For weeks, there have been some reports by independent media, like Mother Jones, about BP barring access to reporting on this disaster. Now the traditional media outlets --- CBS, CNN, The New York Times and Associated Press --- are reporting about the Gulf Media Blackout.
As CNN reporter Anderson Cooper states, federal wildlife officials have prevented taking photos of oiled birds in the name of protecting birds. In fact, an area is roped off for the oiled birds and protected by National Guard Troops.
In addition to the photo blackout, BP is still apparently preventing the workers -- under threat of job loss -- from speaking with the media. This is contrary to BP's claimed position in a letter denying that it has "ordered cleanup workers not to talk to reporters:"
BP has not and will not prevent anyone working in the cleanup operation from sharing his or her own experiences or opinions.
Yet, when a CNN reporter asks to talk to workers, each worker walks away without saying a word in response. It's the old game of BP making the right statements, but then doing the opposite.
On the CNN video, there are a few men wearing black T-Shirts that might be security guards. In any event, one man wearing a black T-Shirt did speak to a CNN reporter, but only to repeat the same apparently permissible talking point that the workers can not talk and then answering most questions with the mantra of "we're here to support the mission to clean up the oil" or "we're here to support the clean up mission." Clearly, BP passed their talking point memo around to STFU while doing nothing to live up to their letter to allow workers to speak to the media.
On May 19th, CBS reported that the U.S. Coast Guard prevented reporters access to an oiled shoreline under threat of arrest, stating that it was "BP's rules, its not ours":
The U.S. Coast Guard issued a statement:
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. In fact, media has been actively embedded and allowed to cover response efforts since this response began, with more than 400 embeds aboard boats and aircraft to date. Just today 16 members of the press observed clean-up operations on a vessel out of Venice, La.
We had media embeds with the military for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and now media embeds in the U.S. to control coverage of an environmental disaster that affects all.
For a little while, it seemed that the media were gaining access. We saw the videos and pictures of oiled wildlife, and some video showed the birds suffering and dying.
Finally we started seeing more images — the gushing pipe on the sea floor, oil hitting the beaches, dead birds, dolphins swimming through plumes of dispersant — and it seemed like things were sort of back to normal press-wise. Yes, clearly the Gulf spill was a horrible disaster, but at least we had the free press to cover it blow by blow. Right?
Now, controls seem to be tightening after a brief period of some media access. This current enhanced blackout reported by CNN might be "payback" for the images of oiled birds, wildlife, beaches and wetlands that did start to be covered by the media.
But last week that started changing: More blockades. Flyover permits revoked. Photography banned on public beaches. Sick cleanup workers barred from speaking to the press. The restrictions imposed upon journalists been so bad that yesterday both the New York Times and CNN came out strong, calling out the U.S. government for its involvement in interfering with the press:
Journalists struggling to document the impact of the oil rig explosion have repeatedly found themselves turned away from public areas affected by the spill, not only by BP and its contractors, but by local law enforcement, the Coast Guard and government officials.
The New York Times responded with an article entitled Efforts to Limit the Flow of Spill News on June 9th. Whether the media seek permission from the "local Coast Guard-Federal Aviation Administration command center" or BP contractors to fly over the Gulf to take pictures, the answer is permission denied.
Journalists struggling to document the impact of the oil rig explosion have repeatedly found themselves turned away from public areas affected by the spill, and not only by BP and its contractors, but by local law enforcement, the Coast Guard and government officials.
An ABC reporter started setting up equipment on a beach where BP workers were cleaning up when he was hassled by a BP manager minder (video at link). The BP minder stepped in immediately to ask "why you've set up a camera right here while my guys are working" and then the BP crew was removed to another cleanup area, out of view from the ABC camera.
This reminds me of the use of minders to control press access in Iraq or the practice by some federal agencies used to "listen in on scientists' interviews with the media" during the Bush years.
Even lawmakers are denied permission to bring journalists with them. Last week, Senator Bill Nelson wanted to bring some reporters with him on a trip to the gulf aboard a Coast Guard vessel.
Mr. Nelson’s office said the Coast Guard agreed to accommodate the reporters and camera operators. But at about 10 p.m. on the evening before the trip, someone from the Department of Homeland Security’s legislative affairs office called the senator’s office to tell them that no journalists would be allowed.
"They said it was the Department of Homeland Security’s response-wide policy not to allow elected officials and media on the same ‘federal asset,’ " said Bryan Gulley, a spokesman for the senator. "No further elaboration" was given, Mr. Gulley added.
The Coast Guard stated that it has a policy to ban news media from "accompanying candidates for public office on visits to government facilities" in order to manage the "large number of requests for media embeds" and this policy became effective for the Gulf disaster around the first week of the cleanup response.
And now we have the need for the right papers to gain access. The press need to fill out papers and have a BP minder to access a public beach:
In a separate incident last week, a reporter and photographer from The Daily News of New York were told by a BP contractor they could not access a public beach on Grand Isle, La., one of the areas most heavily affected by the oil spill. The contractor summoned a local sheriff, who then told the reporter, Matthew Lysiak, that news media had to fill out paperwork and then be escorted by a BP official to get access to the beach.
Yes, there needs to be management to ensure press coverage does not interfere with clean up efforts. But, the need to embed media, the use of minders, and demands for requisite papers?