CJR Debate: What Should Remain Private in a World where Everything could be Public?

The Columbia Journalism Review challenged the blogosphere to debate the question: What should remain private in a world where everything could be public?

The question stems from the Georgia House's unanimous passage of a bill that prohibits all but credentialed press members from viewing crime scene photos. Even the press, though, cannot remove or copy the photos and must view them under the supervision of a Georgia Bureau of Investigations records custodian. Legislators moved to pass the bill after a Hustler true-crime writer made an open records request to view the autopsy report and crime scene photographs of 24 year-old Meredith Emerson, who was murdered while hiking near the Appalachian Trail in 2008. The photos are said to depict Emerson's nude, decapitated body.

The Columbia Journalism Review argues the issues raised by the crime scene photograph requests should be made on a case-by-case basis.

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Georgia State Law Professor Criticizes Proposed Legislation as "Haphazard"

Georgia State University law professor Jessica D. Gabel makes a cogent argument that the Florida legislature's efforts to pass the Meredith Emerson Privacy Act is short-sighted and misses the mark.

The bill would remedy the release of disturbing crime scene photos of the woman who was brutally killed while hiking with her dog in North Georgia in 2008. A true-crime reporter hired by Hustler magazine requested the photos of Emerson's nude and decapitated body.

Instead of expanding exemptions to Georgia's public records laws or enlarging the state's obscenity laws, Gabel suggests the Legislature consider a stand-alone law that prevents "the malicious, gratuitous or unethical use of such photos." The law professor continues, "Darkening Georgia's sunshine laws is a sacrifice, not the solution."

Read more here.

Request for Crime Scene Photos Spurs Move to Tighten Georgia's Open Records Act

Hustling to pass a law to further limit access to public records, the Georgia legislature is trying to head-off a request from an author hired by Hustler magazine to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. The Augusta Chronicle reports that open government advocates say the state does not need any more exemptions to its Open Records Act and that existing law already gives GBI sufficient legal authority to deny the request.

House Speaker David Ralston's maneuver comes as a result of veteran true-crimes author Fred Rosen's request for crime scene photos depicting the nude and decapitated body of University of Georgia graduate Meredith Emerson. Emerson had been beaten and killed by a man who abducted her on Blood Mountain in north Georgia two years ago. Rosen said he made the request as part of his research for an upcoming article for the magazine. Hustler magazine is reportedly considering legal action.

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Judge rules media have no more rights than general public at crime, accident scenes

If the general public doesn't have access to a crime or accident scene, journalists don't have a First Amendment right to that access either, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. This ruling came from U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer who dismissed the case of Oakland Tribune photographer Ray Chavez. Chavez was arrested after officers barred him from standing in the freeway to take photos of an accident.

A federal judge has dismissed a civil-rights lawsuit filed by a newspaper photographer who accused officers of illegally barring him from taking pictures at a freeway crash scene and handcuffing him when he persisted.

Oakland Tribune photographer Ray Chavez, 45, said police officers had interfered with his right as a member of the press to cover news, specifically a car crash and the emergency response time. He was "arrested and handcuffed without justification solely due to the exercise of First Amendment rights," said his suit, filed in U.S. District Court.

But in a ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco dismissed the suit, saying the media have no First Amendment right to be at an accident or crime scene if the general public is excluded.

More here.