I find something scary, not only as a journalist but as a citizen of a supposedly free and open country.
Read this article.
This is seriously troubling. Let's be realistic, here. We're talking about public beaches, public airspace, OUR land. What is the danger in this 'hot zone?' That a photographer will step on a tar ball? That a worker will be inconvenienced for 30 seconds while they tell a writer they have been told not to comment on what they obviously are doing?
This is not a BP tragedy, a local tragedy or a private tragedy. It is a communal tragedy of epic proportions for the entire country and we might as well treat it as the public event it is. Just because BP has deep pockets or local law enforcement prefers to work without questions doesn't mean we should throw out our principles and accept what they say as absolute.
If this doesn't bother you, it should.