PASADENA, Calif.—A federal appeals court meeting in Pasadena today rejected a bid by groups representing journalists and photographers to revive a lawsuit arguing that California’s strict worker classification law violates freelancers’ First Amendment free-speech rights. The lawsuit brought by the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the National Press Photographers Association challenging Assembly Bill 5 was dismissed by a Los Angeles federal judge last year. The journalist groups argued that the 2019 law discriminates against freelancers by forcing them to become employees of their clients whether they desire such a working relationship or not, and interferes with their ability to earn a living as independent contractors. During arguments before a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in June, an attorney representing the two groups argued that AB 5 and subsequent amendments unreasonably blocked many freelance journalists from being treated as independent contractors based on the content …