“It is for very good reason that the First Amendment protects the right to take photographs or videos in public. Much of the news happens on our city streets, in parks and in other public places. People who fear they may be breaking the law while gathering the news may simply self-censor, depriving the public of their images, recordings and news coverage. The right to take pictures and record videos in public is precious. We must safeguard it.”
the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
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Major news outlets are sharing their plans to cover the 2020 election and its results. The New York Times is stationing 20 campaign reporters on the ground in battleground states and 35 photographers across the country with candidates. Hundreds of other journalists across its global newsroom will also be contributing to its coverage throughout election day. The Washington Post says it won't predict the election outcome, explaining it created a vote modeling tool that will help the newsroom determine with reasonable confidence if an election is too close to call and where votes remain to be counted. The Associated Press explains how it plans to report election results, saying, “The AP is covering all of these stories the best way we know how: with cold, hard facts.”
The Daily Gamecock, the University of South Carolina's student publication,
announced it will not be producing content of any kind for the next week. In an editorial, the staff shared it “made a promise to prioritize mental health not only in our coverage, but in our newsroom — in ourselves.” It added that this semester has been difficult for many reasons as the staff balances covering breaking news with quarantines, usual course loads and more. “We haven’t been sleeping. We’ve forgotten to eat. We’ve been staring at screens for hours on end. Our negligence of our mental health has started to impact our physical health, and it’s also affected our ability to produce the highest-quality content possible,” the editorial said.
On Friday, Senator Chris Murphy announced legislation to protect journalists from political targeting. This came after reports that President Donald Trump’s political appointees at the United States Global Agency for Media launched a politically-motivated investigation into Voice of America White House Reporter Steve Herman.
Minneapolis Star Tribune sports columnist Sid Hartman died at age 100 Sunday. From a humble start selling newspapers on the street in 1928, he wrote about sports for the Star Tribune for the ensuing decades. Hartman was still writing three columns a week, his final one appearing on the day he died. According to a count by Star Tribune staffer Joel Rippel, Hartman produced 21,235 bylined stories in his career, from 1944 until the one that ran in Sunday’s Sports section. That column was his 119th of 2020.
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Join us Thursday for #SPJTruth – a day of fighting disinformation, misinformation and claims of “fake news.” Journalism experts will share ways you can cover COVID-19 and the upcoming election by knowing how to navigate through the noise and report only the facts to your readers, viewers and listeners. Organized by the SPJ Ethics Committee in lieu of Ethics Week this year, the day will be full of panels, interviews and other activities to help as you follow the first of the four tenets of the code: seek truth and report it. Visit the #SPJTruth Day page to view the hub of helpful resources available and see the full schedule of events.
SPJ has begun transitioning to a new member database. For the next few weeks and likely until Nov. 30, we anticipate delays in processing new member applications and current member renewals. This should not dissuade individuals from submitting these applications, however, please expect a longer turnaround time. Current members whose membership expires during this time will still receive member benefits. Members will be made aware via email and newsletter when the new system is fully operational.
SPJ welcomes its new Staff Accountant Nathan Rushton to the team. He comes to our organization from a variety of engagements in the for-profit sector and has fantastic skills and experience in accounting practices. We are thrilled to have you, Nate!
The SPJ Central Ohio Pro Chapter is continuing an important conversation with a panel of veteran journalists from earlier this month at 7 p.m. EDT Monday. During “Covering the 2020 Election in the Swing States - Part 2,” panelists will discuss what issues concern voters in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and how much impact COVID-19, Black Lives Matter protests, the Supreme Court nomination, absentee ballots and Russian interference are having on the presidential election and down-ballot races as Election Day approaches.
Don’t forget this week is Free Speech Week! Celebrate the importance of freedom of speech and of the press in our democracy and watch our social media for articles and resources to share.
A volunteer is needed to fill the Region 7 Coordinator position. Anyone interested in being appointed to that role should contact SPJ National President Matthew T. Hall. Only SPJ members in Region 7 — Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska — are eligible to serve. This role has a one-year term that expires September 2021.
A buyout, a merger and a gossip columnist documentary are all in the questions in this week's News Biz Quiz.
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FIGHTING FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT |
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The case Villarreal v. City of Laredo involves the arrest of a citizen journalist who asked a police source for non-public information about the suicide of a law enforcement agent. The arrest and prosecution were rightfully tossed, but the journalist is suing the city of Laredo under a federal statute that allows individuals to sue governments and state employees who violated their civil rights, including their rights under the First Amendment. The trial court dismissed the lawsuit, finding that because a reasonable law enforcement officer would have believed that it is a crime to ask for nonpublic information, the officer was immune from liability. The blogger has appealed. The amicus brief argues the statute under which the journalist was arrested — a law that applies to the misuse of official information for purposes such as bid rigging — cannot apply to the constitutionally protected activity of news gathering.
The appeal for the case Perry v. Hollingsworth concerns KQED's long-running attempts to gain access to video recordings of the trial that took place in the Northern District of California in 2010. SPJ has signed prior amicus briefs in this case from August 2018 and July 2020. The new brief is similar to previous ones SPJ has signed. It argues that the release of the recordings would serve the interests advanced by the First Amendment and common law rights of access and the proponents have not advanced a compelling interest to justify the continued sealing of the recordings and that any sealing must be narrowly tailored. The release would also enhance the completeness of news reports about the trial and that video and audio recordings improve reporting on matters of historical significance.
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Retro Report is hosting a panel with experts on domestic violence at 6 p.m. EDT today, with the goal of generating a set of best practices for journalists. Melissa Jeltsen, Rossalyn Warren, Ashley Southall and Andrea González-Ramírez, four journalists whose reporting is considered a reference for fair coverage on the topic, will be joined by Kelli Owens, executive director of New York State's Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. The conversation will focus on the ways domestic violence is covered by news organizations and how they can do better.
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Participate in a Twitter chat at noon EDT Thursday with SPJ National President Matthew T. Hall, where you can find out everything you’ve wanted to know about disinformation and journalism ethics. Make sure to use the #SPJTruth hashtag if you want to join the discussion live. You can also submit questions ahead of time.
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UNESCO-International Center for Journalists created a global survey on online harassment of women journalists. The survey seeks to assess the scale of online violence targeting women journalists around the world and to help identify solutions to the problem. The results of the survey will feed into a UNESCO global study on online harassment of women journalists and is part of a broader effort to tackle this issue, which involves research, capacity building and awareness-raising.
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