So things aren't quite back to normal in the states.
In UK the zones are pretty much the same as pre 9/11 we already had three specific zones in Central London that require particular permissions in advance.
What has changed is the rapid and frequent activation of air exclusion zones to keep media helicopters out, but at great inconvienience to everyone else.
A recent one closed a heliroute and was put up for over three weeks. The incident? a police arrest of terrorist suspects and the subsequent search of their modest suburban home.
For some police activity such as involving terrorists on the run, live pictures can endanger lives, but for large scale incident one hopes an air exclusion zone would not be put up as a knee jerk reaction.
The first thing mentioned on every disaster planning guide is "listen to the local media" a helicopter gives the local media a heads-up to scale.
For example, hours after Katrina had blown through, Jackson's WLBT news heli had overflown Gulf Port at sunrise and the pictures were online to the world before government or military photographic recon assets were even launched.
When the exclsuion zone went up over New Orleans, mainly as an aide to air traffic control due to the scores of rescue helicopters operating, a "pool" news heli was allowed. This was sensible.
Compare that to UK policing of the large explosion and oil fire that occured on a Sunday morning in London early this year, the air exclsion zone was five miles yet reporters and public on the ground were within 1 mile.
The busiest the airspace became was single police heli surveying the scene at close quarters. An industrial park next to the blast was badly effected. Some decent closeups of the damaged buildings would have been a service to buisness owners and their employees whilst reassuring the public that the fire was contained to the plant as well as communicating and documenting the problems the fire service encountered fighting the fire, the dynamics and scale of which were beyond the public's experience.
In the USA I wonder if any special arrangements are planned to enable media helicopters to operate in any future incidents?
If the current response is anything to go by in the UK, plans are designed to exclude the media and now even used in non terror related incidents. Early this year even a car crash had an air exclusion zone!
Delayed transmission and news blackouts are methods of operation that protect victims and police. This cooperation enables ground cameras to document events, it can also be adopted for aerial news as well.
Creaser