Colorado Politics: A bill working its way through our state legislature, SB 25-077, is the subject of vociferous debate, both inside and outside the Capitol’s chambers, about whether “the press” should be treated “more favorably” than other members of the public who are not professional working journalists. A handful of advocates from “non-traditional” media outlets and online speakers/bloggers have used their platforms to denounce the bill’s “carve out” of “the press” — as that term is already clearly defined in existing state statutes — from the bill’s imposing of additional hurdles on public access to our records (the public’s records, made, maintained and kept at taxpayer expense). With all due respect, these critics focus on the wrong portion of the bill. It’s not the so-called “press exemption” that’s the problem, its what the press is exempted from: an additional set of unjustifiable and onerous roadblocks to public access.

To be clear: Sen. Cathy Kipp’s bill, in its current form, does not grant the press access to any records other members of the public are prohibited from accessing. (Although, truth be told, the Colorado Open Records Act already allows credentialed journalists to access certain otherwise “confidential” information in public records, to confirm they are reporting on the right person, that members of the public are not permitted to access).

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