DESPITE DENIALS, BP STILL BLOCKING REPORTERS IN SPILL AREA

Despite public assurances by British Petroleum COO Doug Suttles that the company “fully supports and defends all individuals’ rights to share their personal thoughts and experiences with journalists if they so choose,” media organizations are again reporting that private guards hired by BP are barring them from talking to clean-up workers in the Mexican Gulf spill area and refusing to allow them to enter contaminated areas even with the approval of the U.S. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. CNN has posted a video of a bird rescue worker saying that BP required him to sign a contract in which he agreed not to talk to the news media. In another clip, a National Guard soldier is seen telling a CNN camera woman to turn her camera off as he spots her taking pictures of oil-covered pelicans. New Orleans TV station WDSU posted a video in which a private guard tells the station’s reporter that he must remain 100 yards away from cleanup workers. When the reporter asks from whom the guard is receiving orders, the guard replies, “That’s not important. … What’s important right now is that you cannot talk to the workers. You’re interfering with their jobs right now.” The reporter then asks, “If there’s somebody on break, I’m interfering with his job?” Says the guard: “Yes, you’re interfering with his rest.”