Journalism is not a crime. Gov. Newsom must sign a bill protecting reporters’ rights
Thousands of journalists across California have a stake in Senate Bill 98, which would protect journalists covering protests and civil unrest. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a previous version of the bill last year, taking issue with its definition of “journalist,” but circumstances have changed.
In more than 50 documented instances over a year, clearly identified journalists reported being targeted by law enforcement while covering protests in California. A disproportionate number of those journalists are Black and brown.
In dozens of cases, officers injured, detained or arrested journalists who were covering protests and simply doing their First Amendment-protected jobs.
One of those journalists was Sacramento Bee reporter Dale Kasler, whom police arrested during a Stephon Clark protest in 2019, along with reporters from the Sacramento Business Journal and the State Hornet, a California State University newspaper. Sacramento Bee photojournalist Hector Amezcua reported that a police officer used a bike to hit and push him to the ground.
In June 2020, Sacramento police detained Jeoffrey Zingapan, co-founder of Black Zebra productions, while he was covering a protest for The Sacramento Bee. Officers handcuffed Zingapan as he was filming an arrest on a public sidewalk.
Because of incidents such as these, more than 20 journalism organizations and unions representing thousands of members across the state joined forces to support SB 98. This is the first time all these groups have come together to create such an alliance in the name of press freedom.
The bill, authored by state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, would allow journalists to continue covering protests and other events without fear of arrest even if law enforcement officers declare an unlawful assembly. The bill would also prevent police from intentionally interfering with or assaulting journalists in the process of newsgathering. The bill extends the state protections already in place for journalists covering disasters to those covering civil unrest.
What’s significantly different about this version of the bill is that it clarifies that journalists don’t have a right to access inside police command posts and cannot obstruct police carrying out their duties, answering concerns Newsom had with the original bill.
While law enforcement representatives have voiced concerns that SB 98 would make it difficult for police to distinguish between journalists and bad actors, they have not provided examples of any such occurrences despite being repeatedly asked to do so.
A free press is essential to a functioning democracy. Journalists are the eyes and ears of the public and must have the freedom to cover civil disturbances without interference. Erosion of press rights results in an uninformed or ill-informed public.
Newsom should sign SB 98 not just to protect the rights of thousands of journalists across California but also to ensure the public’s right to know and send a clear message that journalism is not a crime.