Ferguson no-fly zone was to keep media from covering protests [View all]
Source: Associated Press
The U.S. government agreed to a police request to restrict more than 37 square miles of airspace surrounding Ferguson, Mo., for 12 days in August for safety, but audio recordings show that local authorities privately acknowledged the purpose was to keep away news helicopters during violent street protests.
On Aug. 12, the morning after the Federal Aviation Administration imposed the first flight restriction, FAA air traffic managers struggled to redefine the flight ban to let commercial flights operate at nearby Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and police helicopters fly through the area — but ban others.
“They finally admitted it really was to keep the media out,” said one FAA manager about the St. Louis County Police in a series of recorded telephone conversations obtained by the Associated Press. “But they were a little concerned of, obviously, anything else that could be going on.”
... The conversations contradict claims by the St. Louis County Police Department, which responded to demonstrations following the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, that the restriction was solely for safety and had nothing to do with preventing media from witnessing the violence or the police response.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Ferguson-no-fly-zone-was-to-keep-media-from-5865231.php
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