Humboldtian

Hillary’s husband’s recent visit to Eureka has stirred up a local blogosphere argument about “press passes:” Who gets them and who issues them.

First, let’s clear up some misinformation:

1. Journalists aren’t licensed. When a reporter gets a press pass from a law enforcement agency, that doesn’t mean the government has somehow “credentialed” that person as a legit journalist. This doesn’t exist in our society, for obvious good reasons. All it means is that the agency has identified that person as someone who works for a media organization.

2. The Times-Standard didn't exactly print up fake press passes to get their people into the building at Redwood Acres last week. What the Times-Standard did is what all daily newspapers do. They made their own in-house ID cards that identify the T-S reporters and photogs who work in the newsroom as their employees. Because no local law-enforcement agency is willing to issue press passes now, it makes even more sense for the T-S to do this for its staff.

Press passes exist for the purpose of access and identification. Journalists need to access secure government buildings, crime scenes, etc. A press pass tells the law enforcement on the scene that the journalist bearing the pass has been identified and for the most cleared as a security risk. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for local journalists to obtain press passes. I believe this is because law enforcement agencies are wary of being responsible for this since 9.11.2001.

The California Highway Patrol used to issue press passes to local journalists through their local field offices in each county. However, the CHP stopped this in 2004 when Mike Brown succeeded “Spike" Helmick as CHP commissioner. I always got my press passes from the local CHP office. However when I moved here in 2003 to work for the Times-Standard as a reporter, we got our press passes from the Sheriff’s Department, rather than CHP, which did not issue them here. But the Sheriff’s Department has since stopped issuing press passes, leaving local journalists no place to go for law-enforcement press passes.

The CHP is the state’s police force and does issue press passes to select journalists who cover state government in Sacramento. But you have to apply to the Gov.’s office to get one. This information comes from my brother, who works at the Capitol, and his wife, who is a Sacramento journalist.

In my experience the CHP press pass is the best. And it’s unfortunate that Brown, the CHP commissioner, won’t allow local offices to ID and issue passes to local media. The CHP press pass is the only pass that would get me past the FBI and other Fed jurisdictions as a journalist. The federals would thumb noses up at the local police or sheriff’s press passes, so I learned to always go to the CHP in every county I worked in. And, the CHP press pass would get me quickly in and out of the state Capitol when I wanted to visit my brother there.

However, to be honest getting those CHP passes was too easy. When I was the editor of newspapers in Calaveras and Amador counties, the local CHP office would call me once a year and ask how many passes I wanted for my staff and their names. They would issue one to every name I gave them. I could have hired John Hinckley Jr. or Sara Jane Moore under a different name, and the CHP wouldn’t have known. So, it’s not hard to understand why Brown didn’t want the CHP involved in that anymore.

However, being the state’s police force, what's wrong with the CHP starting a program to identify members of the media through its local offices that includes a brief background check to confirm identities and to clear security risks? The CHP could charge a nominal fee to cover the costs.