Defend Legitimacy of Freelance Journalists

by National Writers Union

Paul Trummel, a member of the Seattle local, has been in jail since February 27. 2002. He is charged with contempt of court by James Doerty, a King County Superior Court judge, who says Trummel is not a legitimate investigative reporter because he edits and publishes his own work.

Please help Paul Trummel by seeking his release and, at the same time, help yourself and your colleagues by standing up for the status of freelance writers everywhere. There is reason to believe that Doerty will listen to reasonable arguments on behalf of Paul and the rest of us who practice freelance writing. Please let the judge hear from you. Address your message to Judge James Doerty at email: james.doerty@metrokc.gov.

Doerty's ruling strikes at the legitimacy of every freelancer who is not attached to a specific publisher or periodical. According to the transcript of an April 19, 2001, hearing, Doerty said, "It is my finding specifically that his claim to be a journalist is a bogus claim insofar as he has no useful journalistic purpose. . . . He is not employed by anybody but himself, there is no publisher involved, there is no press involved, there is merely the misguided use of an obviously well-developed talent . . ."

The judge ordered Trummel held until he takes down a web site on which he accuses management of a Department of Housing and Urban Development-subsidized senior housing project of various improprieties. Trummel instead moved his web site to a server outside the United States, with a notice to Washington State residents not to read the material.

The National Writers Union deplores any judgment that denies freelance writers the status of journalists simply because they publish their own work. The First Amendment applies to all writers, regardless of their employment status. Trummel should be freed immediately without requiring that he censor his publication.

Independent writers are having an increasingly difficult time preserving their rights to do their work. In a recent Massachusetts case, community reporter Patricia Demarest went to court after a public access cable TV company suspended her for airing a broadcast in which she grilled local officials about conflicts of interest. In that case, a federal judge ruled March 5 that freelance journalists have the same rights as those employed by news outlets.

Last year freelance book author Vanessa Leggett was jailed on civil contempt charges for 169 days after refusing to disclose interview material she gathered under a promise of confidentiality. The judge who jailed her said she was not a real journalist because she had never published a book. Leggett is out of jail now. Her case is headed for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Independent journalists are crucial to our society's ability to understand daily events that they might not otherwise read or hear about. Any erosion of the rights of independent writers to do their work undermines the free flow of information.