Nearly everyone has seen a broadcast of a reporter standing out front of a house where a heinous crime occurred or where a high-profile criminal lives. It is fairly standard for the media to congregate around the house. They want the video of the person accused of the crime leaving the house or of police in action around the house.
In most cases, the media will move on to the next story relatively quickly, leaving your neighborhood in peace, but other times, the media could stay at a house for a week or more. How long did the media stay in front of Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman's houses? They were there for months.
As an association, it is imperative that you work to protect the residents of the community, and provide access to emergency vehicles and residents, but also understand that the reporters are trying to do their job too and are not there to cause an issue for you and your residents.
The attorneys at The Orlando Law Group can help associations put together a plan for when the media are interested in your community to ensure you stay within your legal rights, along with working to help lessen the impact when it happens.
Why would reporters visit a neighborhood?
Keep in mind, that nearly all media in any city have access to police radios. They are listening closely for any event that might be of interest to their viewers or readers. When they hear something of interest, they actively work to find as much information as possible about those involved.
Myriad events could trigger a reporter to enter your community.
Perhaps there was a murder at the house. Maybe the homeowner is an elected official caught with a prostitute. It is not rare for homeowners to be producing narcotics or growing marijuana in the garage. The resident could be the victim of a mass shooting away from the neighborhood.
While it sounds grim, no one wants to think that could happen to their neighborhood, it is important to be ready for when it happens, because, for nearly every community, something will happen eventually.
The communities that are prepared are the ones that will be able to move through the situation with minimal disruptions.
Can an association prevent the media from entering a community?
As is the case with so many questions pertaining to the law, the answer is that it depends.
If you operate a community without a gate, much of your community is public property, like the streets and sidewalks. In this situation, there is not much you can do to prevent news trucks from parking on the street, as long as they abide by the parking laws from the city or county.
Of course, if they decide to pull a truck into your community park, you can absolutely ask them to move and they will. If you feel they are breaking parking laws, you can contact local law enforcement to help alleviate the situation. Similarly, if they are preventing access to a part of a community, you can ask them to move to allow access and they will be required to do so.
If you manage a gated community, the answer is fairly simple. It is private property throughout the community, and you do not have to let a reporter past the gates.
However, the reporters will not leave the front of the community and will, instead, set up their trucks and live shots on the street and sidewalk – which is public property. Usually, they will aim their camera to the community entrance signage, again public property and not something you can prevent from happening.
Like with a non-gated community, media cannot block access for homeowners, and they can't utilize community property without permission, but outside of that, you have very little control.
Help the reporters do their job with minimum intrusion
Like any business, it is important to have a crisis plan in place for the worst to happen.
This plan should have contacts for the community, which the media can reach out for assistance. This is generally the association management company and the association's attorney. All other people in the organization need to ensure the media can reach out to them for assistance and not speak on behalf of the community.
Include a place where the media can park their trucks and a place where they can broadcast live shots. Remember, these could be late at night and early in the morning with bright lights, so try to find a place that could be used that would not interrupt neighbors.
Reporters truly appreciate organizations who are helpful and kind. They will usually comply with requests to move or to shine a light differently or avoid major disruptions.
That is not the case all the time, however.
When do you need legal help?
First of all, it is important to understand the laws about access for the public for your community. The reporters will know them and if you try to make up regulations, they will generally call your bluff.
Really, however, legal and law enforcement are only needed for rare circumstances where more than just a few reporters decide to camp out in a community. In those cases, you may need to have an attorney contact the news station or call law enforcement to the neighborhood.
The reporters have a right to be on public property, but they do not have a right to prohibit the right to quiet enjoyment of innocent neighbors. If it looks like reporters will be in a community with more than just one news cycle, it is important to engage your association attorney to provide advice and direction beyond the standard crisis plan.
Also, if there is damage caused by the news media to a resident's or the community property, there may be legal avenues available to recoup payment to repair or replace damaged property.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
