The IDA and a group of filmmakers that includes Academy Award winners and nominees have issued an open letter in support of Joe Berlinger, the director of Crude, and objecting to a judge's ruling that Chevron could subpoena Mr. Berlinger's footage from his film.
Read about the developing story in the NY Times here.
And now the letter in its entirety:
May 12, 2010
An open letter in support of Joe Berlinger and the documentary filmmaking team of "Crude"
As members of the documentary film community, we the undersigned strongly object to theHonorable Judge Lewis A. Kaplan's ruling last week in the case involving our colleague JoeBerlinger, the Chevron Corporation, and Berlinger's 600 hours of raw footage shot duringproduction of his documentary film "Crude".
Judge Kaplan sided with Chevron and ruled that Berlinger must turn over all of his raw footageto Chevron for their use in the lawsuit discussed in the film. Berlinger and his legal team plan toappeal the ruling.
In cases such as these involving access to a journalist's work material, whether they involve anewspaper or online reporter, a radio interviewer, a television news producer, or a documentaryfilmmaker, it is understood that First Amendment protection of the journalist's privilege is neverabsolute. Typically, if such privilege is successfully rebutted in court, a turn-over orderdemanding a document or other thing is issued and the journalist must comply or face theconsequences. Therefore, it is astounding to us that Judge Kaplan demanded that all of thefootage shot during the production of the film be handed over to the attorneys of Chevron, giventhat the privilege exists primarily to protect against the wholesale exposure of press files tolitigant scrutiny.
While we commend Judge Kaplan for stating "that the qualified journalists' privilege applies toBerlinger's raw footage", we are nonetheless dismayed both by Chevron's attempts to go on a"fishing expedition" into the edit rooms and production offices of a fellow documentaryfilmmaker without any particular cause or agenda, and the judge's allowance of said intentions.What's next, phone records and e-mails?
At the heart of journalism lies the trust between the interviewer and his or her subject.Individuals who agree to be interviewed by the news media are often putting themselves at greatrisk, especially in the case of television news and documentary film where the subject's identityand voice are presented in the final report. If witnesses sense that their entire interviews will bescrutinized by attorneys and examined in courtrooms they will undoubtedly speak less freely.This ruling surely will have a crippling effect on the work of investigative journalistseverywhere, should it stand.
Though many of us work independently of large news organizations, we nevertheless holdourselves to the highest of journalistic standards in the writing, producing, and editing of ourfilms. In fact, as traditional news media finds itself taking fewer chances due to advertiser fearsand corporate ownership, the urgency of bold, groundbreaking journalism through thedocumentary medium is perhaps greater than ever.
This case offers a clear and compelling argument for more vigorous federal shield laws to protectjournalists and their work, better federal laws to protect confidential sources, and strongerstandards to prevent entities from piercing the journalists' privilege. We urge the higher courts tooverturn this ruling to help ensure the safety and protection of journalists and their subjects, andto promote a free and vital press in our nation and around the world.
Patrick Creadon Doug Blush
Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles, CA
Eddie Schmidt
President, International Documentary Association (IDA)
With the support of IDA's Board of Directors:
Adam Chapnick, Beth Bird, Bob Niemack, Brian Gerber, Gilda Brasch, Laurie Ann Schag,Marjan Safinia, Moises Velez, Pi Ware, Sara Hutchison, Senain Kheshgi, Steven Reich,Sue West, Thomas Miller
Executive Director Michael Lumpkin
Supporting Filmmakers
Alex Gibney, Michael Moore, D.A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, Bruce Sinofsky, Joan Churchill,Rob Epstein, Barbara Kopple, AJ Schnack, Kirby Dick, Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg, HeidiEwing, Rachel Grady, Freida Mock, Terry Sanders, Marina Zenovich, Tia Lessin, Carl Deal,Kevin Macdonald, Ken Burns, Haskell Wexler, Ellen Kuras,Robby Kenner, Fisher Stevens, Margaret Lazarus, Renner Wunderlich, Gordon Quinn, Margaret Brown,
Rebecca Cammisa, Ondi Timoner, Elise Pearlstein, Ross McElwee
Davis Guggenheim, Lesley Chilcott, Rory Kennedy, Jeff Blitz, Laura Poitras, Marshall Curry,Ross Kauffman, Adam Del Deo, Hubert Sauper, Adam Hyman, Richard Pearce,R.J. Cutler, Sam Pollard, Jessica Yu, Nick Broomfield, Morgan Neville,Peter Gilbert, Steve James, Louie Psihoyos, Lucy Walker,
Pamela Yates
Morgan Spurlock, Bill Moyers, Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Tom Weinberg, Joel Cohen,Kate Amend, Anne Makepeace, Evangeline Griego, David Zeiger, Chris Paine,Greg Barker, Skip Blumberg, Brian Strause, Joe Angio, Ben Shedd,Brian Oakes, Dallas Rexer, John Maringouin, Jeff Malmberg,
David Van Taylor
Liz Garbus, Cara Mertes, Simon Kilmurry, Cynthia Wade, Stefan Forbes,Jennifer Venditti, Peter Kinoy, Tom Putnam, Jessie Deeter, Robin Hessman,Paco de Onis, Kim Longinotto, Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert, Sean Welch,Steven Ascher, Jeanne Jordan, Kevin Walsh, Christine O'Malley, Theodore James,Tomlinson Holman, Paola Di Florio, Martin Smith
Diane Weyermann, Jehane Noujaim, Leon Gast, Bill Guttentag, Steven Okazaki,Peter Davis, Michael Tucker, Gabor Kalman, Andrew Goldberg, Eva Orner,Christoph Baaden, Mark Lewis, Annie Roney, Petra Epperlein, Christopher Quinn,Amy Berg, Douglas Chang, Tina DiFeliciantonio,
Jane C. Wagner
James Longley, James Marsh, Yance Ford, Lisa Rich, Tony Gerber,Amy Ziering, Kurt Norton, Amanda Micheli, B. Ruby Rich,Amir Bar-Lev, Jon Else, Judy Branfman, Lucy Phenix, Mike Tollin, Paul Mariano,Jay Rosenblatt, Johanna Demetrakas, Kristine Samuelson, John Haptas
Robert Greenwald, Terry Zwigoff, Laura Gabbert, Matt Tyrnauer, Anna Thomas,Doug Block, Ken Schneider, Gary Cohen, Peter Gerard, Nathan Truesdell,Chris Smith, Bob Richman, Sandy McLeod, Judith Katz, Paul Rachman,Hilari Scarl, Jonathan Stack, Shirley Moyers, Andrew Berends, Buddy Squires,
Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill
Lynne Littman, Mark J Harris, Thom Powers, Lauren Greenfield,Theodore Braun, Mary Ann Braubach, Frederick Gerten, Seth Gordon, Celia Maysles,Henry Alex Rubin, Rick Goldsmith, Bob Hercules, Jim Morrissette, Howard Weinberg,Judith Helfand, Andrew Garrison, Rebecca Chaiklin, Doug Pray,Katy Chevigny, Sarah Gibson, Daniel Junge, Ted Hope, Tom Fontana, Doug Zwick, Michael Winship, Stacy Peralta
Sandy Cioffi, Jeffrey Schwarz, Lyda Kuth, Sara Archambault, Geoffrey Smith, Marina Goldovskaya, Jennifer Grausman, Ginger Brown, Natalie Difford, Dierdre Haj, Jack Willis, Judy Irola, Kieran Fitzgerald, Jon Shenk, Mridu Chandra, Ryan Krivoshey, Doug Whyte, Rebecca Cammisa, Charlotte Lagarde, Alison Armstrong, Amy Geller, Gerald Peary, Paul van den Boom, Petr Lom, Jan Rofekamp, Rick Minnich, Henry Chalfant, Mark Achbar, Marcia Jarmel, Stephanie Soechtig, Fisher Stevens, Risa Morimoto, John Philp, Carol Dysinger, Tom Lino, Gregory Orr, Stuart Samuels, Daniel B. Gold, Alice Klein, Brian Newman
Marc Simon, Summer Preney, James Scurlock, Neil Sieling, Laura Israel, Tom Yellin, Michael Schwarz, Joshua Z. Weinstein, Safina Uberoi, Dylan Robertson, Linda Jaivin, Karin Hayes, Ondi Timoner, Jeanne C Finley, Eric Lin, Joanna Rudnick, Justin Pemberton, Esther Robinson, Kief Davidson, Colin Powers, Laurie House, Stephanie Black, Ayza Omar, Harold Moss, Robert C. Alexander, Daniel Coffin, Nilita Vachani, Mark Landsman
Bill Ferehawk, Judith Ehrlich, Frank Christopher, Churchill Roberts, Xan Parker, Elizabeth Holder, Ivy Meeropol, Cameron Yates, Deborah Dickson, Paul Devlin, David Leaf, Janet Cole, Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher, Maro Chermayeff, Mario Murillo, Christine Noschese, Stephanie Caruso, Jason Figueira, Stephen McCarthy, Jonathon Napolitino, Nick Andert, Hima B., Gary Weimberg, Martin Harbury, Margaret Brown, David Soll, Neal Baer, Alcides Soares, Sandra Schulberg, Francisco Bello, Margaret Lazarus, Renner Wunderlich,
Miranda Yousef, Yung Chang