BP and Coast Guard Blocking Media from Public Beaches
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CBS has footage of their reporters being turned away from a public beach in Louisiana where they were filming oil washing up on shore.
"This is BP's rules, it's not ours," someone aboard the boat said. Coast Guard officials told CBS that they're looking into it.
According to Mother Nature Network's Karl Burkhart, his contacts in Louisiana have given him unconfirmed reports of equipment being turned away or confiscated.
UPDATE: the unified command center for the Deepwater Disaster has issued a statement saying that," Neither BP nor the U.S. Coast Guard, who are responding to the spill, have any rules in place that would prohibit media access to impacted areas and we were disappointed to hear of this incident." But added that, "The only time anyone would be asked to move from an area would be if there were safety concerns, or they were interfering with response operations."
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You'd think BP would...
...want to foster an image of concern for the environment (regardless of their motivation)--show the world they're committed to helping. Inhibiting press and using the Coast Guard like paid security only increases cynicism. And rightfully so. The entire world knows of this disaster. Blocking media access creates an assumption they have something further to hide.
Actually that's not communism...
It's not communism it's called an Corporate Oligarchy.
Wikipedia oligarchy my friend. Stop watching corporate media. ;-)
What are they hiding?
So everyone expects to see oil washed up on the beach. What are they hiding - hundreds/thousands of dead birds, fish and other sea creatures?
Embedded journalists
Same thing they hide in wars - reality. Government's have always had a kneejerk reaction to hide the pure truth from its citizenry.
communism won after all
It's the beginning of the end for the USA. You're now completely owned by corporations and your voice counts for nothing. If this is where capitalism leads, then communism won after all! In a choice between being poor and being put in a box and farmed by corporations, I choose the former.
It's not communism it's
It's not communism it's called an Corporate Oligarchy.
Wikipedia oligarchy my friend. Stop watching corporate media. ;-)
PR control, or state control?
Sure, BP is trying to control the PR, but using the tools of the state to prevent access by media? That's fucked.
I'm so glad Markey won the live-feed for the leak, but now its a matter of getting regular updates on the beaches.
Also would have been nice if the MSM could do a little more than just the 30 second update, and actually look further into how messed up it is for the coastguard to work for BP contractors.
Safety
They are saying its for the safety of the wildlife that cameramen and news crews can't trudge around in sensitive wildlife areas. Fair enough, but this was a bloody (er, oily) publicly accessible beach.
Public has a right to know
This is absurd. Being banned from a public beach by a private company. CBS should have stayed and seen if BP and the Coast Guard had the guts to arrest them.
I bet you they wouldn't have the guts.
Have any other media reported being banned like this? Has BP issued and apology or a statement?