L.A. seeks no-fly zone, fearing further violence

  Carol J. Castaneda; James Harney

  04/07/1993

  USA Today

  FINAL

  Page 03A

  (Copyright 1993)

  LOS ANGELES - With jurors expected to begin deliberating this weekend in the

  Rodney King beating trial, the media - criticized at times for its coverage - are

  dueling again with authorities.

  Los Angeles officials want the Federal Aviation Administration to ban aircraft

  under 2,000 feet from flying over the city after verdicts are read.

  Police Chief Willie Williams Tuesday likened the request to closing off a street

  in a crime: "You can't convince me the news media can't cover the city without

  helicopters."

  But local TV crews - including a news helicopter pilot who flew low last year to

  videotape the beating of white trucker Reginald Denny - call the police request

  censorship.

  "Denny was not saved by the police department, but by four heroic

  African-Americans who saw Denny's beating on live television," says Bob Tur,

  who works for local TV and radio.

  "I don't think the police like us to show what is happening," said Jose Rios, news

  director for Fox TV Channel 11. "Our job is to show people what's going on."

  FAA spokesman Fred O'Donnell said a decision hadn't been made on the no-fly

  request.

  Some critics maintain that live TV coverage of last year's riots fueled violence.

  "If media hadn't been out there with their cameras showing police standing

  around not doing anything, maybe people wouldn't have taken advantage of the

  situation," says Ana Barbosa, president of the Latin Business Association.

  Intense coverage of the second Rodney King beating trial - print and broadcast -

  has left little doubt that the world is watching.

  The U.S. Marshals Service says 195 press credentials have been issued for King

  trial coverage; 58 foreign journalists, representing 15 nations, have attended

  since opening arguments in late February.

  In covering the trial, the media must "walk a thin line of being properly

  informative while not slipping off into underplaying it or overplaying it," says

  Ben Bagdikian of the University of California Berkeley's graduate journalism

  school.

  ABC Radio reporter Jane Platt says: "I feel a great responsibility to always be

  balanced and unbiased. I was aware that the first trial was controversial; I'm

  triply aware that this trial is."

  Contributing: Sally Ann Stewart and Jonathan Lovitt

  PHOTO,b/w,CBS via AP