Tuesday, May 18, 2010 1:51 PM
Blogger Jason Chens First Amendment rights were trampled when police raided his home last month
HOLLYWOOD, CA. The Los Angeles Press Club joins in the strongstatement issued by the Newspaper Guild/CWA that blogger Jason Chens First Amendment rights were trampled upon when authorities raided his home onApril 21.
The Los Angeles Press Club does not endorse check book journalism, but the fact that Gizmodo paid for the prototype iPhone that Chen wrote about is not relevant. The California Shield law protects alljournalists from revealingsources and unpublished notes
While Chen was away from home, police forced open his front door and took away hiscomputers, hard drives and cameras. Chen works for a legitimate media organizationand since he works at home, his entire newsroom was seized.
The seizure occurred all because he wrote extensively about Applesmisplaced next generationiPhone and authoritiestold a judgethe property may be related to a possible felony. The phone was promptly returned to Apple when the companybelatedly asked for it.
However, since misplaced property is not stolen property, theremay have been no illegal activity in the first placeby the person who found the iPhone.
Even if the finder of the lost iPhone acted illegally, as Los Angeles Times media reporter James Rainey points out, the Supreme Court has ruled that a sources illegal activity doesnt remove the First Amendment shield from speech about a matter of public concern.
Were also troubled by the fact that Apple has a representative on the San Mateo computer crimes task force that initiated the search.
In any event,Chenshould have been issueda subpoena and a chance to argue his position in court. Thats the law in California. And we expect the courts to enforce it.
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The Los Angeles Press Club stands as an organization devoted to improving the spirit of journalism and journalists, raising the industrys standards, strengthening its integrity and improving its reputation all for the benefit of the community at large. Serving the Southland since 1913, it is the only Southern California journalism group that speaks for all journalists working for daily and weekly newspapers, radio & TV, magazines, documentary films and online. For more information, go to www.lapressclub.org.
