Iowa reporter wins five-year battle to become journalist

An Iowa journalist who has been denied a press credential for five years is finally allowed into the state House of Representatives after filing a lawsuit.

Laura Bellin runs Bleeding Heartland, a community blog that describes itself as focused on Iowa politics. She is also the statehouse reporter for KHOI Community Radio in Ames, Iowa.

Over the past five years, Bellin has had to cover legislative proceedings from the public gallery or via online streaming after being denied multiple credential requests.

“I think it’s based on what I posted and my opinion,” Bellin said. “I have been very critical of Republican leadership in the Iowa Legislature and executive branch. Republican lawmakers know my job very well.”

Beilein first applied for press credentials in 2019 to cover the Iowa House of Representatives, but the request was denied. Every year since then, applications have been rejected. Bellin said the receptionist told her independent journalists could not obtain credentials.

Then the policy changed, Beilein said. Journalists now have to work for a well-known news organization with a sizeable audience, she said, and eventually, clerks stopped responding to her applications and appeals.

So Beilein filed a federal lawsuit in January.

The lawsuit charges Iowa House Chief Clerk Megan Nelson with four counts of violating Behring’s First Amendment rights to freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

Bellin said in the lawsuit that her online news site received between 88,000 and 119,000 monthly views during the 2023 legislative session.

Four days after the lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court, Beilein was granted a press pass.

Nelson, the Iowa clerk, declined VOA’s request for comment by phone. But she did provide a copy of the press accreditation policy.

Press credentials allow reporters to report from the Iowa House of Representatives. The “Press Box” features a dedicated reporter workspace with the ability to video and record proceedings and provide immediate access to legislators.

Being accredited also allows reporters to attend briefings with Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley.

“People need to know what’s going on in the state Legislature,” Bellin said. “This is very important. I know a lot of the news coverage is focused on the national news, but in many ways, state legislatures have an impact on people’s lives even more than what happens in Congress.”

Belin began covering the Iowa Legislature and politics in 2007. She has had a long career in journalism.

In the 1990s, she covered Russian politics for the Open Media Institute in Prague. She also reported for VOA sister network Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s.

Bellin is also an expert on authoritarian government and holds a PhD in Russian studies from Oxford University.

The Free Speech Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting First Amendment rights, wrote the memo defending Bellin. Now it’s filing a lawsuit on Beilein’s behalf against the Iowa House clerk.

“Journalism and freedom of the press are fundamental to a functioning democracy,” said Tom Garrett, the institute’s chief communications officer. “Whether a legitimate journalist like Laura, with nearly three decades of experience, can be granted interview rights, It’s about the public having complete and accurate information and holding politicians and legislators to account.”

Media experts say denying access could have a chilling effect on the media and violate the First Amendment.

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker website details nearly 90 cases in which journalists were denied access since a coalition of media rights groups began documenting cases in 2017. Governors, the White House, cities, towns and even school boards have denied reporters access, tracking sites and others said. watch dogs.

“This is not just happening in Iowa,” said Kirsten McCarden, editor-in-chief of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker website. “Every time a reporter is hindered and denied access to our elected officials, it affects us all. We are all members of the public first, and we trust journalists as one of the ways we get our information.”

Beilein’s five-year battle for eligibility has yet to be fully resolved. She now has the certificate, but it may be revoked.

Her lawyer, Courtney Curbello of the Free Speech Institute, said their lawsuit seeks a rewrite of the press credentials policy and a restraining order to prevent Laura’s credentials from being used. Their lawsuit now claims the certificate policy is vague and discriminatory.

“Journalists play a very important role in society,” Curbelo said. “To deny access to some of them so that only those who report the way the government likes to report is fundamentally contrary to what our society should be.”

The two parties are currently engaged in settlement negotiations.