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Comment by jrwoodruff | Hacker News Reader

The truly messed up thing about this - that we should be very angry about - is the U.S. Government is helping out in the cover up. Yes, companies are supposed to spin and do damage control. I guess getting the coast guard to give you hand is probably a pretty effective way to do that.

Also, it should be noted that print media has been in a downward spiral for the last four years and no longer has the reporters, photographers or resources they did five years ago, let alone 21 years ago.

New media to the rescue? Where's the bloggers an community journalists covering this?

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But why? Why is the coast guard helping? The article didn't even conjecture a reason, they just stated it baldly.

Less press coverage is good for the government as well, as the focus will only turn to "why haven't you been able to stop this yet?"

They ever-so-slightly hinted that it may be because of the massive demand for media coverage the coast guard has received. I don't really know though - I've seen some pretty damaging pictures, but I suppose not as bad as the pictures could be.

I'd guess BP is paying someone off.

SomeONE? Maybe you didn't notice but the coast guard is not one person.

I find it hard to believe they could pay off enough, or high enough, level people for that to be possible.

Might've been an instance of a not-paid-off coast guard douche getting all authoritative on some reporters. Reporters then write story blaming the coast guard.

Or who knows. It's probably not a conspiracy though.

>SomeONE? Maybe you didn't notice but the coast guard is not one person.

One characteristic of hierarchy is that influencing one person ends up influencing many.

>I find it hard to believe they could pay off enough, or high enough, level people for that to be possible.

BP is a very connected company. I doubt very much that influencing high-ups is only possible in non-US countries.

Unfortunately, lone bloggers and community journalists don't have the resources to fight a legal battle if caught. Back in the golden age of print media, you at least had the possibility of support from the publication you worked for or its parent company.

Wait-a-sec, what about the kids over at Crisis Commons (http://oreil.ly/dm1OW0) and Grassroots Mapping(http://bit.ly/99sLWo) considered community journalists, and doing their best to work around the resources issue?

That's great stuff! I guess I didn't mean no one's actually doing it, but that there used to be a whole industry interested in and capable of doing amazing investigative journalism with backers willing to stand up for them. If these guys run afoul of the law, how long will they last?

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