Category: Access & Censorship

  • ZORIAH: Embed Termination – Statement About My Situation in Iraq

    6a00e55188bf7a883400e5539e67998834-800wi 1.jpg


    Photo by Zoriah

    After the post was online, I was told that the Marine Corps would not allow even the pants or shoes of a injured or killed Marine to be depicted in images. This was a rule I had never been told or even heard of.  I refused to remove the blog post.  It seemed insane to me that the Marines would embed a war photographer and then be upset when photographs were taken of war.

    A few minutes later my embed was terminated and a convoy was arranged, despite a fierce sand storm, to bring me to Camp Fallujah where I would wait for the first flight out of the Marines area of operation and into the Green Zone.

    Check it out here.

  • Pretend cops bully videographer, videographer wins – Boing Boing

    Watch the London community support officers (they’re not real cops, but deputied volunteers who fancy themselves real ones) as they confront a videographer who has the temerity to take footage of a public street.

    Check it out here.

  • Judge Throws the Book at Photographer

    It’s finally over … or is it? In an unfortunate turn of events, it looks like Carlos Miller, the Miami photographer and journalist who was arrested last year while photographing police, has been sentenced to one year probation, 100 hours of community service, anger management class and a $540.50 court cost payment.

    Interestingly enough, a jury found Miller not guilty of both disobeying a police officer and disorderly conduct. They did find him guilty, however, of resisting arrest without violence.

    Check it out here.

  • Runnin' Scared: The NYPD Harasses a Photographer at Coney Island by Sean Gardiner

    2240241.64.jpg

    Manhattan commercial photographer Simon Lund loves Coney Island so much that he treks out there 10 to 20 times each summer to take pictures. But it was only on his latest venture that Lund encountered something he’d never experienced in all his trips there over the years: an unwanted photo editor from the NYPD.

    As if he were in a police state, Lund was intimidated by a cop into giving up his film, even though he was doing nothing wrong and wasn’t formally accused of anything.

    Check it out here. Via PDNPulse.

  • Olympian's Tony Overman Arrested While Taking Photos

    Tony Overman, a photographer for The Olympian in Olympia, Wash., and past president of the National Press Photographers Association, was arrested and injured Friday while working to cover a fire. He was charged with suspicion of simple assault of a police detective and will be arraigned June 19, his paper reports.

    Check it out here.

  • Bruce Schneier: Are photographers really a threat?

    What is it with photographers these days? Are they really all terrorists, or does everyone just think they are?

    Since 9/11, there has been an increasing war on photography. Photographers have been harrassed, questioned, detained, arrested or worse, and declared to be unwelcome. We’ve been repeatedly told to watch out for photographers, especially suspicious ones. Clearly any terrorist is going to first photograph his target, so vigilance is required.

    Except that it’s nonsense.

    Check it out here.

  • Seattle Police Department issues new policy regarding photographers

    It took an unlawful arrest and an embarrasing $8,000 settlement, but the Seattle Police Department has issued a new policy clarifying that citizens are within their rights to document police activity, as long as they are not interfering with the investigation.

    Check it out here.

  • Photographer's $20billion penalty

    A Reuters photographer working in Zimbabwe has been fined 20 billion Zimbabwe dollars for contravening the country’s broadcasting act reports Zimbabwejournalists.com.

    Howard Burditt was also sentenced to two months in prison, suspended for five years on the condition he did not repeat the offence.

    Check it out here.

  • TV News Photographer Keeps Camera Rolling During Scuffle With Police Officer

    “I’m not putting the camera down until (inaudible).”

    Check it out here.

  • Photo Attorney: Photography Is/Not Allowed? – 7

    Fox 5 TV station in Washington DC interviewed Joel Lawson yesterday about harassment of photographers at Union Station. While an Amtrak spokesperson was explaining that photography is allowed in Union Station, a security guard interrupted to tell the journalist to stop filming the interview

    Check it out here.

  • Journalist's Journey To Iraq

    1991_2 1.jpeg


    By Robert Scheer, Indianapolis Star Visuals Dept

    In covering our guys in Iraq, we heard and saw a lot of things that they didn’t want us to publish — such as how fast they drive, where the commander generally is on a convoy. The key thing is to know what photo or story might jeopardize a life, and which won’t. If you embed, you’ll receive countless pieces of paper containing security concerns. They’re important, be sure to digest them.

    Early on, we sent some info out that we shouldn’t have. The folks at Q-West weren’t too pleased with us. At some point during the process of being scolded over and over for about two days, by everyone from Privates to Lt. Colonels, we were led into a dark room with gaudy oversized furniture and told in no uncertain terms that every story and every image we sent had to be scrutinized by the resident intel officer, at the other end of the base. This meant a two-mile walk every time we wanted to send to our editors. Back home, our editors were ready to start calling up various generals to read the riot act, but in Iraq, it was either “live with it, or go home.”

    Check it out here.

  • Video On The Right To Photograph In U.K.

    Current TV brings us this short and interesting documentary about the confusion over the right to photograph in public places in the U.K.:

    Check it out here.

  • Photographer risks losing eye after being hit by policeman during protest

    Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the way a policeman on horseback struck photographer Víctor Salas several times with a metal riding crop while he was covering a protest yesterday in Valparaíso, a city to the west of Santiago. Salas, who works for the Spanish news agency EFE, has been hospitalised and risks using the use of his right eye as a result of the blows.

    “Unfortunately this is not the first time that the Chilean security forces have used violence against the news media while maintaining order,” the press freedom organisation said. “We support the call by EFE’s Santiago bureau for the policeman who hit Salas to be identified and punished. How could a law enforcement officer have behaved with such lack of judgment? The investigation should seek the answer to this question.”

    Check it out here. Via PDNPulse

  • Judge at R.Kelly Trial Boots 'Chi Tribune' Sketch Artist

    The judge in R&B singer R. Kelly’s child pornography trial has ejected a newspaper’s sketch artist from the courtroom.

    Judge Vincent Gaughan says the artist for the Chicago Tribune violated the strict code of conduct he’s established for the courtroom by creating images of jurors for publication.

    Check it out here.

  • RANGERS SET TO STRIKE RANCH, WANT MEDIA TO GO AWAY FIRST

    At this hour there are at least 6 media trucks parked just outside the gates of the ranch.

    Around 2 this afternoon, the Texas Rangers were set to strike, and aborted the strike once they saw the trucks.

    They then ordered sheriff Doran to get the media trucks away from the ranch.

    Everyone inside the Ranch expects the raid to commence once the media leaves, or for the rangers to corral the media “For their own safety” away from the compound so they can do their “Search”.

    Check it out here.

  • Photographers stand up for your rights in LA, June 1 – Boing Boing

    2447827016_ce4a409d70.jpg

    One June 1, photographers throughout Los Angeles will gather at the Hollywood and Highland Metro Station to peacefully protest against the unnecessary treatment they have received from security guards (particularly the white shirts), LAPD, and LASD while photographing in public places, and on the Metro.

    Check it out here.

  • Jury Clears Photographer Who Refused to Stop Photographing an Arrest

    I was pleased today to see an article about photographer Nick Evans being cleared by a Galveston jury of misdemeanor charges of interfering with police while photographing an arrest at a Mardi Gras celebration in 2007.

    While I’m amazed that any prosecutor would actually take this kind of a case to trial (in this case prosecutor April Powers), I’m pleased that a jury had the common sense to dismiss the charges.

    Check it out here.

  • "Two FBI agents just showed up at my door for taking photos in the Port of Los Angeles" – Boing Boing

    I’m a professional stock photographer, and just this morning, I was greeted by two FBI antiterrorism agents who wanted to question me regarding shooting in the Port of Los Angeles two weeks ago. When I was down there, a private security guard in a pickup truck chased me out of the area and onto the freeway. After he stopped following me, apparently he filed a report with the FBI.

    Check it out here.

  • Taking pictures on LA's Red Line violates the "9/11 Law" – Boing Boing

    Keith tried to take a picture on the Red Line in LA, and was told that he was breaking the “9/11 Law” by a metro worker who swore at him and threatened him with arrest when he asked what the “9/11 Law” was.

    Check it out here.

  • Almost Arrested for Taking Photos at Union Station

    Meanwhile, the Gigapan continued to take photos. They’d ruined the panorama, of course; the first guard got in front of the camera at one point and obstructed the view. They reiterated that we were going to be arrested, so I finally tried to shut off the camera. But the damn thing wouldn’t stop taking pictures. It never occurred to me that I’d have to learn how to abort a panorama under pain of arrest, so I fumbled for about a minute as it kept shooting pictures. (I think I heard Wright laughing at this point.)

    I managed to shut the camera, and started to disassemble the Gigapan from the tripod as a fourth security person arrived. He was dressed differently than the other three people, and had a former-marine-turned-middle-management air about him.

    Check it out here.