Three Years After the BP Spill and the Gulf Is Still a Mess | Alternet
▻http://www.alternet.org/environment/three-years-after-bp-spill-and-gulf-still-mess?akid=10351.108806.jFHAl7&rd
MNM: What has been the most difficult part of covering this story?
JD: The most alarming thing for me was that BP controlled media access and the Coast Guard and local governments acquiesced. Detail police where hired by BP to stop journalists like myself from documenting the spill. This is going on again in Arkansas with the EXXON pipeline spill. I find this policy highly objectionable. During the BP spill the mainstream press fought back and BP had to back down, but overall it was always a battle to get close to the oil.
I managed to get to some beaches the day the oil hit for the first time, before they had been closed down. I did whatever it took to get my images. I challenged BP officials who asked for my ID by asking them for theirs and letting them know, I don’t answer to BP. The media should have access to industrial disaster areas if the public is ever going to get a true picture of the damage.