Peter Scheer

The First Amendment Coalition has teamed up with leading associations of ethnic news media, both in California and nationally, to provide their members free legal consultations on questions about their rights as journalists. The associations are California Black Media (CBM) and New America Media (NAM). CBM is a statewide information and education network for some 40 African-American media outlets across the state. NAM, founded in 1996, is the country’s largest advocate for ethnic media. FAC

FAC has filed a lawsuit against Novato, CA to force the city to make public emails about a controversial sports complex proposed for the Hamilton Fields neighborhood. The suit, filed July 12 in Marin County Superior Court (court documents posted below), contends that the emails relate to a public issue of importance to the local community, and that the city has failed to demonstrate a sufficient legal basis for keeping them secret. “The emails belong to the public,” said Peter Scheer, FAC’s executive director.

BY PETER SCHEER—After twelve years as executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, I recently told our Board of Directors that I will be stepping down at the end of the year. I will stay involved with FAC in significant (albeit non-managerial) ways—starting with our search for a new executive director. FAC is in a very strong position. Our programs are firing on all cylinders. In the coming weeks we will be filing several new

BY PETER SCHEER—Kudos to San Diego DA Bonnie Dumanis for taking a first step to increase public scrutiny of police. Earlier this month, Dumanis, with the backing of the city police chief and county sheriff, released police videos (from body and vehicle cameras) of ten officer-involved shootings since 2014. She also announced a new policy: Going forward, San Diego will release police videos from most, though not all, use-of-force incidents. San Diego’s embrace of greater

BY PETER SCHEER—When deciding how to vote on one of the hundreds of bills in the political sausage maker that is our State Legislature, lawmakers should always ask this one question: Is there a problem that this legislation seeks to fix? Given that all laws have costs—even if their magnitude is debatable or unpredictable—a law that does nothing to fix any discernible problem is, by definition, a bad law. Legislators who vote for such laws