Freedom of the Press. What is that?
James-Paul said I sometimes write on here like I'm the angry reporter. I certainly don't mean it to be that way. I just use this blog to give you more insite into the stories and sometimes the difficulties involved.
This is one such case. On Sunday we went to Morgan County to cover a house fire. We get there and a deputy comes up and says that the home owner doesn't want us getting video of the house. I can understand that, it's normal.
I told the deputy we would stay back at the road. He said no. I said, OK we'll just stay here where we are (you couldn't even see the house) and get video of the fire trucks. He said no. I could have pressed the issue, but I didn't. When the deputy walked off we got some very wide shots anyway.
Courts have ruled, including the Supreme Court, that as long as we are not bothering a scene, getting in the way of an investigation or causing a hazard we can get video or take pictures. From where we were, there was no way we were doing any of those things.
Marshall, DeKalb or Jackson County would never do something like that. The same type thing happened back in 2000. A body had been found near Somerville. I went out to the scene, which was down a dirt road. They had crime scene tape up. It's normal operating procedure for us to get video as long as we stay behind the tape. Well that wasn't good enough for this deputy. He said, "I need you to get back in your vehicle, turn around and go back to the end of the road."
This is why I love our helicopter.
This is one such case. On Sunday we went to Morgan County to cover a house fire. We get there and a deputy comes up and says that the home owner doesn't want us getting video of the house. I can understand that, it's normal.
I told the deputy we would stay back at the road. He said no. I said, OK we'll just stay here where we are (you couldn't even see the house) and get video of the fire trucks. He said no. I could have pressed the issue, but I didn't. When the deputy walked off we got some very wide shots anyway.
Courts have ruled, including the Supreme Court, that as long as we are not bothering a scene, getting in the way of an investigation or causing a hazard we can get video or take pictures. From where we were, there was no way we were doing any of those things.
Marshall, DeKalb or Jackson County would never do something like that. The same type thing happened back in 2000. A body had been found near Somerville. I went out to the scene, which was down a dirt road. They had crime scene tape up. It's normal operating procedure for us to get video as long as we stay behind the tape. Well that wasn't good enough for this deputy. He said, "I need you to get back in your vehicle, turn around and go back to the end of the road."
This is why I love our helicopter.
posted by Carson Clark @ 5:19 PM
3 Comments:
At 8:33 PM,
Anonymous said…
Do u know who the office was?
At 11:46 PM,
Anonymous said…
Carson -
That deputy broke the law. I would have gotten his name and taken the issue up with the Sheriff on Monday. I'm he would have threaten arrest if you didn't obey his orders. However, it would not have held up.
If you didn't get anywhere talking to the Sheriff, it might be worth a conversation between the Sheriff's office and New York Times legal. It's not like it was the biggest story in the world, but when some bozo tries to toss around his power when he is clearly in the wrong it irritates me. There are some fine police officers out there, but there are some "good 'ole boys" who don't have a clue about the law.
The law states you can shoot whatever you want as long as you are off private property and not within a crime scene.
These people are getting away with controlling the news because we are letting them.
At 9:25 AM,
Anonymous said…
Carson,
I left a message for Sheriff Greg Bartlett about the situation. I'm hoping you have the deputy's name. I can't make any excuses, but I will give Sheriff Bartlett credit for being much more media friendly than those before him. It sounds like a case of someone just thinking he was following the rules, but wasn't. Sorry you had problem covering stories in my area.
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