[El Gato]

Barring reporters from locations has nothing to do with freedom of the press. It's not "The Press", that has some special freedom. It's all of us, who have the right to print or otherwise publish what we will. We can be punished for printing slander, but there can be no "prior restraint". Very much like freedom of speech. You can be sued for libel, and you can be punished for inciting a riot, or even yelling "fire" in a crowded theater, causing death and/or injury to others. The government can't tape your mouth shut because you might shout fire... the theater owners could, but only as a condition for entering *their* theater.

But "The Press" has no more rights to know or to go places than anyone else, regardless of what they might tell you. Certainly FReepers should know that they routinely lie, if anyone should.

[DocRock]

Brian Williams wrote:

"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."

I have no love for the MSM today, however, when the 2nd Amendment is trashed, there are no teeth for the First Amendment. These liberal journalist are getting their eyes opened. I fully agree with everything you said, but why aren't we allowed to know what the inside of a football stadium looks like that has televised games shown to the entire country. It certainly is not off limits to cameras by any stretch of the imagination or interpretation of the law.

In other news...
U.S. District Court Judge Keith Ellison issued a temporary restraining order Friday against a "zero access" policy announced earlier in the day by Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who is overseeing the federal relief effort in the city, and Terry Ebbert, the city's homeland security director.

CNN won't show the images from the Sept. 11 attack, but they won a suit to show the bodies of victims of Katrina. Anything the MSM can do to hurt America is a cause they deem worth fighting for.

FReegards,
DocRock