Another Ferguson lie, another blow to U.S. press freedom
The FAA no-fly zone over Ferguson was part of a wider cover-up.
Another day, another lie from the authorities over Ferguson:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government agreed to a police request to restrict more than 37 square miles of airspace surrounding Ferguson, Missouri, for 12 days in August for safety, but audio recordings show that local authorities privately acknowledged the purpose was to keep away news helicopters during violent street protests.
On Aug. 12, the morning after the Federal Aviation Administration imposed the first flight restriction, FAA air traffic managers struggled to redefine the flight ban to let commercial flights operate at nearby Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and police helicopters fly through the area — but ban others.
"They finally admitted it really was to keep the media out," said one FAA manager about the St. Louis County Police in a series of recorded telephone conversations obtained by The Associated Press. "But they were a little concerned of, obviously, anything else that could be going on.
At another point, a manager at the FAA's Kansas City center said police "did not care if you ran commercial traffic through this TFR (temporary flight restriction) all day long. They didn't want media in there."
This is a gross -- and I mean gross -- violation of the public's First Amendment rights. And there's no question that the ultimate hypocrite here is President Obama, whose appointees, after all, oversee the FAA. It was Obama, as the story notes, who said back in August: "Here in the United States of America, police should not be bullying and arresting reporters who are just doing their jobs. The local authorities, including police, have a responsibility to be transparent and open."
Instead, the federal government has been aiding and abetting the most outrageous cover-up since Nixon & Co. sat in the Oval Office. On Friday, which was also Halloween, the administration's Justice Department waited until 5:01 p.m. to leak word to the Washington Post that civil rights charges against the Ferguson cop who killed Michael Brown, Darren Wilson, are unlikely...that's justice?
Want some more irony? This news came at almost exactly the same time that Obama had the nerve to issue a statement for the First Annual International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, which begins: "History shows that a free press remains a critical foundation for prosperous, open, and secure societies, allowing citizens to access information and hold their governments accountable."
He's right, of course...on this. On Ferguson, he's way, way wrong.