An MSNOW anchor was forced away from the scene of a chaotic anti-ICE protest outside Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, after police moved in to restore order—and then spent the live segment complaining that law enforcement was preventing him from covering the story.
The protest outside the ICE detention facility had already spiraled into a tense confrontation between demonstrators and police.
Officers in tactical gear, shields, and batons moved into the area as the scene grew increasingly unstable. Flashbangs were reportedly heard, arrests were made, and police were forced to establish a larger perimeter around the facility.
Yet MSNOW still tried to frame the situation as if law enforcement was the problem.
During the live report, the anchor described a large police presence outside Delaney Hall and repeatedly noted that officers were pushing him and his crew farther away from the protest. Police told him to step back as officers moved in to secure the area.
Instead of simply complying, the anchor repeatedly questioned officers about how far he had to move, whether he could stay where he was, and why he was being removed from the scene.
“We are press, though,” the anchor told police during the broadcast.
The officer’s answer was simple: everybody had to move back.
That should have been the end of the discussion. When police are trying to control a protest that has already become volatile, the press does not get to decide where the security line should be. Law enforcement does.
But the MSNOW anchor continued complaining on air, saying the order to move back would hurt his ability to cover what was happening.
He later said multiple officers were escorting him and his crew away from the scene, as if police were doing something suspicious by making sure the media followed the same safety instructions as everyone else.
The irony was obvious. The same media outlet that regularly lectures Americans about “respecting institutions” suddenly had a problem when police officers gave basic crowd-control instructions during an anti-ICE protest.
The anchor also claimed he was trying to “bear witness” to what was happening at Delaney Hall. But the situation outside the facility was not a press freedom seminar. It was a protest that had gotten out of hand.
When police deploy a large number of officers, move barricades, and push people away from a scene, that usually means the area is no longer safe.
Hellbound and Down 