mm wrote:
On Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:28:48 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

In article ,
mm wrote:

P
guards or by local police, working afaict at the behest of BP. The
normal situation is that "for the public safety" the public is not
allowed where someone decides its dangerous but reporters are allowed
everywhere.
Not hardly. When I was working as a reporter, there were plenty of
police and fire lines I could not cross. If I went on private property
I was subject to arrest for tresspass, etc. etc.

Okay, I overstated it, but what do you think about not letting
reporters on a public beach because of tarballs and oily water? What
other excuse might they have had which would have been better?

I suspect there was some legal angle that the beach being a work site,
then BP had the right to keep people out (like a construction site).
They certainly had the right to prohibit people they hired from talking
to the press during work hours. I'm sure not on BP's side, nor do I
approve of their conduct of passing along information...just sayin'.