RTDNA Condemns Police Search of KUAM-TV Studio in Guam
For Immediate Release: May 13, 2010Contact: Ryan G. Murphy, ryanm@rtdna.org
WASHINGTON – The Radio Television Digital News Association condemns the Guam Police Department's search of a television station's newsroom to obtain documents associated with an investigative piece about a new police recruit.
RTDNA believes the police department acted in disregard of the Privacy Protection Act of 1980, which forbids federal, state and local law enforcement officers from conducting searches and seizures of work product and documentary materials of reporters and broadcasters except in very limited circumstances.
According to KUAM-TV, the NBC affiliate serving Guam, 12 agents from the Guam Police Departments' Criminal Investigation Division served a warrant at the KUAM studios, on Wednesday, asking the entire staff to leave the office and ordered them to turn off their cameras.
According to KUAM, an agent explained that the warrant was for an ongoing theft complaint being investigated, though the KUAM News team is concerned that the police action was an operation of intimidation prompted by a story the station ran on how a police trainee failed to pass a polygraph examination.
KUAM says the warrant was issued to determine how KUAM News received a document to support their story from a confidential source. The station is pursuing legal action, having filed suit against the Guam Police Department and the Government of Guam.
“When government attempts to intimidate journalists through actions like those of the Guam Police Department, the ability of the press to serve as the eyes, ears and voice of the public is compromised,” said RTDNA Chairman, Mark Kraham. “We applaud KUAM for asserting its First and Fourth Amendment rights in the civil lawsuit it immediately filed against the police department and the Guam government. We are confident that long-standing law and constitutional principles concerning freedom of the press will prevail. RTDNA firmly believes the search warrant should be quashed and the seized materials returned. With a motto of 'Where America's Day Begins,' we hope that American freedoms also shine brightly in Guam."
Guam Senator Judi Guthertz, a former chief of police, told KUAM: "The issue of obtaining a search warrant to inspect the office of a communications company, a media outlet on Guam, is a serious matter. As you know, we honor the freedom of the press in this country, our Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and the freedom of the press. I think that if the chief is concerned about leaks of documents in the police department, I can tell you, that's something that I lived with when I was chief, director of public safety and acting chief of police.”
In 2006, KUAM won the RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Award for best small market Web site in Region 2 for kuam.com.
ABOUT RTDNA
RTDNA is the world's largest professional organization devoted exclusively to electronic journalism. RTDNA represents local and network news executives in broadcasting, cable and digital media in more than 20 countries.
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