The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas is working with other open government and news media organizations in filing briefs in federal court cases aimed at ensuring newsgathering rights.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Texas Association of Broadcasters and more than two dozen other groups, including FOIFT, are part of an amicus brief filed this month urging a federal appeals court to uphold a lower court’s blocking of Texas’ restrictive drone photography law.
The brief, in a lawsuit brought by the National Press Photographers Association and the Texas Press Association against Texas officials, notes that drone photography is a modern reporting tool providing important public benefits.
In another case, the FOIFT is joining an amicus brief in the federal lawsuit by newswoman Priscilla Villarreal against Laredo city officials for her arrest related to newsgathering. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is preparing to rehear Villarreal’s civil case. FOIFT and others have pointed out news reporting is not a crime and that arresting a journalist for gathering news is a violation of constitutional rights.