Articles by Liz Enochs

The Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Newspaper Guild, the Pacific Media Workers Guild, and the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians condemn the Oakland Police Department’s arrests of journalists covering a public event this weekend.

On Saturday, Jan. 28, at least six journalists covering Occupy Oakland protests were arrested. Despite identifying themselves as reporters and displaying their press credentials, two were jailed.

In a letter to the Oakland mayor and police chief, SPJ NorCal and partner organizations call on the OPD to follow its own guidelines, which instruct police to permit media to carry out their professional duties even after police have issued a dispersal order, as long as ” their presence would unduly interfere with the enforcement action.”

Why is this important?

Freedom of the press is key to our democracy and must be vigorously defended. Arrests of journalists and other police interference with reporters and photographers cannot be tolerated.

This is the second time SPJ NorCal has protested the OPD’s failure to follow its own guidelines on non-interference with journalists doing their jobs.

We once again invite Mayor Quan and Police Chief Jordan to the table to discuss ways to ensure that Oakland police no longer detain, harass, or otherwise block journalists from doing their jobs reporting breaking news.

SPJ NorCal on Monday issued a letter to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and Police Chief Howard Jordan condemning the arrest of independent journalist Susie Cagle during Occupy Oakland protests on Nov. 3. Cagle was arrested and held in custody for 15 hours despite displaying a press badge and  identifying herself as a journalist and despite the fact that an officer at the scene acknowledged his familiarity with her published work.

The action is part of a disturbing trend of police officers at Occupy protests nationwide arresting journalists covering the events.

SPJ President John Ensslin last week issued a statement urging mayors across the country to drop charges against these journalists and calling on police to exercise greater care to avoid arresting journalists who are simply doing their jobs.

“We know that as protests escalate it may be difficult for police to distinguish bystanders from participants, but it is clear now that many journalists have been erroneously arrested without cause,” Ensslin said. “These errors must be rectified immediately.”

Attendees at our annual Excellence in Journalism awards dinner will have a chance to bid on some fabulous items. Check out this preview of our two live auction items — a Mexican dinner party for 6 with chef Simona Padilla and framed original editorial cartoon of “The Vanishing Newsroom” by Peaco Todd — as well as many great silent-auction items, such as Tahoe ski trips, lunch with a literary agent, tango lessons, an adult fencing class, and a variety of wines from the San Francisco Chronicle’s cellar. Here’s the full list: Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to our generous friends at SFGTV, which provides video coverage of San Francisco government meetings and events, we are able to offer a replay of SPJ NorCal’s Town Hall Forum, an event held Wed. Apr. 6 at the San Francisco Public Library. The robust discussion of new media drew a lively crowd, with lots of good questions from the audience and thoughtful responses from our all-star panelists.

The international imbroglio caused by Wikileaks’ release of more than 900 diplomatic cables through news outlets in Germany, Spain, and the U.K. has captivated public attention.

Moves by Amazon.com to boot Wikileaks from its servers and MasterCard and Visa to block donations to the organization have been met with counter-measures from hackers who support the controversial website. With founder Julian Assange’s surrender to UK authorities this week in response to rape charges filed against him in Sweden, the plot, as they say, thickens.

People have strong opinions about Wikileaks. We want to know yours. Please let us know what you think by responding to our poll below. If you have more to say, we invite you to leave a comment as well.

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Check out this free half-day workshop for business journalists, “Learn to Engage Your Audience to Power Your Business Coverage” on Sept. 1.

Arizona State University’s Reynolds Center for Business Journalism is sponsoring the workshop, which will explain why engaging your community matters and what works, from crowdsourcing to social media. Presenters include John A. Byrne, former editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek.com; David Cohn, founder of Spot.Us; and Robin J. Phillips, managing editor of BusinessJournalism.org.

Space is limited, and registration is required.

When:  Wednesday, Sept. 1, 1-5 p.m.
Where:  MarketWatch, 201 California St., San Francisco
Cost:  Free
Click here to register online.