This comes days after the professor in the video called for media attention and coverage on her Facebook page.
The University of Missouri campus, in a state of turmoil following Monday’s resignation of president Tim Wolfe after months of racial tension, has been thronged by hundreds of local and national reporters.
Some were met with surprising resistance from students — and a communications professor.
A video shows a student journalist attempting to photograph protestors who have set up a circle barring media from a public space.
The photographer, identified as Tim Tai, struggles to explain his First Amendment right to an obviously annoyed group. “You don’t have a right to take our photos,” someone says (he does). Another person adds: “You’re infringing on what they need right now” (he’s not).
The nearly seven-minute clip also shows a mass media professor identified as Melissa Click, who urges the students to block Tai’s access.
As Tai leaves, another journalist who identifies himself as a member of the media asks if he can speak with Click. She immediately becomes enraged, demanding he “get out” before turning to students and yelling, “I need some muscle over here.”
“I’m pretty incensed about it,” Tom Warhover, executive editor of university newspaper the Columbia Missourian, told the Los Angeles Times. “I find it ironic that particularly faculty members would resort to those kinds of things for no good reason.”
She certainly knows that Mizzou, which Vox notes has “a renowned journalism school and a strong culture of student media,” cannot bar reporters from covering news on campus. She didn’t immediately return an email requesting comment.
READ MORE: HuffingtonPost.com
Article Courtesy of The Huffington Post
First Picture Courtesy of YouTube and Heavy.com
Second Picture Courtesy of Facebook and Heavy.com
Video Courtesy of YouTube and The Huffington Post
