During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln famously suspended rights of habeas corpus. Now the man who likes to think of himself as a latter-day Lincoln—and would prefer that you share that view, this despite the fact he couldn't pack Lincoln's lunch—has taken a page out of his idol's handbook. On Thursday, the Obama White House tightened its already stringent rules preventing news organizations from showing images of the damage done by the Gulf oil spill.
News photographers and reporters are no longer allowed to come within 65 feet of any response vessel or booms on the water or on beaches. As
CNN's Anderson Cooper reported on his Thursday evening broadcast, "[I]n order to get closer, you have to get direct permission from the Coast Guard captain of the Port of New Orleans. You have to call up the guy. What this means is that oil-soaked birds on islands surrounded by boom, you can't get close enough to take that picture."
Cooper, hardly a voice of the right, was visibly perturbed by the restrictions, repeating several times during the program, "We are not the enemy here." A video clip from the program follows. In it, National Incident Commander Thad Allen offers up an explanation—to wit, security perimeters have been set up to ensure the safety of news crews. But Anderson, as you can see, isn't having any of it.
Readers are urged to arrive at their own conclusions, but it would be remiss of this writer not to point out the lack of response of any kind from other mainstream media outlets. The same journalists who were eager to film coffins containing the remains of American military personnel returning from the battlefields in Iraq have been curiously silent regarding this prohibition.
| Click Subscribe at the top of the page to have my articles sent directly to your e-mail inbox. Follow me on Twitter or join me at Facebook. You can reach me at howard.portnoy@gmail.com or by posting a comment below. |
Comments
just as they have censored communications with the military! Ironic! a dishonest, biased press is curtailed by the leftist that they have protected!
I agree with Wire_paladin above. The leftists protected Obama til they got him in power, now they have to live under his leftist (tyrannical) rules. Kudos to Anderson Cooper and CNN for finally being objective in their news reporting. This is a rarity on CNN. Let's hope the other news organizations see the light too, but I am doubtful of that happening.
This is an hypocritical act against the principle of 'Transparrency'.
Just so everyone knows... Your rights come from your creator. They can't be taken away (that'd make them privileges). Bush and Obama's free speech zones are illegal.
They should not be able to get away with this! I live on the Gulf of Mexico and I am disgusted by this!
Your title is not only misleading it is an outright LIE.
1st amendment deals with freedom of speech, NOT freedom of access.
Freedom of "access" is a fictional construct, dreamed up by people who want to root for Obama even when he steps over the same lines they found so deplorable in G. W. Bush. Refusing to allow the press to cover a story is suppression of their First Amendment rights.
So basically the same media who were silent on Bush and Iraq are now silent on Obama and the Gulf Coast? Golly, that's sure outrageous.
When were the media silent on Bush and Iraq? They were constantly hounding him.
"..shall be drawn to the gallows, not walking or carried.." Freedom of the Press..? if you are a traitor you WILL be hung, and if you work for a traitor you WILL be hung..
@ radioguts. The 1st Amendment states ... "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, OR OF THE PRESS; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Watch what Obama does...not what he says he'll do.
@Mike: The media was prevented from photographing the coffins returning from the war zone. This was because Bush II felt it would dishonor the dead. Yet when the press was allowed to do so, they got permission from the families, before running the pictures.
In both cases you have the WH dictating the terms of what the press gets access to.
If it was good for Bush II, then it's good for Obama.
If it's bad for Obama, then it was bad for Bush II.
@John, I didn't say it was OK for Bush, I was just disputing what DanB said about the press being silent on Bush. I still think when you explain both situations, what Obama is doing is worse. You say Bush's reason was not to dishonor the dead. What's Obama's reason? Not to dishonor the oil?
Hey Radioguts: If you control access and give people nothing to SPEAK about, then you have controlled their speech.
Radioguts you are right, Not only has he controlled our access, or right to travel freely, in doing that he has supressed our freedom of speech as a result of doing that,, get a clue!
The reporter said numerous times 'we are not the enemy'. Well in an empire of lies truth is treason. I have no mercy on the media, this is what they get for lying us into war and cooperating with the government. Now they got bit.
Since when does any Orange County periodical give a rat's patoot about the Constitution? George Bush and Dick Cheney violated more tenets of the Constitution and Bill of Rights since Abraham Lincoln, and Orange County cheered them on...,all the way through Iraq and Afghanistan. So now that a Democrat's in office, all of a sudden the flag-waving, boilerplate sloganeering Neocons of Orange County find their outrage. Gimme a break!
Ooo! We can't show the oily birds. Concentrate only on the oily birds. Ignore any other symptoms. If a government has a just right to remove our born right to free speech then it's just a matter of time before they have the right over life itself.
Oh, that's right! They already are deciding who gets to live. But I drone on...
What did the media expect? The useful idiots got the Dear Leader elected, never vetted him, gave him a pass at nearly every turn, and now he doesn't need them. I have no sympathy for the media. They chose to sleep with Obama and now they realize he just sees them as a whore that can be used and discarded.
My sympathy is for the people on the Gulf and for our Nation.
When are we going to wake up?
O = W (Obusha)
As Captain Nemo already said... "In the emipire of lies truth is treason".
This is making it official that the US is a slave to BP. That is why we are in the Middle East. I am now convinced that the American People will never do a thing, ever. They will walk right into the pit and, just before getting shot in the head, ask if anyone knows the latest World Cup score.
65ft. is not bad considering 1 mile that was impossed on the reporters trying to cover the Waco tragedy in `93.
How can the WH suspend Constitutional rights ! WARNING WARNING -- better clean out these mobsters before the WH suspends the Constitution.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!