This morning npr ran this story about the harassment of journalists and photojournalists seeking to investigate the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico by law enforcement officials - local, state, and federal - often working in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard and members of BP's security squad. The hook for the npr story is the encounter between ProPublica photographer Lance Rosenfield with a phalanx of law enforcement and BP security in Texas City, Texas. You can read his own report here. His experience is not unique - see this report and this one too. In each instance the officials - law enforcement or military - claim that they are acting at the behest of the corporation. Apparently the emergency means the Constitution has been suspended.
Monday, July 12, 2010
BP, the Oil Gusher, and the Constitution
This morning npr ran this story about the harassment of journalists and photojournalists seeking to investigate the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico by law enforcement officials - local, state, and federal - often working in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard and members of BP's security squad. The hook for the npr story is the encounter between ProPublica photographer Lance Rosenfield with a phalanx of law enforcement and BP security in Texas City, Texas. You can read his own report here. His experience is not unique - see this report and this one too. In each instance the officials - law enforcement or military - claim that they are acting at the behest of the corporation. Apparently the emergency means the Constitution has been suspended.
