Los Angeles: Later this evening, on behalf of the Los Angeles Police Department(LAPD) Media Relations Section, Chief Charlie Beck will accept theFreedom of Information Award from the Radio and Television NewsAssociation of Southern California (RTNA) at the 60th Annual GoldenMike Awards Dinner to be held at the Hilton Universal City. LAPD isonly the second recipient of the award in RTNAs history and thefirst-ever law enforcement organization.
We are at a place in our history when the leadership at every level ofthe LAPD really understands how important it is to work with themedia, said Chief Beck. The media has an immense responsibility toinform and educate people, and we will continue giving them the accessthey need to do the job. I couldnt be more proud of our MediaRelations Section personnel.
RTNA President Rebecca Nieto talked about the significance of the awardand why LAPD was selected to receive it. "The Freedom of InformationAward is given to individuals and organizations on special occasionswho have demonstrated exceptional efforts with broadcast reporters topromote transparency and facilitate news coverage related to theirorganizations," she said. Weve seen remarkable improvement incommunication between LAPD and broadcast reporters in the last fewyears."
Established in 1946, the RTNAs core mission is to champion the FirstAmendment rights of the free press in an effort to improve lines ofcommunication between news media personnel, law enforcementorganizations and other government agencies.