If you as a broadcaster, producer, or artist want to head into a
congressionally-designated wilderness area to create some programming
(both newsgathering and other programming), you will likely have to get a
permit to do so from the National Forest Service (NFS). And yes, the
power to require a permit also encompasses the power to require a fee
for that permit, so you can expect to have to pay for the privilege. For years the standards imposed by the NFS on requests for such
permits have been considerably subjective, which is never a good thing:
the First Amendment frowns on governmentally-imposed limitations on
freedom of expression and the press, especially when those limitations
can be arbitrarily applied. To its credit, though, the
NFS is considering tightening up its criteria.
Whether the end result will assure broadcasters a constitutionally
acceptable set of standards remains to be seen. But any broadcaster
operating near a federal wilderness area – or who might at some point
want to send a crew into such an area – should be aware of the NFS’s
proceeding. In other words, as matters now stand, if any
broadcaster wants to send a crew into a wilderness area to produce a
piece on, say, migratory birds, a show about your local Forest Service
lands akin to The National Parks documentary by Ken Burns, or some other
newsworthy topic that doesn’t happen to be “breaking news”, the
broadcaster may be required to make the necessary showing. The
broadcaster will then have to keep its fingers crossed, hoping that the
NFS will be satisfied that the proposed activities: (a) meet certain
threshold screening criteria; (b) won’t harm the land, (c) won’t
interfere with others’ use and enjoyment of the land, (d) won’t create
any risk and (e) will “contribute[ ] to the purposes for which the
wilderness area was established”. Let’s face it, those standards – and particularly that last one – are
far from definite, which means that the NFS has a lot of wiggle room...more
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