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Maricopa Co. Attorney Andrew Thomas |
Phoenix Prosecutors:
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Map by Joshua B. Good |
Press Conferences
Off Limits to Student
Journalists, Others
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has banned student journalists from attending prosecutors’ press conferences.
The ban came to light in December of
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2006 after a spokesman for Maricopa County Attorney Andrew P. Thomas insulted an Arizona State University professor. Professor Stephen Doig had requested journalism students be allowed to attend press conferences. But in a testy exchange of emails, Thomas’s spokesman, Bill FitzGerald, refused and called Doig a condescending oaf, according to an Associated Press report on Friday, December 1, 2006. FitzGerald also told Doig to “get lost.”
Doig complained the ban violated his students’ First Amendment rights. He also complained about FitzGerald’s emails. The AP reported FitzGerald was counseled, but prosecutors refused to allow anyone to attend press conferences, except credentialed journalists from “legitimate” news organizations, the AP reported.
