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As bodies recovered, reporters are told 'no photos, no stories'
Outside one house on Kentucky Street, a member of the Army 82nd Airborne Division summoned a reporter and photographer standing nearby and told them that if they took pictures or wrote a story about the body recovery process, he would take away their press credentials and kick them out of the state."No photos. No stories," said the man, wearing camouflage fatigues and a red beret.
On Saturday, after being challenged in court by CNN, the Bush administration agreed not to prevent the news media from following the effort to recover the bodies of Hurricane Katrina victims.
But on Monday, in the Bywater district, that assurance wasn't being followed. The 82nd Airborne soldier told reporters the Army had a policy that requires media to be 300 meters -- more than three football fields in length -- away from the scene of body recoveries in New Orleans. If reporters wrote stories or took pictures of body recoveries, they would be reported and face consequences, he said, including a loss of access for up-close coverage of certain military operations.
As bodies recovered, reporters are told 'no photos, no stories'
Cecilia M. Vega, San Fransisco Chronicle, September 13, 2005
What is there to hide? Frankly, this approach on the part of the military sounds about as ridiculous as it gets. Alright, even if reporters can be forced not to photograph the bodies (not that the photos of half-decomposed bodies are all that exciting anyhow) they certainly can not be stopped from writing about what they had seen after they leave town.