Judge’s Ruling Could Have ‘Chilling Effect’ on Documentaries (director Michael Moore on “Crude”)

[Omaha Steve]

http://broadcastunionnews.blogspot.com/2010/05/judges-ruling-could-have-chilling.html

Sunday, May 9, 2010
Judge’s Ruling Could Have ‘Chilling Effect’ on Documentaries
By DAVE ITZKOFF


The director Michael Moore says that a federal judge’s ruling to allow Chevron to subpoena footage from the documentary “Crude” could have dire consequences on the documentary filmmaking process, and urged that film’s director to resist the subpoena if he can.

On Thursday, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of United States District Court in Manhattan said that Joe Berlinger, the director of “Crude,” would have to turn over more than 600 hours of footage from that documentary.

The film chronicles the Ecuadorians who sued Texaco (now owned by Chevron) saying an oil field contaminated their water. Chevron said that Mr. Berlinger’s footage could be helpful as it seeks to have the litigation dismissed and pursues an international treaty arbitration related to the lawsuit.

In a telephone interview on Thursday night, Mr. Moore, whose films include “Bowling for Columbine” and “Capitalism: A Love Story,” said that he had never heard of such a ruling.

“If this isn’t overturned, it would make a lot of documentary filmmakers afraid,” Mr. Moore said. “People are going to have to start getting rid of all their extra footage now, right?”

Should the decision of Judge Kaplan be upheld and a subpoena be served for Mr. Berlinger’s footage, Mr. Moore said, “The chilling effect of this is, someone like me, if something like this is upheld, the next whistleblower at the next corporation is going to think twice about showing me some documents if that information has to be turned over to the corporation that they’re working for.”

FULL story at link.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. How about this..... bittorrent in reverse, disperse it to hundreds of

thousands of computers, encrypt it, rename it, save it.

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. Well stated.

I understand the concern about IP, but look at documentaries like The Corporation and SiCKO - both downloadable for free. Can't put the genie back into the bottle...

[lurky]

4. I think the concern is that Chevron

will use the raw footage to identify the whistle-blowers and retaliate against them. To me, it seems pretty clear that's what they are trying to do.

People who cross Chevron in developing countries have a history of being murdered, so there's a lot more at stake for these guys than just losing their jobs. The stuff that happened in Nigeria around Chevron is just blood-curdling.

[Kolesar]

6. Chevron could file retaliatory lawsuits that will bankrupt the whistleblowers

...and drive them into poverty after the company fires them.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

9. CHEVRON WAS A GOOD COMPANY UNTIL THEY MERGED WITH GULF AND MELLON

[pleah]

3. K&R

[BlueIris]

5. Scary indeed. nt

[femrap]

7. So Investigative

Journalism involving a Corporate Person is now illegal? The Corporate Person has the right to see everything?

WASF.

[proReality]

8. K&R

[LaPera]

10. The judge is completely WRONG - Chevron is saying fuck you to this little "third world" country.

Chevron (and other oil corporations) has been using U.S. slimy corporate judges to avoid responsibility for their drilling destruction around the world for many decades.

As well as this environmental destruction by Texaco in Ecuador for profit.

These same imperialistic corporations destroy life & beauty all over the planet, caring about nothing but more money & profit....while leaving destruction & devastation after they leave and are done raping the land.

These republican corporations always use bought-off U.S. judges to do it.

These corporations should be facing judges in the countries they have destroyed instead of hiding behind their own slimy U.S. judges!

[fatbuckel]

11. Thank the Repubs for this....Corporate is God....

[harun]

16. Yep, they worship their rich corporate over-lords as all-giving gods.

[Echo In Light]

12. K/R

[defendandprotect]

13. Agree with Michael --

the other side of this is that we should have been talking about right wing

propaganda long ago -- like almost a half century of Exxon/Mobil oil propaganda

on the Op-Ed pages of the NY Times!!

The issue is taking them on -- and that's what we have been doing less than enthusiastically

until Michael Moore --!!

[myrna minx]

14. K&R n/t

[LiberalLovinLug]

15. Activist judges

The MSM never highlights so-called activist judicial decisions when they come from the right much do they?

The limitless corporate spending on elections granted by the Supreme Court has been barely mentioned since.
Not to mention the year 2000 Presidential "selection".

[Greyhound]

17. K&R. Another small step...

[ooglymoogly]

18. fuck the judge, burn the stuff...ooops bad accident my bad.

In other words act like a pug.

[rhett o rick]

22. maybe Oliver North will do it on contract. nm

[Better Believe It]

19. K & R

[avaistheone1]

20. k&r Very disturbing.

[EnlightenedOne]

21. They need to look up the law used to allow

the Bush administration to ignore their subpoenas, Karl Rove, etc. I've never seen anyone get away with just ignoring subpoenas before.

[rhett o rick]

23. Step by step the big corporations are taking over. I dont see a remedy. nm

[flamingdem]

24. Documentaries are one of the only ways to get the facts now nt