NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly has issued an internal message ordering officers not to unreasonably interfere with media access during news coverage and warning those who do will be subject to disciplinary action.
The message being read at police precincts citywide Wednesday came after journalists, including two from The Associated Press, were arrested covering Occupy Wall Street protests.
A coalition of media outlets, including the AP, sent a letter protesting the treatment. The media also argued police wrongly blocked journalists from seeing when authorities cleared out the Occupy camp in lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park.
The police department's letter was provided to the AP. The AP and representatives of The New York Times, the Daily News, the New York Post and the National Press Photographers Association met with Kelly on Wednesday.
Related Analysis: Zuccotti Eviction Was Right Decision, but Press Treated Unfairly (Gabe Pressman)
