Jody David Armour; Di Barbadillo
Jeong Park; Carol Sobel
Covering L.A. on the Ground: The First Amendment, journalists, advocates and activists
The midterms in Los Angeles were unlike any we’ve seen in recent history.
Protestors shouted down and effectively ended forums, leaving candidates running from events, and campaigns and elected officials became increasingly secretive about appearances and restricting public access.
Outside the election, there are also new rules and laws around access to City Hall and protests at city officials’ homes while government agencies restrict access to press conferences, either by requiring a police department issued press pass or RSVP for entry or by limiting the guest list to legacy or “friendly” media.
These new rules and policies impact how journalists gather information, tell stories and educate the public on how their government functions.
SPJ-LA has assembled a panel of experts on the law, the history and what’s happening on the ground in the hopes of an interesting and open dialogue around the First Amendment in Los Angeles.
This panel will explore what’s happening on the ground and constitutional issues surrounding how the First Amendment is applied to journalists and activists and how the law defines a journalist in a time where the lines are increasingly blurred by social media and activism.
The SPJ Code of Ethics calls on journalists to support an open and civil exchange of views, even of ideas we find repugnant and to seek to ensure that the public business is conducted in the open.
After all, protestors and journalists are both interested in holding elected officials and candidates accountable by asking tough questions that can sometimes get honest answers.
Moderated by Kate Cagle who is an anchor and reporter for Spectrum News 1, focusing on Los Angeles politics, criminal justice and the homeless crisis. Known for her on-the-ground approach to covering LA, her enterprise reporting on law enforcement history and deputy gangs has been recognized by the LA Press Club.
She’s on the board of the Society of Professional Journalists Los Angeles chapter where she serves on the advocacy committee.
RSVP here by June 14
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Jody David Armour is the Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law at the University of Southern California. A widely published scholar and popular lecturer, he studies the intersection of race, law, morality, psychology, politics, ordinary language philosophy, and the performing arts. His latest book, N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law (Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2020) looks at America’s criminal justice system – among the deadliest and most racist in the world – through deeply interdisciplinary lenses. His latest free speech article is titled "Law, Language, and Politics," 22 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 1073 (2020). Armour is a Soros Justice Senior Fellow of The Open Society Institute’s Center on Crime, Communities & Culture, and he is on the Board of Directors for LEAP (Law Enforcement Action Partnership), an international 501(c)(3) non-profit of police, prosecutors, judges, corrections officials, and other law enforcement officials advocating for criminal justice reform.
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Di Barbadillo is a community organizer who works alongside Black Lives Matter LA, the Check the Sheriff Coalition, and the Philippines-US Solidarity Organization (PUSO SoCal). In addition, Di is the Legal Observer Delegate on the Executive Board for the National Lawyers Guild- Los Angeles. Di was born and raised in Los Angeles and is second-generation Filipina-American. She went to college at UCLA and law school at The University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.
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Jeong Park is a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, mainly covering Asian American communities. He has been covering the Los Angeles mayoral race with a focus on how Asian American communities are thinking in this year's election. Before working at the Times, he covered California labor and economy at the Sacramento Bee as well as cities and communities at the Orange County Register.
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Carol Sobel is a civil rights lawyer and advocate; she has repeatedly sued the City of Los Angeles for violating the rights of the homeless population. She graduated from Douglass College in 1968 and the People’s College of Law in 1978. She was subsequently admitted to the state bar of California, and spent twenty years working for the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, most recently as Senior Staff Counsel. In 1997, she left the ACLU to start her own law practice.