(Story courtesy of WVLT News)
Knoxville, TN (WVLT) Several news media companies from across the U.S. have sued the State of Tennessee over a new law they say makes it harder to report the news. Included in the lawsuit are Gray Media, WVLT’s parent company, and the companies who own other Knoxville outlets like WBIR, WATE and the Knoxville News Sentinel.
The law in question went into effect on July 1 this year after being enacted in May. It makes it a misdemeanor to get within 25 feet of a law enforcement officer “engaged in the execution of official duties.”
It applies across a wide variety of responses, whether that be a traffic stop, an active investigation or even just when they are engaged in “an ongoing immediate threat to public safety.”
The law prevents reporters, or members of the public, from approaching an officer who is actively working, even if they have no intention of getting involved with or preventing the policing act. The vague wording of the law, the suit says, creates another barrier for journalists trying to report on law enforcement activities.
“The Act grants officers standardless discretion to prevent journalists from approaching near enough to document the way officers perform their duties in public places,” the lawsuit says. “In other words, it provides for ‘government by the moment-to-moment opinions of a policeman on his beat.’”
The act has a lot of implications for news gatherers in the Volunteer State. The vaguely-outlined actions of an officer could apply to high-stakes criminal investigations, but could just as easily apply to more common events like rallies, general arrests or public events like UT football games.
“[T]he Act provides no exceptions for circumstances where 25 feet is too far—as it will often be too far—for the press or public to document newsworthy activity, including officers’ own performance of their official responsibilities,” the lawsuit says.
The complaint, obtained by WVLT News, specifically calls out the state safety and homeland security department’s commissioner, Jeff Long, Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk and John Drake, the chief of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.
Along with Gray, Knoxville-operating companies Gannett (the Knoxville News Sentinel and Oak Ridger), Nexstar Media Group (WATE) and TEGNA (WBIR) filed the lawsuit. They’re asking that the court declare the law unconstitutional and unenforceable.
Click here to read more on the specifics of the lawsuit.
