US media union to monitor restrictions on spill cover

A major U.S. union representing broadcast journalists said on Thursday it would monitor reports of censorship and restrictions on access for reporting on the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) said it had launched a website to gather published accounts about journalists being hindered from gathering information about the worst oil spill in U.S. history. "We are concerned about continuing reports that journalists are being denied access to sources and public places necessary for them to fully cover this important story," AFTRA national president Roberta Reardon said in a statement. "The causes and effects of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon (oil rig) must be uncovered and analyzed, and our only hope of getting to the truth is through investigative journalism by professionals with unfettered and unfiltered access to the sources," she added. AFTRA's statement came 10 weeks into efforts to clean-up and contain BP Plc's (BP.N) ruptured deep-sea oil well, which continues to gush oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill is causing an environmental and economic disaster along the Gulf Coast, damaging fishing, tourism and wildlife