Iowa’s top leaders need to quit treating reporters as obstacles

Majority Republicans took what should have been an unremarkable bookkeeping matter and made it another example of them dismissing the merit of independent reporting on the people’s business.

An insightful journalist covering Iowa state government won a capitulation from the Legislature on Wednesday. After rather transparently giving Laura Belin of the Bleeding Heartland website the runaround for much of the past five years, the Iowa House gave Belin a press credential.

The rules for credentialing had for years been moving goalposts that always managed to exclude Belin, who writes and edits her site from a progressive viewpoint and is often critical of Republicans who control state government. Belin sued House Chief Clerk Meghan Nelson in federal court on Jan. 19 — and a few days later she had her credential.

The sequence of events reinforces the conclusion that there was never any neutral principle about journalism or workspace at issue here. (The lawsuit head-shakingly recounts evolving excuses: that passes were not available “to the public” or to “nontraditional/independent” media, that they were available only to “press, radio and television” and then to “bona fide correspondents of repute” and so on.) Iowa’s judicial branch and state university athletic departments seem to have no difficulties in giving members of the news media the same access without splitting hairs over the mechanism or content of their work.  

Instead, majority Republicans (who presumably endorse the work of the chief clerk they hire) took what should have been an unremarkable bookkeeping matter and made it another example of them dismissing the merit of independent reporting on the people’s business.

It’s possible to produce incisive reporting on the Legislature without special press access, as Belin has done for over a decade. Many lawmakers actively respond to messages, and both the House and the Senate to their credit have greatly improved the public’s access to all stages of the legislative process through video streaming. But the pass lets journalists work in dedicated space on the House floor, hear debate more clearly, and touch base with legislators both purposefully and spontaneously.

“I hope this victory for press freedom will make any public official reluctant to deny access to reporters, either as retaliation for tough coverage or because of political bias,” Belin said in a prepared statement. 

This resolution does not mean all is well, however. Unlike her predecessors, Gov. Kim Reynolds does not hold regular news conferences that include time for reporter questions.

The Iowa Senate shows no sign it will ever allow journalists to return to their floor seating in that chamber, last made available to the press in 2020. Two years ago, a spokesman bemoaned, “As non-traditional media outlets proliferate, it creates an increasingly difficult scenario for the Senate, as a governmental entity, to define the criteria of a media outlet.” To repeat, among state agencies, it’s seemingly only the Legislature that’s having this difficulty.

“The doors of each house shall be open,” the Iowa Constitution reads. Lawmakers going back to Iowa’s territorial days have recognized their responsibility to allow journalists to report their deliberations to the rest of the public. Today’s lawmakers should have nothing to fear from journalists working near their desks. In fact, having a forum for impromptu chats should mean a better chance for a lawmaker’s nuanced thoughts to get published, which serves everybody’s interest, including the 3 million Iowans who won’t set foot in the Statehouse during the session.

As a final point, top officials in the executive and legislative branches set an example, for good or ill, in following the letter and spirit of the First Amendment and Iowa’s open meetings and open records laws. Lately, it’s more often been a bad example. Just a few months ago, Belin and others won a separate lawsuit against Reynolds’ office over its failure to provide public records, as required by law. By waiting to act until there’s formal litigation, these leaders imply that the rules are obstacles to evade, rather than principles to uphold.

There’s much room for improvement by top state officials in respecting First Amendment rights, but they could start by bringing reporters — including Belin — back to the Iowa Senate floor.

Lucas Grundmeier, on behalf of the Register’s editorial board

This editorial is the opinion of the Des Moines Register’s editorial board: Carol Hunter, executive editor; Lucas Grundmeier, opinion editor; and Richard Doak and Rox Laird, editorial board members.

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