SPJ statement in support of Allan Parachini

Statement on the dismissal of Allan Parachini from the Los Angeles Superior Court:

Public information officers for any organization, private or public, are challenged to walk a line between serving the expectations of their employers and answering the questions of the media. When the PIO works for a government agency, public access laws are also a factor in the relationship.

The PIO must obey the law as well as the will of his or her employers, but the employers are also subject to the law, which, among other provisions, requires court records and proceedings to be reasonably made available or open to the public, including the news media.

This issue became of immediate concern in Los Angeles County this week with news that administrators had dismissed the Superior Court’s long‐time spokesman, Allan Parachini. While we cannot verify the assertions on either side of the dispute, the board of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is gravely concerned about the suggestion that at its root was Parachini‘s vigorous advocacy of access for journalists

We strongly affirm that the court is subject to California access laws, and we firmly reject the idea that those laws might be subject to political considerations or the convenience of the judges, administrators or other officers of the court. Anything else would set a dangerous precedent.

We call upon the administrative director of the California Supreme Court to investigate the circumstances and take appropriate action.

It's signed by chapter president Linda Bowen, a professor at Cal State Northridge, and the chapter's FOI chair, Richard Hendrickson.