House Republicans order arrest of 'Gasland' filmmaker Josh Fox
House Republicans directed Capitol Hill police to detain a highly regarded documentary crew that was attempting to film a Wednesday hearing on a controversial natural gas procurement practice. [...]
Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary "Gasland" was taken into custody by Capitol Hill police this morning, along with his crew, after Republicans objected to their presence, according to Democratic sources present at the hearing.
By "detain" they mean they took Fox away in handcuffs and are currently charging him with "unlawful entry" because they claim he lacked proper Capitol Hill credentials. Curiously, however, an ABC News crew that did have those credentials was also refused entry into the supposedly public hearing.
There are several ways Republicans could have handled this. If they had really objected on grounds of improper paperwork, they could merely have sent him back to get to the proper paperwork. They didn't: They had him arrested. There's no apparent reason why the ABC News crew was also denied entry other than the Republicans simply not wanting them there. What seems to have happened is that someone on the Republican side said "oh crap, isn't that the guy who made that anti-fracking documentary?" and their whole side of the room had a collective freakout.
Well, I hope Fox got some good footage of it for his next documentary.
Here's a tip, Republicans:
If you're so eager to hide something that you have film crews arrested when they try to film your conversations about it, maybe that thing sucks and you should reconsider your life choices.
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