Prosecutors
Calif. AG Spokesman Secretly Taped Reporter Phone Calls; Was Law Violated?
Posted Oct 30, 2009, 05:45 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
California Attorney General spokesman Scott Gerber has taped reporters’ phone calls without their knowledge.
California law bars the recording of a private conversation without consent, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said she believes the taping was outrageous and probably illegal.
Gerber’s taping came to light after he sent a transcript of a taped conversation to an editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, the newspaper reports. Gerber was complaining that a reporter’s newspaper story did not fairly reflect the taped conversation.
The taped call included Gerber, chief deputy attorney general Jim Humes and a senior assistant attorney general.
The reporter then called Gerber and asked if he recorded the call. Gerber replied that he did, according to the newspaper’s account. Gerber was asked if he recorded other conversations. "Sure, I've done it before," he said. "Reporters routinely record my conversations."
Humes later sent a statement to the Chronicle saying Gerber will not record any reporter’s conversation in the future without consent of all the parties.
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