AFTRA Supports Access for Media in the Gulf

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BREAKING NEWS Fla. Tourism Official: Hold Media 'accountable': Fla. Tourism Official Wants Media Held 'accountable,' Claims Gulf Reporting Inaccurate CBS News • July 27 BP media blackout UPDATE: Scientists Emerge with Warnings of BP Chemical Dispersant Abuse Maryann Tobin • NY Examiner • July 25 Gulf Oil Spill: BP Tries to Block Release of Oil Spill Research Ramit Plushnick-Masti & Naoki Schwartz • The Huffington Post • July 24 AFTRA Announces Initiative to Support Journalists Covering Gulf Oil Spill AFTRA • July 1

 

 
 

The explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig in April killed eleven workers, and led to the biggest oil spill and one of the worst environmental catastrophes in U.S. history. Hundreds, if not thousands, of reporters and photographers—many of them AFTRA members—descended on the region and many remain there today, working tirelessly to cover this complex and constantly shifting story. The spill and its effects on the economy, the environment, and the people of the Gulf region will be a major story for months, if not years, to come.

As the union of broadcast journalists, AFTRA is committed to understanding the challenges journalists face as they cover the story, and providing support and solutions. In particular, our union is deeply concerned about recent reports that members of the press are being denied access to people and places essential to their ability to fully cover the oil spill.

Since last month, stories of the press being denied access by BP and its contractors, local law enforcement and the U.S. military have emerged sporadically in local and national press reports and in the blogosphere. Frequently, journalists and photographers are being provided access as embeds on government or corporate flights, rather than being given unfettered access to sources and locations. Denial of access to people and public spaces and filtering the story through a government or corporate lens is censorship.

Censorship is anathema to democracy, and the only way to stop it is to expose it.

Tell us your story!

If you are a broadcast journalist working in the Gulf region and you have been denied access by a government or corporate entity to accurately report on this catastrophe, please fill out the form below and tell us your story. All stories will be kept confidential and will not be shared or made public by AFTRA without your support and express permission.

Click here to tell us your story.

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More Information

• In the News
  Index of related stories
• Journalist Safety
  Information and resources from the International News Safety Institute

Related Sources

• ACLU Letter
  ACLU reminds law enforcement to respect media and public access to BP oil spill
• National Incidenct Response Memo
  National Incident Commander reinforces media access in the Gulf
• BP Memo
  BP denies allegations that it is restricting media access
• Security Blocks Media Access at Cleanup Site
  Confrontation Between WDSU, Guards Follows Letter Of 'Clarification' From BP Executive

 

 

 

 

 

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