US gov't drops Katrina censorship attempts

The American government is to stop impeding media access to missions involved with recovering dead bodies.

On Friday, CNN filed a lawsuit "to prohibit any agency from restricting its ability to fully and fairly cover this story" after emergency management officials began attempting to block journalists from reporting on dead bodies being found in the Hurricane Katrina disaster zone. U.S. District Court Judge Keith Ellison speedily issued a temporary restraining order against this policy of "zero access," with a hearing scheduled for Saturday morning to determine whether it should be made permanent.

That hearing will no longer necessary. Speaking on behalf of the Joint Katrina Task Force, Colonel Christian deGraff said on Saturday that the government "has no plans to bar, impede or prevent news media from their news gathering and reporting activities in connection with the deceased Hurricane Katrina victim recovery efforts."