First Amendment Coalition

California journalists, join us for a special workshop with reporters Candice Nguyen of NBC Bay Area, Julia Love of Bloomberg News, and Holly McDede of KQED to hear first-hand how they used public records to write impactful stories. And get tips and advice from FAC Legal Fellow Annie Cappetta on using the Public Records Act to get the info you need!

The government can't dictate editorial policies. That's why city leaders in Brentwood, in Contra Costa county, should reject the idea of requiring news outlets that get news releases or city advertising to adopt a code of ethics. See our letter with the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California Chapter.

The government can't dictate editorial policies. That's why city leaders in Brentwood, in Contra Costa county, should reject the idea of requiring news outlets that get news releases or city advertising to adopt a code of ethics. See our letter with the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California Chapter.

This kind of surveillance of a journalist is deeply disturbing. "[J]ournalists should be able to do their jobs without fear that they’re going to be targets, or potential targets, of law enforcement retaliation" says FAC Legal Director David Loy.

FAC was there to assist Berkeley Scanner founder Emilie Raguso when Alameda County DA Pamela Price barred her from a press conference. Govt officials don't get to decide who covers them. "If you gather the news to disseminate to the public, you are a reporter," says FAC Legal Director David Loy.

Today we sued Alameda County for its sideshow ordinance that criminalizes being within 200ft of a sideshow for the purposes of observing it. We represent Jose Fermoso, a reporter for The Oaklandside, who can't cover sideshows in some parts of the county without risking being fined, arrested, or prosecuted. “Sideshows occur everywhere in our community and their effect on the safety of our communities needs to be covered. Our readers at The Oaklandside rely on my reporting to know what the city and county are doing to address the issue,” said Fermoso. “By preventing myself and other reporters from covering sideshows, the county is leaving residents with one side of the story.”

When one CA police dept handed over only 39 seconds of bodycam footage from a nearly hour-long shootout, CBS News filed a public records lawsuit to fight for police transparency for all of us. Read more ⬇

We joined Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Center for Democracy & Technology, Freedom of the Press Foundation, and others in a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that the law used to ban TikTok violates the First Amendment rights of its users and the company itself.

From our Advocacy Director Ginny LaRoe:

NEWS: We are calling on Santa Clara DA Jeff Rosen to reject charges against a Stanford University student journalist who was arrested while covering a demonstration on campus earlier this month. Read our letter with Student Law Press Center and 24 other organizations.