Last week the Minuteman Project had a meeting in Odessa which I wrote about it in the post titled Minuteman Project in the Permian Basin. And the local tv media were there in full force. The Minuteman Project encountered significant opposition in other jurisdictions, so the local media were probably in attendance in anticipation of controversy.
The organizer, Mr. Shane Marler, did not shy away from the tv cameras -- the more people know about the issue the more likely the group's ultimate goal will be achieved, i.e., better border enforcement by the agencies whose job it is.
But, it was a quiet meeting. There was a presentation, some questions, then everyone went home.
So why did the tv cameramen spend so much time photographing the people in the audience? Not once did they ask anyone's permission. Those audience members were there merely to find out more about the subect, but to see all of those video cameras jockeying around for shots of the audience one would think it was a mafia summit.
But if that's the beef, then here's the gravy. There was a sign-up sheet on a table outside the meeting room, and several of the attendees put their names and contact information on it. Shortly after the meeting ended, that sign-up sheet was still on that table. And hovering over it with a very expensive looking tv-style video camera on a tripod was a guy in a "Big 2 News" T-shirt, and his camera was focused directly on that sign-up sheet.
Now why would he do that? Was this an FBI agent building a dossier on the people who attended the speech? Or perhaps it was simply an inexperienced tv photographer unable to find the appropriate balance between an incessant boss's entreaties to intrude and an innocent person's right to be left alone. In any event, it was a striking scene. It occurred to me to snap a photo and catch Mr. Big 2 in the act, but I was too slow on the draw.
So here's a scoop for mainstream media. If the concept of citizens on patrol is news to you, then you are sure to want to know that the Citizens on Patrol is operating right under your noses. Those citizens spend several hours each month patrolling the streets of Midland looking for lawbreakers. They even have a car and a van exclusively for their use. MSM, check it out. News at 10.
And finally, if you saw my post about the meeting then you saw a photo of Mr. Marler. Be aware that I asked him, and he granted permission to publish his photo.
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UPDATE, 6/08/05, 4:00 pm CDT: Sam Eaton of Big 2 News responds:
Wow, my first time ever posting on a blog...and my picture's already on the Web site. (That's me in the infamous Big 2 shirt interviewing Shane in the picture accompanying your previous story.) I just wanted to make a few points in defense of myself and the evil media in general.
Your first point is correct, I was expecting controversy at the first meeting of the Texas Minutemen, but not because of what you might think. I spoke to a prominent member of the local republican party earlier in the day who told me that there would be protesters at the meeting. I won't mention his name at the risk of embarrassing a friend.
You're right about Shane not shying away from the TV cameras, and rightly so...he invited us. That's right, the media was invited. That means that barring something very unusual there is nothing unethical about taking pictures of attendants at an open meeting. Furthermore, taking pictures of the audience for a news story that centers around a meeting is a common practice among photographers. It is the first step of an editing technique that allows video to seem to flow uninterrupted despite the use of only one camera. Watch any newscast and you'll notice many "audience shots." It's something I learned my first semester of college.
I don't really want to address the issue of filming the names on the sign-up sheet, but I do feel the need to explain my personal motives. First of all, you mentioned my "very expensive looking tv style video camera." Something funny about those cameras, unless you're looking through the viewfinder, it's virtually impossible to know exactly what it's focusing on. Unless you took a peek in the camera when I wasn't looking, there's no way you could know that it was "focused directly on that sign up sheet." The zoom is powerful enough that from where I was standing I could focus on the title of the sheet, and then the section where respondents rate their interest in the project. I did take one wider shot of the sheet, but at that distance it would have been impossible to read any of the names. Oh, and if you watched the show at 10, you would have noticed that none of those shots were used anyway.
As for the conspiracy theory that I was secretly recording names in an effot to feed them to the FBI, don't you think it would have made more sense to try to blend in with the crowd, and non chalantly taken down some of the names, as opposed to carrying a $20k camera and wearing a t-shirt from a local network news channel?
In any event, thanks for the news tip, and perhaps you've inspired me to get out of the picture business and into the writing business, now that I have a little practice.
Posted by: Sam Eaton
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My reply:
Sam,
Thanks for clearing that up. If you say you weren't photographing personal information on that sign-up sheet, then I'll take your word for it.
I'm going out on a limb here, but I suspect that the members of that audience would have appreciated the same level of privacy you extended to your anonymous source regardless of some ethical pass issuing from the fact that the meeting was widely advertised.
As far as "ethics" are concerned, it sometimes seems as if news people follow a code that is foreign to the rest of us. Our mothers might have taught us that certain behavior was rude, but here's the apparent counter argument: Everyone else was doing it.
Actually, I'm being very hypocritical. I've been posting my own photos on this blog for less than a year, and up to now I've tried to avoid publishing photos of people who didn't give consent, either real or implied. But I'm still kicking myself for not photographing you photographing that sign-up sheet. For me, that was the story of the night.
Having said all of that, I want to thank you for leaving the comment and especially for being so civil about it. Not everyone could have expressed himself as well as you did. And if you like to write then you should consider starting your own blog.
George Johns