Tennessee

An animal cruelty bill passed in Tennessee is “constitutionally suspect” because its provisions on giving footage to law enforcement might be a prior restraint and unconstitutionally burden newsgathering, the state’s top lawyer said Thursday.

HB 1191, known as the “ag-gag” bill, requires any footage of animal cruelty to be surrendered to law enforcement within 48 hours of recording. Supporters of the bill, which was lobbied for by animal agriculture groups, say this surrender provision protects animals.

A Tennessee judge ruled this week that the state Department of Children’s Services must make public child fatality records, allowing news organizations to investigate the high number of fatalities of children under the state’s care.

A Tennessee judge in the Davidson County Chancery Court heard arguments Tuesday over whether she should make public controversial child fatality records held by the state's Department of Children's Services.

A Tennessee court has ruled that a private nonprofit athletic association is the equivalent of a government agency, making it subject to public records laws.

The (Nashville) City Paper filed a petition in the Chancery Court for Davidson County seeking access to information from the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, which had previously denied the newspaper’s request, arguing that it is not a public government entity.

The Memphis Police Department is investigating a complaint from a photojournalist who was briefly detained by police after he filmed an arrest and whose footage was deleted by the officers.

The National Press Photographers Association sent a letter to the Memphis police director today asking for an investigation into the complaint and offering help to further educate officers on the right of journalists to photograph arrests on public spaces.

A Tennessee judge earlier this week granted a media coalition’s request to unseal court documents and proceedings in a case that prompted heightened scrutiny of international adoptions.

Torry Hansen failed to convince the court that a lawsuit seeking child support from her on behalf of the 9-year-old boy she adopted but then abruptly returned to his native Russia should be shielded entirely from public view. Some records related to the child’s adoption history will remain sealed to protect his privacy, however.

The Knoxville News Sentinel has filed a motion to intervene in a high-profile case where the court has sealed documents involving a disbarred former judge, arguing that there is no valid legal basis for keeping the records from public view.

A Nashville, Tenn., woman can pursue her defamation lawsuit stemming from a prison reality show that featured footage unknowingly taken of the woman while she visited her husband in prison, a federal judge ruled last week.