March 4, 1995

The regional Society of Professional Journalists unanimously approved a measure Saturday to condemn as unconstitutional recent efforts in the Utah Legislature to force reporters to register as lobbyists.

The resolution by members of the Region 9 Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) at the group's annual meeting in Denver says a proposal in the just-completed Utah legislative session to license journalists violates Constitutional freedoms of expression for citizens and the press.

The statement was drafted by Utah State University Professors Edward Pease and Penny Byrne of the Department of Communication. It "reaffirms the Society's long-standing opposition to the actions of any legislative or governmental body that would have the effect of impeding the rights of the public or of the press to freely and fully discuss the actions, debates and activities of publicly elected representatives."

In the final days of the 1995 Utah legislative session, which concluded last week, state Sen. Dave Watson, R-St. George, proposed that journalists covering the legislature be required to register with the state of Utah as lobbyists.

"That is a violation of both the U.S. Constitution and everything this country stands for," said Pease, head of USU's Department of Communication. "America is built on the premise that free people have the right to say and think what they want. Without that, we cease to be a democracy.

"This is not just a journalists' concern," Pease said, "everyone has a right to know what their elected officials are doing. And we all have the right - even the responsibility - to say what we think about it." The measure to register journalists who cover the Legislature came amid news stories concerning the influence of lobbyists on legislators. A recent Salt Lake Tribune poll shows that many Utahns are concerned about how lobbyists affect the legislative process. A year ago, Utah legislators and members of the press clashed over media coverage in a meeting aimed to improve the Legislature's public image that degenerated into name-calling.

"We are concerned that this attitude of the press as 'Public Enemy No. 1' is growing in Utah," Pease said. "People forget that the First Amendment belongs to them, not just to journalists. Reporters cover events because most of us can't be there ourselves. When governments shut out reporters, it's really us - the people - who are excluded from the process. That's wrong."

The resolution condemning actions of the Utah Legislature to curb journalists will be forwarded to the national Society of Professional Journalists, said Region 9 Director Fred Brown of the Denver Post and Kelly Hawes, national SPJ president, Saturday.

The Society of Professional Journalists is the nation's largest organization of working and student journalists, based in Greencastle, Ind. SPJ's Region 9, which held its annual meeting in Denver last weekend, includes Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico.

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