In the past few days, many of us have taken to the open Internet to express our outrage over the killing of yet another unarmed black teen: 18-year-old Michael Brown.

From the hashtag #IfTheyGunnedMeDown to the Essence article “How the Media Missed the Mark in Coverage of Michael Brown’s Killing,” folks are highlighting the detrimental impact pervasive media representations of young black men and women have on their lives.

The Essence piece calls for better, deeper reporting to probe the story further, examine the context and demand information about the circumstances surrounding Brown’s death. Ferguson police haven't made that kind of reporting easy: They harassed and arrested two reporters who were on the ground Wednesday night doing just that kind of hard work.

A story in New York weaves together tweets from Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery and Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly, who were detained while attempting to cover events as they unfolded. (Lowery also wrote about his arrest here.)

Unfortunately, these two reporters aren’t alone — there’s also footage of police tear-gassing an Al Jazeera crew. After the gas cleared, an armored SWAT vehicle moved in and police dropped Al Jazeera’s equipment to the ground.

On-the-ground reporters are our eyes and ears in situations like this. They must be able to do their jobs as safely as possible so we can get the critical news and information we need to stay informed and make important decisions about the future of our country.

As The Verge notes, Ferguson residents taking photographs and documenting the conflict have also come under threat — even though they have the constitutional right to record police. But nothing seems to be standing in the way of local law enforcement, who even arrested local Alderman Antonio French.

“Federal courts,” The Verge writes, “have held consistently that citizens have a First Amendment right to record the police as they perform their official duties in public. The Supreme Court also recently affirmed that the Fourth Amendment, protecting citizens from arbitrary searches and seizures, means that cops need to get a warrant if they want to take your cellphone.”

Meanwhile, the combination of reduced newsroom budgets and press intimidation on the scene has meant that many reporters and citizen journalists have had to turn to the Internet to get their stories out.

“Ferguson is why Black people need an open Internet,” writes Center for Media Justice Executive Director Malkia Cyril. “It’s because of the hundreds of Black bloggers and ordinary people whose voices are bringing us the story when MSNBC and the rest of them can’t, or won’t. Those bloggers risking their lives right now are the ‘small content providers’ who lose if the FCC allows pay-for-play deals instead of a level digital playing field. You lose the evidence, the stories, the voices.”

What’s going on in Ferguson right now — and what has happened in so many other communities around the country — highlights what can happen when bloated media companies try to buy up their competition and lock down the Internet. We need more independent voices, and we need to protect press freedom and the free flow of information online.

Only then will we be able to raise up a national conversation about police brutality, about racism, sexism and homophobia in our mainstream media — and about the erosion of our constitutional right to assemble.

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