The Manhattan Project
Morning Roundup: Second Helpings Edition
Fire at 17th and L NW Forces Evacuations
Compromise Uncertain on Same-Sex Marriage Law
Sculpture Garden Ice-Skating Rink Remains Closed
Tackling an issue near and dear to our hearts, Steven Colbert ran a segment last night about photographers getting "nailed" for the (non)crime of taking pictures in train stations. He follows the story of a deeply scary, cat-walking photographer who was arrested after shooting some "shiny" trains in New York's Penn Station. For his terrorist plot? No, for the Amtrak photography contest, of course.
We're quite familiar with the story here in D.C., having covered in depth the confusion over which photography rules can be enforced and how at Union Station. We saw Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton hold a Congressional hearing on the unconstitutionality of those rules, and continued to watch as, unsurprisingly, nothing was done about it. Fox 5 got the irony award for Getting Hassled While Reporting On Illegal Hassling.
For their part, Amtrak has somewhat toothlessly responded to stories like Duane Kerzic's arrest by promising to develop "new photography guidelines that will be posted on the carrier's Web site" and that "existing Amtrak police department guidelines are being reviewed and updated."
Photography right's advocates should get a good chuckle over Colbert's piece. Maybe we should invite him to speak before Congress next time? Assuming congressmembers would, you know, get the joke.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
yeah, we can all get a chuckle from this, but it's not really funny. the way police (and others) have the ability to do whatever they want with a "shoot first, ask questions later" kind of mentality is downright frightening. hopefully, we're moving away from the "you have to be afraid" all the time mentality in this country, but i guess this is just another example of how we still need to be aware that our rights are a precious and rare thing.
I don't think you need that apostrophe in "photography rights advocates".
The Amtrak guards were way off track. This could all have been avoided if they had better training. No reason for them to have come off the rails with that guy.
gotta give you credit for the most awfully punny comment of the day, jamie.
I can never resist a good pun opportunity and this one was wide open... besides, it's been a few weeks since the last Pearson Pants story.
What I don't get is - where is the outrage? Colbert interviewed the photographer and, while I understand that bits and pieces are supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, he seems completely OK with being handcuffed for an hour while the idiots figured out what to do with him. All we need is for this to happen to someone willing to sue - false imprisonment, harrassment, insert cause of action here. A lawsuit is the only way to get Amtrak to pay attention.
Alternatively, given how buddy-buddy Colbert and Del. Norton are, I would not be surprised if one of her staffers is reading this post. Message to Norton - get back on the ball re this issue.
@dread, Duane's actually indicated a willingness to sue. He's plenty outraged, but Colbert isn't necessarily the place to show that.
Read more about his incident and what he's doing about it here: http://www.duanek.name/Amtrak/index.htm
EXCELLENT! Thank you, Erin.
EXCELLENT! Thank you, Erin.
Here is the link to Eleanor's hearing:
http://transportation.house.gov/hearings/hearingDetail.aspx?NewsID=708