Establishment media outlets have recoiled at President Trump’s repeated labeling of their reporting as “fake news.”
But a lawsuit by media members against government doesn’t target the Trump administration. Instead, it’s against the left-leaning state of California.
Two groups representing freelance journalists are challenging rules that will “significantly” limit the way businesses can use their products and services.
The lawsuit by the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the National Press Photographers Association is being handled by the Pacific Legal Foundation.
In the cross-hairs is Assembly Bill 5, to take effect Jan. 1, which has “jeopardized the livelihoods of many members” of both groups.
Pacific Legal said AB5 is “full of unfair exemptions and carveouts that disfavor freelance journalists compared to other professions that engage in speech.”
“Writers’ and photographers’ submissions to publication are capped at 35 pieces of content per year; if they exceed that limit, they must become employees. Journalists who record audio or video instantly lose their ability to work independently. Meanwhile, publishers will face higher costs.”
Randy Dotinga, a former president of ASJA and a San Diego freelancer, warned: “Under the law, a freelancer like me can write 200-plus press releases in a year for a marketing firm, and it’s no problem. But if a newspaper wants me to write a weekly column about local politics, it must put me on staff – a very unlikely prospect – or violate the law. Otherwise I am silenced.”
The complaint has been filed in federal court in the central district of California against the state’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra.
It alleges violations of federal civil rights.
The complaint states: “In violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, AB5 singles out ASJA’s and NPPA’s members who are writers, editors, still photographers, and visual journalists by drawing unconstitutional content-based distinctions about who can freelance – limiting certain speakers to 35 submissions per client, per year, and precluding some freelancers from making video recordings.”
The fight is over whether contributors are freelancers or employees.
The law places “unique and significant burdens” on freelance journalists that are not applied to others, the complaint says.
The state law, in effect, deprives “plaintiffs of their rights to free speech, free press, and equal protection,” the lawsuit alleges.
It describes the action by California as “irrational and arbitrary” and points out there is no compelling government objective.
“From the first reports of the introduction of this bill, NPPA has expressed its concern over the arbitrary and unjust treatment of independent visual journalists under its terms,” said Michael P. King, president of the NPPA. “Unfortunately, despite our best efforts to amend the bill’s language, lawmakers have been unsympathetic and unresponsive to our pleas.”
“Treating journalists differently based solely on the content of their speech is flatly unconstitutional,” said Jim Manley, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “The government cannot single out journalists and deny them the freedom to work as freelancers.”
