Operation Resist Censorship

This sort of blatant censorship cannot be tolerated in America. I think this writer to Americablog has the right idea:

Hey there John,

First, thanks for being the voice of conscience through all of this horror we are experiencing here in the south.

I was concerned when I read your comments that the press was being moved out of New Orleans, so I called the White House to voice my concern. I was told by the WH operator that the reason was out of respect for the dead. I told her that I thought it was a bad idea to not chronicle this issue so that we could learn from it, correct what went wrong and make sure there is accountability.

Well the minute the operator heard the buzzword "accountability" she got very testy and insisted that it was not appropriate to show the dead. I told here we saw dead bodies everyday on the news from Iraq and she went a little nuts and said I was "being insensitive." I've got friends I can't find in New orleans and I'm being insensitive? These people need to get real and hear from more Americans.

Please tell people to call 202-456-1414, 202-456-1111 and tell the WH operators that the press need to stay.

Thanks
C...
Atlanta

Call the White House and your Senators and Congressmen, and demand that the administration stop trying to suppress reporting on the recovery operation in New Orleans, and demand that there be an independent investigation of the government's failures in its Katrina response, its FEMA and DHS hiring and staffing and operations. And a whole lot of civil disobedience and law suits from the media against the government are in order, starting with suing FEMA for trying to ban media access to recovery of the dead in New Orleans. The Bush administration made this country look like the Third World last week -- let's not let it continue on this path in the aftermath.

More.

Friday Update: CNN SUES:

In response to official statements earlier today that news media would be excluded from covering the victim recovery process in New Orleans and surrounding areas on the suggestion that what is reported may offend viewers' or victims' sensibilities, CNN has filed a lawsuit in federal court to prohibit any agency from restricting its ability to fully and fairly cover this story...Government officials cannot be allowed to hinder the free flow of information to the public, and CNN will not let such a decision stand without challenge.

This is the noble thing to do. Other media companies should join the suit.

Posted by Laura at September 8, 2005 12:43 AM