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Benton County OR Commissioners put their feet in mouths [1]
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Date: 2023-09-25
I’m not even sure where to begin, and I’m amazed this happened in Benton County, home of Oregon State University and fairly liberal (maybe I’m just comparing it to my county next door, which is almost solid red). According to the Corvallis Gazette, the County Commissioners voted unanimously to refuse to speak to any reporter who is “biased”. According to whom, you ask? Well… them, it sounds like. And if this seems like a huge can of worms spilling, then I think you’re right.
https://gazettetimes.com/news/local/government-politics/benton-county-media-policy-judges-media-bias/article_dbdf43b6-599c-11ee-8688-0bdbad695bfa.html#tracking-source=home-top-story In a unanimous vote, Benton County's elected officials last week ushered in a new media policy that, among other things, says officials will refuse to talk to members of the media who aren't "objective." The policy funnels nearly all communication through the county's public information officer, Cory Grogan, who said the changes are all in the name of transparency. Two lawyers familiar with press rights say, however, that the move does just the opposite, and at least one believes it is problematic under the First Amendment and may violate Oregon ethics laws. Both called it anti-democratic. It's not completely clear how the government agency will measure objectivity. When pressed, Grogan said by email the county will "rely on the expertise of our subject matter experts to assess the objectivity of a reporter's work, especially when dealing with contentious or politically sensitive subjects."
It’s a long article and worth reading, and this is just the beginning because this will play out in the courts and in the news for a while. I can kinda see their struggle — not that we have a lot of OAN or FOX news reporters hounding county commissioners (and possibly these commissioners are conservatives wanting to refuse AP reporters) . But the problem (beside it being illegal) is that such a law can be used to cut off legitimate reporters who a commissioner doesn’t like.
"This policy is littered with several legal issues," Laurie Hieb, executive director of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, said by email. The trade organization's attorney, Jack Orchard, put it this way: "A policy of general applicability that public officials can pick and choose what and to whom they will speak raises significant First Amendment issues. That's government permitting discrimination or retaliation against journalists,especially if information is shared with other parties which is otherwise responsive to a journalist's questions."
I’ll be trying to follow this — and hope it will be covered in the papers during the inevitable lawsuit. But meanwhile, I wanted to report this as yet another sterling example of not thinking things all the way through.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/25/2195428/-Benton-County-OR-Commissioners-put-their-feet-in-mouths
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