OpEdNews - Page 3 of Article: Decision Forces Filmmaker to Turn Over 600 Hours of Footage to Chevron

The reported federal judgment that filmmaker Joe Berlinger must turn over his outtakes to Chevron's defense lawyers strikes me as an arbitrary and dangerous interpretation of the First Amendment. The role of independent documentary filmmakers has almost totally replaced what was historically the function of investigative journalism - in fact there is no difference between the methodology and social/political function of filmmakers like Berlinger and that of - say - Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward during the Watergate scandal.

Without such scrutiny, It is my opinion that the ever-increasing corporate malfeasance would go unchecked, to the detriment of society as a whole. It is an intrinsic facet of our democratic system that such independent scrutiny is allowed the full protection of the law.

The cynical dismissal of the film "Crude" as "...a case of a lawyer who decided he wanted to be a movie star" would be laughable if it were not so obviously disingenuous, self-serving and untrue.

Documentary filmmakers of course have the right to include, structure and interpret their raw material in any way they chose - just as a journalist will draw on his or her research notes to compile a coherent narrative story. Film material is edited in just this way, and for whatever reason some footage may be left out, it remains the intellectual property of the filmmaker and he or she is under no obligation to hand it over to anyone. It is a right - just as that held by journalists - protected under the First Amendment. Whatever the legality of the case against Chevron, the principle is unchanged.

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