Archive for the 'Photographers’ Rights' Category

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TV Reporter Denied By BP Contractors

Published June 17, 2010 Photographers' Rights 1 Comment
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Even though BP released a statement emphatically saying they are not hindering media access to the spill or anyone involved in the cleanup, things are still tense on the ground. This video is a great exchange between New Orleans TV reporter Scott Walker and some BP contractors from something called Talon Security. The hapless contractor does his best to enforce orders from higher up, even though he can’t really say why he’s doing it. Still, Walker doggedly tries to talk to a worker on break, but the security staffer is adamant that that would be disrupting the cleanup efforts.

Security: “Sir, you cannot talk to anyone there.”

Walker: “Can I yell from a distance?”  

Security: “No! I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is.”

And by the way, did you hear how Texas Rep. Joe Barton actually apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward for the “shakedown” he’s getting from the White House? I think my head is going to explode. And then all the usual wingnuts like Michele Bachmann and Rush Limbaugh got on board, wailing about partisan political crap. Not surprisingly, Barton has received over a million dollars from big oil since 1990, the most of any House member in the same timeframe.

Queens Councilman Busts Traffic Cop

Published June 16, 2010 Photographers' Rights 2 Comments
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Photo: New York Daily News

UPDATE: CBS-TV reports that Officer Chu is a “bona fide legend in certain parts of Queens, and not in a good way” for repeatedly abusing his position. See video of the encounter here.

A Queens Councilman decided to practice a little vigilantism and got a $150 parking ticket for his efforts. As the Daily News reports, Dan Halloran (R-Queens) was alarmed when he saw traffic cop Daniel Chu driving through stop signs — with lights on — while talking on his cell phone. So Halloran followed the car as it ran more stop signs and eventually illegally parked in front of a Dunkin’ Donuts.

Like a good citizen journalist, Halloran snapped photos of the officer’s car, and that’s when Chu returned from DD and was none too happy. Even Halloran identifying himself as a city councilman did nothing to tame Chu’s hubris.

“He said, ‘Oh yeah? You want to take pictures of me? I’m going to give you a ticket,'” Halloran recalled.

Chu then wrote Halloran a $165 ticket for blocking the crosswalk. Halloran is contesting the ticket and asking the NYPD to look into all of Officer Chu’s previously written tickets.

Jimmy Justice would be proud.

Article from New York Daily News (TOTH to Gar Travis)

NC Rep Gets Into It With Videographers

Published June 14, 2010 Assault , Photographers' Rights 3 Comments
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Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-NC) doesn’t have time for these pesky student videographers who approach him on a DC street and ask if he supports Obama’s agenda. And so he does the only natural thing — he smacks them around.

Etheridge has apologized for his actions, but really, there’s no excuse.

Seattle Weekly Harassed at FBI Building

Published June 11, 2010 Photographers' Rights , Police Harassment , Security Guard Harassment 1 Comment
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Seattle Weekly photographer Steven Miller was just trying to take a photo of attorney Larry Hildes for a cover story on government spying when he got into a little trouble with the FBI. Despite being on a public sidewalk, Seattle’s FBI Building was serving as the backdrop, and that is really discouraged.

At first, security came out and told them not to shoot the building. Miller described their conversation:

He asked if we knew who was in the building. I answered, ‘The FBI and Washington Fusion Center.’ He asked what I had against the Washington Fusion Center. I declined to answer. He asked my name. I declined to answer that as well.”

Then an FBI agent appeared to get to the bottom of the situation. Miller said:

He asked for my ID repeatedly. I declined and we kept on shooting. He asked for my ID again. I said he didn’t have a right to it. He insisted he had a right to ask for my ID. I noted that I had a right to refuse. He said it again, and I told him I had a right to tell him to go jump in Elliott Bay, and pointed out the location for him.

Then there were three more FBI agents on the scene. I mean, of course. This was a four-agent incident. Miller says it got so stressful that he and Hildes left voluntarily.

When asked for comment, an FBI spokesperson said:

“We request people not take pictures. It’s a voluntary thing. People have the right to do so, but we do like to ask why as part of our security concerns.” As for the ID check. “I guess they wanted to know who they were.”

The thing that really bothers me about incidents like this is the self-important hysteria that goes along with it. It always make me wonder if law enforcement really don’t have anything better to do, or are they really dumb enough not to be able to distinguish between terrorists casing the place and a legitimate, or harmless, photographer?

And I’m not calling FBI agents dumb because I don’t think that can be the case, but I am honestly confused. Because government officials going after citizens doing legal activities does more toward eroding the fundamental tenets of American democracy than these outside forces we’re repeatedly told are trying to destroy our way of life are.

Article from Seattle Weekly

Nice Day for a Bath

Published June 8, 2010 Photographers' Rights Leave a Comment
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Photo by BP America © BP p.l.c.

Pittsburgh’s PNC Tower’s Bogus Claims

Published June 4, 2010 Photographers' Rights , Security Guard Harassment 3 Comments
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Photo by J. Lawrence

In April we posted on the strict (some might call asinine) photography policy at PPG Plaza in downtown Pittsburgh. This past weekend, photographer J. Lawrence was in the area and had this confrontation with some less-than-knowledgeable security personnel at Two PNC Plaza.

Memorial Day I was walking down Liberty Avenue shooting pictures.  Because of the impending storms, there were some really cool reflections of Midtown Towers and EQT on the surface of Two PNC.

I’m on the sidewalk, and this security guard comes running out of Two PNC.  “You’re not allowed to take pictures of the building.”  “I’m not?”  “No.”  “Why not?”  “Because of 9/11.”  “This is still America.”  “Just leave.  And no more pictures of the building.”  So she goes back into the building.  I lift my camera and take a pic of her.

The old woman’s eyes flare.  She comes running back towards me, screaming behind her “Call 9-1-1!”  I stand there.  “I told you not to take any pictures. Now I’m calling the police.”  “Fine.”  She whips out her cell phone and points the lens at my face.  I smile.  She takes two pictures.  “What’s your name?”  I defiantly tell her.  “Your address.”  Gave my address.  Because that’s how I get when I’m angry.  “You wait here for the police.”

I sat, and waited.  Some kid came out in a security guard uniform (I’m becoming an ornery old man at 42).  “You’re not allowed to take pictures of financial institutions. You have to get permission first.”  “I’m on the public right-of-way.”  He had NO clue what I was talking about.  Idiot.  “You’re not allowed to take pictures of financial institutions.”  I explain that I am.  It’s like talking to a very disinterested wall.  “Don’t take any more pictures.”  “Pray tell, who do I need permission from?”  “The PR Department.”

That about says it all.  If I didn’t have an appointment I was late for in Highland Park, I might have just been a little more defiant and kept on snapping.  Unfortunately my picture of the old witch didn’t come out.  Now I need to find out what security firm they work for so I can inform them that they need to provide their workers with some training.

It sounds like PNC may need to retrain its security staff. Private property restrictions are valid; it is not, however, illegal to take photos of a financial institution. And it is not illegal to take photos of anything on a public sidewalk.

Dennis Hopper, Photographer

Published June 3, 2010 Photographers' Rights 2 Comments
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Photo by Dennis Hopper/Taschen

In the various tributes to actor Dennis Hopper, who died May 29 of prostate cancer, many celebrated his sideline as an artist and long-held interest in photography. First picking up a camera the 1960s, Hopper’s work chronicled many of the era’s art house scenesters, as well movie stars like Paul Newman on set and even Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement.

Hopper’s photos were published in the Taschen book Dennis Hopper: Photographs 1961-1967 in 2009 (you can view a mini film here and  flip through it here), and LA’s MOCA will hold an exhibit of Hopper’s work from July 11-September 26.

Article from NPR.org and Culture Monster

News Photographer Sues Oakland PD

Published June 3, 2010 Assault , Photographers' Rights , Police Harassment 1 Comment
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A former news cameraman for the Bay Area’s KGO-TV (the ABC affiliate) is suing the Oakland Police Department after several officers assaulted him in 2009. Douglas Laughlin was outside Highland Hospital trying to film an ambulance carrying a wounded officer when several officers attacked him and broke his camera. (See the video for  the angry mob of officers shoving Laughlin, threatening him with arrest for “interfering with a crime scene,” and trying to tear his battery pack, among other things.)

Police officials say emotions were running high and that explains their behavior; it was the deadliest day in Oakland PD history with four officers killed on the job. But Laughlin was on a public sidewalk covering a big news story, and trying to block and/or physically impair the media does nothing productive. In fact, the only thing they achieved was a big, fat lawsuit and years of headaches.

I get police have a difficult job, and that was a tragic day for their department. What I don’t get is the uncontrolled rage and flagrant disregard for the law that officers like this display. It gives all police officers a bad name.

Article from San Francisco Chronicle

Photographers’ Rights Progress

Published June 2, 2010 Photographers' Rights 2 Comments
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Two positive developments today for photographers’/media rights:

• ŸThe City of Toledo will pay an undisclosed settlement and change their media policies in response to a civil rights lawsuit brought by two photographers. Jeffrey Sauger and Jim West were arrested in 2005 while covering a Nazi rally and counter-protest. Their lawyer noted that it’s very rare for a police department to revise its policies in response to a civil rights lawsuit, so it was a significant win.

The photographers agreed to take a lesser monetary settlement in exchange for the policy change, which: says that the police must recognize all legitimate media at public events, dictates how officers interact with media, and establishes that police are prohibited from erasing any images on media cameras. [National Press Photographers Association]

• In April, we posted on how Virginia state officials illegally stormed the newsroom of James Madison University’s student newspaper, The Daily Breeze, and seized photos relating to a party-turned-melee. After much outrage and legal action, the state has agreed to pay the school’s legal fees, totalling $10,000. The Commonwealth’s attorney, Marsha Garst, even admitted she was wrong in her approach and has committed to obtaining search warrants in the future. (Which, really, is not so much a concession as an avowal to follow the law. Duh.)

Frank LoMonte of the Student Press Law Center, said, “The fact that the government is going to have to pay $10,000 is a meaningful sting. That sting ought to send a message to anyone trying to cut corners on the Privacy Protection Act.” [Waynesboro News Virginian]

LAPD Unlawfully Detains Photographer

Published June 1, 2010 Harassment , Photographers' Rights , Photojournalism , Police , Police Harassment , Street photography 42 Comments
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The above video was recorded on February 21, 2010 in Hollywood, CA. As you will see from the footage, the officer’s behavior is deeply disturbing and should cause alarm within the Los Angeles Police Department.

And despite what the officer claims in the video, it is completely legal to photograph and videotape anybody, including police officers, when an expectation of privacy does not exist. It is the public’s right to photograph and record police activity that occurs on our streets and in our neighborhoods, and we should not be subjected to verbal assaults, illegal detainment, or threatened with an unlawful arrest if we choose to do so.

This encounter could have been a non-issue.

To voice your concerns regarding this officer’s behavior, contact the following individuals and offices:

Internal Affairs – Los Angeles Police Department
304 South Broadway, Suite 215
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Office: 213-485-1486
Fax: 213-473-6420

Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles
Email: mayor@lacity.org

Eric Garcetti, City Council President
5500 Hollywood Blvd., 4th Floor
Hollywood, CA 90028
Phone: 323-957-4500
Email: councilmember.garcetti@lacity.org

Tom LaBonge, Councilmember, District 4
Hollywood Field Office
6501 Fountain Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Phone: (323) 957-6415
Email: councilmember.labonge@lacity.org

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