Across Boston campuses, students, faculty and staff have set up encampments in support of Palestine. Protests have garnered attention from many Boston-based and national news outlets amid a nationwide wave of pro-Palestine campus activism.
Protesters with Huskies for a Free Palestine, or HFP, began forming an encampment on Centennial Common Thursday morning at 8 a.m.
Multiple news stations deployed helicopters, capturing the protests from above. NBC10 Boston, Channel 5, WHDH and CBS Boston spent the majority of the afternoon circling Centennial Common from the air. The helicopters’ presence was pronounced when BPD encircled protesters earlier in the afternoon.
An Associated Press reporter told The News that after attending encampments at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the biggest difference was how difficult coverage was at other campuses in comparison to Northeastern. Harvard Yard was completely locked down, and at MIT, although reporters were allowed to cover the encampment, cameras were pushed back to the public sidewalk, the reporter said.
National publications, including CNN, the Associated Press, The New York Times and Al Jazeera made their way to Centennial Common to update their audiences on Northeastern’s encampment.
Reporters and their crews weren’t the only press personnel on campus — photographers, like Vincent Ricci from the National Press Photographers Association, came to campus. After seeing videos on social media earlier in the day, Ricci said he observed a calmer Centennial Common than he’d anticipated.
“As a journalist, I try to be impartial,” Ricci said.
He told The News his photos would be uploaded to SOPA Images and repurposed by news publications.
Aside from on-the-ground coverage, Northeastern University has been mentioned in an array of national outlets.
A Thursday afternoon homepage from The Washington Post featured a photo of Northeastern student protesters captured by Agence France-Presse, with an accompanying mention of Northeastern in their greater coverage of protests on college campuses across the country.
ABC News mentioned Northeastern in one of their live updates, stating that the university would “take action” against demonstrators.
The Boston Globe continued to publish updates on the Northeastern encampment throughout the day, in addition to coverage of the fallout of Emerson’s encampment.
As events continue to unfold at Northeastern and on other Boston campuses, national media outlets flock to encampments and protests to cover the story.
