NO!!!!! - BP Blocks Media Access

[kpete]

Run time: 02:05 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giozCCjlQu4   Posted on YouTube: June 12, 2010 By YouTube Member: yonh39 Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: June 12, 2010 By DU Member: kpete Views on DU: 3165

 
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/06/12/bp-block-reporter-beach/

[RKP5637]

1. The level of BP BS is astounding! n/t

[izquierdista]

2. Where's a cameraman

With a concealed carry permit when you need one? I doubt the rent-a-cops would infringe his right to walk on a public beach then.

[RKP5637]

4. I guess if a corporation invaded the country it would be legal if their

line of business. That's about how much sense this crap makes IMO.

[zenprole]

23. The Redcoats Are Here

Let me offend all the DU Ghandi-ites by seconding exactly this course of action, except in much larger numbers. To quote Garrett Keizer in Harper's a few years back, "Democracy is the confluence of literacy and ballistics...Why are some things self-evident? Because Sir Lancelot over there doesn't seem to be moving."

We've gotten entirely too used to corporations setting the agenda and parameters. Private security on public lands must be made an example of. When this action takes place, it must happen with multiple camera angles with at least several dozen participants in attendance - and perhaps a few elected officials, as well. (Think the Gaza flotilla, but with simpler logistics.) Taking a few of these Stasi-type guards prisoner is also an option. This is Lexington green, y'all.

Nice work, Channel 6. Now take it to the next level. Public opinion could not be in greater agreement.

[Sebastian Doyle]

3. I don't know who those little authoritarian pricks are, or who they THINK they are

But I guarantee you that if something like the BP disaster was happening in my immediate area, I would go where ever the fuck I wanted (aside from private property) and talk to whomever I wanted.

Fuck this fascist horseshit.

[RKP5637]

5. I'm astounded by this crap and the fact it's put up with... n/t

[luxoid]

6. As a Brit and Englishman

I find BP's manipulation and secrecy outrageous.How can a PLC override domestic USA law?Seems to me yet another example of a large multi-national subverting what might be loosely called democratic freedoms and rights.BP need to understand they are treading on the ordinary individual in more ways than mere restricting of access.I'd suggest that theyh are co-nationalised by the UK and USA governments and forced to make well the shit they have caused.Big business gets far too many let offs either side of the pond.Perhaps if our leaders(Cameron-Obama) were a little less focussed on their respective political constituencies and internal problems we could find a solution that benefits all.By the way well done USA 1-1,is almost a victory for you well played.

[Doctor_J]

7. Corporations ARE the law in the US

they write the laws, pay legislators to pass (or not pass) the laws, and pay the police to enforce laws as the corporations see fit.

[luxoid]

12. Pretty much the same here

except that it's done rather quietly,or sometimes through as many suspect royal perogative.It seems to be universally true that the intersts of large corporations are often given precedence over those of the electorate - both sides of the pond;this was true here in th e80's under Thatcher and remains so now,and as far as I can tell is so in the USA.We both have much to do to reclaim democracy for the people.

[sasquuatch55]

42. Did we ever have Democracy? Some South American countries have real Democracy.

nt

[kayakjohnny]

9. Well, first... welcome to du.

Second, nice post.

Third, not sure what you meant by that last sentence.

Cheers.

[masshole]

10. you are obviously not a soccer fan :)

World Cup reference, USA and England played to a 1-1 tie.

[luxoid]

14. Yes indeed and...

as an Englishman England played well but USA withstood a severe storm and played with a stern resilience - nice to see.Probably the hardest group game either will have.Both should go through.Also heartening wa sthe fact that many newspapers here report that there was no need of segregation of the fans(evident on the bbc coverage where England and USA fans can be clearly seen in the same stands),perhaps England fans ahve finally grown up - or perhaps they just like Americans!

[JDPriestly]

20. I've never heard of Americans getting violent over soccer.

Strangely, we are a very violent country, but in general, with some exceptions, we don't have a lot of violence at sports events. At least not the grown-up sports events.

[CLANG]

24. Robert Green must feel like total crap. Shitty way to lose.

On edit: Shitty way to tie. But the notion that USA somehow was victorious, implies that the Brits lost. The fact the USA came away with a tie is encouraging, nonetheless.

[proReality]

33. Welcome to DU

Good post, and it was a good game!

[demwing]

39. LOL! And a 1-1 tie against us upstart Yanks has got to hurt!

Especially since y'all practically handed us that last goal. OUCH!

[gateley]

43. I feel bad that the British think we're being anti-British and picking

on them. We would be just as incensed and disgusted if it were American Petroleum regardless if it happened here or there. These corporations have no nationality, per se - they're all global, and we hate them all. :7

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Subdivisions]

8. They should have walked right through those assholes! Arrrghhh! I've had it! n/t

[TheEuclideanOne]

11. WTF?

Would this guy do his fucking job?!?!?!?! When did the press become such pussies?

He should have done the following:

a) said "this is a public beach, so fuck off!
b) Clocked him on the side of the head with his microphone, following with "Any questions?"
c) Appologized to the audience for the inconvenience
d) Kept walking straight ahead to actually do his job.

[CLANG]

25. I would have called 911 and told them someones about to be seriously hurt.

When the cops arrived I would then attempt to cross that dudes path. If he tries anything arrest him for assault.

[Bozita]

13. They hate us for our freedoms?

[luxoid]

15. hatred of freedoom

They sure do.Multi nationals do indeed despise freedom if it gets in the way of their making a profit,BP(Beyond Petroleum) are no exception,and would be quite prepared to trash your democratic rights if they felt they could profit from it - which is what the video shows them doing quite blatantly.It really is outrageous,you shouldn't stand for it as a people and I know you wont.BP just don't seem to understand what it is that they have done.
Lets list it :-
1 Destroyed or very nearly destroyed a highly productive and unique ecosystem.
2 Destroyed for over a generation the livelihoods of gulf fishermen.
3 No doubt caused knock on ecological effects further up the atlantic and possiblyinto the gulf stream,which may also potentially affect Europe in th elong term.
4 Probably put the final nail in the coffin of afew well known species such as Bluefin tuna.
1,3&4 cannot be recompensed and we just have to wait and see how long it takes for hydsrocarbons to work their way out of the gulf ecosystem.

Personally I'm ashamed the PM is not suggesting a coordinated response with the Obama administration in putting some fetters on the excesses of big capitalism - we have both already been severely damaged by the banks,now we both as ordinary people stand to be fucked by BP's fiasco in the gulf,wrecking the jobs and livelihoods of American workers and those of British pensioners.A common approach is required which makes BP pay for the damage it has caused.
My only complaint is that BP aint particularly British - its equally American!So lets have a thresome and screw them together,just like they screwed the both of us over the years,either through safety breaches or pocketed profits from national resources such as north sea oil!

[CLANG]

26. #5

Hopefully gave us the will to truly move "Beyond Petroleum".

[yurbud]

16. why does anyone listen to them? aren't those public beaches? BP doesn't own them.

they just own our government.

[MiniMe]

17. The CEO said the workers aren't banned from talking to the press

I guess that is technically true, but they are banning the press from talking to the workers. My head hurts.

[civilisation]

18. too bad blackwater changed the name,.

Wow, just wow. So private security now dictates freedom of movement on public lands?? Dude would have needed a gun to stop the really determined, bet we see that in the next week,. . It is too bad Blackwater changed the name, it was perfect for a private army payed to defend an oil spill from the prying eyes of concerned citizens.

[JDPriestly]

19. The press needs to go to court and get an injunction to be able

to walk on the beach and talk to workers on their breaks. It is vital for national security that the American people know the truth about what is going on down there.

Go to court and get an injunction, then get the sheriff to go with you. Any judgment of a court that says no should be featured in a big news story that identifies the judge's ties with the oil industry and offshore-oil-drilling political advocates including senators and governors.

[MrMickeysMom]

21. Where's a "60 Minutes" crew when you need one?

I wonder how that would play for Sunday night TV. I wonder IF that would play at all... never mind. We don't seem to have a free press.

[AtheistCrusader]

22. Color of law?

Pretending he has authority to block legal access to a public beach?

I want to see the jury that would convict a reporter for laying that piece of shit out on the sand.

[CoffeeCat]

27. Who cares what that punk says?

Go interview who you want to interview. These punks are acting like bullies. They
have no authority to tell anyone where they can and can't go and who they can
interview.

Why are we giving punks so much power? Why are we allowing them to tell us what
to do? Walk past them, do your job and interview who you want to interview.

They can't stop you. The beach is not private property. If that punk wants
to talk tough, let him call the cops. The punk has no authority to stop
anyone from doing anything.

I say we all go down there and start taking pictures, interviewing and rolling the
videotape. Citizen journalists say "screw you punk!"

[MrModerate]

28. Two things: 1) Reporters need to just go about their jobs until the rent-a-cops try to stop them ...

And then have the security guys arrested for assault. Not too tough to arrange if you're the local TV station.

And 2) It's legit that the workers not be interfered with by reporters -- or anyone -- while they're working or on break, but that's not BP's call to make while on public property. So the cleanup needs to be taken over by the gummint, which *does* have the authority to control access to public property.

It's not like the gummint could do any worse than BP is doing.

[Swagman]

29. agreed....the loal media wimped out on this one. very unimpressive

but at least they got the story out.

[TheEuclideanOne]

47. Absolutely unimpressive

What I can not understand is....How does it stop here? I don't get it. What the fucking hell?!?!?!?! Okay, maybe one news crew gets stopped and they decided to abandon everything that they supposedly went to school for when they had dreams of breaking a big story and acting as a check and balance. But news crew after news crew? Would somebody say something already? What if police officers did the same thing? Showed up at the scene of a mafia hit and left because the mafia's boys told them "youse ain't allowed here".

[sulphurdunn]

30. I going down there

right now and walk right through the BP prick line. After they mug me I'll retire to the Riviera on the settlement. :headbang:

[MaynardGeeKrebs]

31. Who directed him to block access isn't important??????

That's the core issue. He's also definitely been briefed not to say who's callin' the shots.

[asdjrocky]

32. What the hell is stopping him from just taking his crew and walking right through those punks?

Why stand there and argue, just go do your job. Then footage of them hauling his ass off forcibly will make grew news stuff. The media has no balls.

[bigmonkey]

35. I agree wholeheartedly with this.

Spot on.

[bigmonkey]

34. Parsing, that's what it is.

The guys in the video are not technically blocking the workers from talking to the media, they are blocking the media from talking to the workers. BP is exploiting every nuanced loophole in the public statements they've made to stop info from getting out.

For instance, they could say "We won't block the media from talking to the workers unless it interferes with the worker's work activities." Then, hey presto, they define any contact as interference. So, what about talking to the workers when they aren't working? Easy, just segregate the workers from the rest of society during their term of service as a condition of employment. Discussions after the term of service is over? Simple non-disclosure agreement, with fines.

See? No problem! We'll get through this together!

:sarcasm:

[grahamhgreen]

36. The security guards should be arrested. STEP UP OBAMA.

[subsuelo]

37. what is the name of that reporter?

edit: found it - his name is Scott Walker.

[jwirr]

38. I understand that their top shareholders are JPMorgan Chase. They

are US corporations - they are the ones we should be putting pressure on. As the largest stockholders they had say in how this company was run. Haven't we already bailed them out once?

[demwing]

40. 2 Things That Stopped That Reporter

Either or both of the following

1. Fear of Physical Harm
2. Ignorance of His Rights

The camera could have bolstered his courage, but I'll give him that. You can't see into a person's heart. But TRY and stop me from walking on a public beach.

TRY ME.

This is outrageous! Here's where DU can really make a difference. How many DUers live within a day's drive of that beach? How many of us can be there tomorrow, with cameras, and walk that fucking beach en masse?

[TwixVoy]

41. Why does this even matter?

Does it really matter if he went over and TRIED to talk to the workers? I think we can be reasonably sure that all BP workers have been told in no uncertain terms that speaking to the media for any reason will mean their jobs.

[Goldstein1984]

44. A simple fact about the BP Catastrophe...

We're not being given the simple facts about the BP Catastrophe.

The numbers change from day to day and from source to source.

[Uncle Joe]

45. If the corporate media is serious about interviewing the workers or taking pics, they need to go

down the chain of command, not up and determine who is not passing the so called message of accessibility on to the lowers levels.

I also wonder if these security people are Blackwater/Xe or some such mercenary outfit as they don't want to disclose who's in charge of them.

Somebody hired these "security people" and that shouldn't be all that difficult for the corporate media; to find out if they're serious about doing some investigative journalism.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[slay]

46. We have given everything to the corporations - power, control, money

and some people even gave their trust. I would hope people start to realize that mega-corporations should be given NONE of these things or they will fucking destroy anything and everything - they don't give a shit about any of us.