Who's A Journalist?
Sewell Chan blogs on NYTimes.com, of a case filed by my good friend David Wallis and two other journalists against the NYPD after they were suddenly denied press credentials. Wallis, who's a stand-up guy among stand-up guys, is a freelance journalist who's written for obscure outlets like The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post. He was also behind the terrific book, Killed Cartoons: Casualties from the War on Free Expression. Chan writes:

In the ever-shifting media landscape of 2008, who, exactly, is a journalist?

That question is at the heart of a lawsuit filed against the Police Department on Wednesday on behalf of three men -- Rafael Martínez Alequin, Ralph E. Smith and David Wallis -- who say that they were unfairly denied press passes because they work for online or nontraditional news outlets.

The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, asserts that the three men were denied press credentials in 2007 "with little explanation or opportunity for appeal," and that the system for issuing press credentials is "inconsistent and constitutionally flawed."

...The Police Department issues two kinds of credentials: working press cards, for a "full-time employee of a news-gathering organization covering spot or breaking news on a regular basis such as robbery scenes, fires, homicides, train wrecks, bombings, plane crashes, where there are established police or fire lines at the scene," and press identification cards, for journalists who are "employed by a legitimate news organization" but who do "not normally cover spot or breaking news events." (The language is from the city's official rules and regulations.)

The working press card ostensibly allows the journalist to cross police lines at emergencies and at nonemergency public events, like parades and demonstrations; the press identification card is "issued as a courtesy" but does not carry such privileges. Each card must be renewed annually.

...According to the lawsuit, Mr. Wallis had a press identification card from 1994 until August 2007, when his petition to renew the card was denied without explanation.

Mr. Smith is published of The Guardian Chronicle, a Web site for black law enforcement workers. He has been a public information officer for the city's Correction Department since 1988, and had a press credential from 1996 until January 2007, when he application to renew the credential was denied. Despite several attempts to get a written explanation for the denial, Mr. Smith has not received one, the suit says.

The case of Mr. Martínez Alequin, a longtime City Hall gadfly, has already been chronicled in the press. He published The Brooklyn Free Press from 1983 to 2001, when he ceased publication after the death of his wife. Then he launched an online publication, The New York City Free Press, in 2003, and began a related blog, Your Free Press, in 2007. He had a working press card from 1986 to 2000 and again from 2005 to 2006.

In May 2007, his application to renew it was denied, and from April to June of that year, the suit says, he was barred from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's news conferences in the Blue Room at City Hall because he lacked a press credential. Mr. Martínez Alequin has been a frequent critic of the mayor; he has since been allowed to attend news conference, but has not been called upon to ask questions.