Brentwood Councilmembers Seek to Place Media Under Code of Ethics

by CC News 07/22/2024

written by CC News 07/22/2024

On Tuesday, the Brentwood City Council will discuss requiring media outlets used by the City or receiving press releases be held to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics.

The item will be discussed under Future Agenda Item requests where they discuss requiring media outlets with which the city spends money on advertising, or that distribute City press releases, be held to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics and that those organizations state publicly that they follow those guidelines.

Ironically, the request to place all media under a certain set of “Code of Ethics” comes as Councilwoman Jovita Mendoza has not signed her own Brentwood City Council “Code of Conduct” policy.

According to a public records request, as of July 2, 2024: Mayor Joel Bryant, Vice Mayor Susannah Meyer, Councilmembers Pa’tinisha Pierson and Tony Oerlemans have all signed the Code of Conduct—a 13-page document.

Brian Oftedal, who has pulled city council papers to run against Mendoza in November in District 3, called it over the top on social media.

“This seems a little over the top. Would the City of Brentwood put a policy in place to not share Press Releases with certain media outlets? I can appreciate if the public’s money is being spent, but to stop the dissemination of information and not share press releases is bad policy,” said Oftedal.

In today’s world, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, “media outlet” is defined as the internet, newspapers, magazines, television, etc.—meaning, anyone who has social media presence who wants to either work with the city, or even be placed on a media distribution list, would fall under the request.

The request came at the June 25, 2024 meeting, here is a recap of the commentary:

“There was a grand jury investigation in Stockton and it was something we might need to look at someday, it was about the dysfunction and I think we do have some slight dysfunction but I feel that some of our dysfunction is caused by social media platforms that choose to divide the city,” explained Mendoza. “I’ve seen it in Antioch, I have seen it in Stockton, I see some of it in Oakley.”

She referred to a grand jury report in San Joaquin County that stated external individual using social media have consistently attempted to undermine democratic process by misleading the Stockton electorate while attempting to effect election results through unethical influences.

“In Stockton, they are going to have to look at ways they deal with the media and social media,” stated Mendoza who noted a Code of Ethics. “I would like to discuss in a future agenda item, what media outlets do we give press releases to? What media outlets are we spending money with? And if we are choosing to spend money and share information, then they should be held to the society of professional journalism code of ethics as well. I would like to bring that forward so we can have a code of ethics because I don’t think we can be supporting via a relationship, via advertising dollars with any media outlet who’s choosing to divide the city which I have seen and I have seen recently, I am just not going to stand for it.”

Vice Mayor Susannah Meyer was quick to second the item.

“I read the article that councilmember Mendoza is talking about and I do think its absolutely justifiable for us as a city to require that any media platforms that we work with follow those guidelines and are willing to state publicly that they do, and they publicly do follow those guidelines” said Meyer. “I think its important that if we are spending our money as mentioned sending press releases and other information that we follow the ethics that are outlined by that as well.”

If You Go
Brentwood City Council Meeting
July 23, 2024 at 7:00 P.m.
City Council Chambers
150 City Park Way, Brentwood, CA 94513
Full Agenda – click here