Someone is trying to bar journalists from doing their jobs.  What else is new?

In a June 30 press release, the Deepwater Horizon Response announced a 65-foot buffer zone around all booming operations and oil response efforts in southeastern Louisiana.

Vessels must not come within 20 meters of booming operations, boom, or oil spill response operations under penalty of law…Violation of a safety zone can result in up to a $40,000 civil penalty. Willful violations may result in a class D felony.

Also,

Permission to enter any safety zone must be granted by the Coast Guard Captain of the Port of New Orleans by calling 504-846-5923.

This is a malicious threat to the freedom of the press assured in the First Amendment of the Constitution, the highest authority in the United States of America.

(Cleanup efforts conducted by the Louisiana National Guard.  Photo:  U.S. Army.)

The authorities, in their own words, have enacted this “safety zone” in order “to protect the members of the response effort…containment boom…operation of response equipment,” and get this, “the environment.”  Protect them from journalists? 

The Deepwater Horizon incident command has had plenty of time to come up with a good reason why they might keep people in the dark:  81 days since the spill, 50 days since the Coast Guard threatened to arrest CBS News correspondents on a beach with virtually no cause, and 33 days since Admiral Thad Allen said on television that the media would have “uninhibited access anywhere we’re doing operations,” except “if it’s a security or a safety problem.”

Safety and security are both valid reasons, but is the Admiral fulfilling his word?  On the contrary, access will be quite inhibited by the exclusive permitting process.  Further, can Allen honestly say that all areas of cleanup operations must be blocked by 65 feet because they all pose a “safety problem?”  In the case of vessels not related to the response effort, this may make sense.  But for reporters and photographers on shore, it is absurd.

(Oil boom on the coast of Mississippi.  Photo:  Jeff Warren.)

Private Party with the Media Elite?

This recent imposition will inevitably harm the breadth and integrity of news coverage in the Gulf.

Since permissions for access to oil response operations are now to be cleared through a single USCG Captain, the process (which has been less than responsive in the past 81 days) will likely bottleneck, and winnow the herd.

Flagship publications with vast resources, reader bases, and political clout (e.g.  AP, NYT, Reuters, etc.) will gain access as they usually do.  Reputable mid-level organizations (Democracy Now, Mother Jones, Grist, etc.) will likely fair well also.  But what about all the independents, the freelancers, bloggers, and social media whizzes, who may be credible but bear no moniker other than “citizen?” 

An American Principle

It’s hard enough for writers of news to get their stories to print; it’s a process that goes largely unacknowledged by the public.  So how can we deign to further hamper the free press, a basic element of democracy by restricting their ability to do enterprise reporting?

Luckily, some of the big dogs are sticking up for the principle of the First Amendment.  CNN’s Anderson Cooper was visibly furious as he covered the story, as he should be.

“Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one,” said Henry Mencken, a journalist and astute critic of Americana in the early 20th century.

Independent news is virtually non-existent, and this tampering with the U.S. Constitution by the Deepwater Horizon response authorities is putting it further in jeopardy.

We’re living through a media metamorphosis, where anyone with internet access can publish the news.  But who’ll read it?  It still takes resources to reach a wide readership.  How many of you are reading this right now?

Still, truth is proportionate to diversity of source. 

Just as a single story must be well researched from many perspectives, the media industry as a whole must draw from a spectrum of participants, not just from the ones with name-brand recognition. 

A Public Good

Everyone knows that major events deserve saturation coverage by the media, but what’s less obvious is the inherent value of breaking from the pack to get the story that no one else has.  It’s a lot like deploying troops over a war zone:  covering a wide swath of terrain (literal and figurative) is equally important to concentration in intense areas. 

Unfettered journalism is a public service.  It is essential to the functioning of an honest democracy.  To transmit factual information freely and without corruption by money or favor, the asymptotic ideal of the truth, is not only the charge of journalists, but also their identity.  Only the Fourth Estate commits itself to that sole purpose.

We value that in America, don’t we?  Or are the lyrics of Connor Oberst, “Our freedom’s a joke, we’re just takin’ a piss,” more truthful? 

(Oiled pelicans in the Gulf.  Photo: Photo Credit: International Bird Rescue Research Center)

Though life in multimedia may make us incessant gobblers of infotainment, we still possess a voracious appetite for substantive factual reports, for what’s actually going on.  This is very dangerous for the people committing heinous crimes against millions of people in the Gulf.  But if democracy is compromised and the genuine interest of the American public is misled, then “The whole world must watch the sad comic display,” not just residents of the Gulf.

Will the Rule Stand?

The level of punishment here is nothing to scoff at.  Class D felonies can include encouraging sexual acts with a child, illegal uses and sales of weapons, pimping, and brothel operation.  It would be a pitiful abuse of the law to levy the same charge on people who are only reporting news that is crucial to our national well being. 

Some industrious constitutional lawyer, EHEM!, and/or President of the United States, may take one look at this decision from the Coast Guard and say, “I’ll see your ass in court!” 

So…where are you at?