OAKLAND – With a camera slung across her shoulders and a notepad in hand, student journalist Nelzy Gonzalez-Zaragoza was ready to cover a police press conference about the devastating tragedy that had just struck Laney College.
But moments before the Nov. 14 media event began, the Oakland Police Department barred the Peralta Citizen reporter from entering, a remarkable blockade against a college newspaper covering a national story about beloved Laney coach John Beam, who was fatally shot on campus a day earlier.
The reason? The Citizen reporter — an associate editor — had not first obtained a police-issued press credential.
The “mandatory” requirement has been a thorny issue among reporters covering the department since it was first enforced three years ago, with some bristling at the idea that the OPD can decide who can or can’t access press conferences on topics of community interest.
But it has not faced unified opposition until now. Hours after Gonzalez-Zaragoza’s removal, First Amendment lawyers and advocates fired off a letter to police officials and Mayor Barbara Lee, saying the practice “interferes with the ability of the press to keep the public informed, threatens press independence and hurts the community’s ability to get news from a diverse range of sources.”
“This is a high-profile case, but I felt comfortable going in there … it’s not fair that any reporter was kicked out,” Gonzalez-Zaragoza, who grew up in Oakland, later said.
She was not alone. Journalists on assignment for The Oaklandside and the San Francisco Chronicle were also not allowed inside and a photographer with the Bay Area News Group as well as another Citizen reporter were “only permitted to attend after agreeing on the spot to apply for an OPD press credential,” according to the letter from the First Amendment Coalition, Pacific Workers Media Guild and the Society of Professional Journalists of Northern California.
While Oakland police officials maintain the press passes are meant to ensure safety for all, the organizations said “there were no security threats, space limitations or other lawful justification to exclude or erect barriers to access.”
They are calling for an “immediate” end to the policy, which stands in contrast to media events at Oakland City Hall and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, where no such requirement currently exists.
“OPD interfered with journalists’ ability to do their jobs for no reason,” the letter read. “This policy and today’s actions serve no one. Newsrooms must have the ability to send any journalist they choose to cover the news, and must not be limited to sending only those who have chosen to apply for and been granted a particular government credential.”
It appears OPD is not budging. In a letter responding to the press groups, Assistant Chief James Beere said the department “made efforts to expedite several applications immediately before the recent news conference for those already holding credentials from other media organizations.”
“Knowing the identity” of journalists “accessing non-public areas within the Police Administration Building is vital for everyone’s safety,” he wrote, before encouraging “all media professionals to complete the credential application process.”
“The Oakland Police Department’s media credential policy is a necessary security measure, not an infringement on First Amendment rights,” wrote Beere, who earlier this month was named interim police chief.
“Due to national and local incidents involving threats and harm to public figures, the policy was implemented to ensure the safety of our staff, presenters, and all attendees.” Through a spokesman, Mayor Lee declined to comment and referred back to OPD and Beere’s letter.
Ginny LaRoe, of the First Amendment Coalition, said the groups “are deeply disappointed by OPD’s response and hope it will reconsider.”
Media members with company-issued credentials had little trouble accessing press briefings inside OPD until December 2022, when department spokesman Paul Chambers sent a blanket email warning of the new policy. At the time, Chambers, a former KTVU reporter, said there wasn’t an existing safety issue that prompted the change.
The credential form, which requires each person to have their picture taken by an OPD employee, asks for information about their sex, hair and eye color, height, date of birth and home address. It warns the credential could be revoked if a journalist had been arrested for “vagrancy, or interfering or otherwise impeding the activities of law enforcement officers.”
At the time of the Nov. 14 press conference, Gonzalez-Zaragoza and her fellow Citizen reporters had barely caught their breath.
Less than 24 hours earlier, athletics director John Beam was shot inside the Laney College Field House, a short walk from the Citizen newsroom. The student reporters went to work right away — even those stuck in classrooms, with the downtown campus on lockdown.
They posted breaking news updates, sketching out how to cover a massive story on their campus and filing public records requests in anticipation of a story they’d follow for days, if not weeks and months. Beam had become a national icon in Netflix’s “Last Chance U” — and in a grieving town, the students were determined to get to the bottom of his killing.
Part of that meant attending press conferences, a new terrain for many of the Citizen students just entering the news industry but equipped with deep knowledge and context of the Peralta Community College District. Many of them had known Beam, interviewed him or questioned his authority as the college’s athletic director in investigative stories.
But because Gonzalez-Zaragoza didn’t have an OPD-issued press pass or a Citizen credential on hand, Chambers walked her out of a ninth floor conference room where the press briefing was to be held, and escorted her down an elevator to the lobby of police headquarters. Another Citizen reporter, Ivan Saravia, was allowed to stay after filling out a credential form on the spot.
Chambers declined to comment beyond the letter Beere sent.
Police commanders then gave significant updates confirming that Beam was declared dead two hours earlier and that the gunman – identified as 27-year-old Cedric Irving Jr. – was in custody.
To Eleni Gastis, the faculty advisor of The Citizen, it looked as though her students were treated differently, despite having the same rights as “professional” journalists.
“It wasn’t just a no,” said Gastis, who accompanied Gonzalez-Zaragoza and Saravia to OPD. “The students were escorted down. I didn’t see (Chambers) do that to anyone else. It was intended to be shameful and obstructive of the coverage of their campus – and they are the true experts on their beat.”