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Sen. Paul Thurmond, R-Charleston

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COLUMBIA A bill aimed at protecting innocent people from mug shot extortion is shaping up to be a First Amendment fight.

Lawmakers led by Sen. Paul Thurmond, R-Charleston, are working on legislation that would require websites take down booking photos if the people arent found guilty. Some sites charge hundreds of dollars to do so, guilty or innocent, a practice Thurmond calls extortion.

But the South Carolina Press Association, of which The Post and Courier is a member, said at a hearing Wednesday that media outlets such as newspapers and TV stations should be exempt. They routinely publish mug shots as part of reporting the news, and telling them what they can and cant post violates the Constitution, said Executive Director Bill Rogers.

You cant go back and rewrite history; the newspapers are an every day report on history, Rogers said. This is a real First Amendment issue here.

The association has proposed an exemption for news organizations similar to one in Georgia, but Thurmond said he plans to push to include them. Under his proposal, the text of news articles could stay up, but the status of the charges would have to be updated and the photos taken down upon written request. The association opposes that idea.

Thurmond said his proposal is similar to the corrections newspapers run as standard policy and that mug shots are government property.

I think that they have an obligation to update it appropriately, Thurmond said. Why is that unreasonable?

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Mug shot extortion bill in S.C. Senate setting up First Amendment fight