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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE New York · August 27, 2010 · Freedom of information
CJR sues to disclose N.Y. governor's office's e-mail messages
The Columbia Journalism Review today filed suit to compel New York state to release several weeks’ worth of e-mail messages among Gov. David Paterson’s former director of communications, Peter Kaufmann, Kaufmann's deputy press secretary, Melissa Shorenstein, and the media.
The governor’s office on April 29 refused to reveal the roughly 2,000 e-mail messages responsive to CJR’s freedom of information request, claiming that those public records were exempt by law – citing the New York shield law, which provides a state reporter's privilege.
Clint Hendler, a CJR reporter, had previously requested the government e-mail messages under New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). Kaufmann resigned on March 4, 2010 citing issues of “integrity” following a political dust-up in which reporters were investigating accusations that an aide to Gov. Paterson, David Johnson, was involved in a domestic violence dispute. Shorenstein resigned . . . [more]
— Cristina Abello, 3:40 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE U.S. · August 25, 2010 · Freedom of information
Federal appeals court won't reconsider bailout records case
A federal appellate court has declined the Federal Reserve's request to reconsider its decision ordering the release of records reflecting bank loans extended by the Fed during the unprecedented taxpayer-funded financial bailout.
On August 20, the full bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City (2nd Cir.) refused the Fed’s request to reconsider a unanimous three-judge panel’s March 19 ruling in Bloomberg LP's Freedom of Information Act suit for access to records relating to the its $2 trillion emergency lending program.
The March 2010 appellate panel ruling upheld a lower court's decision to release the documents, rejecting the Fed's arguments that the records should be withheld due to a FOIA exemption that protects trade secrets, and that revealing the bailed-out institutions could cause investors to lose confidence in the banks' financial security.
To qualify for a trade-secret . . . [more]
— Miranda Fleschert, 4:25 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE California · August 24, 2010 · Prior restraints
L.A. times can publish pictures taken in court, court rules
The California Court of Appeal threw out a lower court's order prohibiting the Los Angeles Times from publishing photographs of a defendant on trial for murder last week.
"[W]e conclude the superior court's order precluding publication of photographs lawfully taken unconstitutionally violates the prohibition against prior restraint of speech," wrote Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Sanjay T. Kumar in an unanimous opinion.
Judge Hilleri G. Merritt had previously issued the order against L.A. Times photographer Al Seib during a hearing on August 4th. Merritt had originally granted permission to Seib to take photographs of defendant Alberd Tersargyan, then withdrew permission when counsel for Tersargyan argued that the publication of pictures jeopardized his defendant's right to a fair trial.
Merritt claimed that her ruling was necessary to balance competing interests in the case.
The appellate court disagreed with Merritt's ruling, calling the order an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech.
The record does not demonstrate that the . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 4:35 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE Washington · August 19, 2010 · Reporter's privilege
Judge quashes subpoena for journalism professor's notes
A federal judge in Seattle yesterday granted a journalism professor’s motion to quash a subpoena from lawyers representing Chicago police officers in a civil rights case.
Judge Marsha Pechman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled in favor of Carolyn Nielsen, who wrote articles about a now-exonerated teenage murder defendant during graduate school. Pechman also awarded Nielsen a protective order against future deposition and her attorneys fees and costs.
Nielsen is now a professor at Western Washington University, but during her studies at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in 1994 she published articles detailing the seemingly unjust trial and conviction of Thaddeus “TJ” Jimenez.
Jimenez was 13 years old at the time he was arrested and received a 45-year sentence for the murder of an 18-year-old. Nielsen's reporting exposed new details of the teenager's arrest and conviction that suggested his innocence. That caught the attention of lawyers, who then won Jimenez's release in May . . . [more]
— Cristina Abello, 1:09 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE Tennessee · August 18, 2010 · Reporter's privilege
Defendants drop subpoena for video in civil rights case
Two government defendants in a civil rights lawsuit yesterday dropped a subpoena for unedited video footage of a reporter’s interview with the plaintiff in the case.
Early in July 2010, the local governments of Nashville and Davidson Co., Tenn., subpoenaed Kathy L. Gilbert, a reporter for Christian news outlet United Methodist Communications, for the unedited version of a video interview with plaintiff Juana Villegas. An online article based on the recorded interview was published in July 2008. Gilbert and UMC filed a motion to quash the subpoena under the state shield law.
"Having reviewed the arguments and authorities set forth in United Methodist Communications’ Motion to Quash Subpoena, Defendant, the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, hereby withdraws its subpoena ... to Kathy Gilbert," the defendants' response to the motion read.
The plaintiff, Juana Villegas, is suing the Tennessee governments in the U.S. District Court . . . [more]
— Cristina Abello, 3:00 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE New York · August 17, 2010 · Freedom of information
New York appeals court expands scope of records exemption
A New York appellate court in Albany on Thursday ruled that the "deliberative process" exemption to the state's freedom of information law ("FOIL") applies to communications between federal and state officials. At issue in the case were records sought by a Saratoga County water district relating to a water supply option report developed by General Electric Co. as part of its efforts to remediate contaminated portions of the Hudson river. New York state officials, in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, had co-regulatory authority over the cleanup project.
Water district officials expressed concern that plans to dredge upriver portions of the Hudson river to remove hazardous PCB sediments could negatively affect the local water supply. They therefore requested the disclosure of a variety of documents under FOIL related to the proposed remediation plan, including some communications between EPA and state officials.
The state refused to disclose certain records, claiming that they constituted intra-agency or inter-agency . . . [more]
— Mark Caramanica, 5:49 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE Pennsylvania · August 12, 2010 · Freedom of information
Pennsylvania school district violated open meetings law
A Pennsylvania school district violated the state’s open meetings law last year when it held a meeting with local business owners to discuss litigation behind closed doors, a state appellate court ruled last week.
A three-judge appellate court panel ruled on Aug. 5 that the Highlands school board’s nonpublic meeting last June with local shopping center representatives to discuss a property tax assessment appeal did not fall under the open meetings law exemption that protects the private discussion of litigation strategy with a party’s attorney, since the shopping center representatives were opposing litigants.
“The meeting appears to have provided the Shopping Center a private audience with the Board or an opportunity to lobby the Board to support its position on the tax question,” Judge Patricia A. McCullough wrote in the decision. “[M]eeting with a taxpayer in this circumstance has the ‘odor of favoritism’ that the Sunshine Act does not tolerate.”
The case began when a reporter for the Valley News Dispatch . . . [more]
— Miranda Fleschert, 5:50 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE Nebraska · August 12, 2010 · Freedom of information
Nebraska high court finds no violation of open meetings law
The Nebraska Supreme Court last Friday unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that city officials did not violate state open meetings laws in connection with a local land annexation initiative.
Nebraska residents Curt and Susan Schauer had filed a lawsuit alleging, among other things, that Ord city council members violated state open meetings laws when they failed to provide adequate notice of meetings and informally met to discuss official business.
The case centered around the proposed annexation and redevelopment of a vacant parcel of agricultural land approximately five miles outside city limits that abuts the Schauers’ property. The land in question was being considered as the site of an ethanol production facility, which would have been roughly 1/8 of a mile from the Schauers’ home.
The 6-member city council, along with other governmental boards engaged in the annexation process, held a series of meetings and votes in 2005 that ultimately led to the approval of the annexation and the proposed development plans. During the course of the . . . [more]
— Mark Caramanica, 5:49 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE U.S. · August 10, 2010 · Libel
Obama signs federal 'libel tourism' bill
President Barack Obama today signed into law bipartisan legislation aimed at protecting authors and journalists from libel lawsuits filed abroad.
Just a few weeks after the Senate Judiciary Committee finalized the legislation and it was approved by the full Senate, Obama signed the Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act. The SPEECH Act, which was sponsored by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., prohibits U.S. courts from enforcing foreign libel judgments against U.S. defendants that are inconsistent with First Amendment protections. The practice of filing lawsuits in a foreign country because it has more lax standards on libel is known as "libel tourism."
The law, which is the first to offer nationwide federal protection, was modeled on a New York state law inspired by an author who faced a libel tourism lawsuit over a book on terrorism financing. In addition to blocking enforcement, the new . . . [more]
— Cristina Abello, 6:41 pm · View reader comments (3)
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE California · August 10, 2010 · Prior restraints
Appeals court tells Calif. judge to rescind prior restraint
A California state appellate court has ordered a judge to rescind her order banning a newspaper from publishing photographs taken of a murder defendant, unless she can demonstrate a compelling reason why the pictures should not be printed.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Hilleri G. Merritt issued the order last week to Los Angeles Times photographer Al Seib. Seib had taken multiple images of defendant Alberd Tersargyan, who is on trial for killing a Hollywood woman with whom he was allegedly infatuated. Merritt had previously granted Seib's request to take photographs during the trial.
After a defense lawyer objected to the photographs during the hearing last week, however, Merritt ordered Seib to stop. Despite arguments by an attorney representing the newspaper that the prior restraint order violated the First Amendment, Merritt stated that she was concerned that the ability of witnesses to identify a suspect in the case would interfere with the defendant's right to a fair trial.
In response, the California Court of Appeal issued a terse order stating that Merritt either needed to reverse her prior restraint order or show . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 6:04 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE U.S. · August 10, 2010 · Secret courts
Military judge seals Guantanamo Bay plea agreement
A United States military judge has sealed the plea agreement in the first conviction at Guantanamo Bay under the Obama administration.
Judge and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Nancy J. Paul sealed the plea agreement at the request of the government and with the consent of the defense attorneys in the case of Ibrahim al-Qosi, a native Sudanese and former cook for al-Qaida. Last month, al-Qosi pled guilty to conspiracy and material support for terrorism. He has been detained at Guantanamo for over eight years.
The plea agreement contains details on the maximum sentence al-Qosi can serve. An Arab news organization, al Arabiya, reported last month that the plea agreement provides for a two-year sentence. Details of the plea agreement will remain secret until the Pentagon finalizes the sentence, which could occur in the next few weeks.
The jury, comprised of American military officers, will begin deliberations in the case today to recommend a sentence for al-Qosi. However, their decision as to the duration of the sentence could be overturned by the military tribunal overseers if it exceeds the length of the sentence in the secret plea . . . [more]
— Mara Zimmerman, 6:01 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE Texas · August 5, 2010 · Freedom of information
Federal judge drops Texas cities from open meetings suit
A federal judge ruled last week that a group of Texas cities cannot take part in a legal effort to overturn the state's open meetings law because cities have no guarantee of free speech and therefore cannot challenge the constitutionality of the law alongside 17 public officials.
The cities of Alpine, Pflugerville, Rockport and Wichita Falls cannot join the elected officials in the lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, which claims that an open meetings provision barring officials from meeting in secret violates their rights to free speech, since the cities have no First Amendment rights against the state, U.S. District Judge Robert Junell ruled on July 28.
The public officials argue that Texas' open meetings law, which attaches $500 fines and six-month jail sentences to a prohibition on a quorum of government officials deliberating behind closed doors, violates their free speech rights, though prosecutions under the law are rare.
In February, attorneys representing the state of Texas asked the court to drop the cities from the . . . [more]
— Miranda Fleschert, 6:11 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE U.S. · August 4, 2010 · Reporter's privilege
Leaked war documents spark federal shield law revisions
Legislators are amending the federal shield bill, which was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee in December 2009 but not yet brought up on the floor of the Senate, to expressly exclude websites that publish leaked government documents without editorial content.
In a reaction to foreign website Wikileaks' publication of 75,000 Afghanistan war documents, Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein are now drafting an amendment to exclude such websites from the pending legislation. However, it is not clear that a U.S. federal subpoena could even be served on the website, which bases its operations in Iceland, Sweden and other locations.
“Under the bill, if the federal government could somehow claim jurisdiction over WikiLeaks and issue a subpoena to find out more information about a source, WikiLeaks would not be able to quash the subpoena as there are broad national security exceptions to the protection,” said Paul Boyle, Senior Vice President of the Newspaper Association of America.
The bill, known as the Free Flow of Information Act, would allow a . . . [more]
— Cristina Abello, 6:20 pm · Comments: 0
NEWS MEDIA UPDATE U.S. · August 4, 2010 · Freedom of information
Debate continues over scope of SEC FOIA exemption
The scope of three federal Freedom of Information Act exemptions contained within a section of recently passed financial reform legislation is continuing to provoke debate among the Securities and Exchange Commission, members of Congress and the media about just how far the exemptions reach in shielding SEC-held documents from the public.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reported on the controversy surrounding section 929I of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the claim it potentially exempt the SEC from any FOIA obligations last Thursday.
SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro refuted the charge that the law is overly broad in separate July 30 letters to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. "This provision does not provide 'blanket' SEC exemption from FOIA and is not designed to protect the SEC as an agency from public oversight and accountability," Schapiro wrote to the . . . [more]
— Mark Caramanica, 11:31 am · Comments: 0
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