The question of who controls an independent little media has toured Los Angeles for more than a year.
This week, the shock on Knock exploded it in the legal system, with duel prosecution that alleys copyright and brands violation, defamation and even the theft of commercial secrets.
In a corner is a group of eminent independent journalists, notably Cerise Castle and Ben Camacho, who built large audiences for difficult reports on local police.
On the opposing side stands the game Ground the, a defense group of defenders whose ascent has been inextricably linked to the change of left in the structure of the city’s political power.
The Game on the ground formed Knock there in 2017, invoicing the project of community journalism for non -profit as “by and for Los Angeles Progressive”. The publication prospered during the pandemic, while public health restrictions and protests concerning police reform focus on the city’s government. Knock La and its extremely online journalists helped channel this frenzy of attention on activism, with popular voter guides and live coverage of public meetings.
In the middle of a particularly fertile moment for local local policy, the ground play also skyrocketed.
Meghan Choi, co-founder and executive director of Ground Game La, managed Nithya Raman and Eunsses Hernandez, the offers of the city council of City, helping them overthrow the holders. The group also rallied behind the member of the Hugo Soto-MartÃnez council and the successful campaigns of the city controller Kenneth Mejia in 2022.
But there have been deep cracks between the leadership of the organization and some of the journalists who had become synonymous with Knock la work.
Camacho and Castle invoice that Ground Game continued to take advantage of their work without authorization, even after blocked their access to the site, and requests nearly $ 5 million in damages. Ground Game argues it that journalists have essentially attempted to divert the media, taking its brand name, stealing its confidential distribution list and distorting themselves as the legitimate leaders of the point of sale.
Tuesday, Castle and Camacho filed a federal copyright violation trial against Ground Game as well as the Liberty Hill Foundation and California Endowment, two main philanthropic groups which provided him with financial support.
Castle and Camacho declared in their trial that Ground Game and non -profit organizations have “malicious and systematically” their journalistic works protected by copyright “on several platforms”.
The problem is the series of 15 parts of Castle, “A Tradition of Violence”, on the gangs of deputies within the Sheriff department of the County of Los Angeles. The report of the violent clicks of the law application has become viral when Castle published it in Knock in 2021, winning distinctions and contributing to an in -depth examination of the Sheriff department.
Camacho, known for having obtained the photos, names and serial numbers of 9,000 LAPD officers, then publish them and later targeted with two City Atty proceedings. Hydee Feldstein Soto, identified 23 images and articles which he said that Ground Game had broken.
The duo traces the offense in March 2024, when Castle led an effort to separate Knock from the game on the ground. This decision, according to the trial, was invited to reasons such as “the exaggerated editorial”, “requirement of unpaid work”, “racial discrimination” and “lack of support for Mr. Camacho” after the Feldstein Soto office continued.
In a few weeks, tell Camacho and Castle, they were cut off from Knock La E-mail and other systems “in a deliberately hostile and reprisals action”. They say that the move has kept their captive journalistic work and allowed the ground game “to take advantage of their unauthorized use”. As independent journalists, both claim that they had kept copyright and have never “executed work agreements for rental” or transferred their intellectual property.
The pair accuses the game on the ground of having diverted their work to stimulate its fundraising and its stature. By providing subsidies and promotion on social networks, California Endowment and Liberty Hill have “materially contributed” to the offense, according to the pursuit. The two organizations refused to comment.
Castle and Camacho are looking for an injunction unless the grounds on the ground to use their works protected by copyright and an allocation of damages “totaling no less than $ 4,650,000”, among other requests.
“This trial aims to protect years of survey work that I have developed independently, often in difficult and dangerous conditions,” Castle said in a statement. “No one should be authorized to take your work, take credit from your work and use it to collect funds without consent. It is not solidarity – it is exploitation.”
On Wednesday, Ground Game ATTED WITHOUT, TO TAKE FEESTRAL ACTION AND CURRENT EXPOSITIONS 119 pages that threw Camacho, Castle and two others as bad in a “program” to seize the reins of Knock la, save it as their own business and illegally use its brands for their own tender site.
The Ground Game costume also focuses on spring 2024, when Castle – Knock of the editorial staff of the – with Camacho, editor -in -chief of photography, and Katja Schatte, the editor, asked to separate from the grounds on the ground and form their own new entity.
When the board of directors of Ground Game rejected this proposal, the trio “started interfere” with Knock the and the mother organization closed its Knock messaging accounts shortly after.
The quarrel quickly overturned in the public view. Castle, which is black, Game on the ground accused of racismAnd A toolbox on social networks” – Complete with discussion points, hashtags and a job project – allegedly alleged that the non -profit organization held the media” hostage “. Other contributors joined Castle, recording a video that accused the game on the ground “to kill local journalism” and to call on the public to stand with them.
Ground Game alleged it that at the same time, the ramifications group took the organization’s confidential distribution list of the organization and sent several emails without authorization, “representing the legitimate successors of Knock la” and “distort” their separation from the wider group to divert donations.
The ramifications group used the list of contacts to “advertise, promote and develop … their individual and personal interests”, according to the costume, qualifying such actions a “theft” of trade secrets.
Ground Game also accuses it the group of ramifications of diverting Knock’s social media accounts and trying to lock the organization, “including by modifying two -factor authentication on Knock’s Instagram account, deleting the administrator’s email on Knock La Facebook account and eliminating several YouTube accounts from Knock the.”
Their trial is trying to prevent the ramifications group from using the distribution list or hitting the marks of the and requires that they restore access to “blocked social media accounts”.
Knock continues to publish new documents, and its website still offers a series in a good place in Castle in the Sheriff department. But his Instagram and Twitter accounts have been dark for months.
None of the two parties responded directly to the allegations, but both deplored that acrimony has increased in dispute.
“Our people worked very hard and did everything they could to prevent him from going to this place,” said Choi, executive director of Ground Game La, about duel prosecution. “Basically, it is just someone who tries to divert our project and our identity.”
Camacho, in a press release shared by his lawyer Almuhtada Smith, underlined the sacrifice of “time, risk and dedication” which entered his photograph and his writing – and who now motivates his fight and his castle.
“We did not want to take legal action, but our efforts to solve this problem were ignored,” Camacho said in the statement. “No creator – in particular those of historically excluded communities – should allow others to take advantage of their work without authorization or credit.”
California Daily Newspapers
