looks like documentary will have to be taken off this forums name...

[thomas_sullivan]

<p>because if this keeps up....there won't be any</p>

<p>listen to the link.....it explains itself</p>

<p><a href="

[dave_b15]

<p>Yeah it's disgusting. I thought there would be a change in Federal policy.I didn't like the secrecy in the previous Administration and I don't like what's going on in this one regarding this secretiveness. Of course, when the news is blacked out, people think it's the worst.</p>

<p>Press freedoms have been under assault over the last decade and it's scary. And I think it's a horrible slap in the face for our Constitution, the American way, and every American who has ever fought and died in the service of this Country defending those very freedoms.</p>

<p>Fortunately there are <a href="http://carlosmiller.com/2010/07/01/we-were-permanantly-banned-from-the-miami-dade-metrorail-for-taking-photos/">folks with moose testicles</a> <a href="http://stretchphotography.com/blog/2010.07.01/banned-from-metro/">who are doing something </a>about our freedoms.</p>

<p>Carlos Miller - YOU ROCK!</p>

[thomas semesky]

<p>REMEMBER if elected, this Administration promised us transparency. It was one of B.O.'s main talking points. That false transparency was exposed with the Health Care Bill. The lies, bribes and intimidation that took place behind closed doors. Well, you can KEEP THE CHANGE! </p>

[jodys]

<p>This seems to be a tipping point of some sort in the corporate take-over of the USA. There is no need for multinationals to keep anything secret anymore, they make the rules and the US gov't says "Yes sir!" and stops what they want stopped, and puts in jail whomever they want jailed. Do you think I could do a photo series on the 'debtor prison' comeback in the USA? Who do I have to write for permission, Goldman Sachs?</p>

<p>Perhaps the problem is that no one wants to see people in jail for bogus credit card debt any more than they want to see out of work shrimpers in the Gulf. It's cute animals; clean or covered in oil, and celebrities; clean or on drugs. Justin Beiber and the Olson twins, with a few shots of an oil-soaked pelican being cleaned in a 'rehab' to hammer the lesson home.</p>

[mikael_karlsson]

<p>This is nothing new. After 9/11 people were put in jail with no evidence of any wrongdoing. Some of those are still in jail. No evidence presented, no trials held. Look at the entire process with undocumented immigrants often being held in extremely poor detention facilities while their asylum-cases are being investigated. Human rights are violated and raped every day, all day, all over the place.<br /><br />There are many problems with the United States. There are many problems with most countries on Earth. One this that I see repeatedly here though is that such a big part of the general public is very uneducated on how things work when it comes to government and most other things in society. I come from a country with extreme transparency - Sweden. Everyone's income tax return is a public document. It's great - it tends to keep those in power at least a little bit more honest since everyone can see where the money is coming from.<br /><br />The way the system is set up for when a corporation does something wrong is what needs to really be revamped. When a company can allow a bunch of hard working miners to perish because they couldn't be bothered to follow safety regulations - that CEO needs to do some serious jail time instead of his company being fined $ x million. Make the corporate bigwigs really accountable - and not only when it comes to money. To people raking in billions every year, a fine of a few hundred million $ really isn't anything. Hit 'em where it really hurts! <br /><br />We have indeed allowed money to become our ruler. Have enough money and you can rape, murder, torture and just pay enough to get yourself set free...</p>

[ray .]

I don't necessarily trust a news story from a cable network. The press these days is about ratings =

money.

 

Let's not get carried away. 65 feet should not be that big of a deal with a decent telephoto lens.

 

Dude on the right looks like he had a shiner.

[Uhooru]

<p>Actually Ray makes sense. 65' from equipment is not unreasonable. Anderson Cooper is, as far as I'm concerned, a bit of a joke as a journalist. He's just not that smart. I'm certainly not for censorship or keeping the press away, but Cooper sounds like he's pissed because he couldn't get a money shot of him sticking his boots in an oil slick. And then he starts drawing hysterical conclusions. But, its a story. Media is about promoting conflict, social and political. Look at the interview with Rupert Murdoch the other day. He couldn't care less about half the political positions of Fox News, especially immigration, with which his personal views differ widely from the editorial board of the station, yet he loves the fact that it generates him so much income. If he could do that with Liberal news, I have little doubt he would. I would get some more facts before I'd get myself in a lather over something reported by Cooper.</p>

[jodys]

<p>Are a bunch of <strong>photographers </strong>now going to try to defend a "65' perimeter" around anything and everything oil spill-related? I don't know about you all, but I don't think I could do very much of anything with that kind of restriction. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do own 500mm and 800mm lenses. If I were heading out into the gulf, I wouldn't have brought either.</p>

[ray .]

Let's not exaggerate. You don't need a 500 mm lens to photograph a bird at 65 feet, especially with something like a 21 pixel high end DSLR.

[Matt Laur]

<p>And I suppose that if the people operating the equipment <em>did</em> allow anybody to walk up and screw around with it, then the first person who got hurt or who caused an equipment operator to be distracted and make a mess of a contained slick area would ... what? Sue? You can't win. You keep people back 65 feet (very reasonable) if they want to shoot the operations, or you let people tromp all over everything that's being done, and then hear nothing but complaints from a <em>different</em> group about how spectators and journalists are splashing around a barrier and tracking oil back after them. <br /><br />This is all about Anderson Cooper's completely faux outrage over being kept from looking like a Concerned Eco Journalist Stud Guy a few feet closer to the equipment. Yeesh. Where's the moral outrage over police tape keeping people back from a gruesome traffic accident? Shouldn't photographers be able to use a macro lens while shooting that decapitated body lying in the smouldering wreckage? It's no different. 65 feet is nothing for any typically equipped PJ or news crew.</p>

[Uhooru]

<p>Concur Matt, Cooper is probably longing for the day he stood out "mano y mano" with Katrina, looking like a complete rain soaked eejit, but hey, it launched him to the "top".</p>

[thomas_sullivan]

<p>granted, Cooper may be grandstanding but....</p>

<p>"...The Supreme Court requires the government to provide substantial justification for the interference with the right of free speech where it attempts to regulate the content of the speech..."....excerpt from....</p>

<p><a href="http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/First_amendment">http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/First_amendment</a></p>

<p>I'm not sure at all from the dozens of other websites that I've read that the Government has proven SUBSTANTIAL JUSTIFICATION to enact this law. I would at minimum like to see copies or transcripts of the complaints or concerns by the parties concerned about these safety issues.</p>

[tholte]

<p>The Coopster is a spoiled little rich kid! I do enjoy watching him feign righteous indignation though, makes up for all the fawning he did the first year of Obama's administration. </p>

[andy a.]

<p>I think Cooper could probably produce his story from 65', but I don't think the same could be said for a PJ shooting stills. It's not the distance but the forced perspective. What percentage of compelling documentary shots come from a lens longer than 50mm?</p>

[jodys]

<p>It's official: China now allows journalists more freedom than does the USA. At least where it relates to oil spills.</p>

 

<h2><a href="http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/07/oil_spill_in_dalian_china.html">Oil spill in Dalian, China</a></h2>

<p>http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/07/oil_spill_in_dalian_china.html</p>

<p>Does anyone want to tell me how many of these photos were taken from less than 65 feet away?</p>