Oregon Media Insiders

It's not about whether anyone can identify bodies, or see the empty beer cans on the floor of a crumpled car. The point is clearly that the police have no business making arbitrary decisions about what they want us to see and report. It isn't their job to tell the media not to show bodies on TV or in print. That is the job of editors and news managers to set standards for ethical conduct by journalists in their shops.

Police are not the gatekeepers of information. We are. They are there to ensure public safety and investigate crimes and accidents. Our presence in no way interferes with that duty.

We've all been close to accidents where we see more than we should show on the air or print in the paper. That's nothing special. But I have also missed important shots because of being kept around a corner or so far away, I couldn't see anything worthwhile.

Again, it's not the responsibility of the police to restrict our access to information, of any kind. When they do, they violate our Fourth Amendment rights. It's called "prior restraint." Not much different than having a cop in the newsroom telling the producers which stories to include or delete from the show, or which photos may appear in the paper.

If I am covering a protest, and cops tell protesters to get out of the street and on to the sidewalk, then I had better cover the protest from the sidewalk, unless I want to get maced. That's different than being told to get back 100 feet from where protesters are being arrested and taken into custody. Again, presence does not constitute interference.