Media bill struck down
By Kelly Conniff, staff writer
Posted on January 29, 2007

The Virginia state Senate struck down a bill that could bar reporters from entering the property of a resident who has recently suffered some type of loss, trauma or injury.

The bill’s creator, Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-37th District, has referred to reporters as “scuzzballs” — the target of the bill. He has also said in numerous articles that reporters’ only concern are for their own jobs.

Senate Bill 1120 would have allowed police to arrest anyone who knows or “reasonably should have known” that the resident of the property has recently suffered some type of loss, trauma or injury.

Currently, individuals can only be arrested for trespassing if the entrance to the house is forbidden orally, written or by a posted sign.

“It makes sense to protect the victim of crimes,” said Suzanne Garrett, who graduated from JMU in 2004. “After suffering something horrible, I really wouldn’t want people knocking on my door, so it would be nice to be protected.”

Despite the intentions of the law to protect victims of crimes, many groups are upset about the law’s lack of regard for the First Amendment. Advocates for the media, such as Ginger Stanley, executive director of the Virginia Press Association, cited this problem as one of her association’s main reasons for opposing the law.

“Most importantly it was a direct attack on news-gathering activities,” said Stanley. “It was unconstitutional from all sides.”

Media arts and design professor Roger Soenksen, who specializes in media law, said the proposed law is “a severe restraint on the media.”

Because reporters would not be able to enter houses without explicit permission, Soenksen also said journalists’ ability to accurately and immediately report the news would be restrained.

“The idea of hampering newsgathering while the news is still fresh is ridiculous,” Soenksen said. “When news is fresh, it’s able to have an impact on people, and a legislator making blanket rules shouldn’t affect that.”

Another issue is the vague wording of the law.

The VPA said anyone, including a neighbor or clergy member, could potentially be arrested for trespassing. In essence, anyone could be arrested for unknowingly trespassing.

“It seems like it’ll be incredibly hard to enforce,” senior Hilary Merica said. “The citizens will be oblivious to the law that they are breaking.”

After the bill’s failure, Cuccinelli was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that he will amend the bill to make it clear that it doesn’t affect friends or relatives stopping by a house in question.