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Ferguson police used flight restrictions to muzzle media, with feds' help

TheDemSocialist

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The U.S. government agreed to a police request to restrict more than 37 square miles of airspace surrounding Ferguson, Missouri, for purported safety reasons during 12 days of protests in August — but audio recordings obtained by The Associated Press show that local authorities privately acknowledged the purpose was to keep away news helicopters.The new revelation is fresh evidence of the tension between law enforcement and media in the St. Louis suburb, where reporters and photographers said they suffered harassment by police while covering protests over the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer this summer.
Examples include police firing tear gas at an Al Jazeera television crew, and officers arresting two reporters — Ryan J. Reilley of The Huffington Post and Michael Lowery of The Washington Post — as they sat charging their phones at a McDonald’s restaurant near the demonstration.
Authorities released the journalists hours later without charges, having swept them up for allegedly not leaving the restaurant fast enough after they were ordered to do so. Scott Olson, a Getty photographer, suffered a similar fate in police actions widely condemned by media organizations and press-freedom advocates. Police also told demonstrators, some of them citizen journalists, that they were not allowed to film officers, despite it being within their constitutional rights to do so.
But the AP’s exclusive report reveals a higher level of police attempts to hamstring media coverage of the demonstrations. 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 to bar others.


Read more @: Ferguson police used flight restrictions to muzzle media, with feds' help

More proof of squashing freedom of the press in Ferguson. We were told there was a flight ban over parts of the city because of "safety" but in reality these audio recordings prove it was to try to silence some of the press.
 
Might want to read something other than Al Jazeera and RT, which tend to spin things into an anti-US view when this as an example has a very simple explanation that has historical and safety precedence.

It is normal practice to limit airspace access over areas that police helicopters are being used, to reduce the potential for mid-air collisions in uncontrollable airspace with police and news helicopters flying all around in every direction and altitude (usually in the dark but also during daylight hours) without the ability to prevent them from making course or altitude changes at will, which is because mid-air collisions and near collisions have happened in the past. This is done in many areas, including the liberal havens of California, New York and so on.

Here's just one example: 2007 Phoenix news helicopter collision - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Read more @: Ferguson police used flight restrictions to muzzle media, with feds' help

More proof of squashing freedom of the press in Ferguson. We were told there was a flight ban over parts of the city because of "safety" but in reality these audio recordings prove it was to try to silence some of the press. [/FONT][/COLOR]

Too many aircraft in an airspace, who under no control, could result in a midair collision. This is nothing but a consoiracy theory.
 
Too many aircraft in an airspace, who under no control, could result in a midair collision. This is nothing but a consoiracy theory.

Give me a break ADPST.
"audio recordings obtained by The Associated Press show that local authorities privately acknowledged the purpose was to keep away news helicopters."... ""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"..... "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."....
 
Blame the source. I guess AP must have an "anti-US view" AP Exclusive: Ferguson no-fly zone aimed at media

No. I didn't blame the source. I made a specific statement about the source, but I spent the majority of my post debunking the story.

This is just grasping for something by the media that isn't there. The government has a responsibility to protect the population from harm caused by irresponsible people that are more concerned with getting there first even if it interferes with the police and endangers the general public.

Did you read the link I provided you?
 
Read more @: Ferguson police used flight restrictions to muzzle media, with feds' help

More proof of squashing freedom of the press in Ferguson. We were told there was a flight ban over parts of the city because of "safety" but in reality these audio recordings prove it was to try to silence some of the press. [/FONT][/COLOR]


In non conspiratorial news, "Earlier this week we found out that sources close to the proceedings in Ferguson believe that there won’t be any state level murder charges forthcoming against Darren Wilson stemming from the shooting of Michael Brown this summer. Now the Washington Post is claiming that an anonymous source familiar with proceedings at the Justice Department don’t see much hope for a federal level civil rights case against the officer either."

No federal civil rights charges expected against Darren Wilson « Hot Air

So there's nothing there....Move along.
 
Give me a break ADPST.
"audio recordings obtained by The Associated Press show that local authorities privately acknowledged the purpose was to keep away news helicopters."... ""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"..... "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."....

Commercial traffic is under the strict altitude and course control of the ATC. Media helicopters are not. That is why the media was kept out - and why they should be kept out.
 
Give me a break ADPST.
"audio recordings obtained by The Associated Press show that local authorities privately acknowledged the purpose was to keep away news helicopters."... ""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"..... "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."....

Yes. The media jackals who would fly around at will and cause problems for air units trying to do their job. What is wrong with using ground based cameras by the media? Additionally...evidence is still supporting law enforcement in the shooting. So it seems the outrage is...well...pointless
 
Give me a break ADPST.
"audio recordings obtained by The Associated Press show that local authorities privately acknowledged the purpose was to keep away news helicopters."... ""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"..... "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."....

If their was a collision, the wreckage would fall among the protesters. Just more dead blacks to feed the political macine, I guess.

Don't mis-type my user name again.
 
Might want to read something other than Al Jazeera and RT, which tend to spin things into an anti-US view when this as an example has a very simple explanation that has historical and safety precedence.
AP....
And no you didnt debunk anything.
How do you debunk direct quotes from several people?


It is normal practice to limit airspace access over areas that police helicopters are being used, to reduce the potential for mid-air collisions in uncontrollable airspace with police and news helicopters flying all around in every direction and altitude (usually in the dark but also during daylight hours) without the ability to prevent them from making course or altitude changes at will, which is because mid-air collisions and near collisions have happened in the past. This is done in many areas, including the liberal havens of California, New York and so on.

Here's just one example: 2007 Phoenix news helicopter collision - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You see they didnt "limit", they straight up banned... As FAA and private recordings prove it was a ban on the media...
 
If their was a collision, the wreckage would fall among the protesters. Just more dead blacks to feed the political macine, I guess.

Don't mis-type my user name again.

Direct quotes. They were no reason to be worried of the safety of the helicopters. Might wanna read they article before posting...
 
AP....
And no you didnt debunk anything.
How do you debunk direct quotes from several people?



You see they didnt "limit", they straight up banned... As FAA and private recordings prove it was a ban on the media...

I explained that above in post #9.
 
How can a direct quote be anonymous?
 
Commercial traffic is under the strict altitude and course control of the ATC. Media helicopters are not. That is why the media was kept out - and why they should be kept out.

Who issued the flight restrictions? The FAA
 
Who issued the flight restrictions? The FAA

What difference does that make? The locals ask the FAA to restrict airspace and if justified, the FAA does so. This isn't something new, and had nothing to do with race, media censorship or anything else... other than safety.
 
Read more @: Ferguson police used flight restrictions to muzzle media, with feds' help

More proof of squashing freedom of the press in Ferguson. We were told there was a flight ban over parts of the city because of "safety" but in reality these audio recordings prove it was to try to silence some of the press. [/FONT][/COLOR]

I'd agree. I mean, hell, there was almost no media coverage of the protests. If you didn't live there you probably had no idea what was happening.:roll:
 
Give me a break ADPST.
"audio recordings obtained by The Associated Press show that local authorities privately acknowledged the purpose was to keep away news helicopters."... ""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"..... "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."....

Authorities probably did request the restriction. The last thing you need when you're trying to keep a riot under control is some asshole in a news chopper telling the "protesters" where the cops are staging and what direction they're moving.
 
What difference does that make? The locals ask the FAA to restrict airspace and if justified, the FAA does so. This isn't something new, and had nothing to do with race, media censorship or anything else... other than safety.

Because they issued the restriction and it banned media helicopters from entering the area, and as the tapes and direct quotes reveal it was not about "safety" it was about silencing the media. So much for "free press".
 
Authorities probably did request the restriction. The last thing you need when you're trying to keep a riot under control is some asshole in a news chopper telling the "protesters" where the cops are staging and what direction they're moving.

:roll:
We have this little thing called the Free Press.
 
:roll:
We have this little thing called the Free Press.

What about public safety?

If there had been a crash, you would be the first ine screaming about how Ferguson was negligent.
 
Because they issued the restriction and it banned media helicopters from entering the area, and as the tapes and direct quotes reveal it was not about "safety" it was about silencing the media. So much for "free press".

No, tuey banned ALL aircraft from the airspace.
 

Did you read the article?
--Also its interesting to note that the helicopter accident you bring up was not because of "overcrowded airspace" it was: "cause of this accident was both pilots' failure to see and avoid the other helicopter. Contributing to this failure was the pilots' responsibility to perform reporting and visual tracking duties to support their station's [electronic news gathering] operation. Contributing to the accident was the lack of formal procedures for Phoenix-area ENG pilots to follow regarding the conduct of these operations."


But as well, again, as direct quotes from the FAA state that they were not worried about safety but wanted to ban the media covering the situation on the ground.
 
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