiance of the lawsuit which Josephs' lawyer says may be withdrawn. The video also captured lawyer David Schiller who said he found the incident "frightening" and decided to represent the woman blowing the bubbles. Schiller also offered to represent the YouTube users in Josephs' defamation suit.[15] Freeston was interviewed on Rogers TV Dan Speerin's show "Truth Mashup" about the incident.[16]
On Journalism
In February 2010 Jesse Freeston attended the Narco News' School of Authentic Journalism, an annual gathering of independent journalists from around the world. In his recommendation of the school, which he called "unique" and one of "density of potential", Freeston commented on the nature of his experience with journalism. "The work of an independent journalist, while being an honor and a privilege, is at the same time tiring and lonely. Lonely not just because of the long days of solitary work, but because many of the people with whom we share the most, we never see. We admire their work from afar, maybe drop an email or a FaceBook message now and then, but we rarely see them up close." [17]
Notes
- ^ a b Freeston, Jesse. "TRNN Exclusive: Honduran elections exposed". The Real News Network. December 8, 2009.
- ^ "Bursting Officer Bubbles". The Real News Network. July 20, 2010.
- ^ a b c LaFlamme, Lisa. "Toronto cleaning up from G20 vandalism". CTV. June 28, 2010.
- ^ "Manuel Zelaya, Adrienne Pine, y Jesse Freeston en Radio Globo (22 de diciembre 2009)". Radio Globo. December 22, 2009.
- ^ Freeston, Jesse. "Shredding Social Fabric". The Dominion. November 11, 2008.
- ^ Freeston, Jesse. "El Salvador's gold fight goes international". The Real News Network. November 15, 2009.
- ^ Freeston, Jesse. "Historic power shift in El Salvador". The Real News Network. March 19, 2009.
- ^ Freeston, Jesse. "G-20 Fallout Continues in Toronto". The Real News Network. September 27, 2010.
- ^ Freeston, Jesse. "Citizens Demand Inquiry with Teeth". The Real News Network. July 26, 2010.
- ^ Freeston, Jesse. "Canadian Court Bans G-20 Defendant from Speaking". The Real News Network. October 17, 2010.
- ^ McSorley, Tim. "Alleged G20 'co-conspirator' re-arrested after speaking at Ryerson University". The Dominion. September 18, 2010.
- ^ a b McLean, Jesse. "‘Officer Bubbles’ sues YouTube and users over cartoons". Toronto Star. October 16, 2010.
- ^ Morrow, Adrian. "'Officer Bubbles' launches suit against YouTube". The Globe and Mail. October 15, 2010. (subscription required)
- ^ McLean, Jesse (2010-10-16). "‘Officer Bubbles’ sues YouTube and users over cartoons". Toronto Star. http://www.thestar.com/news/article/876487--officer-bubbles-sues-youtube-and-users-over-cartoons. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
- ^ Fedio, Chloé. "More ‘Officer Bubbles’ cartoons online". Toronto Star. October 20 2010.
- ^ Speerin, Dan. "Officer Bubbles" Launches lawsuit against YouTube!". (video) Truth Mashup. October 15, 2010.
- ^ Freeston, Jesse. "The Unique Experience of the Narco News J-School, and Why You Should Support It". Narco News. May 27, 2010.
Categories:- Living people
- Canadian journalists
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