BP Opens Media Access

BP is finally loosening its tight control over the press covering the oil spill in the Gulf. Since the spill began, the company has in some instances roped local officials into enforcing their attempted blackout of information coming out of the area. Planes carrying photographers have been prevented from flying over the slick, and those allowed to go up must get permission from the FAA each time. A CBS News crew was shooed away from a public beach—under threat of arrest. A BP contractor called a local sheriff in Grand Isle, Louisiana, to remove a news crew from an oil-blotted beach, demanding they fill out paperwork and have a BP escort. Footage of the leaking rig wasn’t released until weeks after the explosion. Now, BP spokespeople say they are allowing “as much access to the disaster as possible” to the press, and on Wednesday released a statement saying the company “fully supports” the rights of all individuals to talk to reporters.