

While working on a story about citizen journalism at the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York for PBS affiliate WNET Thirteen, John Farley was arrested, along with the demonstrators whose stories he was covering.

My arrest gave me a unique vantage point on the risks and rewards of citizen journalists, those non-professionals who capture stories (usually without pay) using videos and images via portable technology like a cell phone camera. Anyone, even a passerby or a police officer can be a citizen journalist. That's its power.

More: Observations of a Jailed Journalist.

Above: John Farley, kneeling, arrested while reporting on the Occupy Wall Street protest. MetroFocus/Sam Lewis.