L.A. County Supervisors think California’s journalists deserve better protections
After an unprecedented outcry by local journalists in recent weeks, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 5 to 0 on Tuesday to support expanding legal protections for journalists covering protests and civil unrest in California.
The board’s vote adds to the momentum for the passage of SB 98, a bill that would expand modest protections against arrest for journalists covering protests in California.
In an unusual episode last week, several California senators publicly recanted their support for an amended version of SB 98 after a coalition of more than 20 press associations, advocacy groups and media unions denounced the addition of an amendment that would require journalists to secure the permission of a police commander to enter closed areas near a protest.
The board’s motion, introduced by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Sheila Kuehl, expressed support for the passage of SB 98, but only if state lawmakers remove the “commander” amendment.
At Tuesday’s meeting, local journalists who work for organizations including the Los Angeles Times and KPCC gave public comments in support of the board’s motion, including Matt Pearce, president of Media Guild of the West, the NewsGuild-CWA local that represents unionized journalists at the Los Angeles Times.
“As journalists, we don’t normally get involved in politics,” Pearce, who is also a reporter for the Times, told the board. “But over the last two years, my profession has witnessed a disturbing deterioration in law enforcement’s treatment of journalists who are on the job covering protests, demonstrations and civil unrest.”
These incidents include the L.A. Sheriff’s Department’s physical mistreatment and arrest of KPCC reporter Josie Huang, and the LAPD’s unwarranted detention of several journalists at Echo Park Lake, including Media Guild of the West member James Queally of the L.A. Times.
Huang also made comments about her own experience, describing how she was “proud” to be a journalist covering the nation’s recent reckoning with race and policing, but that “it has come at a cost.”
“Residents across the State and County depend on journalists and reporters to provide accurate and timely information on current events,” Solis said. “It is only fitting that members of the press be allowed to conduct coverage of an incident or event without facing harassment by law enforcement. SB98 in its original form, without the amendment, can protect the press from law enforcement interference and harassment during constitutionally protected activities.”
Noting the recent protests across the U.S., Kuehl added at the hearing, “We live in a restive moment when many Americans, concerned about long-standing injustices, are taking their concerns to the streets, and it is critical that the press be allowed to do its job free of harassment so that the public can have access to complete and accurate information.”
After recent “disturbing” instances of law enforcement treatment toward journalists -- “in some cases assaulting them, arresting them, harassing them, and in every way keeping them from reporting to us,” Kuehl said -- “I think it’s important for us to support this [bill] in its original form.”
The California senate approved SB 98 as amended 34 to 2 on June 1. But after sending the bill to the Assembly, and following the outcry by California journalists, bill author Sen. Mike McGuire and co-author Sen. Anthony Portantino issued a statement saying, “we have agreed to fix the problem and amend the bill back to its original form. We’ll complete this action in the bill’s first Assembly committee.”
Those interested in learning more about the journalists’ push for SB 98 and the organizations in support can visit cajournalists.org.
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Media Guild of the West is a local of the NewsGuild-CWA that represents unionized journalists at the Los Angeles Times and several other newsrooms in Southern California, Arizona and Texas. In April, the Guild’s membership voted 94% to 6% to support SB 98 as introduced.