Colman: FREE PRESS UNDER ATTACK IN SAN FRAN

Good journalists will do anything for a story and to get the documentation to back it up.  The Watergate Papers were pilfered and given to the Washington Post.  The Courts were clear—no problem.  Now a free lance journalist in San Fran got an official report on the cause of death of the San Fran Public Defender.  Then he published it and showed the Defender had serious drug issues.

For some reason the SFPD decided to raid the home of the journalist to find out who gave him the documents.  As far as I am concerned, I do not believe in the theft of anything.  Yet, the law is clear, a journalist has the right to use stolen material for publication.  The San Fran police decided they were going to make new law and instead of abiding by the law, they broke the law, themselves.

“ A key question is:  Why didn’t the police try to find the person who leaked the report rather than invade the premises of a journalist?

 A free press is crucial to the functioning of a democratic society.

 Assume the police arrested a given city’s mayor who was arrested for drunk driving.  To protect the mayor from bad publicity, the police, instead of making the arrest public, just buried the information on the arrest.

 If a reporter obtained a leaked copy of the police report on the arrest and the information were made public, society’s interest would be served.  But why should the police try to attack a journalist to find out his sources?

San Fran is not safe for children, journalists, the homeless, the druggies or other living things!

FREE PRESS UNDER ATTACK IN SAN FRANCISCO

By Richard Colman, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views,  5/30/19  

That great bastion of liberal thinking, San Francisco, is acting more like the former Soviet Union, a dictatorship in which the government oppressed freedom, including freedom of the press.

 On May 10, 2019, the San Francisco Police Department raided a journalist’s home and confiscated computers and other journalistic tools belonging to free-lance reporter, Brian Carmody, to whom a police report had been leaked.

 The San Francisco police had a warrant to search Carmody’s home.  The police wanted to find out who leaked the report.

 The police report was related to the death of San Francisco Public Defender, Jeff Adachi, who, while alive, had had many disputes with San Francisco police officers.  The leaked report contained information — developed by the police — designed to damage Adachi’s reputation.

 San Francisco officials, including the mayor, initially argued that the raid on Carmody‘s home was appropriate.  Later, the officials changed their position, saying that police raids on journalists’ sources are not acceptable.

 A key question is:  Why didn’t the police try to find the person who leaked the report rather than invade the premises of a journalist?

 A free press is crucial to the functioning of a democratic society.

 Assume the police arrested a given city’s mayor who was arrested for drunk driving.  To protect the mayor from bad publicity, the police, instead of making the arrest public, just buried the information on the arrest.

 If a reporter obtained a leaked copy of the police report on the arrest and the information were made public, society’s interest would be served.  But why should the police try to attack a journalist to find out his sources?

Journalists are not agents of the government.  There must be a legal shield to protect journalists’ information from government intrusion.

 If government officials can harass and raid a reporter’s information, the journalistic community will be inhibited from trying to find news.  America must never become like the former Soviet Union.