Archive for the 'Photographers’ Rights' Category

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Photographer Harassed, Detained at DC Airport

Published June 1, 2010 Photographers' Rights , Police Harassment 9 Comments
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Photo by Jerome Vorus

June 1st marks the day NPRO stands up for photographers’ rights, and for the past two years we’ve held a rally in Los Angeles where we’ve gathered to assert our right to shoot in public. So stand up and be counted…or stand up and shoot in your own city, and if you’re stopped and harassed just remember your rights.

And now, in honor of the day, another incident in the annals of clashes between photographers and authorities….

In March, 18-year-old and photographer Jerome Vorus was taking photos at Reagan National Airport in Virginia because that’s what he likes to do. Knowing the airport was a sensitive location, he spoke to a media relations representative beforehand and asked about any restrictions. He was told there were none. He and  the representative went over which areas were leased by private companies (like the check-in counters) and she said she would notify airport police and TSA officials.

Still, the message didn’t seem to get through. As Vorus shot photos, TSA employees approached him twice and asked what he was doing. The third time, he was approached by TSA in suits who asked whether he’d spoken with media relations. Even though Vorus told them he had, they said he could not take photos of TSA employees or checkpoints. To clarify, so that he could understand the situation he was in more fully, Vorus asked the men if he could see their credentials. One man replied, “We ain’t gotta show you shit.” Vorus pressed because he knew they are required by law, and so they did. It turns out they were Department of Homeland Security officers, and when Vorus asked if he was being detained he was told no. Things got heated and there was some back and forth over being detained versus being free to go.

Ultimately Vorus was told he was being detained and he would be arrested for disorderly conduct. His camera was taken and photos were deleted. And then, when all was said and done, he was free to go. Afterward Vorus filed a complaint with the airport authority’s internal affairs and received a letter a few weeks ago that acknowledged the officer did violate policy. TSA has not gotten back to him about the complaint filed with them.

The thing is, friction naturally occurs when law enforcement officers very badly want some trouble and an innocent person knows his rights are being violated. That is a predictable clash, and it happens all the time — but it doesn’t have to.

Article from Vorus Blog

Photographer Roughed Up in iPad Fray

Published May 28, 2010 Photographers' Rights , Photojournalism , Security Guard Harassment Leave a Comment
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Alan Pryke, a news photographer with The Australian newspaper, arrived at Sydney’s flagship Apple store today to document the much-anticipated launch of the iPad. But when the Apple crew showed up, they set up front and center, ignoring the protocol that the first media outlets there are the ones that get the best position. Pryke protested and tried to reclaim his spot, when security intervened and grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him. The situation was soon resolved, and the security firm apologized later for the incident.

Pryke plans to write a letter to a letter to Apple, which I’m sure will go straight to the top and be addressed immediately.

Article from The Australian

NYC Doorman K.O.’s Photographer

Published May 28, 2010 Assault , Photographers' Rights , Security Guard Harassment 5 Comments
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Screen grab: Gawker

One New York City doorman takes his job really seriously — so seriously he punched out photographer Tim Wiencis outside an Upper East Side building for trying to get a shot of  the wife of latest Ponzi scheme mastermind Ken Starr. The doorman was arrested for assault.

It should be noted that Wiencis was on a public sidewalk covering a news event as part of his job, and the doorman was certainly out of line — inexplicably resorting to violence to protect…what? A very possible criminal who lives in his building. It doesn’t seem worth it.

Article from New York Daily News (via Gawker)

BP’s Photo Clampdown

Published May 27, 2010 Photographers' Rights , Photojournalism 7 Comments
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Rescued sea turtle. Photo by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries

It’s official: The BP oil spill is now bigger than that other catastrophic disaster, 1989’s Exxon Valdez, and the worst in US history. And as you might expect in the nefarious, super-connected, high stakes world of Big Oil, there are a lot of people who don’t want the full calamity of that known and reported on.

So local and federal officials, under orders from BP no doubt, are trying to restrict where photojournalists can go. We posted on this earlier in the week, when a CBS News crew encountered some Coast Guard officers and BP contractors who threatened them with arrest if they didn’t leave the oil-covered shoreline.

Not surprisingly, it wasn’t a one-time occurence. A Mother Jones’ reporter wrote about his own account of coming up against local officials while trying to survey the scene at Elmer’s Island Wildlife Refuge (he was told BP’s in charge because “it’s BP’s oil”).  And in a Newsweek piece that runs down the restrictions on press coverage,  they mention a Times-Picayune photojournalist whose flyover of the affected areas was canceled once BP officials got wind of it.

“It’s a running joke among the journalists covering the story that the words ‘Coast Guard’ affixed to any vehicle, vessel, or plane should be prefixed with ‘BP,’ ” says Charlie Varley, a Louisiana-based photographer. “It would be funny if it were not so serious.”

Unfortunately BP’s efforts are futile. There is no damage control in a situation that’s already bad beyond belief. They would do more to burnish their image by appearing to be willing and accommodating with every effort that’s being made to cover and control the spill.

Article from Newsweek

Set-Crashing Photog Tells All

Published May 25, 2010 Photographers' Rights 2 Comments
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If you’ve wondered what goes into getting those clandestine movie set shots that are plastered all over the gossip magazines and E! News, Photo Shelter has an enlightening interview with photographer Eric Ford of On Location News. Ford is a movie buff who started out as an extra, transitioned into photography, and now uses his passion and patience to camp out on sets to get big shots. He got the first-ever set photos of Brad and Angelina on Mr. & Mrs. Smith and made headlines recently with a racy Adam Lambert shot (which he explains how he got).

Ford distinguishes himself from the scrum of regular paparazzi because he only takes set photos, but the article doesn’t mention that he was investigated by the FBI in 2007 for trying to sell sexually explicit photos of the underage Kardashian sisters.

Read the whole interview at Photo Shelter (via The Click)

LA City Council Punishes Press Corps

Published May 24, 2010 Photographers' Rights , Police Harassment 2 Comments
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UPDATE: The LA Times reports that Council President Eric Garcetti apologized to members of the media yesterday for the council’s recent restrictions and promised to rework them. Garcetti also told reporter Eric Leonard he had every right to take photos and he’s talked to Officer Johnson about the incident.

The Los Angeles City Council has found an effective way to control their negative press — by restricting, blocking and punishing the media that cover them.

When protestors showed up at City Hall on Friday over a rent control/tenants rights issue, things got heated and there was an ugly confrontation with LAPD officers. KFI AM 360 reporter Eric Leonard was photographing the scene when Officer Michael Johnson of the  General Services, the City Council’s security force,  got aggressive with him and threatened him with arrest. Despite the chaotic scene, Johnson apparently was more concerned with not having his picture taken.

This incident comes on the heels of puzzling restrictions imposed last week by Council President Eric Garcetti and members Dennis Zine and Jan Perry. Among the new rules reporters have to follow are that they can only stand in a certain place, they can’t talk to any of the council members, and if they don’t comply they can be thrown out or even arrested. The Council has come under fire recently for some unpopular decisions, and Leonard acknowledges there’s real friction between the Council and the press corps. And now, the City council clearly seems to be retaliating for unfavorable coverage with a slew of inexplicably petty rules and restrictions.

Officer Johnson is the enforcer of rules big and small, and talk radio host Michael Linder’s blog reports that he’s even gone so far as to reprimand a camerawoman for her tripod sticking out beyond a designated area, not allowing reporters to sit down no matter how long meetings go on, and restricting the filming of faces of people testifying before the council. So in other words, what they’re thinking is, death by a thousand cuts — let’s just make these reporters’ lives as miserable as possible.

Garcetti and Perry have agreed to meet with the media about the situation on Monday — on the condition that they don’t report on what transpires. Naturally.

Articles from LAist.com and Michael Linder. And listen to Eric Leonard’s take on the incident here (at about 4:45 in).

BP Threatens CBS Camera Crew

Published May 21, 2010 Harassment , Photographers' Rights 1 Comment
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If you needed any proof that the U.S. is pretty much run by big oil, here it is.

In an apparent effort to control the coverage of the catastrophic oil spill (which, by the way, cannot be done at this point), BP is trying to limit the media’s access to Louisiana’s damaged coastline.

On Tuesday, several BP contractors, accompanied by two Coast Guard officers, ordered a CBS Evening News crew filming the beaches to leave and threatened them with arrest. On the tape, the contractor says, “…this is BP’s rules, it’s not ours.”

Since when does a private corporation own the shores of Louisiana? They are responsible for a colossal, irreparable, shameful mistake, and then they get to throw their weight around and control the coverage afterwards — and, then to make matters worse, the US government is totally complicit in all this?

Well, not in theory, says the Coast Guard. From their statement:

Neither BP nor the U.S. Coast Guard, who are responding to the spill, have any rules in place that would prohibit media access to impacted areas and we were disappointed to hear of this incident.  … The only time anyone would be asked to move from an area would be if there were safety concerns, or they were interfering with response operations.  This did occur off South Pass Monday which may have caused the confusion reported by CBS today.

Article from Gawker

Spill Baby Spill

Published May 20, 2010 Photographers' Rights Leave a Comment
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Photo courtesy of Governor Jindal’s Office

This oil spill business is scary. If you’re not yet freaked out about this, you should be. BP initially estimated that around 5,000 barrels are pouring into the Gulf every day. Experts think the number is closer to 95,000. At least 6 million gallons have already been spilled. The Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989, considered the most environmentally damaging  spill ever, released around 11 million gallons into Prince William Sound. 

On Flickr, there is a set of photos of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s tour of the marshlands, which are now, a month later, being overcome with syrupy oil. See it here.

Poor Louisiana. The state just can’t catch a break.

Los Angeles Metro Robs Its Riders

Published May 18, 2010 Photographers' Rights Leave a Comment

On May 1, 2010 I was asked to photograph the May Day Rally that took place in downtown Los Angeles. Instead of driving my car or riding my bike, I decided to hop on the Metro for the first time since Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Richard Gylfie accused me of being a terrorist and “in cahoots with Al-qaeda” for taking pictures on the Metro.

Well, when I inserted a $5 bill to purchase a $1.25 pass I was told I would not receive any change. Okay, fine. So I went across the street to CVS, made a purchase, and made sure that I was given exactly $1.25 in change in order to insert $1 and 25 cents in Metro’s ticket machine.

Okay, problem solved, right? No.

When I tried to insert my $1.25, their machines would only accept paper money and would not accept my 25 cent coin, forcing me to pay at least $2.00 for a $1.25 ride.

Now I wonder how much money the Los Angeles Metro stole from its riders that day and have still managed to get away with it.

AP Reporter Slammed for Collapsed Pol Shots

Published May 14, 2010 Photographers' Rights , Security Guard Harassment Leave a Comment
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Photo by Erik Schelzig

UPDATE: Tennessee Report is reporting that Speaker Kent Williams will not support the measure to strip Erik Schelzig of his press credentials and Rep. Joe Towns has withdrawn it. Williams said, “He was just doing his job.” 

When Tennessee House Speaker Kent Williams collapsed on the floor of the general assembly on Thursday, AP reporter Erik Schelzig did his job and took photos of the incident with his cell phone. But that irked other members of the assembly who called it “despicable” and “distasteful” behavior — because they apparently felt that a journalist shouldn’t cover breaking news but should instead…I don’t know, say a prayer?

Well, yeah. As the Bristol Herald Courier reported, while Williams was getting medical attention the other state senators actually gathered for an “impromptu prayer.”

Some members even tried to prevent Schelzig from doing his job by blocking his shots. Then some state troopers came to threaten him with removal if he didn’t stop taking photos. Even though Schelzig agreed to leave, at least one legislator wants to strip him of his press credentials for the rest of the  legislative session.

As the Tennessee/Kentucky/Mississippi AP bureau chief said in a statement:

“…Erik Schelzig was doing his job covering breaking news at the General Assembly when House Speaker Kent Williams collapsed. The legislative sessions are open to the public, and members of the news media routinely record what happens there in words, photographs, audio and video. Though we believe Schelzig had the right to continue his reporting, he complied immediately with officials’ order to leave the chamber.”

Really — what a bunch of self-important blowhards. These people are public figures in a public building. Are they really that naive? I can’t stand this self-righteous faux dignity that comes from politicians, as if they should only be covered for certain things at certain times but not for others. You are a public servant. Deal with it.

And quit with the praying on taxpayers’ time.

Article from the Knoxville News Sentinel

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