Constitutional Law

News-media groups urge Miss. court to lift order against TV station

By By The Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. ? The Mississippi Supreme Court has allowed about three dozen news organizations and media trade associations to file legal papers in support of a Hattiesburg television station.

WDAM-TV contends it should be allowed to broadcast video that it says shows abuse at a local juvenile-detention center. WDAM asked the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 to lift the ban on its broadcast ordered by Youth Court Judge Mike McPhail.

McPhail barred the station from broadcasting the video because he said it would jeopardize juvenile privacy.

WDAM, which said privacy would be protected, argued in court papers that McPhail's order prevented it from broadcasting "truthful information of public significance."

The other organizations filed a request on Jan. 20 asking to file legal arguments supporting WDAM. The Supreme Court granted that request Jan. 21 in a one-page order signed by Justice George C. Carlson Jr.

The news organizations seeking to support WDAM include the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Mississippi Association of Broadcasters.

Those organizations said in court papers that McPhail's ruling, if permitted to stand, would impose unfair limits on journalists in the state and could be used to stifle news organizations across the country.

The organizations argued McPhail's ruling "would handicap movants' ability to investigate and publish truthful, lawfully obtained information concerning matters of significant public concern, particularly matters involving alleged official misconduct at publicly funded correctional institutions."

WDAM has reported that a former employee of the detention center said the video shows juveniles being abused by guards. The station has reported that the sheriff's office confirmed firing one guard accused of beating a juvenile in 2009, though so far no charges have been filed in the case.

The station says neither the youth court nor the state has shown any reason to stop WDAM's use of the video.

The justices gave the Forrest County Youth Court until tomorrow to respond to WDAM's complaint.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on January 23, 2011 (boomark / email).