Fla. Reporter Forbidden to Dig for Facts
Tina Korbe /
A Florida TV reporter this weekend quickly learned that a journalist’s job is not to dig for facts and a beach is no place for a shovel — at least not in the eyes of government officials.
Dan Thomas, a reporter at the local ABC affiliate in Pensacola, Fla., took a shovel to the Gulf Island National Seashore to investigate just why BP workers can’t dig more than six inches in the sand to look for oil. Park officials promptly stopped him.
“We had come out here to the National Park to show you just what exactly is in the sand, lower than six inches,” Thomas said in a news broadcast that aired Sept. 18. “We wanted to use the shovel and give you a look, but apparently, that’s illegal.”