New England First Amendment Coalition
April 2020
COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The New England First Amendment Coalition is supporting a free legal hotline open to all news media in the region — print, broadcast, audio, video and online — seeking help obtaining access to public records, government meetings and public spaces during the COVID-19 crisis. Prince Lobel Tye, a Boston media law firm, is operating the hotline pro bono. Direct all inquiries to ACCESS@PrinceLobel.com or call 1.888.428.7490. [...]



NEFAC and a group of open government advocates called on Maine officials to release town-by-town COVID-19 case data. “Access to more information on numbers of COVID-19 cases by specific location would have direct public health benefits, by allowing the public to better prepare and take precautions,” they wrote in an April 27 letter to Gov. Janet Mills and Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control. “It would also serve to enhance public confidence in Maine’s response by replacing rumors and suspicion with solid data.” [...]

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“We can’t lower our expectations because things might be harder right now,” Justin Silverman, executive director for the New England First Amendment Coalition, told Hearst Connecticut Media Group. “The public needs to be able to oversee who is in on the conversation, what they are saying and why they are making the decisions that they are … to have any of these conversations occurring in secret without any kind of public oversight would really be to the great detriment of the public.” [...]

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The New England First Amendment Coalition is providing educators throughout the region with expert speakers for an increasing number of virtual classes being taught during the COVID-19 pandemic. The coalition can work with teachers of all levels — grade school through college graduate programs — to develop presentations addressing civics, journalism, freedom of information laws and other aspects of democracy and the First Amendment. [...]



The New England First Amendment Coalition recently issued a statement about the recent changes to Gov. Raimondo's press briefing procedure: “whether in person or remotely, journalists need to be able to meaningfully engage with the governor,” including having the option of asking follow-up questions, “which can lead to more clarity and understanding of how the state is responding to the pandemic.” [...]



With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and an Open Meeting Law heavily modified by executive order, technological barriers represent a learning curve faced by public leaders, Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, told the Salem News. “Because there’s such a learning curve in most cases, and the public is still being shut out of meetings, these officials should be doing everything they can to mitigate the damage from that secrecy and go above and beyond the requirements of Open Meeting Law,” he said. [...]



The New England First Amendment Coalition and the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications offered two free online classes about the First Amendment and the public’s right to know about government: Freedom of Information Laws and Your Right to Know on April 23 and the First Amendment in Times of Crisis on April 29. [...]



Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, said the state ought to be sharing more specific information with municipalities so that residents can better understand how the virus is affecting communities at large. “Transparency during this pandemic is crucial,” he said. “We need to have timely information about the coronavirus so we can make the best decisions about keeping ourselves and our families safe. Without knowing how many cases of the virus are in our towns, it’s difficult if not impossible to assess the threat.” [...]

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Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, said there is real worry among journalists that some state agencies will use the crisis to create a new, less transparent normal. “Our concern is that public agencies are going to use the pandemic as an excuse to be more secretive than they actually were,” Silverman said. The fear is that the slow, delayed, and or denied requests will set expectations for transparent and open access to government information. “There’s a lot of opportunity there for the public to be shut out and secrecy to be increased across the board,” Silverman said. [...]

NEFAC commends everyone who is keeping our communities informed during this COVID-19 pandemic. In a climate of pervasive misinformation and government secrecy, we want to assist you. Our Board of Directors includes many of the region’s best journalists, news professionals and attorneys. Please tell us about your current needs and how we can assist. Email NEFAC Executive Director Justin Silverman at justin@nefac.org .

If you can, please support these much-needed efforts by making a donation today .

In a pair of decisions released on March 12, 2020, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ordered law enforcement agencies to provide incident reports, mugshots, and prosecution data to The Boston Globe. 

In both decisions, the SJC rejected arguments — long invoked by agencies and municipalities — that arrest and prosecution records are confidential under the state’s Criminal Offender Record Information Act (CORI Act). At the same time, the SJC limited the reach of the public records law to carry out the state’s policy of preventing undue collateral consequences from criminal charges. [...]

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