Did Reporters Without Borders Go Too Far?

I'm a little conflicted about yesterday's protest by members of Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
If you missed it, members of the press freedom group made a very public protest during the torch-lighting ceremony in Greece which officially kicks of the countdown to the Beijing Olympics.
In a truly shocking security lapse, one member managed to get behind a Chinese official as he addressed the small crowd.
China's state broadcaster seemed intent on illustrating their heavy-handed approach to censorship by dropping its live coverage of the event when the protest began.
RSF have plenty to complain about when it comes to press freedom in China and I'm fully on board with their fundamental point that journalism supports transparency and protects human rights.
The fact that China has booted journalists out of Tibet is a prime example of how conditional Beijing's supposedly new-found openness is. The fact that the RSF website is permanently blacklisted and that my internet connection dropped when I searched for information about yesterday's protest is another.
But is it really the job of journalists to storm the stage during an official function?
They surely obtained access thanks to their press passes. Next time, authorities will be a lot more careful when it comes to vetting journalists.
RSF is right to raise all the issues it raises. But its action yesterday may not help.
For one thing, it goes against the notion that journalists are independent observers. It also gives ammunition to the paranoia of authoritarian regimes who like to paint foreign journalists as spies.
Journalism plays and important role in improving the plight of the powerless. So does human rights activism.
But journalists should leave the grand gestures to activists - and vice versa.