Very sad and tragic. In the near future, there probably won't be as many images of animals coming from the gulf.
The Coast Guard has put new restrictions into place that prevents the public, which includes reporters and photographers, from coing within 65 feet of response vehicles or booms (either on land or in the water). A violation of new safety zones could result in a 40K fine and a class D felony charge. Ariel shots have already been hampered by a restriction on how low aircraft can fly over the area. Some reporters are not happy. Associated Press photographer Gerald Herbert said "Often the general guise of 'safety' is used as a blanket excuse to limit the media's access, and it's been done before. It feels as though news reporting is being criminalized under thinly veiled excuses. The total effect of all these restrictions is harming the public's right to know." Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said "I think somebody came up with a good reason of how to justify keeping the press away. But guess what? That isn't gonna keep us away. Anytime you all want, you all can come in there wherever we go, on our boats.'' Anderson Cooper was particularly distressed about the lack of transparency. COOPER: So, this is the exact same logic that federal wildlife officials used to prevent CNN on two occasions from getting pictures of oiled birds that have been collected, pictures like like the well, that were about to show you which are obviously deeply disturbing, pictures of oiled gulls that we just happened to catch. Suddenly, we were told after after that day we couldnt catch it anymore. So, keeping prying eyes out of marshes, away from booms, off the beaches is now government policy. When asked why now, after all this time, Thad Allen said he had gotten some complaints from local officials worried people might get hurt. Now, we dont know who these officials are. We would like to. But transparency is apparently not a high priority with Thad Allen either these days. Maybe he is accurate and some officials are concerned. And thats their right. But weve heard far more from local officials about not being able to get a straight story from the government or BP. I have met countless local officials desperate for pictures to be taken and stories written about what is happening in their communities. Were not the enemy here. Those of us down here trying to accurately show whats happening, we are not the enemy. I have not heard about any journalist who has disrupted relief efforts. No journalist wants to be seen as having slowed down the cleanup or made things worse. If a Coast Guard official asked me to move, I would move. But to create a blanket rule that everyone has to stay 65 feet away boom and boats, that doesnt sound like transparency. Frankly, its a lot like in Katrina when they tried to make it impossible to see recovery efforts of people who died in their homes. If we cant show what is happening, warts and all, no one will see whats happening. And that makes it very easy to hide failure and hide incompetence and makes it very hard to highlight the hard work of cleanup crews and the Coast Guard. We are not the enemy here. We found out today two public broadcasting journalists reporting on health issues say they have been blocked again and again from visiting a federal mobile medical unit in Venice, a trailer where cleanup workers are being treated. Its known locally as the BP compound. And these two reporters say everyone they have talked to, from BP to the Coast Guard, to Health and Human Services in Washington has been giving them the runaround. Were not talking about a CIA station here. Were talking about a medical trailer that falls under the authority of, guess who, Thad Allen, the same Thad Allen who promised transparency all those weeks ago. We are not the enemy here. The timing of the so-called blackout works well for anyone wanting to hide the effects of the spill. According to MSNBC, millions of birds are about fly into the oil spill area due to their migration patterns. J - "The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:322642 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
