From [HERE] Members of the media covering the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri have been repeatedly asked by local law enforcement to stop video-tapping and photographing the protests — orders that legal experts say are not supported up by court precedent and amount to First Amendment violations.

Federal courts have repeatedly affirmed the rights of both citizens and members of the press to record on-duty police officers — despite a rash of arrests, confrontations and court cases that have occurred over the years.

Citizens have been arrested under both state wiretapping laws that ban audio recording in some instances and for other offenses like obstruction or interference with an ongoing investigation.

In Ferguson, journalists have repeatedly been asked to stop filming police actions in the days since protests, vigils and occasional violent looting have broken out following the death of an unarmed black man at the hands of police officers in the majority African-American town.

In the most prominent example, Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery was ordered by police to stop filming a police raid on a Ferguson McDonalds. He declined and officers later arrested both Lowery and Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly. Both reporters said the reason given for the arrest was trespassing — and both were released without charges.

The National Press Photographers Association sent a letter Thursday to Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson — objecting to his department’s treatment of the media operating in and around the town.