sa国际传媒官网网页入口

Owners of the news website ABQ Raw allege in a lawsuit that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has illegally denied the online publication access to her press conferences.

The lawsuit alleges that the governor鈥檚 office took the action because of ABQ Raw鈥檚 online-only format and asks a judge to order the state office to open its doors to the news outlet.

Lujan Grisham鈥檚 office excluded ABQ Raw from press conferences 鈥渂ased on their online-only publication format by requiring a periodical publication or established television or radio presence,鈥� the suit alleges.

The case raises questions about what constitutes journalism in the internet era and whether a government agency can make distinctions between news outlets.

Jessica Hernandez, an attorney who filed the lawsuit, said the governor鈥檚 office鈥檚 created a media credentialing process that allowed it to arbitrarily exclude ABQ Raw from press conferences.

ABQ Raw 鈥渁re media, and constitutionally, that term is very broad,鈥� Hernandez said Friday in a phone interview. 鈥淵ou cannot pick and choose which media to include or allow based on which media you like.鈥�

The governor鈥檚 office has declined to comment on the lawsuit.

鈥淎t this time, we have not had an opportunity to review the lawsuit and therefore do not have anything further to add,鈥� Lujan Grisham鈥檚 spokeswoman, Jodi McGinnis Porter, said in an email.

The 2nd Judicial District Court lawsuit was filed Oct. 14 by Circled Wagons Management LLC, an sa国际传媒官网网页入口 firm that operates ABQ Raw, and its owners, Nicholas Layman and Mark Aragon. The governor鈥檚 office is the sole defendant. The suit seeks unspecified damages and access by ABQ Raw to the governor鈥檚 press conferences.

鈥淭he governor鈥檚 office claims that they have criteria that they鈥檙e applying,鈥� Hernandez said. 鈥淏ut they鈥檙e so vague that really it gives a government entity almost complete discretion to still pick and choose, and that leads to selective exclusion.鈥�

ABQ Raw focuses on crime in the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 metro area. The outlet鈥檚 owners, Layman and Aragon, are a familiar sight at crime scenes around the city.

ABQ Raw鈥檚 (abqraw.com) often features salacious headlines such as: 鈥淐reep pleasures self near child daycare.鈥�

In 2022, ABQ Raw filed a similar lawsuit against the city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 that resulted in a judge ordering the city to include ABQ Raw in all media advisories issued by the mayor鈥檚 office, the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Police Department and sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Fire and Rescue.

In April 2023, District Judge Barela Shepherd ordered the city to pay a $1,000 penalty for each instance in which ABQ Raw failed to receive a media alert 鈥渃ontemporaneously with other media outlets.鈥�

ABQ Raw issued a statement on Friday predicting that its lawsuit against the governor鈥檚 office will have a similar outcome as its suit against the city.

鈥淛ust as with the City of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 case, we are confident that the court will uphold the First Amendment protection that government cannot selectively exclude media organizations,鈥� the statement said.

ABQ Raw had sought permission to attend Lujan Grisham鈥檚 press conferences in 2020 but were consistently denied access, the suit alleges.

In February, the governor鈥檚 office sent ABQ Raw a document called a 鈥減ress credentialing criteria鈥� asking a series of questions. One question asks if the requesting organization is engaged in lobbying or other work 鈥渇or any individual, political party, corporation or organization?鈥� Another asks if the organization has a periodical publication or airs on television or radio.

The governor鈥檚 office sent ABQ Raw a written statement in March, again denying access to press conferences. The statement said access was denied because 鈥淎BQ Raw does not have a periodical publication component or an established television or radio presence鈥� and is not affiliated with a high school or university news organization.

The suit alleges that the press credentialing process gives the governor鈥檚 office 鈥渧irtually unlimited discretion鈥� to exclude news organizations from press conferences in violation of constitutional speech and press freedoms.