'Media Malpractice' Documentarian: 'The Truth About My Arrest'

As NewsBusters previously reported, "Media Malpractice" documentarian John Ziegler was thrown off the USC campus in southern California last Wednesday while attempting to interview people attending The Annenberg Norman Lear Center's excellence in journalism awards ceremony.

CBS's Katie Couric was to be honored at the event for her "Evening News" segments which many believe submarined the campaign efforts of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

On Monday, Ziegler published at Big Hollywood a lengthy explanation of what transpired at USC:

I have had a rather bizarre career in media, but what happened last week on the campus of USC here in Los Angeles may end up marking one of the strangest and most disturbing episodes yet. I went to USC intending to simply let as many people as possible know that the award for “journalism excellence” they were giving Katie Couric for her Sarah Palin interview was a complete farce. To prove my point, I wanted to give away copies of my film “Media Malpractice,” which has my own Sarah Palin interview as a special feature. Instead, I ended up getting handcuffed, “arrested,” roughed up, detained, threatened, and forced off the premises.

After detailing the incident, and answering critics who claimed the security guards acted appropriately and that he was doing this as a publicity stunt to promote his film, Ziegler concluded:

The bottom line here is that what happened to me was a grave injustice that should concern every freedom-loving American regardless of their political persuasion.

Just like I will not be intimidated in my crusade to correct the historical record about what really happened with regard to the media coverage of Barack Obama and Sarah Palin in the 2008 Presidential election, I will not allow media hypocrisy, apathy and hatred of conservatives to stop me from making sure the free speech rights of all Americans are as fully protected as possible.

Hear, hear!

Readers are encouraged to review the entire piece.