Posted on 09/09/2005 6:52:37 AM PDT by 57chevypreterist
I did not actually count the number of automatic weapons pointed at me, but there were at least five, and I was certain they were all locked and loaded, or whatever that military phrase is signifying that a gun is ready to blow a hole in somebody.
"Step out!" commanded the black-helmeted man in the middle of what appeared to be a tactical formation. He was pointing a laser-like flashlight attached to his machine gun at me.
I must have been quite a sight alone out there on the darkened New Orleans street wearing a headlamp and holding a cell phone at an odd right angle, the only way I could get it to work. I had just been placed on hold.
"I'm a journalist working for The San Francisco Chronicle," I said quickly, trying to remain calm. "I'm out here because the signal ...."
"Step out here!" he interrupted, and his tone suggested that the consequences for not stepping out into the street would be dire. I stepped out.
The encounter was a sobering look into the post-hurricane reality of New Orleans. The city has been evacuated, and a 6 p.m. curfew imposed. The citizens who remain are presumed to be up to no good, especially if they are out past dark.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
"I'm a journalist working for The San Francisco Chronicle."
I can't help thinking of that scene in "Dumb and Dumber," where Jim Carrey goes running down the entrance ramp to the plane, and an attendant yells: "Stop. You can't go in there!"
Carrey whirls around, flashes his ID and says: "It's OK! I'm a limo driver!!"
Then he proceeds to run down the ramp, only to fall off onto the ground because the plane has already taken off.
The press always thinks they deserve open access to everything like battlefields, disaster areas, White House, etc...
I get tired of them being let in to places you and I as citizens are not allowed to go all in the name of the press.
Amazing how they spurn rules and pull out a press pass to get into somewhere but then want to military or police to protect them when things go bad and if not proteected accues the government of not protecting its citizens and the 1st amendment.
Step out!
He's a reporter!
Shoot!
SHOOT!
Open access can be a good thing sometimes.
Some but not all. They do not need to be standing on the beach in Florida as a CAT 4 comes ashore so we get the news, they do not need to be on teh fron tlines with our troops or behind enemy lines to get the story.
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