Californians Aware

The CalAware Guide to Journalism Law in California

This comprehensive guide to all law relevant to journalism in California covers both the rights of access to people, places and information afforded reporters and photojournalists as well as the protection for news accounts, editorial opinions and art, and post-publication encounters with legal challenges.

Issues addressed in the guide include:
• access to government meetings and records, court proceedings and judicial records at both the local and federal levels;
• cameras and recording equipment in the courtroom;
• information on hospital patients under HIPAA;
• avoiding liability for trespass, intrusion, secret eavesdropping and recording;
• California’s unique paparazzi laws;
• avoiding libel, slander and invasion of privacy; and
• protection from subpoenas and pretrial discovery under California and federal law.
A chapter on the rights of high school and college journalists covers California laws providing freedom from censorship and punitive discipline, as well as access to crime records at colleges and universities.
The pocket-sized guide presents information in a highly accessible question and answer format plus “News Notes” sidebars on obstacles or opportunities posed by the law. Also provided are detachable forms and statements including a CaliforniaPublic Records Act request; a template for a written demand for correction of a violation of the open meeting law; a caution against an impending unlawful police search for constitutionally protected material; and a statement to the court protesting exclusion from a legal proceeding.
The guide is written by Terry Francke, general counsel for the nonprofit public interest organization Californians Aware, with more than 36 years’ experience helping journalists, citizen watchdogs, attorneys and even government officials and employees understand the open government laws. Francke is also author of the other CalAware Guides on Public Records and Private Information in California and Open Meetings in California.

https://www.more.calaware.org/calaware-guides/the-calaware-guide-to-journalism-law-california/

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The CalAware Guide to Public Records and Private Information in California

This comprehensive guide to all California law providing or restricting access to government and judicial records focuses on the California Public Records Act (records of state executive branch officials, boards and departments and local government agencies) but also covers the statutes providing access to records of the state Legislature, case and administrative records of the trial and appellate courts, records of the California Judicial Council, the Commissions on Judicial Appointments and Judicial Performance, the State Bar, and locally adopted sunshine ordinances.
The guide analyzes each statutory provision as well as its interpretive case law and attorney general’s opinions, and includes the full text of each statute and court rule.
Issues addressed in the Public Records Act and comparable provisions governing the Legislature and court system include:
• the common law and early statutes on access;
• the definition of key terms;
• the basic access provisions on inspecting and obtaining copies of records; • the hundreds of exemptions from disclosure protecting personal, business and governmental interests;
• informal approaches to gaining access, including a model Public Records Act request letter; and
• legal remedies and litigation. Also examined is the constitutional open government mandate added by Proposition 59 of 2004.

https://www.more.calaware.org/calaware-guides/calaware-guide-public-records-private-information-california/