What Does This Mean?

The blogosphere is up in arms over FEMA efforts to prevent photography of dead bodies in New Orleans. Now, I'm not sure how to read this: "We have requested that no photographs of the deceased be made by the media," the [FEMA] spokeswoman said in an e-mailed response to a Reuters inquiry.

Now, if FEMA is simply requesting this, that's OK. Indeed, there's a good argument to be made that pictures of the dead are disrespectful, and in poor taste, if not ghoulish. That's not to say that such photos might not have real news value, and not to say that such photos might not inform public sentiments in ways that statistics and print reports cannot.

But if FEMA is taking active steps to prohibit the taking (or "making," if you're Southern) of such pictures by the media, in public places, and even blocking media access from certain locations, which are not government property, for the sole purpose of content-based restrictions on the media, then that's a First Amendment violation. I would go further and say that the government cannot prevent journalists from entering the area, in general; only from entering areas in which their presence will disrupt relief efforts or seriously endanger the journalists' lives. Now I now that's not the administration's position; but with their track record . . . .