4 Ways BP & Officials Are Working To Suppress The Outrageous Facts About The Gulf Disaster

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alternet.org/story/147218/profiling_10_of_the_deeply_troubled_individuals_leading_the_right-wing_government_hating_crusade

4 Ways BP and Officials Are Working to Suppress the Outrageous Facts About the Gulf Disaster

From intimidating reporters to trying to enforce no-fly zones, there seems to be a concerted effort to block public access to information.
June 17, 2010 |

With BP's oil gusher in the gulf approaching two months, public anger is approaching the boiling point. When will the oil spilling into the gulf be stopped and what remediation can be done for the ecosystem and the local economy? Those of us who aren't at ground zero have to rely on what the media is reporting -- which is turning into an outrageous scandal of its own.

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1. Restricting Access

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And Walker hasn't been alone. The New York Times reported a similar incident on Grand Isle by media from the New York Daily News. "The contractor summoned a local sheriff, who then told the reporter, Matthew Lysiak, that news media had to fill out paperwork and then be escorted by a BP official to get access to the beach," the article said. "'For the police to tell me I needed to sign paperwork with BP to go to a public beach?' Mr. Lysiak said. 'It's just irrational.'"

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2. Hiding Evidence

"It looks as if someone is destroying evidence at the scene of the crime," Keith Olbermann reported days ago. Marine biologist Dr. Riki Ott told Olbermann of reports from wildlife volunteers who are walking the beaches that oiled wildlife keeps disappearing in the night. "In my opinion there is a strong attempt, not only to minimize how much oil was spilling, but now to control the evidence of the damage," Ott told Olbermann.

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3. Withholding Information

Things have gotten so bad that the group OpenTheGovernment.org sent a letter to President Obama that was signed by the Society of Professional Journalists and dozens of other organizations expressing their concern over the public's ability to access data related to the Gulf disaster. "Access to all monitoring data is crucial for scientists and the public to understand the extent of the problem, and plan for how to help the area recover and thrive," they wrote.

And there is ample reason to be concerned. Here's what they expressed:

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BP did not release video feed of the leak for a month and did so only after pressure from the public and the government. But as Timothy B. Hurst reports last week, they basically gave us crap to look at. "It turns out that those grainy videos that were so hard to get from BP in the first place are nowhere near the best they have," he explains. "That's right, there is high resolution video of the oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead and only now, 50 days after the initial explosion, are we learning that such video even exists."

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4. Denying Responsibility

As infuriating as BP's stonewalling is, it's even more frustrating that they seem to be taking so little responsibility for it. Mother Jones reporter Mac McClelland posted a so-depressing-it's-comical story about the runaround from BP and local officials she has been getting trying to cover the story.

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[nc4bo]

1. And this is another reason why and where social networking and the internet

comes into its own.

Oftentimes "official" news orgs, reporters and journalists can be barred but locals can and do manage to gain (or sneak in) access and get the real story out in the open.

It's disgusting how the news and the public's ability to SEE this news can be so easily suppressed.

[AspenRose]

3. So I guess it's no coincidence that Lieberman is talking about giving

government the power to shut down the internet....

[Hissyspit]

2. kick nt

[DemReadingDU]

4. Oops, wrong link. here is correct link

http://www.alternet.org/economy/147236/4_ways_bp_and_officials_are_working_to_suppress_the_outrageous_facts_about_the_gulf_disaster?page=entire

[gateley]

5. K&R