Criminal defense attorney Mike Cavalluzzi and former prosecutor Loni Coombs team up to discuss the issues surrounding a no-fly zone established by police in Ferguson, Missouri in the wake of the deadly police shooting of Michael Brown.
Addressing the government approved no-fly zone requested by police in Ferguson, Coombs said it was obvious to her that the media was treated “horribly” during coverage of the shooting and resulting demonstrations.
“Apparently they went in and wanted a no-fly zone and got a general one. But then the traffic control people were saying, wait a minute, we have an airport right here, we need to allow commercial flights to come through, so they said yeah, okay.” She said the discussion went back and forth on exactly which types of flights to ban, and this ended up being the media helicopters.
Cavalluzzi explores the issue from a First Amendment perspective, and how much influence police can impose on the media to infringe on their right to adequately cover the story. “I really have an issue with it, because I really think it’s the media that should be making those determinations, and the FAA that should be making those determinations of how that riot is covered – and not necessarily Ferguson, which has such a motive to block media coverage and effective coverage.”
He adds: “Seeing those riots from the air would have been very impactful and could have made it very different in terms of how they were playing out.”
Watch the full episode to also hear a discussion about the connection of TLC reality star Mama June to a convicted sex offender and the prosecution of a parent who posted a photo on Facebook of her baby hanging from a hook.
Comments