KQED Inc., owner of a number of licensed television and radio broadcasting stations, requested permission to inspect and take pictures of the Alameda County Jail at Santa Rita. KQED sought to investigate a recent suicide that had occurred at the facility. Houchins, the Sheriff of Alameda County, denied access to the media.
Did the First Amendment guarantee news media a right of access to jails over and above that of other persons?
No. In an opinion written by Chief Justice Burger, the Court held that the First Amendment granted no special right of access to the press to government-controlled sources of information. The Court reasoned that the importance of acceptable prison conditions and the media's role of providing information afforded "no basis for reading into the Constitution a right of the public or the media to enter these institutions. . .and take moving and still pictures of inmates for broadcast purposes."
Decisions
Decision: 4 votes for Houchins, 3 vote(s) against Legal provision: Amendment 1: Speech, Press, and Assembly
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Judgment of the Court by Justice Warren E. Burger
