QUICKLINK U.S. · April 27, 2010 · Reporter's privilege
Documentarian fights oil company's subpoena in federal court
Keywords: Chevron; Documentary
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A federal judge in Manhattan on Friday will hear a dispute between Chevron and a documentary filmmaker over a subpoena requesting hundreds of hours of raw footage taken during the filming of the documentary "Crude," Variety reported.
Director Joe Berlinger's "Crude" depicts the legal battle over whether oil companies are responsible for the pollution of the Amazon rain forest in Ecuador. Chevron is being sued by indigenous residents of the Amazon region over the pollution. Chevron has requested the "Crude" footage -- 600 hours worth -- claiming there may be evidence of the plaintiffs' misconduct on the tapes it can use in its defense.
Berlinger and producer Michael Bonfiglio are opposing the subpoena by claiming a reporter's privilege. They say allowing documentary filmmakers to be subpoenaed would drastically chill speech and prevent others from undertaking investigative work like that in "Crude" and deter subjects from cooperating with filmmakers for fear of reprisal.
— Christine Beckett, 5:36 pm
Comments: (3)
Comment by Han Shan, Tue, Apr 27, 7:19pm
The filmmaker put it perfectly in an interview on About.com's documentary blog:
"Our opposition has nothing to do with Chevron's position regarding issues raised in the lawsuit depicted in the film, but rather represents our concern about this as an unnecessary breach of our First Amendment rights -- not only as they pertain to Crude, but also with long term implications for investigative documentary filmmaking, which represents a singularly important form of in-depth reporting in the contemporary media forum."
"And this position has, as I said, has nothing to do with the fact that it's Chevron – the defendant – requesting the footage. This would be my position equally strongly if it were the plaintiffs who wanted access to everything we'd shot for the film."
Furthermore, having seen other instances of Chevron's legal maneuvers in the Chevron-Ecuador case, it seems clear to me that the oil giant is partly harassing Berlinger in order to intimidate journalists and other individuals who might dare explore the truth about the company's legacy in Ecuador. Shameful.
Comment by not quite, Wed, Apr 28, 1:35pm
Once Chevron gets they information, they won't care about the filmaker or harass him or anything like that. They want to use the footage to see if there is more information on film which shows a more balanced picture (e.g., Petroecuador is partly at fault). This would contrast with the information in the film, which Chevron believes was cherry-picked out of context to paint them as the bad guy.
Chevron is trying to bring MORE information to light, not hide something here, so it seems quite backwards and a bit of doubleplus-ungood Newspeak to claim that Chevron is assaulting the First Amendment, when they are encouraging MORE expression of speech.
Comment by not quite, Wed, Apr 28, 1:35pm
My mistake: "gets *the* information"
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