Andy Furillo Reporter Sacramento Bee - Sacramento County Courts...Except Family Court Misconduct

Andy Furillo Sacramento Bee Reporter for Sacramento County Courts Covers Up Judge Misconduct - Ignores Family Court Issues

Andy Furillo Sacramento Bee reporter assigned to the Sacramento County courts beat covers up or ignores family court controversies.

Andy Furillo is a veteran reporter for the Sacramento Bee. His assigned beat is Sacramento County courts. So why does he cover up or ignore the controversies and scandals in the family court system? Furillo relies on his access to sources inside the courthouses of Sacramento County. If he reports on court scandals, his access could end. He trades favorable coverage for access, a common problem with the mainstream media. Sacramento has one daily newspaper. The public has no choice but to get daily printed news from the Sacramento Bee. Furillo's unethical reporting practices are a disservice to the public, and discredits the Bee and its reporters and editors. Much of journalism "has been reduced to an access-trading game, where reporters are rewarded for favorable coverage of those in the know with more time and availability." Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone. 

For more, visit Sacramento Family Court News for this post about Furillo's cover up of a scandal involving a Sacramento County Superior Court sworn temporary judge: 

The first sexual battery victim of Sacramento Family Court Temporary Judge Gary Appelblatt contacted the Sheriff's Department on Feb. 17, five years ago today. The then-prominentSacramento Bar Association Family Law Section attorney ultimately was charged with 13-criminal counts including sexual battery and penetration with a foreign object. The victims were Appelblatt's divorce clients and potential clients.
"[A]ppelblatt invited the clients into his American River Drive law office and drew the blinds. He shooed out any visitors and locked the door. Then, testimony showed, the 57-year-old divorce lawyer moved the women over for physical exams on what the judge described as the attorney's 'convenient couch.' Some had their tops removed, and he reached into the pants of some of the other women...[Deputy District Attorney Keith Hill] said the lawyer's perversions took advantage of weakened victims who sought his professional services at 'terrible emotional' times in their lives," Sacramento Bee reporter Andy Furillo wrote in 2008. 
In 2008 and 2009 the Bee published four stories about the Appelblatt case - three with the byline of Furillo - a veteran reporter on the courthouse beat. None of the stories disclosed that Appelblatt held the Office of Temporary Judge.

To read the rest, click here.