The Society of Professional Journalists Northern California officially announced yesterday that Thadeus Greenson, the
Journal's news editor, won a
James Madison Freedom of Information Award. It's an award Caroline Titus of the
Ferndale Enterprise took home in
2016, and the
Journal's then staff writer and editor Hank Sims and Emily Gurnon won in
2005.
Greenson is being recognized for his "years long battle with the city of Eureka over the release of police camera footage of an arrest." (
That arrest by then Eureka Police Sgt. Adam Laird and the departmental drama that followed it are, coincidentally, the subject of next week's cover story on stands Wednesday.) The end result of Greenson and the
Journal's pursuit of the video, in
Humboldt County Superior Court and then in the
California First District Court of Appeals, was a state precedent-setting
opinion that kept the city — and any others in California — from treating police camera footage as confidential officer personnel records.
Particularly in our current climate, with heightened awareness of police misconduct and the potential abuses of power, that ruling in favor of transparency is a win for journalists throughout the state, the public and those police departments working toward trust in the communities they protect. We could not be more proud of Greenson's work on this story and in every issue of the
Journal.