KQED TV Seeks to Air Executions
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A federal judge in San Francisco refused to dismiss a lawsuit by
public television station KQED seeking the right to videotape state executions
at San Quentin's gas chamber.
U.S. District Judge Robert Schnacke also showed an increased sympathy for
KQED's claim that the Deukmejian administration used a politically biased
procedure to select the 14 media organizations to be allowed a representative
in the witness area outside the gas chamber for the planned April 3, 1990
execution of convicted murderer Robert Alton Harris.
Schnacke said KQED's claim was "a contention made with some support" that
the selection in the past was made by "political considerations."
"It is necessary to find some fair, impartial, non-friendship-based, non-
passing-out-goodies-or-benefits method" to choose the limited number of news
outlets that can be accommodated in the witness area, Schnacke said.
Schnacke said the policy must "reasonably preclude the possibility of
abuse."
"That hasn't been the case in the past," the judge said.
William Turner, an attorney for KQED, said a state Department of Corrections
official originally made the selection on a fairly random basis, but more
than half the choices were changed by then-Gov. Deukmejian's press secretary,
Bob Gore.
In a declaration, Gore said he was aware of critical columns by a Sacramento
Bee writer when he included the much smaller, conservative Sacramento Union
on the list instead of the Bee, Turner said.
According to Turner, Gov. Pete Wilson's administration has made no formal
modification to the selection rules.
Harris' execution was postponed at the last minute by a federal appeals
court judge's stay.
The non-jury trial on KQED's civil suit against the state and San Quentin
Warden Daniel Vasquez is set to begin March 25 before Schnacke.
Schnacke today denied a request by Deputy Attorney General Karl Mayer that
the judge dismiss KQED's claim that reporters are denied the right to use
"tools of the trade" such as writing instruments, paper, recording devices
and cameras at state executions.
Mayer said the state will now allow the use of pencils and paper provided by
prison officials. That brings reporters up to par with their privileges when
covering other proceedings, like federal court trials, where cameras are
routinely excluded, Mayer said.
But Schnacke said he saw the camera issue as a question similar to the
problem of selecting some news reporters as witnesses and excluding others.
Schnacke indicated he wanted to review facts and argument at trial on whether
excluding television reporters' "tools of the trade" deprives them of an
equal opportunity to cover executions.
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