Currents: Access
Press Pass?
I'll Pass

BY WENDY COLE

In Chicago, some 3,000 journalists possess press credentials issued by the police department. Getting the card has always been a straightforward matter: fill out a form signed by your employer, provide a photo, and you’re done. But when the current laminated badges expire at the end of May, lots of reporters and photographers plan to let the deadline slide.

For the first time, the police will require members of local media to be fingerprinted and undergo criminal background checks to obtain a pass. Security concerns since September 11 have prompted the heightened scrutiny, but many local journalists believe the measures are unacceptable invasions of privacy, as well as a First Amendment violation. They don’t like the police, in effect, deciding who can and cannot be a journalist. “I think editors and news directors should make that decision,” says James Anderson, news director of the Illinois Radio Network.

Credentials will be denied to applicants found to be registered sex offenders or who have an outstanding arrest warrant, the police say. The cops maintain that in these dangerous times, they’d be remiss if they didn’t make sure news-gatherers are who they say they are and are not wanted by the authorities. “What would the story be if a registered sex offender is covering a news story at a day care center and is there with all those children without a credential?” says Pat Camden, a spokesman for the police. “Nobody here is looking to end somebody’s career because you were arrested at a beer party in college.” But some reporters are unswayed by promises that other embarrassing information uncovered through the checks won’t be used against them.

Considerable disagreement remains about how necessary the passes are to cover news effectively in the Windy City. Some reporters say that the police pay little heed to credentials at crime scenes, and many point out that they are rarely, if ever, asked to display passes at official gatherings. But that could change — precisely because the background checks will inherently confer greater significance on the plastic card.

Some news organizations, like the Illinois Radio Network, are waiting to see what competitors will do before deciding whether to undergo the investigation. But a number of journalists have already declared their intentions not to comply. “Why should the onus be on us to prove we are innocent?” wonders the Chicago Tribune reporter Christine Tatum, president of the Chicago Headline Club, the local chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists.

Police in Omaha, Nebraska, backed off a similar fingerprinting proposal last December after news organizations complained. The police found other ways to beef up security that suited both sides. But Chicago beat reporters know they aren’t living in Nebraska. Don Cummings, a veteran police reporter with WGN Radio, says, “It’s a shame the government has to collect more information on us. It makes me nervous. But I don’t see the point of saying no.”