If Josh Fox were a protestor, posing as a journalist, to disrupt a congressional hearing I could understand refusing him access. That is not the case. Josh Fox is an Academy Award nominated documentarian. The Republicans on House Science Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy had a good reason for refusing access to Fox. They were putting on a dog and pony show disguised as a hearing. In it they paraded lobbyists and representatives of the gas industry to “testify” on the safety and efficacy of fracking, in an attempt to minimize an EPA report, while refusing testimony from scientists with sound research data in opposition to fracking. Josh Fox is an expert on Fracking. He made Gasland. To hide the truth, in my opinion, Republicans had him arrested.

Yesterday, Academy Award-nominated documentarian Josh Fox was arrested by U.S. Capitol police while trying to film a public Congressional Hearing. Isn’t this the kind of chilling free speech episode we Americans condemn when it happens in other countries? The U.S. House Science Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment was holding a public hearing, and Fox was there with his camera crew to get footage for a documentary film. According to press reports, the Subcommittee’s Chairman exercised his authority to bar filming by individuals without proper House of Representatives’ press credentials. Fox persisted, was arrested by Capitol Police, and charged with unlawful entry. Fox says that he repeatedly sought permission in advance to film the public hearing, but those requests were denied by the House Committee. By all accounts, there was plenty of room for the camera, and the film crew was not interfering with the hearing. One Representative made just that point, and asked that the rules be waived so that Fox might stay. That request also was denied. It’s one thing to regulate media access if the room had been chaotic and overrun by cameras, but that wasn’t the case here. Why should a documentary filmmaker, exercising his First Amendment rights, be denied the right to film a public hearing? If every person filming a hearing is required to have a certain press credential, Congressional Staff or the Capitol Police should have helped Fox obtain one, not arrest him… [emphasis added]

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Here is Josh’s side of the story, which he revealed in an interview with Ed Schultz.

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I have no doubt that Josh Fox had a Constitutional right to cover the hearing under the First Amendment. Republicans denied that right. They don’t want you to know that they are covering up the truth about fracking, so the Constitution does not matter top them.