Vol. 14, No. 34, September 30, 2004
San Francisco Police change policy on crime information, centralizing decisions on what to release & when. Bottom line: less info, more hassle
(San Francisco Chronicle 9/26/04) -- San Francisco police Capt. Rick Bruce, the commanding officer in the city's high-crime Bayview neighborhood, has been e-mailing daily crime alerts to residents and merchants for the past five months, providing them with the names and addresses of felony suspects freshly arrested.
But not anymore.
Under orders from his bosses, Bruce is now prohibited from sharing those
facts about the arrestees with the public -- information that Bruce said
the public is lawfully entitled to and that the department's own rules
say must be released upon request. (Read
the story)
N.Y. Times sues Attorney General Ashcroft in CIA/Novak leak probe. Suit
seeks injunction to block special prosecutor’s access to reporters’ phone
call logs
(Associated Press 9/28/2004) -- The New York Times sued Attorney General
John Ashcroft on Tuesday, seeking to block the Justice Department from
obtaining records of telephone calls between two veteran journalists and
their confidential sources.
The lawsuit said the Justice Department was "on the verge"
of getting records as part of a probe aimed at learning the identity of
government employees who may have provided information to the newspaper.
It asked a judge to intervene. (Read
the story)
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RESISTING GOVERNMENT SECRECY IN A TIME OF TERRORISM
keynote speaker
SEYMOUR HERSH
a CFAC annual free speech assembly
October 8 and 9
UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
Information and early registration available here!
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Meanwhile, CIA leak investigation tests new tactic: suspected government
leakers required to waive confidentiality for talks with press. Subpoenaed
journalists hard-pressed to protect source who is no longer “confidential.”
(New York Times 9/28/2004) -- Walter Pincus, a 71-year-old Washington Post reporter who has earned the respect and envy of his colleagues for the government contacts he has cultivated in more than 30 years at the paper, walked into a conference room at a Washington law firm two weeks ago and read a statement.
"As someone who covers national security and intelligence, I depend on confidential sources more than most reporters," he told Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor appointed to investigate the disclosure to journalists of the identity of a covert C.I.A. agent, Valerie Plame. "My sources take a chance when they trust me with information that could cost them their jobs or have other serious consequences. In turn, I will protect them." (Read the story)
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HOTLINE Q and A
The Hotline is CFAC's online legal information service. Questions from reporters, government officials, civic activists and the occasional crackpot are answered by lawyers at the national law firm of Piper Rudnick, CFAC's general counsel. Among questions this week are inquiries about the availability of a city councilmember’s contact management database, and whether a coroner’s test results for viral hepatitis can be withheld on privacy grounds.
Contact database
Q: I previously received great advice from you, which led us to hire our own lawyer. We are now going to file a lawsuit, and unfortunately our pro bono attorney has no experience in this area of law, so we’re hoping you can give us some information
We are attempting to get information from a City Councilmember and some
agencies of the city. Our Councilmember maintains a computer Contact Management
System, recording all calls and correspondence from constituents. Can
I demand (read only) access to a computer with this information?
Thank you.
A: Following up on our telephone conversation this afternoon, here is some information regarding access to the Contact Management System:
Such a document/record is not, at first blush, subject to any particular exemption in the Public Records Act, however the City Council will likely attempt to withhold it on the basis of what is called the "deliberative process privilege," a broad and somewhat amorphous exemption developed by the courts under the "catch-all" exemption to the PRA in Gov. Code sec. 6255. (Read the rest of the answer)
Viral Hepatitis Test Results
Q: I am a reporter. One of the city councilmen in the city I cover recently died from liver problems. He was in his 30s. Under the public records act, the county medical examiner released the councilman’s autopsy report, which indicated alcoholic hepatitis.
The medical examiner is refusing to release the clinical tests which were done to determine whether the councilman had VIRAL hepatitis (i.e. hepatitis A or B). They are citing Government Code 6254, which exempts from disclosure "Personnel, medical, or similar files, the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." The medical examiner says we need permission from the family to obtain the viral hepatitis test results.
This test was conducted post-mortem, as part of the autopsy, but it was
not included in the official autopsy report. Hepatitis A or B can be contracted
from any number of sources, including homosexual sex, intravenous drug
use, blood transfusions, etc. My question is this: I thought the right
of privacy under this exemption goes away when an individual dies. True?
(Read the answer)
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California Supreme Court to hear media privacy case posing question:
Can a person, once a public figure because of crime, ever regain privacy?
(The Recorder 9/28/2004) -- Eight years after serving a short prison sentence
as an accessory to murder, Steve Gates had gotten on with his life. He
had a wife and a home, had become a certified fastener, and was operating
a small business with his wife in San Bernardino County. He was a respected
member of society and wanted to forget his past.
But in 2001 his peaceful world was shaken when the Discovery Channel aired
a program recounting the 1988 murder as part of a cable television series
that re-enacted sensational crimes. Gates' name and mug shot were flashed
to the nation -- as well as to many of his surprised friends and neighbors.
(Read the
story)
9th Circuit OKs use of tobacco taxes to pay for anti-tobacco advertising.
Court says 1st Amendment limits on “coerced” speech don’t
apply when government is the speaker
(The Recorder 9/29/2004) -- California can continue to tax cigarettes to raise funds for anti-smoking ads, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. By a 2-1 vote, the court shot down the tobacco industry's argument that the use of the tax money violated its commercial speech rights under the First Amendment.
"When the government acts as a speaker," wrote Ninth Circuit Judge Raymond Fisher, "it may espouse views that directly contradict those of taxpayers without interfering with taxpayers' freedom of expression." (Read the story)
U.S. Supremes agree to hear 1st Amendment appeal by Johnnie Cochran ex-client. Cochran may have won the battle but lost the war.
(Los Angeles Times 9/29/2004) -- The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear a dispute involving a disgruntled former client of lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., to decide a potentially significant 1st Amendment question: Can a person who defamed a public figure in the past be forever banned from speaking about him in public in the future? (Read the story)
California appellate court rules police officer's disciplinary appeal record is not a “personnel record” and therefore not exempt from disclosure
(Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press 9/24/2004) -- A law enforcement officer's disciplinary appeal hearing record cannot be shielded from the public under the personnel record exemption to the California Public Records Act, a state appellate court ruled last week. (Read the story)
FERC wants reporters writing about “critical infrastructure” to submit stories to agency before publication. Agency previously wanted reporters to sign “nondisclosure agreements.”
(The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press 9/24/2004) -- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is requesting that reporters writing about the nation's energy infrastructure have their work vetted by its officials before publication.
Reporters requesting Critical Energy Infrastructure Information previously had refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement requiring them to submit their articles before publication, said Bryan Lee, a former reporter who this month became acting director of FERC's press office. (Read the story)
Legal heavyweights criticize Supreme Court clerks who, breaking with tradition of confidentiality, spoke to reporter for magazine article on Bush v. Gore
(Legal Times 9/28/2004) -- More than 90 prominent lawyers and former Supreme Court law clerks including former Attorneys General Richard Thornburgh and William Barr have joined in a statement sharply criticizing the law clerks who gave behind-the-scenes details about the 2000 case Bush v. Gore to Vanity Fair magazine.
The statement, submitted to Legal Times, says clerks who spoke to Vanity Fair contributing editor David Margolick for the piece in the magazine's October issue engaged in "conduct unbecoming any attorney or legal adviser working in a position of trust." The anonymous clerks' disclosures also violate the clerks' Code of Conduct and their "duty of confidentiality" to their justice and to the Court, the joint statement asserts. (Read the story)
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