http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/state/10880217.htm?1cPosted on Fri, Feb. 11, 2005
Journalism student faces charges for photographing break-inTERENCE CHEA
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - Omar Vega, a freshman at San Francisco State University, claims he was acting as a journalist when he photographed fellow students breaking into a car last fall.
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"Omar Vega was doing exactly what a photojournalist should do. He was taking his camera and he was recording the world around him," said Ken Kobre, a SFSU photojournalism professor. "The job of a photojournalist is not to stop history, but to record history."
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"My intention throughout the semester was that everything was for the project," said Vega, who received a scholarship to study photojournalism at San Francisco State . "I didn't touch the vehicle. I didn't enter the vehicle."
Vega said campus housing officials have been trying to stop him from taking photos and were angry that he photographed students engaged in binge drinking and oral sex. He was evicted from the dormitory in December for his alleged involvement in the break-in.
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"Your duty as a citizen and your desire as a journalist come into conflict there," McBride said. "Many journalists set threshold at life and limb. If someone is going to get hurt or killed, then you're definitely obligated to intervene. I know a lot of journalists would not intervene if it was just a property crime."
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