(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, 2007)By Paige Dearing
Three journalists are suing the New York Police Department for denying to renew their press passes that earned them access to invitation-only press conferences, according to the First Amendment Center.
Featured in an AP article posted to the First Amendment Center website, the lawsuit questions the police department’s press press application process as well as their definition of “journalist.” The police department refused the pass requests by David Wallis, Rafael Martinez-Alequin and Ralph Smith because the police believed that the men did not regularly cover breaking news for major news organizations and would not need the access.
The three plaintiffs are all online freelancers, writing for either their own websites or working as a blogger.
Police Official LT. Eugene Whyte issued a statement stating that their requests were rejected because the three writers were unable to prove that they were employed full-time by news gathering organizations that required coverage of breaking news events on a regular basis, as reported in the article.
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