Postal Service Wages War on Truth
A Washington, D.C.-based journalist for a German television network was detained by U.S. Postal Service Police for videotaping a New Orleans mail pick-up center for victims of Hurricane Katrina and was released only after surrendering the video he had recorded.
According to The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Bonn-based Deutsche Welle television reporter Stephan Bachenheimer was filming and interviewing people waiting in line to pick up their mail when a law enforcement officer asked him to leave.
Bachenheimer complied and moved to the edge of a parking lot to film through the fence. Two USPS police officers then approached and told him to quit filming, despite the fact that Bachenheimer presented foreign press credential issued by the U.S. Department of State.
One of the officers told Bachenheimer "at least two times that in the past, I would have gotten away with [filming] but not now with the 'war on terror,'" according to Bachenheimer's account of the incident.
The officers detained Bachenheimer until he surrendered his tape.
On the bright side, at least the USPS has the resources to mail the tape back.
