Mendocino County’s opinions on the issues
Check out today’s editorial columns and letters to the editor from our readers.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed legislation that would protect journalists covering marches, protests, demonstrations and rallies. In doing so, Newsom has rejected a sensible set of protections for journalists doing the important work of covering tumultous and significant events. We encourage the Legislature to revisit these protections in the future.
Senate Bill 629, introduced by North Coast Sen. Mike McGuire, D-healdsburg, would allow “a duly authorized representative of any news service, online news service, newspaper, or radio or television station or network” to perform their constitutionally protected activities in areas closed by the police.
The law would shield those duly authorized representatives of the media “authorized or permitted to be in a closed area from being cited for the failure to disperse, a violation of a curfew, or a violation of resisting, delaying, or obstructing, as specified.”
The vast majority of both the state Assembly and state Senate recognized the value of the press and their coverage of what are often tumultuous and significant gatherings and recognized the need to protect the press from unjustified interference by police.
The law was approved in the Assembly by a vote of 49 to 7 in the Assembly and 31 to 2 in the state Senate.
Newsom unfortunately chose to reject Senate 629 on the grounds that “individuals who may post a security risk,” like “white nationalists, extreme anarchists or other fringe groups” might be protected by the law.
You know, because security risks like “white nationalists” and “extreme anarchists” are known for engaging “in gathering, receiving, or processing information,” carrying business cards and press badges and/or “carrying professional broadcasting or recording equipment,” activities protected by the bill.
It is not apparent to us that law enforcement are incapable of parsing the difference between members of the press engaging in their constitutionally protected work and white nationalists and extreme anarchists.
As the California News Publishers Association notes, while Newsom says the language referring to “duly authorized representatives of the news media” was overly broad, the language used in SB629 is the same as language used in the long- existing statute allowing journalists access to cover high-risk incidents like wildfires and floods.
Instead of approving legislation voted on by the representatives of Californians, Newsom for his part states he’ll turn to advisors to advise him on how to facilitate media access to protests.
If they won’t override the veto, the Legislature should give it another go.
The vast majority of both the state Assembly and state Senate recognized the value of the press and their coverage of what are often tumultuous and significant gatherings and recognized the need to protect the press from unjustified interference by police.