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Ferguson police will keep arresting reporters

Police in Ferguson, Missouri, are continuing to arrest journalists and have said that they will continue to do so because of safety concerns, despite condemnation from media organizations that say such detentions are unwarranted.

On Monday, in a night that saw two protesters shot and 31 people arrested, police detained at least two reporters. Getty Images staff photographer Scott Olson, who has taken some of the most iconic photos of the unrest in Ferguson, was arrested and released shortly thereafter. Intercept reporter Ryan Devereaux was shot at with beanbags and spent the night in jail. He was released Tuesday morning without charges. Sports Illustrated's Robert Klemko, Financial Times' Neil Munshi and The Telegraph's Rob Crilly were also briefly detained by police on Sunday.

In a news conference late Monday night, Missouri State Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson said authorities would continue to arrest journalists due to the chaotic nature of the protests.

(WATCH: Reporter's firsthand Ferguson account)

"I'm going to tell you in the midst of chaos, when officers are running around, we're not sure who's a journalist and who's not," Johnson said, according to an audio recording. "Yes, if I see somebody with a $50,000 camera on their shoulder, I'm pretty sure. But some journalists are walking around, and all you have is a cellphone because you're from a small media outlet. Some of you may just have a camera around your neck."

"So yes, we may take some of you into custody," he continued. "But when we do take you into custody, and we have found out you're a journalist, we've taken the proper action. But in the midst of it, we cannot — in the midst of it, in the midst of chaos, and trying to move people on, we have to be safe. ... And we are providing protection for journalists. We had, we had a journalist who was trapped in the midst of that gunfire, in the midst of that chaos. And we're providing protection for them. We took journalists back to their trucks."

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In response to the arrest of two journalists last week, 48 media organizations sent a letter to law enforcement authorities expressing "deep concern over the unwarranted detention" of the reporters and "other reports of police intimidation and harassment of journalists in Ferguson." Last week, the ACLU obtained a court agreement, signed by the city, St. Louis County and the Missouri Highway Patrol chief, stating that ‘the media and members of the public have a right to record public events without abridgment unless it obstructs the activity or threatens the safety of others, or physically interferes with the ability of law enforcement officers to perform their duties."

Pancho Bernasconi, the vice president of news for Getty Images, similarly condemned Olson's detention on Monday: “We at Getty Images stand firmly behind our colleague Scott Olson and the right to report from Ferguson,” Bernasconi said in a statement. Olson was released after a few hours.

Meanwhile, all three cable networks ditched their regular programming for breaking news from Ferguson late into the night on Monday and early Tuesday morning. MSNBC hosts Chris Hayes and Craig Melvin had rocks thrown at them while reporting on air, and CNN’s Don Lemon was pushed back by police while reporting from the front lines of the protests.

(PHOTOS: Scenes from unrest in Ferguson)

The Ferguson news has been a boon to the networks’ ratings, especially CNN. On Friday, CNN beat Fox News in the key 25-54 demographic for primetime.

"I'm going to tell you, this nation is watching each and every one of us," Johnson said during the news conference on Monday. "This nation is watching law enforcement, this nation is watching our media, and I'm going to tell you, if we're going to solve this, we're going to have to do it together. We're going to have to do it together."

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Hadas Gold is a reporter at Politico.