Under rules being finalized in November, a reporter who met a biologist, wildlife advocate or whistleblower alleging neglect in any of the nation's 100 million acres of wilderness would first need special approval to shoot photos or videos even on an iPhone.
Permits cost up to $1,500, says Forest Service spokesman Larry Chambers, and reporters who don't get a permit could face fines up to $1,000.
First Amendment advocates say the rules ignore press freedoms and are so vague they'd allow the Forest Service to grant permits only to favored reporters shooting videos for positive stories.
"It's pretty clearly unconstitutional," said Gregg Leslie, legal defense director at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Alexandria, Va. "They would have to show an important need to justify these limits, and they just can't."
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5 comments:
Just another ploy to divert attention from how Ob' is destroying our country. Watch BOTH hands..
Considering the fine is less than the permit. I'd take the fine. Gotta catch me first right...
Keep cheering.
Wake up sheeple this isn't about wildlife. Remember all the footage from the Cliven Bundy Ranch in Nevada. The gov't wants more control so they don't want us to see what they are really up to. You know the outcome of that mess would have been completely different if gov't agents had not been on camera.
BAD REGULATION. FIGHT IT>
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