PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has filed suit against the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations, charging the group with conducting an investigation against its publication that violates its First Amendment rights.
PG Publishing Company of Pittsburgh and Block Communications, Inc. of Toledo, Ohio filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Aug. 18 versus the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations (PCHR).
“[The suit] arises from a June 9, 2020, complaint the Commission brought against the Post-Gazette for applying its editorial policy that news reporters should not cover events about which they have engaged in public commentary,” the suit states.
“The complaint purports to raise questions of racial discrimination because the reporter who initially sparked the controversy is African-American, but the facts show – as even the PCHR acknowledges – that the policy was applied to all Post-Gazette staff members without regard to race.”
The crux of the lawsuit stems from the PCHR launching an investigation into how the Post-Gazette assigns its personnel to cover news stories, after two Black employees, one reporter and one photographer, claimed their race was the reason they were taken off coverage of this year’s protests after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Alexis Johnson, a social media reporter for the Post-Gazette, had engaged in commentary and debate on Twitter with both proponents and opponents of the protests which took place in Pittsburgh after Floyd’s death.
Johnson’s supervisors at the Post-Gazette met with her to explain that the publication’s policy is that reporters cannot cover stories on which they have offered public commentary.
“The editors told Johnson they wanted to ensure she understood that the editorial decision was intended to protect the Post-Gazette’s credibility as a news organization, her credibility as a reporter, and her safety in these particular circumstances,” according to the suit.
On June 9, 2020, the PCHR notified the Post-Gazette and BCI it had initiated a complaint of employment discrimination against them under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, and the Pittsburgh City Code.
“The PCHR alleges that reporters did not get story assignments they requested, or had stories altered or deleted, and suggests that the Post-Gazette’s editorial choices and assignment decisions designed to preserve editorial integrity constitute ‘discrimination’ or ‘retaliation’ in violation of local and federal law,” the suit states.
Johnson has also filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the Post-Gazette in federal court, while photographer Michael Santiago left the newspaper in June after accepting a contract buy-out.
Meanwhile, the newspaper denies it committed any discrimination and claims the PHCR’s inquest is an attempt to violate its constitutional rights.
“Requiring a newspaper to report to a political body to explain or justify its editorial decisions and staff assignments is precisely what the First Amendment was designed to prevent. The U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions divest the government of any authority to investigate, dictate, or penalize a newspaper’s editorial choices,” the suit says.
“The journalistic decision about what stories to publish and which reporters should cover them are matters in which the government may not interfere. The continuation of the Commission’s inquiry into the Post-Gazette’s editorial process thus constitutes an ongoing violation of the plaintiffs’ rights to freedom of the press.”
For counts of violating the First Amendment and Article I – Section 7 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, the plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the Commission’s investigation violates the plaintiffs’ rights to freedom of the press under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article I – Section 7 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, an injunction enjoining the Commission from continuing its investigation and causing the dismissal of the complaint and investigation, costs, attorney’s fees and such other and further relief in favor of plaintiffs, as may be just and proper.
The plaintiffs are represented by Courtney Turco DeThomas, Robert Corn-Revere and Ronald Gary London of Davis Wright Tremaine in Washington, D.C., plus Patrick K. Cavanaugh and Zachary N. Gordon of Del Sole Cavanaugh, in Pittsburgh.
The defendant has not yet obtained legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania case 2:20-cv-01222
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com