Statements
Letter to LAPD Chief
Chief Michel Moore
Office of the Chief of Police
100 West First Street
Suite 1072
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-486-0150
[email protected]
Re: First Amendment Rights of Journalists
Chief Moore,
Over the last two years, we have seen an unprecedented number of protests and public demonstrations in Los Angeles. These protests are matters of huge public interest, and our community requires news about these events. Because many of these protests have been focused on political accountability and reform, details of how your department is responding to protesters are as noteworthy as the messages of the protesters. It is imperative that your department allow journalists maximum access to these events, including when officers make arrests or decide to disperse a crowd.
Journalists are conduits of information to the broader community, recording and reporting on events as “surrogates for the public” (Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 555, 572-73 [1980]). Denying press access to events of public importance not only violates journalists’ rights but harms society as a whole by depriving the public of information about their government’s actions (Cox Broad. Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469, 492 [1975]).
The First Amendment protects filming and photographing police officers in the performance of their duties
Journalists have a well-established First Amendment right to engage in news-gathering activities (Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665, 681 [1972]). Protected press activities include video recording and photographing police officers in the performance of their public duties (Smith v. City of Cumming, 212 F.3d 1332, 1333 [11th Cir. 2000], recognizing the right of all people to photograph or videotape police conduct; Schnell v. City of Chicago, 407 F.2d 1084, 1085 [7th Cir. 1969], finding police interference with news reporters and photographers’ constitutional right to gather and report news and to photograph news events violated First Amendment). Your department should ensure that all officers know that the press has a right to document police conduct during protests and the officers are trained not to interfere with journalists’ news-gathering activities.
Police officers can only restrict press access to protests if it is necessary to maintain public safety
Streets, sidewalks and parks are considered traditional public fora and, accordingly, restrictions on First Amendment activity in these spaces must be “narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest” (McCullen v. Coakley, 134 S. Ct. 2518, 2529 [2014]). Members of the press are entitled to at least equal access to events and demonstrations as members of the public (Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 833-34 [1974]). Any space that is open to pedestrians or protesters must be similarly open to journalists.
Further, some courts have recognized that journalists have a right to observe police activities when they close streets or disperse protesters, so long as they are not interfering with the police’s work (Index Newspapers v. City of Portland, 480 F. Supp.3d 1120, 1147 [D. Or. 2020], finding no government interest served by dispersing journalists and legal observers attempting to record police closing streets because of a riot; Connell v. Town of Hudson, 733 F. Supp.465, 471-2 [D.N.H. 1990], recognizing the right to take photographs of the scene, as long as it does not directly interfere with the police investigation or disturb evidence). Accordingly, journalists cannot be confined to a press or staging area unless the government has a compelling reason to restrict their access. Any limitation your department imposes on the press at protests must be consistent with those applied to the general public and be implemented to prevent interference in police work.
Targeting members of certain press outlets for exclusion violates the First Amendment
The government cannot restrict press access because of the journalist’s perceived political ideology or their audience’s beliefs (United Teachers of Dade v. Stierheim, 213 F. Supp. 2d 1368, 1373 [D. Fla. 2002], finding the school board couldn’t exclude teachers union newsletter drafter from meetings because the readers were teachers). Police cannot deprive certain journalists of access to information made available to others, even if the decision is not explicitly motivated by animus towards the journalist’s views (Nicholas v. N.Y.C., 2017 WL 766905 [S.D.N.Y. 2017], finding photojournalists could not be excluded arbitrarily or based on viewpoint where others were permitted; American Broadcasting Co. v. Cuomo, 570 F.2d 1080, 1083 [2d Cir. 1977], “once there is … participation by some of the media, the First Amendment requires equal access to all of the media or the rights of the First Amendment would no longer be tenable”). Your department has to treat all members of the press equally, regardless of the views their publications express and the medium through which they communicate with their audience. Even arbitrarily different treatment of journalists cannot be justified.
We appreciate your commitment to observing the First Amendment and respecting the rights of journalists. We are happy to serve as a resource should any issues or concerns arise at protests in the future months.
Sincerely,
Industrial Workers of the World
Freelance Journalists Union
New York City Industrial Union
Branch 450
freelancejournalistsunion.org
IWW FJU Establishes Solidarity Strike Fund
The Industrial Workers of the World Freelance Journalists Union is proud to announce that we have voted to create a Solidarity Strike Fund.
Whenever a publication’s staff union goes on strike, the IWW FJU will offer $120 (eight hours of work at $15 an hour) per pre-commissioned story to every dues-paying IWW FJU member who resolves not to file with that publication until the strike is over.
Solidarity strikes, also known as secondary strikes, are technically illegal in the United States. However, US labor law does not recognize freelancers as workers — meaning the prohibition on solidarity strikes should not apply to us. The IWW FJU Solidarity Strike Fund will thus intentionally heighten the contradictions in US labor law, while providing material support to fellow freelancers in the process.
Any dues-paying IWW FJU member who fulfills the aforementioned criteria can request support from the Solidarity Strike Fund by emailing the IWW FJU Admin Committee.
In solidarity with GMG Union on strike
On March 1, GMG Union, which represents workers at Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku, Lifehacker and The Root, announced that its members are on strike and requested that freelancers not contribute to the company’s publications for the time being.
In response, the Industrial Workers of the World Freelance Journalists Union expresses our full solidarity with GMG Union.
We have made a donation to the GMG Union’s fundraiser and encourage readers to do the same: Support Striking GMG Union Workers
We also endorse the request that all freelancers refrain from pitching stories to or filing drafts with GMG publications. To that end, IWW FJU members who provide evidence of having a story commissioned by a GMG publication, but resolve not to file it until the strike is over, can request $120 (eight hours of work at $15 an hour) of interim financial support from the IWW FJU Admin Committee: [email protected]
The IWW FJU wishes GMG Union a swift victory in its conflict with management. Until then, we hold fast to the IWW motto: An injury to one is an injury to all!
Statement of support for Outside Union
On January 4, 2022, the workers of Outside magazine announced their decision to unionize. They cite salaries below market standards, an unclear path for advancement, and lack of progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion goals as some of their reasons for organizing.
Management of Outside Inc., Outside’s parent company, met with union members on the next day and declined to voluntarily recognize their union. Workers have since filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board and are confident they will see their union certified.
Workers are now asking supporters for social media posts tagging the Outside Union (@outsidemagunion) and demanding CEO Robin Thurston (@RobinJThurston) and VP Jon Dorn (@JonDorn) to voluntarily recognize their union.
The IWW Freelance Journalist Union is committed to building worldwide working-class solidarity and fully supports the workers of Outside in their struggle to build the power they deserve.
In solidarity with workers at Current Affairs
On August 18, 2021, the workers of Current Affairs announced that they suffered retaliatory firings in response to a campaign reorganizing the magazine into a worker co-op. These organizational efforts took place over the course of more than a year, and the workers at Current Affairs — a magazine that proudly calls itself a socialist publication — believed that they had the support of Editor-in-Chief Nathan J. Robinson. The fired workers are now soliciting donations for a hardship fund via Cash App.
On August 7, after discussing organizational models for transforming the workplace into a democratic environment where “all voices were equally valued”, Robinson became agitated and, the following day, started to request resignations from workers, eliminate positions and terminate Freelance Contributing Editor Aisling McCrea.
The team at Current Affairs released a statement, signed by five workers (Allegra Silcox, Lyta Gold, Kate Christian Gauthreaux, Aisling McCrea and Cate Root), speaking to the betrayal, sadness and anger that they felt in the wake of the firings.
This authoritarian act, damaging to both the fired staff and the publication that they helped become a leading leftist magazine, was compounded by the fact that Current Affairs regularly published many articles supporting unionization, organizing and democratic workplaces, making the sudden firings even more outrageous.
The IWW Freelance Journalists Union is committed to the motto of the Industrial Workers of the World: “An injury to one is an injury to all.” The IWW FJU is also committed to the principle of power being held by the workers, rather than hoarded by the bosses.