Congressional candidate Jonathan Paz won’t appear on WCAC due to federal lawsuit

Congressional candidate and former Waltham ward councilor Jonathan Paz announced that he will not be engaging with the Waltham Community Access Channel due to a pending federal lawsuit against the outlet.

In a post made on his Instagram page earlier this month, Paz told followers that while he is looking forward to talking to the media about his campaign in the coming weeks, WCAC will not be on that list.

“At this time, I won’t be engaging with the Waltham Channel,” Paz shared. “It has been brought to my attention that there is a pending federal lawsuit involving the station. At a time when there are growing threats to free speech locally and nationally, it is important to be clear about our values.”

The lawsuit Paz is referring to is between the citizen news organization Channel 781 News and WCAC. Channel 781 News used WCAC footage in its videos to reference moments in government meetings, which WCAC claims is copyright infringement. However, Channel 781 News believes the clips are covered under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and its description of fair use. 

In January of 2025, a federal judge denied WCAC’s motion to dismiss the case, and the court moved into the discovery phase of the case. 

Channel 781 News and Jonathan Paz declined to comment. WCAC did not respond to a request for comment.