Source: The Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law
Bills Could Hinder Investigative Reporting
During their 2011 sessions, state legislatures in Iowa, Minnesota, and Florida considered bills that would criminalize recording undercover videos of agricultural operations, drawing First Amendment concerns from animal rights activist groups and media who argued the bills could outlaw journalistic investigations that expose unsafe and unsanitary farming conditions.
For some years, the agricultural industry has argued that videos shot and released by animal rights groups present a distorted view of their operations and unfairly represent meat production practices. Criminalizing the production of the videos, industry officials say, would deter animal rights organizations from distributing misleading videos and prevent contamination of agricultural facilities.
On March 17, 2011 the Iowa House of Representatives passed H.B. 589, a broad bill that proposed blocking the recording of images or sounds at agricultural facilities without owner consent. However, the Iowa Senate did not pass the bill before the legislative session ended. Under the bill, a person would be guilty of animal interference if he or she produced a record which reproduces an image or sound occurring at the animal facility, possesses or distributes a record which produces an image or sound occurring at the animal facility, or entered onto the animal facility, or remains at the animal facility, if the person has notice that the facility is not open to the public. The bill also applies to crop operation interference, using identical language to the animal interference provisions, but replacing the word animal facility with crop operation. Violation of the law as a first offense would be charged as an aggravated misdemeanor, further offenses a Class D felony. The proposed law would not apply to an animal shelter, a boarding kennel, a commercial kennel, a pet shop, or a pound.
Read more: http://www.silha.umn.edu/news/Summer2011/StatesConsiderBanningUndercoverRecordingatAgriculturalOperations.html