ACLU slams no-fly zone over Ferguson

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) violated constitutionally protected free-press rights with a media-specific flight ban over Ferguson, Mo., earlier this year, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says.

The ACLU wrote a scathing letter to the FAA this week, accusing the agency of trying to “suppress aerial press coverage” during the events that unfolded after Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, was shot to death by a police officer in Ferguson.

{mosads}The FAA established a “no-fly zone” that was targeted at news helicopters, as well as drones, the ACLU charges.

“An air ban singling out media aircraft is an unacceptable and unlawful abridgement of the rights of a free press,” the ACLU wrote Tuesday. “It is particularly alarming when implemented during events at which law enforcement may be engaging in practices that violate constitutional rights.”

The ACLU is stepping in after The Associated Press reported Sunday that the no-fly zone was targeted at the media.

Following the shooting of Brown, protests broke out in Ferguson that were met with what critics say was excessive police force and racial profiling.

In response to the growing unrest, the FAA enacted a no-fly zone over Ferguson on Aug. 12, which the ACLU says was intended to “muzzle the media.”

“The ban was apparently designed to exclude media, as other non-governmental air traffic was exempted from the ban and permitted to travel within the no-fly zone,” the ACLU wrote.