Reporters Committee announces RNC Hotline

As the news media prepare to cover next week’s Republican National Convention, the Reporters Committee would like to remind them that it will operate a special 24-hour Media Hotline for journalists covering the conventions, to ensure that cost-free legal assistance will be only a telephone call away.

The hotline number is (651) 238-1884. Copies of fliers outlining procedures for resolving problems arising from detention or arrest will be available at the media center at the convention site, or directly from our web site at www.rcfp.org/conventions.

During the St. Paul convention, attorneys Paul Hannah of Kelly & Berens and Bill Tilton and George Dunn of Tilton & Dunn will handle the hotline calls. A similar hotline during the Democratic National Convention in Denver was handled by attorneys with the law firm of Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, L.L.P.

The hotline lawyers will endeavor to work with police and public officials to help resolve problems for journalists arrested or detained during demonstrations or other disturbances that occur during the convention.

In addition, the general Reporters Committee hotline will be available as a backup at (800) 336-4243.

The Reporters Committee, a nonprofit association of reporters and editors established in 1970, provides cost-free legal advice and research assistance to journalists and their lawyers. The Reporters Committee has established such hotlines at every Democratic and Republican national convention since 1972.

For further information, contact: Lucy Dalglish, Executive Director, at the Reporters Committee, (703) 807-2100; or Paul Hannah at (612) 349-6171 or Bill Tilton at (612) 867-7473.