The Sacramento News & Review, an alt-weekly covering California’s capital, is getting help from a faraway ally in its legal tussle with Mayor Kevin Johnson.
First Look Media, the news company launched by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar early last year, announced on Monday it will grant $15,000 to the Sacramento News & Review to help defend itself from a lawsuit filed by the ex-NBA star.
The lawsuit, which was filed this summer, is aimed at withholding from the alt-weekly correspondence between the mayor’s office and attorneys representing Johnson in a court battle with the National Conference of Black Mayors.
The contribution will help defray the costs of a legal battle that’s representative of First Amendment struggles beyond Sacramento, said Nick Miller, the co-editor of the Sacramento News & Review.
“We’re completely thrilled to have the grant to our legal defense fund,” Miller said. “This is a critical issue for journalists everywhere — the idea that a public official can hide records from the people he or she represents — that’s unacceptable.”
Cosmo Garvin, a former staffer at The Sacramento News & Review, called the lawsuit “a mess” shortly after it was filed in July, arguing that it was “inappropriate for a public official or his lawyer to sue a reporter” for making a lawful open-records request.
In announcing the contribution to the Sacramento News & Review’s defense, First Look Media said a victory for Johnson could have broader legal ramifications for news outlets:
Although the media and political reach of this case may be regionally focused, it bears a significant public interest. If the mayor succeeds in blocking public review of emails sent in his capacity as mayor that relate to the use of public resources, it could set a precedent that undermines the public’s right of access to governmental information.
The contribution from First Look Media is the latest development in a mayoral tenure that has seen intense scrutiny from regional and national news organizations. In September, Deadspin published an interview with Mandi Koba, a woman who accused Johnson of molesting her as a teen. Shortly after, ESPN delayed the release of a documentary chronicling the city’s fight to prevent the Sacramento Kings from relocating. When the mayor attended the premiere of the movie earlier this month, the media peppered him with questions about the molestation accusation.
First Look Media’s legal fund, which was announced in 2014, has contributed to the defenses of imprisoned leaker Chelsea Manning and David Miranda, the partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald.
The contribution would seem as much symbolic as financial, given what surely could be the far greater legal bills for the weekly if the litigation drags on.
