It looks like we have our first WGBH News Muzzle Awards winner of 2015. Last night the Massachusetts Legislature passed Senate Bill 2334, which, as I wrote here yesterday, would block access to certain police records now open to the public.
The ostensible purpose is to protect victims of domestic violence, but as First Amendment lawyer Jeffrey Pyle tells David Scharfenberg of The Boston Globe, “Problems with the criminal justice system are rarely, if ever, solved by decreasing transparency.”
The bill had not come to a vote before Scharfenberg’s deadline, but Globe reporter Michael Levenson tweets that it’s now on its way to Gov. Deval Patrick’s desk — and that he’s likely to sign it.
@mlevenson @bobambrogi Any chance that @MassGovernor will veto SB 2334?
— Dan Kennedy (@dankennedy_nu) August 1, 2014
@dankennedy_nu @bobambrogi @MassGovernor very doubtful because it is tucked into larger domestic violence bill w/ many popular provisions.
— Michael Levenson (@mlevenson) August 1, 2014
@mlevenson @dankennedy_nu @MassGovernor Regrettably, I fear Michael is right about that.
— Bob Ambrogi (@bobambrogi) August 1, 2014
By the way, Scharfenberg calls the bill “a little-noticed measure.” But the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association flagged it months ago, and I brought it up on WGBH-TV’s “Beat the Press.” If this had gotten more attention early on, we might not find ourselves where we are today.
Discover more from Media Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
Richard Lodge
Patrick should veto this bill & ask Legislature to delete this provision. Here’s out story about it: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/article/20140731/NEWS/140739236
Cynthia Stead
Speaking as a woman, don’t do us any favors. This just helps men cover up this behavior.
Jim Kinsella
Hi Dan,
It would seem from what I’ve read that the governor plans to do a 10-day mull, like he did with the budget, so we still might have a little time.
Any sense that a last-minute, last-ditch, full-court press by Massachusetts media (the Globe and the Herald, Boston TV, dailies and weeklies across the state) could get him to hold off on this particular provision, at least for now?
In the town I cover, probably 50 percent of all arrests are for domestic abuse. So this would place a major part of the police department’s efforts under wraps.
Jim Kinsella