For decades, the San Francisco Police Department has administered the program that awards press passes to reporters working in San Francisco. But the police department's policy came under scrutiny last week when a reporter for 48 Hills, an alternative online news site, was kicked out of a police department news conference because she didn't have a press pass. Coinciding with the start of new Chief Bill Scott's tenure this week, it's opportune for the city to review this policy to determine: 1) if SFPD should even be issuing the passes to reporters who might cover them, thus presenting a conflict; 2) if not, then what department should assume that responsibility; and 3) who will define what constitutes a legitimate reporter or news organization.
For the last several years – at least by our experience – reporters are granted a pass if they are full-time employees "who cover police and fire stories on a regular basis, and who regularly are present at the scene of a police or fire-related story where it may be necessary to go beyond police and fire lines," according to the SFPD's media relations unit. In our case, freelancers are not full-time employees yet do cover events at City Hall and other government entities, such as federal courts, but are not allowed press passes because of the police and fire reporting qualification. City Hall and the courts often require a government-issued press pass – like the ones issued by the SFPD.
In the case that erupted last week, 48 Hills reporter Sana Saleem, who regularly covers the police department, was removed from the SFPD news conference at which officials played the body camera footage from a recent officer-involved shooting of unarmed city resident Sean Moore. The fact that it was very unusual for police to ask to see Saleem's pass brings attention to the possibility that access could be abused if the department didn't like a reporter's coverage and blacklisted them in response. 48 Hills editor Tim Redmond told us that he has an SFPD press pass, and that the police department had, up until last week's incident, regarded the site as a news organization, making what happened even more inexplicable.
We understand the need to restrict news conferences to legitimate reporters – and to be clear, not everyone sitting at home writing a blog is a journalist. But 48 Hills, founded by old San Francisco Bay Guardian staffers, is not a blog; it's an online news site that covers San Francisco. Mainstream papers have plenty of reporters who are issued the press passes who do not routinely cover police and fire stories; those who cover City Hall have them, for example.
For his part, former acting police Chief Toney Chaplin told the Police Commission last week that he's looking into the matter. With the swearing in of a new chief Monday, new leadership presents the ideal time to re-examine the city's policy.
We think that news reporters for print, TV, radio, and online publications should be issued city press passes, whether they work full- or part-time. This week, Supervisor Aaron Peskin said he would ask City Attorney Dennis Herrera to draft legislation to create a new system for granting passes to journalists. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Peskin said the police department shouldn't have the final say-so on the matter.
It's important that journalists have proper identification for covering news events, whether that's a Board of Supervisors meeting, a federal court case, or the police department. The SFPD media relations department states that it encourages news agencies "to issue its own credential to reporters who do not regularly cover police and fire-related stories." But that's unlikely to solve the problem, as many times only an authentic government-issued pass will be accepted without challenge. For photographers, it's critical that they have press passes so they can access news events at the moment they are happening.
These days, SFPD – rightfully – should be focused on its reform efforts and implementing recommendations from the blue ribbon panel and federal Department of Justice on officer use-of-force and de-escalation techniques. The new chief, formerly from the Los Angeles Police Department, needs to lead his new department and gain the support of the rank and file. While the police department has long run the press pass program, it's time to remove any potential conflict of interest so the police can't be gatekeepers to their critics. There must be recognition of the changing media landscape as more diverse media outlets cover the city – long gone are the days when there were two daily papers and a handful of television stations – and the definition of legitimate reporters and news organizations must be expanded.
As Peskin told the Chronicle, "It's more important than ever" to have a visible press corps, especially in the age of President Donald Trump. He said that he would work to determine what best practices are, "and if they don't exist, we are going to figure them out."
We agree. An independent city agency for handling press passes is the way to go.