INSTITUTE INDEX: De facto censorship of disaster
Date on which the U.S. Coast Guard established a "safety zone" around oil cleanup operations and booms in the Gulf: 6/30/2010
Size of the safety zone the Coast Guard originally considered: 300 feet
Size of the safety zone it ultimately established: 65 feet
Distance booms are typically placed from islands or marsh grasses: 40 feet
Fine imposed for violating the safety-zone rule, which carries felony charges: $40,000
Date on which the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center put out a release saying it would allow media access to the safety zones on a "case-by-case" basis: 7/3/2010
Date on which a BP contractor and Alabama state trooper told Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathen that he could not visit the oil-affected Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge with a camera: 7/6/2010
Distance below which the Federal Aviation Administration has banned flyovers of the Gulf oil disaster: 3,000 feet
Date on which a freelance photographer working for ProPublica was followed by a BP security guard and detained by police after shooting images from a public highway of BP's Texas City refinery, where a 2005 explosion killed 15 and injured 170: 7/2/2010
Estimated length of time the photographer, Lance Rosenfield, was detained: 20 to 30 minutes
Number of charges filed against Rosenfield: 0
Length of time that two PBS reporters spent trying to get permission to visit a federal medical facility set up to treat oil spill responders only to be denied access: over 2 weeks
Date on which former Vice President Al Gore said the oil spill command's frequent refusal to grant reporters access amounted to a "de facto form of censorship": 6/14/2010
Date on which the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced an initiative to monitor reports of denial of access to reporters covering the BP oil disaster: 7/1/2010
(Click on figure to go to the source.)
Size of the safety zone the Coast Guard originally considered: 300 feet
Size of the safety zone it ultimately established: 65 feet
Distance booms are typically placed from islands or marsh grasses: 40 feet
Fine imposed for violating the safety-zone rule, which carries felony charges: $40,000
Date on which the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center put out a release saying it would allow media access to the safety zones on a "case-by-case" basis: 7/3/2010
Date on which a BP contractor and Alabama state trooper told Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathen that he could not visit the oil-affected Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge with a camera: 7/6/2010
Distance below which the Federal Aviation Administration has banned flyovers of the Gulf oil disaster: 3,000 feet
Date on which a freelance photographer working for ProPublica was followed by a BP security guard and detained by police after shooting images from a public highway of BP's Texas City refinery, where a 2005 explosion killed 15 and injured 170: 7/2/2010
Estimated length of time the photographer, Lance Rosenfield, was detained: 20 to 30 minutes
Number of charges filed against Rosenfield: 0
Length of time that two PBS reporters spent trying to get permission to visit a federal medical facility set up to treat oil spill responders only to be denied access: over 2 weeks
Date on which former Vice President Al Gore said the oil spill command's frequent refusal to grant reporters access amounted to a "de facto form of censorship": 6/14/2010
Date on which the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced an initiative to monitor reports of denial of access to reporters covering the BP oil disaster: 7/1/2010
(Click on figure to go to the source.)
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Sue Sturgis
Sue is the former editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.