Everything online journalists need to protect their legal rights. This free resource culls from all Reporters Committee resources and includes exclusive content on digital media law issues.
Summary of statute(s): Mississippi bars the recording, interception, use or disclosure of any oral, telephonic or other communication by means of any mechanical or electronic device without the consent of at least one party to the conversation. The state also prohibits the recording and disclosure of images intercepted in violation of its hidden camera laws. Violators can face both civil and criminal penalties.
Delinquency proceedings: Members of the public are excluded from juvenile delinquency hearings in Mississippi unless they have a direct interest in the cause or work of the court. Miss. Code Ann. § 43-21-203 (West 2011).
Dependency proceedings: Media coverage of delinquency or “child in need of supervision” proceedings is strictly prohibited except in extraordinary and compelling circumstances. Miss. Youth Ct. R. 5.
The Mississippi Supreme Court issued an order Thursday to lift an injunction prohibiting a Hattiesburg television station from airing video images of alleged child abuse at a juvenile detention center.
A television station in Hattiesburg, Miss., filed an emergency petitionto the Mississippi Supreme Court Thursday to vacate a juvenile court's injunction prohibiting the station from airing video images of alleged child abuse from a juvenile detention center.
The Mississippi Legislature passed a bill this week that cut the amount of time public agencies have to respond to open-records requests in half, Channel 11 WTOK reported.
If signed by the governor, the bill would amend the state's public-records law, which currently gives agencies 14 days to respond to records requests, to require a response within 7 days.
The director of Mississippi's ethics commission told The Associated Press that a revision to the state's open meetings law passed by the House on Thursday had been watered down from its original version.
The Mississippi Press Association, The Associated Press and the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information have teamed up for a third year to write a series on what they call the “culture of secrecy” that surrounds open meetings and records laws in the state and those who are making effort to strengthen government transparency, the AP reported.
Two bills that would strengthen the Mississippi open records law are moving forward in the legislature, with law enforcement agencies and open government advocacy groups coming to long-awaited compromises.
Open government advocates in Mississippi are finally starting to see legislative support after years of pushing for better access to records and meetings with several bills moving forward this week.
The Supreme Court of Mississippi will decide whether records of dental experiments and other research conducted on animals by Mississippi State University for a pet food company are protected trade secrets or publicly available under the state's public records act.
