Coalition News

FAC and the Committee to Protect Journalists sent a letter to San Francisco Mayor London Breed today requesting a meeting about steps the city can take to ensure press freedom.  The letter asked Breed to address police officers’ use of five warrants to search the home, office and electronics of freelance journalist Bryan Carmody as part of an investigation into how he obtained a police report. Noting that the mayor in May said that the

The First Amendment Coalition has prevailed in a lawsuit against the city of Bakersfield, with a judge ruling that the city council violated open-government laws when it held three closed-door sessions to discuss city finances and then refused to release public records related to those meetings.  The ruling, a complete victory for FAC and Californians Aware, which sued to enforce California’s open-meetings and open-records laws, requires the city to turn over records, record any future

FAC’s year-long campaign for transparency in a key aspect of California’s criminal justice process has resulted in the release of previously sealed records in six clemency cases — records FAC is now making public. FAC obtained the records after securing a series of rulings from the California Supreme Court rejecting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s efforts to maintain secrecy of files to seek clemency for twice-convicted felons. Despite the rulings, the governor’s office delayed the release of

First Amendment Coalition Executive Director David Snyder was named the recipient of the 2019 Freedom of Information Award given by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Los Angeles Pro Chapter. The annual award honors a non-journalist who has helped promote First Amendment rights and values.  Snyder, a former newspaper reporter and media lawyer who has led FAC since 2016, is being recognized for fighting “legal battles across the state, winning key rulings resulting in the release