FDNY EMS at Bronx Fire

[Dustdevil]

The reporter has might have freedom of the press, but doesn't the incident commander have control over the scene? Thus, a reasonable accommodation could be made such as standing across the street.

This is exactly why so many cops jerk the media around. Control freaks. No good reason to jerk the press around. Just a chance to puff out their chests and be badasses. Basically, the cops are pretty useless at these scenes, and they know it. Feeling useless, they must find something to do to look like they are worth their inflated salaries, so they hassle people to look important. If this is career suicide in NYC, I am glad to hear it. Too bad that policy doesn't spread to the rest of the country.

Please tell me exactly why an incident commander would have any need to "control" the press. Unless they are REALLY (not theoretically or potentially) interfering with emergency operations, they are absolutely free to be anywhere they want and filming whatever they deem newsworthy. Incident commanders don't get to make these decisions for the press, and a good incident commander will not only accommodate the media, but cultivate positive relations with them. Go dicking them around at every "incident" you have and you are only asking for an investigative report on your departments management and finances to hit the ten o'clock news. Then go bitch about unfair treatment from the press and see if you get a sympathetic ear.

This would be similar to free speech restrictions regarding vulgar speech as well as the classic example of yelling fire in a theater when no such fire existed.

No, it would not be similar at all. There is a huge difference between putting public safety at risk (yelling fire) and just irritating people (taking photos at an incident). Public safety, crime scene issues (sometimes), and national security are about the only reasons you may put restrictions on civil liberties, and you had better be able to prove either case actually existed in any given instance. And your little piss-ant fire or car wreck isn't going to qualify as either. And no, the safety of the media reps does not count. They are perfectly within their rights by law to put their own safety in jeopardy to gather the news. Therefore, you cannot exclude them from a scene just because they might get hurt.

[Richard B the EMT]

a regrettable update: Another child died, bringing the death toll to 9 children and one adult. As of this late posting, the husband/father of the adult female (and mother of 5 of the children, the man's entire family) has gone to bury them in the African nation he originally came from.