The move was as much a surprise to most legislators as it was to reporters. Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson stepped to the podium on one of the busiest days of the legislative session and introduced a ban on reporters from the chamber while lawmakers are in session.
Within hours, the proposal was adopted and Georgia had joined a growing number of states restricting journalists’ access to lawmakers while legislative bodies are in session.
According to an Associated Press survey, legislative leaders in at least 38 states have restricted reporters from accessing lawmakers on the floors of at least one chamber during a floor session. Georgia joins Kansas in seemingly reviving the trend after several years in which few – if any – legislative leaders moved to restrict access.
Colorado is among a handful of legislative chambers where reporters are allowed to walk on the floor and freely speak with lawmakers while they’re in session. Other states include Nebraska’s single-chamber legislature and both chambers of legislative bodies in Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota.
Often, the measures are touted as a way to maintain order so legislators can focus on the debate at hand, or as a way to give lawmakers more space to maneuver through increasingly crowded rooms.
In Kansas, a new House Speaker imposed a ban on reporters this year in hopes of preserving decorum. In Georgia, the House leader argued reporters were given more leeway than their counterparts in other states.
“It just says the media is not to be given more rights than the public,” said Richardson, a Republican from the Atlanta suburb of Hiram, before the change was approved on a 132-29 vote.
Critics contend it furthers limits the public’s access to elected officials and restricts monitoring of the government.
“This is another effort to impede public access to government proceedings,” said Hollie Manheimer of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. “By limiting the flow of information to the public, this is a step backward.”
Many of the states that do allow journalists on the floor limit them while they’re there.
In Connecticut, for instance, reporters are allowed on the Senate floor but can’t pass a brass rail. At the North Carolina statehouse, reporters are barred from speaking with legislators during debate, but they’re restricted to a cordoned-off area on one side of the chamber where lawmakers sometimes come to visit. And in the Missouri House, reporters aren’t allowed to walk along the desks, but they can access a side area and interview legislators there.
Most bodies restrict movement
Often, the restrictions have led to peculiar tactics. Journalists in Alaska are allowed on the floor of both chambers but they cannot address legislators and can only respond to them, leading to a strange sort of dance as reporters wander around to try to land interviews.
“The vast majority of legislative chambers, movement by anyone is usually controlled,” said Brenda Erickson, a researcher for the National Conference of State Legislatures who has studied the different procedures. “It’s not uncommon at all.”
Some states have adopted stricter policies. In the South Carolina Senate, where journalists sit on benches at the back of the chamber, a sergeant of arms will reprimand reporters for nodding at legislators or subtly trying to gain their attention.
Reporters covering the Pennsylvania House have been banned from the floor since 1996, prompting most reporters to monitor the debate through closed-circuit TVs. In a 2001 letter asking legislative leaders to revoke the policy, the press corps lamented: “As a practical matter, there is no longer a House press gallery.”
The Kansas move was announced in a memo distributed to reporters by the Speaker’s chief of staff, but it was never voted on. Enforcement has somewhat varied, although doormen have been instructed to ban reporters from accessing lawmakers while they’re in session.
Georgia’s rule seems less lax. It raised eyebrows because of the tense relationship between the House’s Republican leaders and the state’s press corps, which has recently worsened with the media’s pursuit of conflict-of-interest allegations against Richardson and another GOP lawmaker.
In a fiery speech a few weeks ago, Richardson warned reporters to respect a lawmaker’s choice not to talk.
“If I have any more incidents of coming on the floor of the House and asking members if they want to speak, or asking a member if they want to speak and if they don’t then reporting they’re avoiding you, I will revoke your credentials to come on the floor of the House,” he said.
Then, without warning, Richardson introduced the floor ban on reporters. After the vote, his office defended the move.
“Calls were made to check the policies of the other Southeastern states, and not one allowed press on the floor of the House during session,” said Clelia Davis, the Speaker’s spokeswoman. “The strong show of bipartisan support on this matter speaks for itself.”
Under the new policy, reporters seeking interviews with one of the 180 state representatives must fill out a notecard detailing their question and then ask a House intern to deliver it to the lawmaker. The lawmaker can then agree to step outside or simply decline by checking a “no comment at this time” box.
Critics say legislators might soon regret the new restrictions.
“They’re going to have to live with the consequences,” said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “It’s going to cut both ways. There’s going to be times when they’re going to wish you had been allowed to get their attention.”