Detailed Instructions: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Problem:Police and aviation officials denied a report Sunday that they ordered a no-fly zone over Ferguson, Mo., this summer in order to keep news helicopters away from the protests that formed after a police officer killed an unarmed man. 
  
 St. Louis County police said in a statement that they requested the restricted airspace for safety after police helicopters came under fire. But recordings of Federal Aviation Administration officials' conversations, obtained by the Associated Press, appeared to cast doubt on that as the sole rationale. 
  
 Media helicopters kept their distance from one of the most significant news stories of the year, where activity on the ground was marred by concerns over police restrictions on freedom of the press after the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown, 18. 
  
 It turns out the media were not barred from flying over the St. Louis suburb after all: They simply assumed they were. And that may have been intentional. 
  
 The Associated Press report -- drawn from recordings the AP obtained of phone calls between Federal Aviation Administration officials -- included several quotes from officials candidly discussing why a no-fly zone had been instituted over Ferguson. 
  
 The predominantly black suburb of St. Louis had been enraged by the police shooting of Brown by white officer Darren Wilson. The ensuing protests also drew intense scrutiny after police arrested dozens of demonstrators and a few journalists. 
  
 A strict no-fly restriction initially was put in place over the city for 14 1/2 hours, designating it as an aerial hazard area. That came after police said their helicopters were coming under gunfire from the ground. 
  
 But according to the recordings obtained by the AP, after drafting a modification to allow commerical flights to continue using nearby Lambert–St. Louis International Airport, aviation officials reflected that local police seemed very interested in keeping out news choppers. (Flight restrictions ultimately lasted 11 days.) 
  
 "They finally admitted it really was to keep the media out," said one FAA manager of the St. Louis County Police Department's requests for the no-fly zone, according to the AP's review of the recordings, which were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. 
  
 An unidentified FAA manager at the FAA's Kansas City center said police "did not care if you ran commercial traffic through this TFR [temporary flight restriction] all day long. They didn't want media in there," according to the AP. 
  
 A male FAA manager asked at one point, "So are [the police] protecting aircraft from small-arms fire or something? Or do they think they're just going to keep the press out of there, which they can't do?" 
  
 In a statement provided to the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, St. Louis County Police spokesman Sgt. Brian Schellman said, "The St. Louis County Police Department reaffirms the reason the request for restricted airspace was made was due to the hostile nature of certain persons on the ground that fired gunshots at the police helicopter, as well as used a laser device pointed at the police helicopter. 
  
 "The pilots made the decision to request that all aircraft, not just media aircraft, be restricted for the safety of those using that airspace," Schellman added in the statement. 
  
 But media were still allowed to enter with permission, according to the specific category of flight restriction ultimately secured by police. Under that restriction, FAA rules allow aircraft to enter the no-fly zone if "the aircraft is carrying properly accredited news representatives, and prior to entering the area, a flight plan is filed." 
  
 No news outlet is known to have done so, and on Sunday, the FAA didn't want to be blamed. 
  
 "FAA cannot and will never exclusively ban media from covering an event of national significance, and media was never banned from covering the ongoing events in Ferguson in this case," FAA Administrator Michael P. Huerta said in a statement provided to the Los Angeles Times. 
  
 Huerta said that "when requested and no safety or security issues exist, the FAA actively facilitates media access to airspace," adding, "To the best of our knowledge, during the 11-day period flight restrictions of varying levels were in place, no media outlets objected to any of the restrictions." 
  
 But confusion could have been the point, at least according to one FAA official speaking about the modified Ferguson no-fly zone on the recordings obtained by the AP: "A lot of the time the [lesser restriction] just keeps the press out, anyways. They don't understand the difference." 
  
 In another exchange captured on the audio obtained by the AP, an FAA official is explaining to a police official how the modified no-fly zone would allow flights to use Lambert-St. Louis International Airport while effectively keeping the media away. 
  
 The order allows "aircraft on final [approach] there at St. Louis. It will still keep news people out. ... The only way people will get in there is if they give them permission in there anyway so they, with the [lesser restriction], it still keeps all of them out." 
  
 "Yeah," replied the police official, according to the AP. "I have no problem with that whatsoever." 
  
 Brian Thouvenot, news director for KMOV-TV in St. Louis, told the Los Angeles Times that he'd thought about fighting the no-fly zone until he found out he could fly over the scene at a height of 3,000 feet. "There was so much going on, we just kept moving forward," he wrote in an email. 
  
 But Thouvenot didn't know that the media could have simply filed a flight plan to enter Ferguson. "No one told us," he said. 
  
 Follow @MattDPearce for national news ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government agreed to a police request to restrict more than 37 square miles of airspace surrounding Ferguson, Missouri, for 12 days in August for safety, but audio recordings show that local authorities privately acknowledged the purpose was to keep away news helicopters during violent street protests. 
  
 FILE - In this Monday, Aug. 18, 2014 file photo, people stand near a cloud of tear gas in Ferguson, Mo. during protests for the Aug. 9 shooting of unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown by a white police... (Associated Press) 
  
 On Aug. 12, the morning after the Federal Aviation Administration imposed the first flight restriction, FAA air traffic managers struggled to redefine the flight ban to let commercial flights operate at nearby Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and police helicopters fly through the area — but ban others. 
  
 "They finally admitted it really was to keep the media out," said one FAA manager about the St. Louis County Police in a series of recorded telephone conversations obtained by The Associated Press. "But they were a little concerned of, obviously, anything else that could be going on. 
  
 At another point, a manager at the FAA's Kansas City center said police "did not care if you ran commercial traffic through this TFR (temporary flight restriction) all day long. They didn't want media in there." 
  
 FAA procedures for defining a no-fly area did not have an option that would accommodate that. 
  
 "There is really ... no option for a TFR that says, you know, 'OK, everybody but the media is OK,'" he said. The managers then worked out wording they felt would keep news helicopters out of the controlled zone but not impede other air traffic. 
  
 The conversations contradict claims by the St. Louis County Police Department, which responded to demonstrations following the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, that the restriction was solely for safety and had nothing to do with preventing media from witnessing the violence or the police response. 
  
 Police said at the time, and again as recently as late Friday to the AP, that they requested the flight restriction in response to shots fired at a police helicopter. 
  
 But police officials confirmed there was no damage to their helicopter and were unable to provide an incident report on the shooting. On the tapes, an FAA manager described the helicopter shooting as unconfirmed "rumors." 
  
 The AP obtained the recordings under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. They raise serious questions about whether police were trying to suppress aerial images of the demonstrations and the police response by violating the constitutional rights of journalists with tacit assistance by federal officials. 
  
 Such images would have offered an unvarnished view of one of the most serious episodes of civil violence in recent memory. 
  
 "Any evidence that a no-fly zone was put in place as a pretext to exclude the media from covering events in Ferguson is extraordinarily troubling and a blatant violation of the press's First Amendment rights," said Lee Rowland, an American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney specializing in First Amendment issues. 
  
 FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said in a statement Sunday his agency will always err on the side of safety. "FAA cannot and will never exclusively ban media from covering an event of national significance, and media was never banned from covering the ongoing events in Ferguson in this case." 
  
 Huerta also said that, to the best of the FAA's knowledge, "no media outlets objected to any of the restrictions" during the time they were in effect. 
  
 In the recordings, an FAA manager urged modifying the flight restriction so that planes landing at Lambert still could enter the airspace around Ferguson. 
  
 The less-restrictive change practically served the authorities' intended goal, an FAA official said: "A lot of the time the (lesser restriction) just keeps the press out, anyways. They don't understand the difference." 
  
 The Kansas City FAA manager then asked a St. Louis County police official if the restrictions could be lessened so nearby commercial flights wouldn't be affected. The new order allows "aircraft on final (approach) there at St. Louis. It will still keep news people out. ... The only way people will get in there is if they give them permission in there anyway so they, with the (lesser restriction), it still keeps all of them out." 
  
 "Yeah," replied the police official. "I have no problem with that whatsoever." 
  
 KMOV-TV News Director Brian Thouvenot told the AP that his station was prepared at first to legally challenge the flight restrictions, but was later advised that its pilot could fly over the area as long as the helicopter stayed above 3,000 feet. That kept the helicopter and its mounted camera outside the restricted zone, although filming from such a distance, he said, was "less than ideal." 
  
 None of the St. Louis stations was advised that media helicopters could enter the airspace even under the lesser restrictions, which under federal rules should not have applied to aircraft "carrying properly accredited news representatives." The FAA's no-fly notice indicated the area was closed to all aircraft except police and planes coming to and from the airport. 
  
 "Only relief aircraft operations under direction of St. Louis County Police Department are authorized in the airspace," it said. "Aircraft landing and departing St. Louis Lambert Airport are exempt." 
  
 The same day that notice was issued, a county police spokesman publicly denied the no-fly zone was to prevent news helicopters from covering the events. "We understand that that's the perception that's out there, but it truly is for the safety of pilots," Sgt. Brian Schellman told NBC News. 
  
 Ferguson police were widely criticized for their response following the death of Brown, who was shot by a city police officer, Darren Wilson, on Aug. 9. Later, under county police command, several reporters were arrested, a TV news crew was tear gassed and some demonstrators were told they weren't allowed to film officers. In early October, a federal judge said the police violated demonstrators' and journalists' rights by forcing them to stay in constant motion. 
  
 "Here in the United States of America, police should not be bullying and arresting reporters who are just doing their jobs," President Barack Obama said Aug. 14, two days after police confided to federal officials the flight ban was secretly intended to keep media helicopters out of the area. "The local authorities, including police, have a responsibility to be transparent and open." 
  
 The restricted flight zone initially encompassed airspace in a 3.4-mile radius around Ferguson and up to 5,000 feet in altitude, but police agreed to reduce it to 3,000 feet after the FAA's command center in Warrenton, Virginia, complained to managers in Kansas City that it was impeding traffic into St. Louis. 
  
 The flight restrictions remained in place until Aug. 22, FAA records show. A police captain wanted it extended when officials were set to identify Wilson by name as the officer who shot Brown and because Brown's funeral would "bring out the emotions," the recordings show. 
  
 "We just don't know what to expect," he told the FAA. "We're monitoring that. So, last night we shot a lot of tear gas, we had a lot of shots fired into the air again. It did quiet down after midnight, but with that ... we don't know when that's going to erupt." 
  
 The recordings do not capture early conversations about the initial flight restriction imposed a day earlier, but they nonetheless show the FAA still approved and modified the flight restriction after the FAA was aware that its main intent was to keep the media away. 
  
 One FAA official at the agency's command center asked the Kansas City manager in charge whether the restrictions were really about safety. "So are (the police) protecting aircraft from small-arms fire or something?" he asked. "Or do they think they're just going to keep the press out of there, which they can't do." 
  
 ___ 
  
 On Twitter, follow Jack Gillum at https://twitter.com/jackgillum and Joan Lowy at https://twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy |||||
Solution:
As protests erupted in Ferguson, Mo., this summer, police sought a no-fly zone over the area for "safety"—but later admitted it was to keep the media out. Federal Aviation Administration officials agreed to impose flight restrictions on more than 37 square miles of airspace, but they tried to find a way to allow police helicopters and commercial traffic in while keeping news helicopters out, according to recordings obtained by the AP, which notes that the recordings raise serious questions about whether "police were trying to suppress aerial images of the demonstrations and the police response by violating the constitutional rights of journalists with tacit assistance by federal officials." In one recording, a Kansas City FAA manager says police didn't care if commercial traffic went through the restricted area all day long, they just "didn't want media in there." Police claimed they asked for restrictions after a police helicopter was shot, but an FAA manager described that as "rumors," and there's no police report on the alleged shooting. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta tells the Los Angeles Times that the agency "cannot and will never exclusively ban media from covering an event of national significance" and the media was never banned from covering events in Ferguson. On the recordings, however, FAA officials speak of the restrictions that were put in place effectively keeping the press out because "they don't understand the difference."