Public broadcasters are calling on the U.S. Forest Service to make a number of changes in its regulation of photography, filming and recording on public lands.
Several public media organizations jointly submitted comments Wednesday (PDF) to the Forest Service. That agency is considering a proposed directive that would require permits to film, photograph, and record in wilderness areas.
The public broadcasters want the Forest Service to allow filming and photography without a permit when such activity would have no more impact on the land than the general public does.
Broadcasters also called on the Forest Service to allow all forms of reporting on public affairs, arts, culture and news to take place in wilderness areas without a permit. Currently, the Forest Service provides an exemption only for breaking news reporting.
The comments were filed on behalf of PBS, NPR, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Association of Public Television Stations, OPB and Idaho Public Television.
The proposed directive has been controversial since it first surfaced this fall. More recently, the Forest Service has sought to clarify its intention. In a November article in the (Salem, Ore.) Statesman Journal Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said the rules have been misinterpreted and that members of the agency were looking forward to working with the media and public to clarify what is and is not allowed.
The comments submitted by public media organizations said rules that give government employees the authority to delay or deny outright permission to film and photograph on public land open the door to violations of constitutional freedom-of-the-press and free-speech rights.
"Forest Service employees are vested with broad discretion to arbitrarily pick and choose among First Amendment activities – with no discernible government interest guiding them – and to make distinctions that are not based on impact to the land," they said in the comments, which were submitted by attorneys with the Davis Wright Tremaine law firm on public broadcasters' behalf.
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