Score one for the Fifth Estate and freedom of information.
As much as I usually have nothing but contempt for CNN, their actions during the aftermath of Katrina, from Anderson Cooper to filing the lawsuit, has been pretty damn good. They tried to slip into Corporate Speak last Monday, but the reporters on the ground - Anderson, Soledad, etc. wouldn't let them. Good on them for finally waking up to the horrors the Bush Admin has wrought on America.
... and score one for freedom of information & being unable to spin the death and destruction toll... and hopefully this means Blackwater et al won't be able to operate under the cover of secrecy...
They can always slip back though, so it's up to us to keep the pressure on & let them know when they done good for democracy.
Rather than fight a lawsuit by CNN, the federal government abandoned its effort Saturday to prevent the media from reporting on the recovery of the dead in New Orleans.
Joint Task Force Katrina "has no plans to bar, impede or prevent news media from their news gathering and reporting activities in connection with the deceased Hurricane Katrina victim recovery efforts," said Col. Christian E. deGraff, representing the task force.
U.S. District Court Judge Keith Ellison issued a temporary restraining order Friday against a "zero access" policy announced earlier in the day by Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who is overseeing the federal relief effort in the city, and Terry Ebbert, the city's homeland security director.
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The judge was to consider granting a permanent injunction Saturday when the government announced its decision not to enforce the "zero access" policy. ...
Reacting to the decision, CNN News Group President Jim Walton said, "We are pleased by the decision. The free flow of information is vital for a free society."
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CNN filed suit against Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, arguing that the officials who announced the decision were acting on FEMA's behalf.
"For an agency to unilaterally ban all coverage of a major component of its governmental function, that is, recovery of the deceased victims of the tragedy, is unprecedented," CNN argued in its legal brief. "Instead, the agency has made a subjective, content-based determination that publicizing the operation would be 'without dignity.'"
CNN's brief argued, "It is not the place of government to replace its own internal judgment for that of a free and independent media."
Because of controversy about how FEMA and other agencies handled the disaster response, CNN lawyers argued, "it is even more vitally important for the public, Congress and the administration to have an independent view of the conduct of this important phase of the operation."