Following a council decision to keep city facilities “neutral,” newspapers, along with other non-city messaging, can no longer be placed at Fullerton City Hall or any other city buildings.
The Fullerton City Council, on April 1 in a 4-1 vote, approved a policy banning all non-government content from being distributed at city buildings. The one exception to the new policy is a “community news” rack at the back of Fullerton libraries.
A letter to city officials from a local blog “making a statement of intent” to display its newsletter in the City Hall lobby sparked the policy question, City Attorney Richard Jones said.
“This led to a broader conversation with respect to the policy issues regarding the use of our city facilities and whether or not they should be deemed to be non-public forums or a source of public forum,” Jones said.
Because the council’s focus was on the broader question of the appropriate use of city facilities and not “retaliatory or focused in nature on a given publication,” it would not be a violation of the First Amendment, Jones told the councilmembers as they discussed the ban.
However, Councilman Ahmad Zahra, the only dissenting vote, argued the approved policy does encroach on freedom of speech rights.
“We have two publications in our city that have been producing news and covering the city for the last several decades. One of them is the Fullerton Observer, and the other one is the Daily Titan,” Zahra said. “The end result is pushing those two out.”
The Fullerton Observer, a volunteer-run community paper, has been available at City Hall and other city buildings for more than 40 years.
“I think free speech is crucial. The free exchange of ideas, good and bad, allows a community to openly discuss all sides of an issue and really know what the community as a whole stands for,” said Saskia Kennedy, owner of the Fullerton Observer. “Our democracy is stronger with more information and viewpoints available to the public.”
In a social media post following the April 1 City Council meeting, Zahra said the ban will “diminish the visibility” of the two local publications and “dampen the spirit” of community journalism.
“We are at a time when freedom of expression, and especially freedom of the press, is so crucial,” Zahra said. “Maybe it is not unconstitutional, but it certainly violates the ethical standards of what the constitution conveys and stands for.”
Emily Wilson, editor-in-chief of the Daily Titan, Cal State Fullerton’s student newspaper, said the policy “signals to me that they want to control the message.”
“We want City Council to consider that what they’re doing is essentially sending the message to us that they don’t support student journalism,” Wilson added. “I think us interpreting this as a ban on newspapers, which is what it is, is completely fair.”
Mayor Fred Jung defended the policy and said it is intended to keep city buildings neutral.
“It was meant for nonprofit brochures, postcard advertisements, flyers to events that are not city-sponsored,” Jung said. “It’s meant for anything. The fact that the Daily Titan and the Fullerton Observer have taken it upon themselves to take this personally when it has nothing to do with them is really strange and, quite frankly, counterproductive.”
The Daily Titan, Wilson said, will continue to cover the city of Fullerton.
“This ban is not going to significantly impact our ability to distribute, our ability to (stay) afloat, so to speak,” Wilson said. “But we do take significant issue with the fact that the city is symbolically messaging to us that not only do they not think our work is important, they think it doesn’t have a place on city property.”