LOUISVILLE, KY (May 29, 2008) – The National Press Photographers Association, along with a number of other photography and media trade associations, are collaborating on the issue of when photography permits and fees may be required to photograph and film on National Park Service lands, NPPA's legal general counsel Mickey H. Osterreicher said today.
Along with NPPA, the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA), Radio-Television News Directors Association (RNTDA), and the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) are working together in an effort to develop regulations that are "practical and fair to everyone involved," Osterreicher said.
"Right now these rules are being arbitrarily enforced," NPPA past president and Advocacy Committee chair Alicia Wagner Calzada told the organization's board of directors meeting in Louisville on Thursday. "Right now, a photographer will get one set of directions from one park ranger and another set or rules from another ranger. That's why they've asked them to help come up with one set of rules" that will apply to everyone.
NPPA's Advocacy Committee members took part in a conference call with the National Park Service on the issue yesterday, and drafting of the rules continues with NPPA's input.
In December last year, NPPA president Tony Overman, a staff photojournalist for The Olympian in Olympia, WA, testified before the House Natural Resources Committee in Washington, DC, regarding the Department of Interior's proposed revision to the filming regulations for National Parks and Wildlife Refuges, and NPPA's Advocacy Committee has continued to stay involved with the revisions as they progress.
