Category: Access & Censorship

BP maintains it followed “industry practice that is required by federal law.” I would like to see this federal law challenged in court because I have a feeling taking photos of  a public street is a constitutionally protected activity.

Anderson Cooper of CNN complained about seemingly ridiculous efforts to control the story, including the fact that rescued oil-covered birds were being guarded and hidden from view by members of the National Guard. Tom Foreman, a CNN correspondent, tried to interview BP workers, but they would only say, over and over, as if working from a script, “I am only here to support the cleanup mission.” Mr. Foreman pressed and a guard intervened, saying, “You can’t do that! Sir! Stop! I can’t allow you to do that!”

In 17 months in office, President Obama has already outdone every previous president in pursuing leak prosecutions. His administration has taken actions that might have provoked sharp political criticism for his predecessor, George W. Bush, who was often in public fights with the press.

In a separate incident last week, a reporter and photographer from The Daily News of New York were told by a BP contractor they could not access a public beach on Grand Isle, La., one of the areas most heavily affected by the oil spill. The contractor summoned a local sheriff, who then told the reporter, Matthew Lysiak, that news media had to fill out paperwork and then be escorted by a BP official to get access to the beach.

When the police act as though cameras were the equivalent of guns pointed at them, there is a sense in which they are correct. Cameras have become the most effective weapon that ordinary people have to protect against and to expose police abuse. And the police want it to stop.

Photographers who have traveled to the Gulf commonly say they believe that BP has exerted more control over coverage of the spill with the cooperation of the federal government and local law enforcement. “It’s a running joke among the journalists covering the story that the words ‘Coast Guard’ affixed to any vehicle, vessel, or plane should be prefixed with ‘BP,’ ” says Charlie Varley, a Louisiana-based photographer. “It would be funny if it were not so serious.”

Officer Johnson is the enforcer of rules big and small, and talk radio host Michael Linder’s blog reports that he’s even gone so far as to reprimand a camerawoman for her tripod sticking out beyond a designated area, not allowing reporters to sit down no matter how long meetings go on, and restricting the filming of faces of people testifying before the council. So in other words, what they’re thinking is, death by a thousand cuts — let’s just make these reporters’ lives as miserable as possible.

The goal, said Daniel Schmitt, one of WikiLeaks’ five core directors, is to make the organization unstoppable.

“The message of WikiLeaks to the controllers of information is this: You can either be transparent, or transparency will be brought to you,” he said.

Last week, the organization gathered photographers, videographers, artists, event leaders, legal experts, technologists and just plain good thinkers to explore the ramifications of the digital revolution. Are Burning Man’s policies and procedures still up to the task of protecting privacy, preventing commercialization while still  nurturing the creative image-making process?

As part of its defense, Chevron demanded 600 hours of outtake footage from “Crude,” saying it could help the company show corruption and misconduct by the plaintiffs. The filmmaker argued that his work was protected by journalist privilege, which protects reporters and others in the newsgathering business from being compelled to reveal confidential sources or divulge confidential material.