Coast Guard Places Restrictions on Press for Safety (Censorship) Reasons

[fullmetalphotograper]

<p>The Coast Guard has set up criminal penalties for anyone covering the oil spill if they get to close to the oil spill. Maybe they should be called the BP guard?</p>

<p>http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/is-the-media-restrictions-imposed-by-coast-guard-for-safety-reasons-or-to-censor-news-of-gulf-coast/question-1087979/</p>

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[maximo_gaia]

<p>Wow. Smells like new world order. You have right to die from it, but no right to know about it. Nice<br>

<a href="http://www.san-francisco-wedding-photographer.org/">http://www.san-francisco-wedding-photographer.org</a></p>

[nealcurrie]

<p>Maximo - please don't add a link to your personal site in your posts unless it is relevant.</p>

[andylynn]

<p>It gets worse. You know how people sometimes post things like "I got pulled over by cops when I was taking photos near an oil town and they took a blood sample and a photo of my ass and gave them to a refinery security guard!"</p>

<p>http://www.salon.com/news/louisiana_oil_spill/index.html?story=/opinion/greenwald/2010/07/05/bp</p>

[lauren_macintosh]

<p>When will the A-oles wake up and realize if someone wants to destroy something they will not be able to stop a random act : If they cooperated with us we could feed them files have taken and then they might have a better chance of find what went wrong:</p>

[lee_richards2]

<p>No surprise here. The Obama administration has been protecting BP from the start. (When it did anything at all.) ((Note: I voted for him.))</p>

<p>This intrusion into freedom of the press has been going on for years and getting worse. The only solution is for the press to condemn the administration for stonewalling reporters and force the administration to tell that arrogant admiral who he works for. That would be the people. Few government employees remember that these days. The administration has obviously forgotten it. But the November elections are only 90 days away. I suspect they will wake up then. </p>

[jason_inskeep]

<p>At the risk of being stoned here, as much as I hate to say it, let the USCG do their job. IF they say no, that needs to be the end of it. I am a member of the military, I don't always understand their ways either. There is nothing you can do about it. Like it or not, just like police or other government officials, they have the authority do what they deem necessary if they are given that authority by their superiors ( in this case that admiral works for the president). No, it doesn't make sense. Yes you would like to change it. Just let those guys do what they have to do.</p>

[fullmetalphotograper]

<p>Jason you are right in the military you need to follow orders, and I do appreciate the sacrifices made by our citizens in uniform. With that said freedom is not just a right but a responsibility. We as citizens have the responsibility to make informed decisions and to question authority. If we did not women would not have the right to vote and Jim Crow would still be in place.</p>

<p>I will admit I am bias because I am a member of the press. Can you really say that civilians on U.S. soil should just follow the edicts of the Military or authority without question? Is that the country that so many brave soldiers spilt their blood for?</p>

<p>To question authority is not just a right but a responsibility.</p>

[jason_inskeep]

<p>Ralph, I see where you are comming from. You do raise a good point about getting the right things changed. I also agree that there is possibly no good reason for them not allowing access to the site for journalists such as yourself. Public access, if for no other reason than to keep people out of the way, should be restricted if necessary. <br />Yes, so many people have died in the creation and continued protection of our contry- among other thigns- to allow for and hold up these freedoms which seem to be dwindling away from us.<br>

As for the authority issue in question, it's honnestly a hard call when you look at it through different eyes. Again, I am not a fan of every thing done by our government. Not even remotely saying that you are one of these people, but the majority of American's, civilian or not, can't even follow traffic laws every day. I have definitely found that there is a certain amount of "blind' or misguided questioning and challenging of authority in our contry. That being said, unless they are restricting your access for the purpose of making the clean up more efficient then it its very likely out of line.</p>