Posted on 11/11/2009 2:04:25 PM PST by SmithL
Attorney General Jerry Brown's office has sparked debate about its interpretation of state privacy laws after it determined that a spokesman had not done anything illegal by secretly taping conversations with news reporters.
At issue is state penal code section 632, which prohibits the intentional recording without consent of "confidential communication."
While announcing the results of an internal investigation, Chief Assistant Attorney General Dane Gillette wrote that the privacy protection of such communication did not include on-the-record media interviews – a view that clashes with the common understanding of a state Supreme Court ruling on the law.
Under Gillette's interpretation, spokesman Scott Gerber, who resigned last week, did not break state law when he recorded six conversations with five reporters this year without asking for consent.
"Nothing in the legislative history of (section) 632 suggests that conversations of the type recorded by Gerber were intended to be covered by the statute," Gillette wrote. "Indeed the very purpose of an 'on the record' interview is to provide the reporter with statements that can later be used in the public media."
The controversy has been amplified politically as Brown plays the undeclared Democratic front-runner in next year's governor's election.
On Tuesday, the California Republican Lawyers Association called for an independent investigation into the matter by Alameda and San Francisco counties' district attorneys.
First amendment and privacy law experts disagreed with Gillette's memo but said the statute was vague enough to inspire clashing interpretations.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
It is GOOD to be King.
I can certainly understand a desire to record all communications with the media. Cuts down on their ability to get away with selectively quoting.
That's what Rodney said.
I am Governor Jerry Brown, My aura smiles and never frowns... < /California Uber Alles - The Dead Kennedys >
Will the 1970s EVER end? Disco, Carter, Iranian despotism, and Jerry Brown. Aieeeee.
Rush Limbaugh's radio broadcasts are recorded by his staff, listeners, subscribers, and "opposition research teams" and yet Media Matters still selectively redacts quotes and someone posted fraudulent Wikipedia quotes and Rush STILL cannot get the genuine words out to the media.
Why is a liberal Democrat worried that he's going to be treated "wrong" by the media?
I guess then that the DA won’t be pressing charges against the makers of the ACORN video in the San Diego office.
It’s too bad the law is vague on this one. If the interview is “on the record” I don’t have a problem with the recording. You can bet the reporter was recording it!
Silly me.
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