Just thought I'd chime in since I work in TV news covering overnight breaking news.
We rely completely on open access to open police and fire dispatch channels to cover the news that happens overnight.
I've worked in all four major TV markets in Texas. Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin.
Dallas-Fort Worth is the most difficult market to work, not just due to the sheer size geographically, but also due the radio situation and encryption.
While we have a "media portal" and active calls sheets for some of the larger agencies like Dallas and Fort Worth, we don't have any way to hear some of the medium-size agencies like Arlington, Grand Prairie, Irving, Garland, Richardson and most recently, Highland Park and University Park, who are entirely surrounded by the city of Dallas and are all fully encrypted.
That means we have to rely ENTIRELY on PIOs to Tweet about an incident or send out a press release for incidents that happens in those cities. The vast majority of the time, they do not Tweet anything until AFTER the scene has cleared or until the next business day, after the PIO goes into work...if ever at all, unless there is an active threat to the community or a major traffic issue.
There is a legitimate and necessary function in society for the media to cover stories having to do with public safety and public safety issues. Furthermore, I don't believe in the whole "always film the police" or "copwatch" stuff, but another function of the press IS to ensure accountability of government officials and disseminate information that can be used by the community to hold government officials accountable. By that I do not mean filming the police and scrutinizing them for every thing they do, but I do mean knowing what is actually happening in the community, seeing it for ourselves (or in the media since not everyone can be at the scene) and allowing the press to document and distribute it for the community to see.
In my experience, there are so many shootings, robberies, carjackings, burglaries etc. that happen in the jurisdictions of the agencies I mentioned previously that we do not ever hear about and never get reported on... even some things like officer involved shootings. People really do not realize what is actually happening in their communities. That is what accountability I am talking about. We need to be holding our government officials accountable when crime begins increasing, but how can the general public know what questions to ask or even know that there is even a problem if they don't know what is truly happening.
Another issue is how does the press know what questions to ask if we can't even hear what is happening? There have been so many times PIOs and other officials have left out important details I heard over the air, that they either left out on accident or even possibly left out to keep from damaging the department's image, and they were able to confirm the info.
A big issue with the whole release information and press releases after the scene is clear and the media can run a stock photo is that we live in a visual society. People want to see things for themselves. People do not have the attention span anymore to sit there and listen to someone talk and just look at the anchor. People want to see the images video of 50+ shell casings littering a major intersection after a shooting, cars riddled with bullet holes etc., it helps convey the story better than just talking about what happened. If there's just some generic stock photo of crime scene tape, people are more likely to scroll past the article rather than read the article and actually know what's happening on their streets.
To expand on what I just mentioned above, I would also like to say I personally like running stories about our first responders that cast them in a good light. If I can get video of a police officer helping a 90 year-old lady change a tire on the side of the freeway, I'm going to shoot that. If I can get video of police rescuing someone out of a burning car or burning house, I'm going to shoot that. If I can get video of firefighters or police trying to save someone from flood waters, I'm going to shoot that. But I can't get that stuff on video if I can't hear the calls get dispatched. The message doesn't convey the same if I can't get video of it happening in real-time. Again, people want to see things to believe them. If people saw even 1/2 of what our first responders do, I bet there would be a lot less anti-police people in the world.
Whether government officials agree or not, the press has a legitimate function in society.
But if only all public safety agencies had the same mindset as the Austin Police Department... This is an excerpt from their general orders:
"The purpose of this order is to seek a balance between permitting the free flow of information to the public and the media while protecting both the prosecution's case and the rights of the accused from possible prejudicial publicity. Public information and positive media relations are an integral part of the operation of any public service agency and APD is no exception. Most citizens have little contact with law enforcement and their opinions of the police are often formed by our Department's portrayal in the media. The release of public information and maintenance of good media relations is a crucial element of APD's mission. Employees must maintain a good rapport with the public and the media and deal with them in a courteous manner. The media has a legitimate function in our society and the public trust of the police can be enhanced through media relations."
