{"id":171031,"date":"2017-08-24T10:52:54","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T14:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=171031"},"modified":"2017-08-24T16:35:35","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T20:35:35","slug":"tale-two-journalists-california-prosecutes-investigative-journalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/tale-two-journalists-california-prosecutes-investigative-journalism\/","title":{"rendered":"A tale of two journalists – How California selectively prosecutes investigative journalism"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It’s a familiar story to the pro-life community: a reporter goes undercover in a facility used by the public and secretly tapes illegal acts, then exposes it on video so people can see wrongdoing and justice can be done. But unlike The Center for Medical Progress<\/a>‘ undercover saga, this time the investigative journalism did not result in charges against the reporter or his organization. He received only applause.<\/p>\n

In February 2017, CBS News reporter David Goldstein went undercover<\/a>\u00a0with his producer in a Los Angeles chiropractor’s office. Secretly, he taped Dr. Leon Weathersby. The chiropractor was willing to sell Goldstein’s producer a letter certifying her dog<\/a> as an Emotional Support Animal (ESA).\u00a0On tape, the doctor tells the producer he does ESA letters for various emotional and physical conditions in which an animal could bring comfort, and he asks her if she has any conditions that would qualify her. She tells him, “I want to take my dog on the plane. Um, when you do that, can you take your dog? I want to take my dog for free on the plane.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weatherby says<\/a> he needs to confirm she has a disorder qualifying her, and then he can write her a letter. He says, “If you\u2019re having stress, depression, anxiety, headaches, neck pain, back pain.\u201d And fishing for a manufactured medical condition is\u00a0all it took<\/a> for Weathersby to produce a letter for the woman to fly for free with her dog.<\/p>\n

Weathersby was also exposed<\/a>\u00a0by Goldstein and his producer a week later for selling handicap placard verification letters — for $250 every six months or $1500 for a lifetime permit. Weathersby told Goldstein’s producer<\/a> what ailments would qualify her for the signed DMV letter that would allow her that cherished placard to find special parking privileges on Los Angeles’ crowded streets.<\/p>\n

Goldstein is a revered journalist<\/a> in the City of Angels, and many are grateful to him for exposing corruption and injustice that costs the citizens money. The California Attorney General has already closed down a pet rescue operation exposed by Goldstein’s investigation. And he’s not facing charges for his undercover work, despite the fact that California is a two-party consent state when it comes to recording. The Digital Media Law Project explains<\/a>:<\/p>\n

California’s wiretapping law is a “two-party consent” law<\/a>. California makes it a crime to record or eavesdrop on any confidential communication, including a private conversation or telephone call, without the consent of all parties to the conversation<\/strong>. See Cal. Penal Code \u00a7 632<\/a>. …<\/p>\n

If you are recording someone without their knowledge in a public or semi-public place like a street or restaurant, the person whom you’re recording may or may not have “an objectively reasonable expectation that no one is listening in or overhearing the conversation,” and the reasonableness of the expectation would depend on the particular factual circumstances.\u00a0 Therefore, you cannot necessarily assume that you are in the clear simply because you are in a public place.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that explanation leads to another David who did secret recordings in the same city with very different results.\u00a0David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt from The Center for Medical Progress<\/a> did their secret taping in restaurants and conventions, not Los Angeles medical offices. Recording in such public places does not come with the same reasonable expectation of privacy. Yet Daleiden, Merritt, and CMP have been in a firestorm of accusations and charges since their first undercover video was released in 2015.<\/p>\n

They have seen felony charges come from the state of California<\/a>. CMP became a target for Kamala Harris, the former California Attorney General who then ran for U.S. Senate and won a seat. She investigated Daleiden and Merrit — going so far as to search the head investigative journalist’s home<\/a>. She flatly refused to conduct an investigation of Planned Parenthood, despite the hours of verified evidence CMP produced and the law-breaking and life-taking by the abortion chain documented on video.<\/p>\n