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Friday, Sept. 9, 2005...of Freedom of Press and the Price of Gold I'VE BEEN TRACKING with one ear the discussion of media restrictions in the disaster zone; the issue keeps percolating into my inbox. After FEMA said that there would be no pictures of bodies allowed (to preserve their dignity, as if there is any left), some of the more prominent reporters' rights groups stood up and made a fuss yesterday. Then the distinguished and adorable Brian Williams of NBC News piped in with a personal story. From his Sept. 8 column on MSNBC: "While we were attempting to take pictures of the National Guard (a unit from Oklahoma) taking up positions outside a Brooks Brothers on the edge of the Quarter, the sergeant ordered us to the other side of the boulevard. The short version is: there won't be any pictures of this particular group of Guard soldiers on our newscast tonight. Rules (or I suspect in this case an order on a whim) like those do not HELP the palpable feeling that this area is somehow separate from the United States. "At that same fire scene, a police officer from out of town raised the muzzle of her weapon and aimed it at members of the media... obvious members of the media... armed only with notepads. Her actions (apparently because she thought reporters were encroaching on the scene) were over the top and she was told. There are automatic weapons and shotguns everywhere you look. It's a stance that perhaps would have been appropriate during the open lawlessness that has long since ended on most of these streets. Someone else points out on television as I post this: the fact that the National Guard now bars entry (by journalists) to the very places where people last week were barred from LEAVING (The Convention Center and Superdome) is a kind of perverse and perfectly backward postscript to this awful chapter in American history." Here is the point: we MUST KEEP THE ISSUE OF FREE PRESS ALIVE. Not everyone is going to know about it, and not everyone is going to comprehend that the press must have ACTUAL ACCESS to what is going on until it is explained to them. Because their access is our access. "Conservatives" may feel we should save the flag and burn the Constitution, but if there is anything about which we can beat our chests and hum to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic and call American, this is it. We need to keep this discussion going on the ground, among our neighbors, at the supermarket, in the office, while eating big plates of snails in Paris, and wherever else you can think of. I can tell you that as a reporter who specialized in cover-ups, including those at disaster zones, the government often cops a huge attitude that it's some kind of exclusive, private entity (with guns, note above) and goes into full-on Pravda mode; that is, only what they say is true is true and you had better like it and the press conference is at noon. No free coffee or anything. So please pay attention to this issue, talk it up, adopt a reporter, call your local newspaper and offer support, call your local legislators and insist that they take action (they may or may not, but they need to tell their colleagues that the buzz is going) and as Jello Biafra said, become the media. Please keep the information moving, take pictures and publish them, if you find hot links, send them to writers who are currently publishing, do your part to keep the truth alive -- because for once, it is, and we need it that way. In this spirit, here is a link I sent to James Ridgeway at the Village Voice yesterday after reading one of his pieces on the price of oil scandal. Jim hasn't heard from me in about 10 years, but he was the obvious person to get this one; I pass it onto you as well. As Jude (of Political Waves) wrote back to me when I sent it to her, "They would eat their young." As I said, something is up with the price of gold. The funny thing is, it was a month ago, too. Wipe your hands when you're done reading this, it's greasy.
http://www.payvand.com/news/05/aug/1206.html
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