Police and Media

A recent thread started by SEPhotog over on b-roll.net has me thinking about how certain police departments deal with the media. You see, when it comes to pd's and news crews sometimes the two just don't mesh. The example given on the b-roll message board doesn't give enough information to form an opinion on what exactly happened, but arresting a news crew who's been in the same position for the past NINE hours sounds a little, how should I put it...Overzealous?

Judge for yourself. Basically, a building collapsed Monday night, unfortunately killing one man. This news crew got to the scene at 3:30 am Tuesday. Then, just before their NOON live shot, police decide they need to move back to a different position. Now, this is where I honestly don't know what happened to cause troopers to arrest the reporter and photographer. What I do know is that if the cops were letting the public stay and were telling media to go to a "staging area" the news crew has a legitimate gripe. The two on the scene were promptly taken downtown and served a summons and released from jail.

The problem I have is the wording in the newspaper account that says,

"Reporter Sara Sheffield and photographer Cliff Erwin moved to the public side of a yellow tape that cordoned off the area.

But they declined officers' requests to go to an area specified for media."

An area specified for media. This I have a problem with. You can't just pick and choose who you move out of an area. It's either all or none. I'm not asking for special privileges, just the same access the general public has. Here's the live report just before reporter Sara Sheffield was arrested. Watch the cop over her shoulder step out of frame as she gets into the live shot.

Weigh in with your opinions, I'm sure there are plenty out there.

(UPDATE: Follow this link to see the two arrested.)