In August, the Federal Aviation Administration set flight restrictions for the 37 square miles of airspace above Ferguson, Mo., for 12 days.
The First Amendment protects the right to freedom of press from government censorship. But the FAA’s involvement in an attempt to suppress media coverage of Ferguson violated this basic and essential constitutional right.
At first the FAA restricted air traffic up to 5,000 feet in altitude, then to 3,000 feet. These restrictions were meant to allow commercial flights to fly through the city while still keeping news helicopters out, according to recordings of conversations among FAA managers obtained by the Associated Press.
But multiple officials denied the role of media coverage in the decision to create the no-fly zone.
St. Louis police Chief Jon Belmar denied claims that restricting the airspace above Ferguson was to curb media coverage of the protests following the death of Michael Brown. He claimed, instead, that it was in response to a shot fired at a police helicopter yet could not provide such an incident report.
FAA administrator Michael Huerta said the FAA could not exclusively ban the media from covering Ferguson. Yet, in recordings of conversations between FAA managers, it was explicitly stated that the St. Louis County Police Department was concerned about keeping the media out of the airspace.
An investigation of both the St. Louis County Police Department and the FAA is warranted to address these clear constitutional violations, as is a broader conversation about police transparency.
