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Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

November 25, 2023

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that provides pro bono legal services and resources to and on behalf of journalists. The organization pursues litigation,[1] offers direct representation, submits amicus curiae briefs,[2] and provides other legal assistance on matters involving the First Amendment, press freedom, freedom of information, and court access issues.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
AbbreviationRCFP
Formation1970; 53 years ago (1970)
TypeNon-Profit
PurposeFirst Amendment, free press advocacy
Location
Executive Director
Bruce D. Brown
Websitehttp://www.rcfp.org

History edit

The Reporters Committee was formed in 1970 after New York Times reporter Earl Caldwell was ordered to reveal his sources within the Black Panthers. This led to a meeting among journalists — including J. Anthony Lukas, Murray Fromson, Fred Graham, Jack Nelson, Robert Maynard, Ben Bradlee, Tom Wicker, and Mike Wallace, among others — to discuss the need to provide legal assistance and resources to protect journalists’ First Amendment rights. The journalists in attendance formed a part-time committee dedicated to this issue, and they eventually garnered enough support from foundations and news organizations to build a staff and recruit attorneys willing to volunteer their services.

Other journalists among the committee's early members were Kenneth Auchincloss, Elsie Carper, Lyle Denniston, James Doyle, James Goodale, and Walter Cronkite.

Organizational leadership edit

Jack Landau, the Reporters Committee's first executive director, implemented many of the legal defense projects that are central to the organization today. He started the legal defense hotline[3] for journalists seeking guidance on free press and information issues, the first magazine for the press devoted to news media law developments, and the first service center offering free help to the press on accessing federal and state public records.

In 1985, Jane E. Kirtley replaced Landau as executive director. One of Kirtley's top priorities was ensuring journalists had access to knowledge of reliable legal resources. Under her direction, the Reporters Committee created the 'Open Government Guide',[4] an online resource that reviews the open records and open meetings laws in every state and Washington, D.C. The guide includes expert commentary from attorneys who are familiar with the provisions of their state's code, as well as court rulings and informal practices that affect the public's ability to obtain copies of public documents and attend government meetings. 'Agents of Discovery'[5] a series of installments reporting on subpoenas served to the news media, was another of Kirtley's major projects. Kirtley also led the Reporters Committee's efforts to produce 'The First Amendment Handbook',[6] a tool that provides basic information about media law for reporters and newsrooms and helped launch a fellowship program for the next generation of media attorneys.

In 2000, Lucy Dalglish took over as executive director.[7] Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Reporters Committee was a leading authority on efforts to withhold important information from the public. In 2002, the Reporters Committee released the first edition of "Homefront Confidential',[8] a series of summaries highlighting the evolution of the public's right to know in a post-September 11 climate.

Since 2012, Bruce Brown has served as the executive director of the Reporters Committee,[9] and worked to expand the organization's pro bono legal services and resources. With the help of Legal Director Katie Townsend,[10] who joined the organization in 2014,[11] he has built a growing litigation practice[12] that offers journalists and media organizations representation, amicus curiae support,[13] and other legal services in cases involving public records and court access, subpoena and libel defense, and more.

Since the Reporters Committee's founding, no reporter has paid for the organization's assistance in defending their First Amendment rights.

Legal resources edit

The Reporters Committee supports freedom of information in the United States through a number of free legal resources for those who gather and report the news. The Legal Defense and FOIA Hotline is available at any time to journalists and media lawyers with legal questions. The Reporters Committee's Open Government Guide[14] is a complete compendium of information on every state's open records and open meetings laws. The Open Courts Compendium[15] explains court access issues and provides specific additional information for each state and federal circuit. The Reporter's Privilege Compendium[16] is a collection of information on the rights of reporters not to be compelled to testify or disclose sources and information in court in each state and federal circuit.

In 2013, the Reporters Committee also launched iFOIA, a tool to file and track state and federal open records requests, and in 2016 the organization launched the FOIA Wiki, a website devoted to the federal Freedom of Information Act.[citation needed]

The organization also helped found the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, and in 2018, published a report based on the tracker's data assessing the state of press freedom in the U.S.[17]

Other Reporters Committee resources include a digital interactive map documenting the policies governing public access to police body camera footage in more than 100 police departments,[18] and a record of federal cases since 1844 involving leaks of government information to the news media.

Key legal victories and impact edit

In the early years after its founding, the Reporters Committee was a plaintiff in several early test-case lawsuits, including efforts to seek access to 41 million of President Richard Nixon's White House documents and tapes, as well as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's official telephone transcripts. Other lawsuits sought access to FBI arrest records and to block telephone companies from giving secret access to media telephone records.

In 2017, the Reporters Committee brought a lawsuit on behalf of two freelance journalists who requested access to the law enforcement plans for the August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally that turned violent. As a result of a settlement with the City of Charlottesville, the Charlottesville Police Department plan was released, shedding light on law enforcement actions during the event.

The Reporters Committee also filed a federal open records lawsuit in 2018 against U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security seeking access to records regarding the government's use of a summons authority in an attempt to force Twitter to reveal the users behind an anonymous account. A court order required CBP to release the records, which showed the summons had been issued improperly.

The Reporters Committee won a four-year lawsuit in 2018 on behalf of journalist Ziva Branstetter and Tulsa World over access to public records related to Oklahoma's botched execution of Clayton Lockett.[19] The court ordered thousands of pages of records to be released and ruled for the first time that public officials’ delays in releasing the information violated the public's right of access and Oklahoma Public Records Act.[20]

In 2016, the Reporters Committee and Time Inc. filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to unseal documents from the 1999 class action lawsuit settlement[21] regarding the construction of Trump Tower. In 2017, the case was returned to the district court, where the request was granted and documents detailing the terms of the more than $1 million settlement were released for the first time.[22]

In 2014, the Reporters Committee led an effort to unseal transcripts of witness testimony in a grand jury investigation[23] of the Chicago Tribune. The newspaper ran a front-page story[24] about the Battle of Midway. The subsequent grand jury investigation of reporter Stanley Johnston and the Tribune marks the only time in U.S. history that the government has attempted to prosecute a major newspaper for violating the Espionage Act for publishing leaked classified information. The Reporters Committee won the release of the transcripts, which are currently stored at the National Archives.

The Reporters Committee has been a part of several cases involving law enforcement's impersonation of journalists. In 2014, it was revealed that the FBI had impersonated an Associated Press reporter during the course of a 2007 investigation.[25] The Reporters Committee and the AP filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act for records around the FBI's policies for impersonation,[26] and secured a victory in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017.[27]

In 2018, the Reporters Committee also filed a similar lawsuit over the FBI's impersonation of documentary filmmakers.[28][29]

Representing the Los Angeles Times in court, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press forced the partial release of the search warrant affidavit in the Senator Richard Burr insider trading investigation.[30]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ "Litigation". www.rcfp.org. 2014-12-10. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  2. ^ "Briefs & Comments". www.rcfp.org. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  3. ^ "Our History". www.rcfp.org. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  4. ^ "Open Government Guide". www.rcfp.org. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  5. ^ https://www.rcfp.org/wp-content/uploads/imported/agents-of-discovery.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  6. ^ "First Amendment Handbook | Reporters Committee". www.rcfp.org. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  7. ^ "Reporters Committee names new executive director". www.rcfp.org. 1999-10-28. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  8. ^ https://www.rcfp.org/wp-content/uploads/imported/homefront-confidential.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  9. ^ "Bruce D. Brown is the new executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press". www.rcfp.org. 2012-08-07. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  10. ^ "Townsend named legal director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press". www.rcfp.org. 2018-05-17. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  11. ^ "Townsend joins Reporters Committee as litigation director". www.rcfp.org. 2014-09-03. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  12. ^ "Litigation Archive". www.rcfp.org. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  13. ^ "Briefs & Comments Archive". www.rcfp.org. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  14. ^ "Open Government Guide". www.rcfp.org. 2018-12-17. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  15. ^ "Open Courts Compendium". www.rcfp.org. 2018-12-17. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  16. ^ "Reporter's Privilege Compendium". www.rcfp.org. 2018-12-17. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  17. ^ "New report assesses the state of U.S. press freedoms, shows protests were the most dangerous place for U.S. journalists in 2017". www.rcfp.org. 2018-03-30. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  18. ^ "Access to police body-worn camera video". www.rcfp.org. 2015-07-11. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  19. ^ "Reporters Committee attorneys help win Oklahoma lawsuit over delayed release of records related to 2014 botched execution". www.rcfp.org. 2018-04-24. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  20. ^ World, Kevin Canfield Tulsa. "Governor's Office violated state Open Records Act in slow release of records, judge finds". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  21. ^ "Read the Legal Settlement Donald Trump Signed in Dispute Over Undocumented Workers". Time. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  22. ^ Bagli, Charles V. (2017-11-27). "Trump Paid Over $1 Million in Labor Settlement, Documents Reveal". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  23. ^ "Reporters Committee and historians win bid to unseal grand jury transcripts from historic 1942 leak investigation of The Chicago Tribune". www.rcfp.org. 2016-12-16. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  24. ^ Ruane, Michael E. "Unsealed 75 years after Battle of Midway: New details of alarming WWII press leak". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  25. ^ Grygiel, Chris. "FBI says it impersonated AP reporter in 2007 case". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  26. ^ "Reporters Committee, AP sue for records about FBI's impersonation of journalists". www.rcfp.org. 2015-08-27. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  27. ^ "D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals side with Reporters Committee in FBI impersonation lawsuit". www.rcfp.org. 2017-12-15. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  28. ^ Devereaux, Ryan; Aaronson, Trevor (2017-05-16). "America Reloaded: The Bizarre Story Behind the FBI's Fake Documentary About the Bundy Family". The Intercept. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  29. ^ "Reporters Committee suing Justice Dept., FBI for records of documentary filmmaker impersonations". www.rcfp.org. 2017-08-21. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  30. ^ "We're learning more about the criminal insider-trading and securities fraud investigation of Richard Burr, courtesy of a search warrant affidavit". www.politico.com. Retrieved 2022-09-06.

External links edit

  Quotations related to Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press at Wikiquote

  • Official website
  • The RCFP Open Government Guide
  • The FOIA Wiki
  • Digital archive of quarterly magazine, The News Media and the Law, from Vol. 24, No. 1 (Winter 2000), to the present

November 25, 2023
reporters, committee, freedom, press, major, contributor, this, article, appears, have, close, connection, with, subject, require, cleanup, comply, with, wikipedia, content, policies, particularly, neutral, point, view, please, discuss, further, talk, page, ju. A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view Please discuss further on the talk page June 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press RCFP is a nonprofit organization based in Washington D C that provides pro bono legal services and resources to and on behalf of journalists The organization pursues litigation 1 offers direct representation submits amicus curiae briefs 2 and provides other legal assistance on matters involving the First Amendment press freedom freedom of information and court access issues The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the PressAbbreviationRCFPFormation1970 53 years ago 1970 TypeNon ProfitPurposeFirst Amendment free press advocacyLocationWashington D C Executive DirectorBruce D BrownWebsitehttp www rcfp org Contents 1 History 2 Organizational leadership 3 Legal resources 4 Key legal victories and impact 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External linksHistory editThe Reporters Committee was formed in 1970 after New York Times reporter Earl Caldwell was ordered to reveal his sources within the Black Panthers This led to a meeting among journalists including J Anthony Lukas Murray Fromson Fred Graham Jack Nelson Robert Maynard Ben Bradlee Tom Wicker and Mike Wallace among others to discuss the need to provide legal assistance and resources to protect journalists First Amendment rights The journalists in attendance formed a part time committee dedicated to this issue and they eventually garnered enough support from foundations and news organizations to build a staff and recruit attorneys willing to volunteer their services Other journalists among the committee s early members were Kenneth Auchincloss Elsie Carper Lyle Denniston James Doyle James Goodale and Walter Cronkite Organizational leadership editJack Landau the Reporters Committee s first executive director implemented many of the legal defense projects that are central to the organization today He started the legal defense hotline 3 for journalists seeking guidance on free press and information issues the first magazine for the press devoted to news media law developments and the first service center offering free help to the press on accessing federal and state public records In 1985 Jane E Kirtley replaced Landau as executive director One of Kirtley s top priorities was ensuring journalists had access to knowledge of reliable legal resources Under her direction the Reporters Committee created the Open Government Guide 4 an online resource that reviews the open records and open meetings laws in every state and Washington D C The guide includes expert commentary from attorneys who are familiar with the provisions of their state s code as well as court rulings and informal practices that affect the public s ability to obtain copies of public documents and attend government meetings Agents of Discovery 5 a series of installments reporting on subpoenas served to the news media was another of Kirtley s major projects Kirtley also led the Reporters Committee s efforts to produce The First Amendment Handbook 6 a tool that provides basic information about media law for reporters and newsrooms and helped launch a fellowship program for the next generation of media attorneys In 2000 Lucy Dalglish took over as executive director 7 Following the September 11 terrorist attacks the Reporters Committee was a leading authority on efforts to withhold important information from the public In 2002 the Reporters Committee released the first edition of Homefront Confidential 8 a series of summaries highlighting the evolution of the public s right to know in a post September 11 climate Since 2012 Bruce Brown has served as the executive director of the Reporters Committee 9 and worked to expand the organization s pro bono legal services and resources With the help of Legal Director Katie Townsend 10 who joined the organization in 2014 11 he has built a growing litigation practice 12 that offers journalists and media organizations representation amicus curiae support 13 and other legal services in cases involving public records and court access subpoena and libel defense and more Since the Reporters Committee s founding no reporter has paid for the organization s assistance in defending their First Amendment rights Legal resources editThe Reporters Committee supports freedom of information in the United States through a number of free legal resources for those who gather and report the news The Legal Defense and FOIA Hotline is available at any time to journalists and media lawyers with legal questions The Reporters Committee s Open Government Guide 14 is a complete compendium of information on every state s open records and open meetings laws The Open Courts Compendium 15 explains court access issues and provides specific additional information for each state and federal circuit The Reporter s Privilege Compendium 16 is a collection of information on the rights of reporters not to be compelled to testify or disclose sources and information in court in each state and federal circuit In 2013 the Reporters Committee also launched iFOIA a tool to file and track state and federal open records requests and in 2016 the organization launched the FOIA Wiki a website devoted to the federal Freedom of Information Act citation needed The organization also helped found the U S Press Freedom Tracker and in 2018 published a report based on the tracker s data assessing the state of press freedom in the U S 17 Other Reporters Committee resources include a digital interactive map documenting the policies governing public access to police body camera footage in more than 100 police departments 18 and a record of federal cases since 1844 involving leaks of government information to the news media Key legal victories and impact editIn the early years after its founding the Reporters Committee was a plaintiff in several early test case lawsuits including efforts to seek access to 41 million of President Richard Nixon s White House documents and tapes as well as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger s official telephone transcripts Other lawsuits sought access to FBI arrest records and to block telephone companies from giving secret access to media telephone records In 2017 the Reporters Committee brought a lawsuit on behalf of two freelance journalists who requested access to the law enforcement plans for the August 2017 Unite the Right rally that turned violent As a result of a settlement with the City of Charlottesville the Charlottesville Police Department plan was released shedding light on law enforcement actions during the event The Reporters Committee also filed a federal open records lawsuit in 2018 against U S Customs and Border Protection CBP and the U S Department of Homeland Security seeking access to records regarding the government s use of a summons authority in an attempt to force Twitter to reveal the users behind an anonymous account A court order required CBP to release the records which showed the summons had been issued improperly The Reporters Committee won a four year lawsuit in 2018 on behalf of journalist Ziva Branstetter and Tulsa World over access to public records related to Oklahoma s botched execution of Clayton Lockett 19 The court ordered thousands of pages of records to be released and ruled for the first time that public officials delays in releasing the information violated the public s right of access and Oklahoma Public Records Act 20 In 2016 the Reporters Committee and Time Inc filed a motion with the U S Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to unseal documents from the 1999 class action lawsuit settlement 21 regarding the construction of Trump Tower In 2017 the case was returned to the district court where the request was granted and documents detailing the terms of the more than 1 million settlement were released for the first time 22 In 2014 the Reporters Committee led an effort to unseal transcripts of witness testimony in a grand jury investigation 23 of the Chicago Tribune The newspaper ran a front page story 24 about the Battle of Midway The subsequent grand jury investigation of reporter Stanley Johnston and the Tribune marks the only time in U S history that the government has attempted to prosecute a major newspaper for violating the Espionage Act for publishing leaked classified information The Reporters Committee won the release of the transcripts which are currently stored at the National Archives The Reporters Committee has been a part of several cases involving law enforcement s impersonation of journalists In 2014 it was revealed that the FBI had impersonated an Associated Press reporter during the course of a 2007 investigation 25 The Reporters Committee and the AP filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act for records around the FBI s policies for impersonation 26 and secured a victory in the D C Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017 27 In 2018 the Reporters Committee also filed a similar lawsuit over the FBI s impersonation of documentary filmmakers 28 29 Representing the Los Angeles Times in court the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press forced the partial release of the search warrant affidavit in the Senator Richard Burr insider trading investigation 30 See also editKissinger v Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press United States Department of Justice v Reporters Committee for Freedom of the PressNotes edit Litigation www rcfp org 2014 12 10 Retrieved 2019 02 26 Briefs amp Comments www rcfp org Retrieved 2019 02 26 Our History www rcfp org Retrieved January 16 2022 Open Government Guide www rcfp org Retrieved May 3 2022 https www rcfp org wp content uploads imported agents of discovery pdf bare URL PDF First Amendment Handbook Reporters Committee www rcfp org Retrieved May 3 2022 Reporters Committee names new executive director www rcfp org 1999 10 28 Retrieved 2021 01 21 https www rcfp org wp content uploads imported homefront confidential pdf bare URL PDF Bruce D Brown is the new executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press www rcfp org 2012 08 07 Retrieved 2021 01 21 Townsend named legal director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press www rcfp org 2018 05 17 Retrieved 2021 01 21 Townsend joins Reporters Committee as litigation director www rcfp org 2014 09 03 Retrieved 2021 01 21 Litigation Archive www rcfp org Retrieved May 3 2022 Briefs amp Comments Archive www rcfp org Retrieved May 3 2022 Open Government Guide www rcfp org 2018 12 17 Retrieved 2019 02 26 Open Courts Compendium www rcfp org 2018 12 17 Retrieved 2019 02 26 Reporter s Privilege Compendium www rcfp org 2018 12 17 Retrieved 2019 02 26 New report assesses the state of U S press freedoms shows protests were the most dangerous place for U S journalists in 2017 www rcfp org 2018 03 30 Retrieved 2019 02 26 Access to police body worn camera video www rcfp org 2015 07 11 Retrieved 2019 02 26 Reporters Committee attorneys help win Oklahoma lawsuit over delayed release of records related to 2014 botched execution www rcfp org 2018 04 24 Retrieved 2021 01 21 World Kevin Canfield Tulsa Governor s Office violated state Open Records Act in slow release of records judge finds Tulsa World Retrieved 2019 02 26 Read the Legal Settlement Donald Trump Signed in Dispute Over Undocumented Workers Time Retrieved 2019 02 26 Bagli Charles V 2017 11 27 Trump Paid Over 1 Million in Labor Settlement Documents Reveal The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2019 02 26 Reporters Committee and historians win bid to unseal grand jury transcripts from historic 1942 leak investigation of The Chicago Tribune www rcfp org 2016 12 16 Retrieved 2019 02 26 Ruane Michael E Unsealed 75 years after Battle of Midway New details of alarming WWII press leak The Chicago Tribune Retrieved 2019 02 26 Grygiel Chris FBI says it impersonated AP reporter in 2007 case AP NEWS Retrieved 2019 02 26 Reporters Committee AP sue for records about FBI s impersonation of journalists www rcfp org 2015 08 27 Retrieved 2021 01 21 D C Circuit Court of Appeals side with Reporters Committee in FBI impersonation lawsuit www rcfp org 2017 12 15 Retrieved 2019 02 26 Devereaux Ryan Aaronson Trevor 2017 05 16 America Reloaded The Bizarre Story Behind the FBI s Fake Documentary About the Bundy Family The Intercept Retrieved 2019 02 26 Reporters Committee suing Justice Dept FBI for records of documentary filmmaker impersonations www rcfp org 2017 08 21 Retrieved 2021 01 21 We re learning more about the criminal insider trading and securities fraud investigation of Richard Burr courtesy of a search warrant affidavit www politico com Retrieved 2022 09 06 External links edit nbsp Quotations related to Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press at Wikiquote Official website The RCFP Open Government Guide The FOIA Wiki Digital archive of quarterly magazine The News Media and the Law from Vol 24 No 1 Winter 2000 to the present Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press amp oldid 1134028544, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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