Our opinion: Iowa Senate change could have chilling effect on public access

For decades, Senate protocol had reporters, photographers and multimedia journalists work at press benches along the front wall of the chamber, facing senators’ desks. That gave members of the media a good vantage point for capturing legislative debate among the senators. Journalists had ready access to ask questions of state senators — without disrupting the legislative process — to help bring clarity, accuracy and context to their news reporting.

The change is more than an assault on the press — it is a gut punch to Iowans. Reporters aren’t sitting there simply to create content for their publications. They are the eyes and ears of the people, a daily conduit of public access.

Iowa is one of just a handful of states that don’t allow reporters access to the chamber floor. In most states, the members of the media have a designated seating area, like Iowa’s press benches.

Worth noting — the Republican-led Iowa House of Representatives did not make such a change, leaving credentialed reporters on the floor as they have been in years past.

Additionally, Iowa Capitol Press Association’s annual legislative preview forum had to be canceled this year because Gov. Kim Reynolds, Republican Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver and Republican House Speaker Pat Grassley all declined to attend the event.

This forum dates back more than 20 years, beginning with The Associated Press reporters. The press association noted, “This decision by Republican statehouse leaders ... continues an unsettling trend of reduced availability to Iowa journalists. The ICPA continues to believe elected officials who craft state laws and operate state government should be accessible to the journalists who monitor that work on behalf of all Iowans.”

Exactly.

Worth noting, all of the legislators from the TH coverage area — Republicans and Democrats — have been good about responding to Telegraph Herald reporters regarding legislative coverage and made themselves available to reporter Benjamin Fisher when he traveled to Des Moines last week for the session’s opening.

The change in the Senate impacts the legislators themselves, as well. For elected representatives, communicating with journalists helps get information to constituents. When seated on the floor, senators easily could hand off documents to reporters or explain proceedings or votes. Now senators mostly come to the House to track down a reporter.

Republican Senate leadership has embarked on a troubling pathway that impedes the state’s longstanding commitment to public access and transparency. In a year such as this one, with myriad issues Iowans are deeply concerned about on the docket, enabling objective reporting on those issues has never been more important.