Adam Hochberg
May 22, 2013
8:42 am
Colin Drane is an unlikely warrior in the fight for open government.
An inventor and TV infomercial producer, Drane spent much of his career marketing products like the Trunkanizer for organizing car trunks, a toy called Bendaroos, and Invisi-lift… Read more
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Joshua Gillin
Apr. 30, 2013
12:40 pm
The Blade |
The Journal News
Toledo's mayor blasted The (Toledo, Ohio) Blade for publishing its
own map of gang territories in the city, but he still
refused to make public a police map of gang activity. The Blade made its map "after exhaustive interviews and research," Ignazio Messina writes.
Mayor Mike Bell said the map, which is
part of a series, threatened outside investment in the city. The series started Sunday.
“I would say it is probably one of the most irresponsible forms of journalism that I have read in the paper since I have been in this city, from the standpoint of the recoil it possibly will have on the economy in terms of being able to recruit people and bring people in,” Mr. Bell said. “To me it is almost like kicking someone when they are down. ... Tell me what is the positive side of this?”
The Blade in July
sued the city for allegedly violating the Ohio Public Records Act by restricting access to the police department's map, which is used to monitor gang activities and shootings. Several members of the city council -- as well as mayoral hopefuls -- have said they believe the map should be released, even as Bell insists Toledo's gang activity is “no different than any other metropolitan city.”
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Andrew Beaujon
Feb. 26, 2013
12:50 pm
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Steve Myers
Feb. 28, 2012
4:14 pm
New Times Broward-Palm Beach
Local blogger/rabble-rouser Chaz Stevens "is a hard puppy to love." The line at the top of his blog says "professional ball busting," and he's not opposed to
referring to public officials with profane nicknames or sending the city of Lauderdale Lakes public records requests like this:
Do you folks have one of those Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville margarita makers over in Finance? If that is the case, can you kindly ask that they don't start whipping up some strawberry frothy delights until after, say 3pm? ... Kindly have someone put down the Ronrico, step away from the blender (carefully avoiding stepping on a pop top), and get me my data.
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Steve Myers
Dec. 1, 2011
12:34 pm
The Times-Picayune
The one lawyer is representing The Times-Picayune and CNN, who have been fighting for four years to get access to records of the investigation into deaths at Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans. (ProPublica's
Sheri Fink won a Pulitzer for her story on the deaths.) Although a grand jury declined to indict anyone, the local district attorney is using a state law that allows records to be withheld if prosecution is "pending or reasonably anticipated." How so? "Police and prosecutors get lucky every day," said Fred Herman, who is representing Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, during a court hearing Wednesday.
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Steve Myers
Nov. 16, 2011
12:07 pm
Center for American Progress
The
Los Angeles Times won an IRE Philip Meyer Award for
publishing teachers' individual performance scores in 2010, but the Center for American Progress says that's counterproductive. It says the Times "maximized the controversy—and perhaps the number of hits it drew to Web pages with advertising" by publishing teachers' names. Publicizing individual scores just causes parents to try to move their children out of certain classrooms rather than spurring broader reform, the organization argues. "Any public association between teachers’ names and their value-added estimates will create a kind of vicious circle. Instead of tethering performance evaluation for current teachers to the goal of improving students’ academic achievement, value-added estimates will help preserve the status quo." A court battle has been under way over a similar disclosure for New York City teachers. ||
Related: Parents ask LAT to remove teacher’s rating after he commits suicide (Poynter.org)
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Julie Moos
Oct. 25, 2011
7:40 am
After a three-month cooling-off period, Judge Belvin Perry released the names today of
the jurors who found Casey Anthony not guilty of murdering her two-year-old daughter Caylee. Perry temporarily sealed the names out of concern for the jurors' safety. At the time, he also expressed concern that broadcasts of
court proceedings had become a form of entertainment rather than a public service. In his ruling sealing the names, Perry wrote:
Florida’s public records laws were never intended to further the media’s (as opposed to now old-fashioned news organization’s) bottom line. … Unquestionably, use of Florida public records laws by the media (in general and not just intervenors here) has become simply a tool to sell a story. It is time that Florida’s public records laws recognize this fact and steps be taken to examine whether the laws are too broad and whether the release of certain information is causing more harm…
At the time, attorney Alison Steele, who argued for the release of jurors’ names on behalf of the St. Petersburg Times, said by phone:
It’s explosive for a judge of this caliber to say the entire public records scheme in the history of Florida needs to be reconsidered because of this extremely extraordinary circumstance.
Steele, who also represents The Poynter Institute, which owns the Times, said that "extraordinary cases make bad law."
Related: Cyberwarriors ready to boycott NBC on rumors the network's arranging an interview/book deal for Anthony (The Daily Beast) |
As media seek Casey Anthony jurors’ names, ‘they cannot remain anonymous forever’ (Poynter.org) |
ABC News has paid $215,000 for Casey Anthony scoops (Poynter.org)
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Steve Myers
Oct. 14, 2011
8:41 am
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
That's what Richard Kaplan, mayor of the South Florida town of Lauderhill, population 67,000 or so, tells Sun-Sentinel reporter Brittany Wallman based on his reading of a new code of ethics for city officials in Broward County. He wants reporters to register with the city as lobbyists and says this will probably restrict access to him. Wallman's response: "That is ludicrous and perhaps purposely so." Contained within Kaplan's emails is a compliment: He thinks Wallman plays it pretty straight.
Some of the passages from the email exchange follow.
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Julie Moos
July 26, 2011
9:18 pm
TBO.comThe jurors who declared Casey Anthony "not guilty" will
remain anonymous for at least three more months, as an Orange County, Fla., judge ruled late Tuesday that concerns for their safety justify
a lengthy "cooling off" period.
Lawyers for Poynter's St. Petersburg Times, the Orlando Sentinel, WFTV and the Associated Press argued July 7 that revealing the jurors' names is an important part of a transparent judicial process. Judge Belvin Perry agreed, but he believes there is compelling cause to protect the jurors. He also believes it could have a "chilling effect" on the jury system if revealing these jurors' names leaves them more vulnerable to harm.
Perry's 13-page decision includes a substantial section about journalism, called "News vs. Entertainment - Florida's Open Records." In that section, Perry writes of
the highly-rated televised case over which he presided:
Basically, court proceedings are no longer news but entertainment. Florida's public records laws were never intended to further the media's (as opposed to now old-fashioned news organization's) bottom line. ... Unquestionably, use of Florida public records laws by the media (in general and not just intervenors here) has become simply a tool to sell a story. It is time that Florida's public records laws recognize this fact and steps be taken to examine whether the laws are too broad and whether the release of certain information is causing more harm...
Perry's decision to invoke public records laws came as a surprise, and his statements could have far-reaching implications.
"It's explosive for a judge of this caliber to say the entire public records scheme in the history of Florida needs to be reconsidered because of this extremely extraordinary circumstance," said Alison Steele, who argued for the release of jurors' names on behalf of the St. Petersburg Times. (She also represents The Poynter Institute, which owns the Times.) Steele said by phone:
This is an extraordinary case and extraordinary cases make bad law. If we draw from an extraordinary case, that's a huge mistake. That's a retrenchment of democracy, of a hundred years of Florida law. And Florida has been a leader in the nation in terms of Sunshine [Law]. So drawing [some rule] from the very unusual and extreme case ... is just wrong."
The judge's order allows for the release of the jurors' names on Oct. 25.
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Jim Romenesko
July 26, 2011
9:33 am
Newark Star-Ledger |
Gawker.com |
Asbury Park Press
Just hours after Gawker and the New Jersey ACLU
sued to see records of Gov. Chris Christie's communications with Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, the governor's office released what it called a "supplemental response" to the request. The new letter said the administration wasn't backing down from its claim to executive privilege, but officially disclosed that a meeting with Ailes took place. Christie said he expects the lawsuit to be dismissed. "There are no other documents between me and Mr. Ailes at all," he tells the Star-Ledger. "My understanding now from my staff is that they’ve been contacted and told the suit can be dropped." Gawker's John Cook says: "We have no earthly idea why Christie would go so far as to invoke executive privilege to keep one lousy schedule entry, concerning a dinner that had
already been reported, secret."
Frank Corrado, a Wildwood lawyer working with the ACLU, said his organization and Gawker would withdraw the lawsuit if the Christie administration would certify in court that the calendar entry was indeed the only document that would fit Gawker’s expansive records request.
Read the Gawker/ACLU filings
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