Last year, The Oaklandside’s reporters and editors worked on several fronts to advance the public’s right to access government records, and we pushed back against a law infringing on the First Amendment.
For doing so, our newsroom was honored by the Society of Professional Journalists Northern California Chapter with a prestigious James Madison Freedom of Information Award.
“This recognition is a reminder of why public records laws have teeth — and why someone has to be willing to use them,” said Oaklandside Editor-in-Chief Tasneem Raja. “Whether we’re documenting how elected officials systematically ignore the California Public Records Act or challenging a county law that threatens journalists’ ability to do their jobs, this is core to what Oaklandside exists to do.”
The Oaklandside’s City Hall reporters Natalie Orenstein and Eli Wolfe examined nearly 180 public records requests the newsroom’s reporters submitted to councilmembers over a period of several years. They found that almost all of the councilmembers had broken state law by failing to respond to requests or delaying responses far beyond the legally required 10-day timeframe. In some cases, elected officials improperly withheld information and records, and when asked about these failures, some of the councilmembers didn’t bother to respond.
“This was a classic story in plain sight that no one had told,” said Raja. “City governments work best when elected officials know someone is keeping score.”
In 2023, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, under pressure to do something about the dangerous and obnoxious sideshows taking place on public roads, passed a law making it illegal for anyone to stand within 200 feet of one of these stunt driving exhibitions that frequently involve gunfire, fireworks, and property damage.
Our traffic safety reporter, Jose Fermoso, who has extensively reported on the problem of sideshows, including by observing these disruptive activities and law enforcement responses to them, filed suit against the the county in 2024 to block the law. Represented by David Loy of the First Amendment Coalition, Fermoso argued that the county ordinance criminalized First Amendment activities, including the rights of the public and press to observe and document events in public spaces. Last year, a panel of judges with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Alameda County’s law is “presumptively unconstitutional.”
“In a precedent-setting case, with legal representation by First Amendment Coalition attorney David Loy, reporter Jose Fermoso successfully challenged an Alameda County law that forbade standing within 200 feet of a sideshow; they argued that the law threatened journalists’ ability to do their jobs covering such incidents,” SPJ NorCal wrote when announcing the James Madison Freedom of Information awards.
“We didn’t have a choice but to fight this law,” said Raja. “We cannot do our jobs when we’re not allowed to tell the public what’s happening in their city.”
These two efforts represent a broader agenda advanced by The Oaklandside to promote government transparency and accountability, and to defend the public’s freedom of speech, a right upon which the free press relies. More recent examples of our transparency-focused reporting include a records-based investigation of lead contamination in Oakland schools and coverage of a controversial decision to encrypt police radio traffic.
“The Oaklandside’s reporting on the city’s failure to follow the public records act is in the great journalistic tradition of muckraking and accountability reporting. City officials’ failures to provide public records to anyone in accordance with state law are a blight on Oakland and undermine public confidence — if there is any — in City Hall,” said Thomas Peele, Freedom of Information Committee co-chair.
Other recipients of SPJ NorCal freedom of information awards
Other recipients of a Freedom of Information Award this year include the San Luis Obispo Tribune’s, which also won a newsroom recognition; attorney Duffy Carolan, who won the Norwin S. Yoffie Award for Career Achievement; Dave Waddel, winner of the Tim Crews Tenacity award; Joe Rubin and Daniel Lempres of the Sacramento Bee, winners of the Professional Journalist award; Eric Gustafson, winner of the Beverly Kees Educator of the Year award; Michael Threets, winner of the Librarian award; Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, winner of the Nonprofit Organization award; Suchir Balaji, posthumous winner of the Whistleblower award; Ayyub Ibrahim, winner of the Electronic Access award; Mike Spencer, winner of the Citizen award; California Assembly Judiciary Committee, chaired by Assembly Member Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, winner of the Public Official award; and ACLU of Northern California lawyers Avram Frey and Emi Young, winners of the Attorney award.
Close to home, the Student Journalist award went to Desmond Meagley, former editor in chief of The Citizen, Laney College’s student newspaper. The SPJ NorCal Freedom of Information Committee cited Meagley for leading the paper’s “transparency-focused coverage of the Peralta Community College District, especially the fatal shooting last November of Laney athletic director and legendary football coach John Beam.”
The full list of winners is on SPJ NorCal’s website.
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