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Access to places: Access to public buildings and schools

Journalists also may have problems gaining access to cover events in public buildings, including public auditoriums and sports arenas, that have been leased for nongovernmental functions. When municipally owned property is operated in a commercial rather than governmental capacity, the media have no special right of access beyond that afforded to the general public.

For example, when the city of Hartford, Conn., rented its civic center to the promoter of a figure skating championship, a U.S. District Court rejected a television station's claim that its First Amendment right to gather news was infringed because the promoter gave ABC the exclusive right to cover the competition.⁷

However, a federal judge in Cleveland ruled that a state Democratic organization holding a convention in the city's civic center could not discriminate among journalists by admitting some and not others. The judge said that a private body leasing a government facility had the same constitutional obligations as the government.⁸

Standards governing access to public school buildings differ by state. Generally, public school property is treated as nonpublic forum public property, and regulations that restrict access but are designed to minimize interference with normal school activities would be constitutionally permissible.

No state laws bar the media from school grounds outright, but individual school districts may have adopted regulations limiting access to school property. Occasionally, reporters covering events on school property have been arrested for trespassing. Some districts have adopted more liberal policies that allow reporters access as long as they do not disrupt educational activities. In June 1996, the California Attorney General's office issued an advisory opinion giving school administrators the authority to deny media access to school grounds if their presence "would interfere with peaceful conduct of the activities of the school."⁹

Notes

7. Post-Newsweek Stations Inc. v. Traveler's Insurance Co., 518 F.Supp. 81 (D.Conn. 1981); see also D'Amario v. Providence Civic Center Authority, 783 F.2d 1 (1st Cir.) (rev'd and remanded), 639 F.Supp. 1538 (D.R.I. 1986) (complaint dismissed).

8. National Broadcasting Co. v. Association of State Democratic Chairs, 14 Med.L.Rep. 1383 (N.D. Ohio 1987).

9. Cal. A.G. Op. No. 95-509 (1996).

Next section: Access to places: Access to election polling places