Chapter 1 – General Administration

13010.10 Media Inquiries

• Media inquiries shall be given high priority. Upon receipt of a news media inquiry, the media representative’s contact information shall be obtained, including their name, affiliation, telephone number, email address and deadline. The news media representative shall be referred to OPECOffice of Public and Employee Communications for official contact. Facts shall be gathered as quickly as possible and provided to OPECOffice of Public and Employee Communications and the appropriate PIOPublic Information Officer, who will decide who will follow up with the inquirer. If the requested facts are not known or are otherwise unavailable, the inquirer shall be so informed along with the reasons why the information is not available. If the information cannot be quickly secured, a progress report shall be given to the inquirer.

• An official authorized to respond to media inquiries shall be available at all times. Officials shall be thoroughly familiar with CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, institution, or parole region policies and procedures. Officials shall not speculate or guess when answering inquiries or in issuing releases.

• A person making an inquiry shall not be referred to another departmental source by the PIOPublic Information Officer. The information shall be collected by the PIOPublic Information Officer receiving the inquiry, and then relayed to the inquirer upon approval from OPECOffice of Public and Employee Communications.

• When a media inquiry is received, the fact that the inquiry was made shall not be volunteered to another media representative. No information developed to answer a media person’s inquiry shall be provided to another media person unless it is in response to a separate inquiry from them on the same subject. This does not apply to responses to California Public Records Act (CPRA) requests when the requestor asks for CPRA responses previously provided.

• Staff shall not comment on any active or pending lawsuit or other legal action. Responses to specific allegations of a lawsuit or legal action shall be directed to the Assistant Secretary, Communications and the Office of Legal Affairs. Staff shall not comment on proposed legislation. Requests for comment on proposed legislation shall be directed to the Assistant Secretary, Communications, and the Office of Legislation.