The National Press Photographers Association is torqued at new requirements for getting credentials to shoot Major League Baseball games and practices. The vague and arbitrary guidelines allow the MLB to deny credentials to organizations it doesn’t like, and the requirements restrict the number of pictures that can be posted online to seven. See NPPA press release on this issue. This is becoming more and more of a problem with professional sports AND even high school sports. These franchises are trying to restrict the use of photos and video from their events so they can try to make money online, but at the same time they welcome the free publicity that comes with game coverage. News organizations need to take a stand on this. Ban together and say “no” to these agreements. Don’t sign them. Sue them. And if that doesn’t work, don’t cover their events. We don’t allow government to tell us what to do. Why should we let sports organizations control content?

The New Lenox School District in Illinois denied a newspaper’s request to see phone records, saying they haven’t looked at the detailed list posted online at AT&T’s Web site, and therefore the district does not possess the records and doesn’t have to give them out. This is a wacky use of a “technicality.” In many states, the public records laws apply to documents used, maintained or possessed by a public agency. This school district is saying that the phone call list is on the phone company’s Web site, so the district doesn’t possess the records. The district also said it doesn’t check the phone records, essentially saying they don’t monitor their own calling to check for fraud or improper use. On both accounts, this school district gets an F in transparency and public accountability. See story.

Legislation in Mississippi would make public more information from criminal incidents without jeapardizing investigations, and penalize agencies that illegally deny records with fines of $25 for each day access is denied. Journalists and police are trying to work out something that can work. See story.

The state auditor in West Virginia is making it easier for citizens to find out 65,000 state worker salaries by an online search menu that allows retrieval by name or department. Last year, the first year the salaries were posted online, the information was provided as a long pdf file, which was difficult to download. Now it’s easy for citizens to check on their public employees, as it should be in every state. See story.

As reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, the stat Senate Government Operations Committee tabled a bill that would have hid police disciplinary records from public view. Even Sen. Chris Buttars, the bill’s sponsor, voted against the bill, saying that the bill wasn’t what he thought it was.
The bill, SB 260, would have deemed police disciplinary records private unless the officer appealed the ruling or agreed to release the document the public. The measure was opposed by the Utah Media Coalition and the Utah Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Tucked away into President Bush’s 2009 budget was language that eliminates the FOIA ombudsman. The newly-created position was at the heart of legislation that Bush recently signed into law, and was intended to expedite government’s response to Freedom of Information Act requests. Cox Newspapers‘ Rebecca Carr explains that without the ombudsman position we shouldn’t expect any improvements in the painfully slow FOIA process.

See the transcript

Used with permission from the Salt Lake Tribune

The state’s largest police department and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker are backing a controversial bill that would severely limit public access to the disciplinary records of police officers.
Police Chief Chris Burbank this week cast the effort as a way to put city cops on par with Salt Lake County officers who enjoy greater protection of disciplinary records. In what could be a litmus test for the new mayor on records-access issues, Becker said he is taking the chief’s advice.
“On the advice of our police chief, we support it,” said Helen Langan, a spokeswoman for Becker. “It’s a sensible thing to do.”
SB260 <http://le.utah.gov/%7E2008/htmdoc/sbillhtm/sb0260.htm> , sponsored by Sen. Chris Buttars, would give police throughout the state the same exemption carved out for county officers: disciplinary charges against them would not be made public unless the officer appeals the sanction or agrees to open the records.

mrogers@sltrib.com <mailto:mrogers@sltrib.com>

Twice in a week the Maricopa County sheriff  in Arizona lost public records cases, costing taxpayers even more money because of his lack of willingness to follow the law. A superior court judge awarded $25,000 to the Tucson Citizen for Sheriff Joe Arpaio dragging his heels on a request (submitted in July and got records in December), and a state court of appeals ruled that the sheriff failed to provide records in a timely matter to the Phoenix New Times. In August a court ruled that the sheriff couldn’t arbitrarily withhold news releases from publications it didn’t like, including the West Valley View newspaper. See story.

Utah’s court system is soliciting comment on new rules governing media in the courtroom. While some elements of rule 4-401 are good, such as allowing the media to copy the audio and video feeds from the courtroom, there is one poison-pill provision. It restricts photographers from taking pictures of documents that have not been introduced into evidence, as well as people the photographer should know are minors. The first part of the rule is a response to the Deseret Morning News’ getting a one-in-a-million shot of a note polygamist leader Warren Jeffs tried to hand to a judge that said Jeffs did not consider himself a prophet of God. As media attorney Jeff Hunt points out, the rules are overly broad. Courtrooms practically bristle with documents, and how is a photographer supposed to know which ones are part of the record and which are not? Also, how could a photographer cover a trial of a 17-year-old defendant being tried as an adult? While he may be considered an adult for purposes of the trial, he is still a minor under the law. After giving Utah journalists one of the best shield rules in the nation, it would a disaster to have the Supreme Court approve this rule. Click here to read the rule, and here to weigh in.

A bill proposed in the Illinois Legislature (HB 4270) would require government agencies to provide a record in any form or format requested if readily accessible in that form or format and make reasonable efforts to maintain records in a format that is reproducible. More than 30 states have a statute or case law that requires the agency to provide records in the format requested. But many states don’t, and that’s a problem.