To: Officials of the Oity of Oakland: Mayor Jerry Brown; City Manager Robert C. Bobb; City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente; City Council members Jane Brunner, Danny Wan, Nancy Nadel, Dick Spees, Larry Reid, Henry Chang; City Attorney John Russo
CC: Members of the media and First Amendment activists
March 23, 2001 - The Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists objects in the strongest possible terms to the City of Oakland's new policy regarding the media's use of the City Hall pressroom. We are shocked and outraged that the democratically elected officials of a major American city could adopt a policy so unremittingly hostile to the principles of the First Amendment and destructive to the values and practices of the freedom of the press.
Under the previous policy, media access to the pressroom was nearly unlimited, and though the room was kept locked for security reasons, approximately 20 journalists were issued keys to the room. Under the new policy, effective March 19, 2001, all keys were taken back and press room hours severely curtailed; access is now permitted only during meetings of the City Council and its committees -- all day Tuesday and two hours on Thursday -- and during "emergency or any special circumstances."
According to our information, collected in interviews conducted by SPJ, the new policy was instituted by City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente on his own initiative in an attempt to restrict the newsgathering activities of one journalist, Sanjiv Handa of the East Bay News Service. Mr. Handa typically spends upwards of 60 hours per week covering city politics, most of that on site at City Hall. It is a rare council, committee, or commission meeting indeed that does not find Mr. Handa in attendance. Mr. Handa is well known as a "gadfly" journalist and has written articles critical of Mr. De La Fuente, other officials, and city government generally for many years.
Journalists who have covered politics in other countries under communist or other totalitarian regimes will immediately recognize the tactics employed by Mr. De La Fuente: the silencing of personal and political opposition under the guise of administrative measures which are presented as "fair" because they nominally apply to all journalists equally. Such "fairness" only makes an unacceptable situation intolerable because it curtails media access generally to the workings of government. And yet, while claiming the new policy is egalitarian, Mr. De La Fuente has made clear to SPJ and others that the policy is directed at Mr. Handa's operations. He told SPJ that the new policy was instituted because it was not "fair" that Mr. Handa was "running a business" from the press room, where he did much of his work, receiving mail and packages, as well as voice mail messages on a system provided to by the city -- services available to other journalists who ask for them. "Running a business" this way is what virtually every news organization with a city hall beat reporter does. According to several sources, including a column about the new policy published March 15 in the Oakland Tribune, Mr. De La Fuente has attempted to restrict Mr. Handa's newsgathering activities on several occasions during the past five years. Apparently, this is pretty much common knowledge at City Hall.
Mr. Handa makes use of the pressroom much more than other journalists covering Oakland politics, but others use it regularly or as needed. Mr. De La Fuente told SPJ he had "absolutely no intention whatsoever to restrict access to the press. It wonąt happen. If you hear of that happening, you let me know." Well, we're letting him know. Several journalists have already complained to SPJ of their own restricted access to the press room as a result of the latest actions against Mr. Handa.
Moreover, the new policy was apparently instituted in violation of Oakland's own governmental structure and democratic processes. It was never placed on any City Council agenda or debated publicly, but by all accounts was simply ordered into effect by Mr. De La Fuente, which raises the question of whether he overstepped his authority as Council president by personally directing building management to implement the policy, when that should be the responsibility of the City Manager. (Mr. Bobb declined to talk to SPJ and directed our inquiry to Mr. De La Fuente. Staff of the City Manager's office later said, upon repeated questioning, that the office had no direct involvement with developing or implementing the policy; however, it was issued by that office and bears Mr. Bobb's signature.) Finally, local reporters and editors told SPJ that Mr. De La Fuente had contacted them in an effort to determine whether Mr. Handa was indeed a "legitimate journalist."
Government officials taking it upon themselves to decide who is and is not a journalist is something that one would expect in a dictatorship, not a democracy. It's true that no city, county, court, or other government is required by law to provide the media with a pressroom. But in that light, the fact that the City of Oakland has chosen voluntarily to restrict access to its press room in City Hall redounds only to the discredit of its official representatives, and clearly demonstrates their antagonism to the media's right to report and the public's right to know how the public's business is conducted. Governing doesn't all happen during the few hours of City Council meetings. Despite Mr. De La Fuente's assertions to the contrary, all media are suffering as a result of the new policy.
In light of these collected circumstances, the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California Chapter, insists that Oakland's new pressroom policy be rescinded immediately and the prior policy reinstated. Any future changes to the policy should be made available to the public and press for review and comment prior to their adoption. Finally, we urge that the definition of journalist in the policy be expanded from "members of the media who possess a current Oakland Police Department photo ID credential" to include staff journalists with a valid ID or press pass issued by their media organization, as well as freelance journalists with a letter of assignment or other valid ID from the editor of a publication.
We further call upon publications and media organizations to publish articles or editorials, and to contact Oakland officials directly, to express their objections to the new press room policies.
Sincerely,
Eva Martinez - president, Northern California Chapter Society of Professional Journalists
Randy Lyman, Rachel Boehm - co-chairs, Freedom of Information Committee
CONTACT: Randy Lyman at (510) 434-1307 or ahaman@fighting-words.net