Requiring journalists to present a certification from the Puerto Rico Department of State to attend Government of Puerto Rico press conferences violates freedom of the press by substantially limiting journalistic work. For that reason, the administration of Gov. Jenniffer González Colón must stop applying the practice against the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI), San Juan Superior Court Judge Iris L. Cancio González ruled today.
On Dec. 29, the CPI filed separate legal actions against the governor and her press secretary, Marieli Padró, after they barred CPI journalists from covering press conferences at La Fortaleza for failing to present a Department of State press credential.
In a declaratory judgment, Judge Cancio González held that the press certification issued by the Department of State is not a valid mechanism for determining which journalists may access a press conference called by the governor or any other official at La Fortaleza. She also issued a preliminary and permanent injunction prohibiting officials from requiring CPI journalists to present that certification.
“The plaintiffs’ right to freedom of the press is clearly being curtailed by denying them access to valuable government information about which they may publish or broadcast,” the ruling states. “The restriction of requiring the press certification — an act that exceeds the authority delegated by law — violates the plaintiffs’ right to freedom of the press. In turn, denying them full access to those press conferences causes them irreparable and recurring harm, with no adequate remedy other than the relief provided by the preliminary and permanent injunction.”
The court concluded that the Department of State’s certification serves only a limited purpose. “The press certification issued by the Department of State for the purposes identified under Law 22-2000 cannot be made a mandatory requirement for plaintiffs to carry out their duties and access press conferences held at La Fortaleza. If the defendants’ conduct were allowed, it would grant the Department of State — and the press certification it issues — a function not delegated by law and not required for members of the press to perform their journalistic work or gain access to certain public or nonpublic places,” Cancio González wrote in her ruling in favor of CPI journalists Luis Valentín Ortiz and Noel Algarín Martínez.
In her decision, the judge added: “There is no doubt that this conduct by the defendants curtails and substantially affects the plaintiffs’ journalistic function by denying them full access to the weekly press conferences held at La Fortaleza. Denying full access prevents these journalists from obtaining essential public information, such as the information provided by the government’s highest-ranking officials at those press conferences.”
Valentín Ortiz responded to the decision. “The court made clear that the government cannot impede our journalistic work,” he said. “This practice of requiring a press card — whose purpose was never to establish which journalists could do so — has been in effect for more than a year and violates the constitutional right to freedom of the press. I trust that Gov. Jenniffer González’s administration will respect this ruling and allow us to do our job.”
Cancio González denied the Motion to Dismiss and request for summary judgment filed by the governor and her press secretary through their attorneys, Ramón Rosario Cortés and Gian Carlo Oliver Martínez. The Asociación de Periodistas de Puerto Rico and the Overseas Press Club of Puerto Rico appeared in support of CPI as friends of the court.
“We are neither convinced nor persuaded by the defendants’ legal arguments based on the federal regulations they cite regarding the credentialing system for access to the White House,” Cancio González wrote. “The press accreditation system for access to the White House is grounded in a decades-long history in which specialized, external forums in those areas have issued special passes and others through the professional evaluation of journalists. As the plaintiffs correctly assert, Puerto Rico has no independent press-accreditation body to grant such access to certain locations or to enable journalists to carry out their functions.”
“This case does not challenge the denial of a press credential,” she continued. “The controversy here is different, because the defendants seek to deny access to La Fortaleza through a press certification that the law did not authorize for that purpose,” the judge concluded.
