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Despite Budgets, Some Newsrooms Persist in Costly Fight for Records
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of New York Times
Posted: February 23rd, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/business/media/15hearst.ht...
Last fall Hearst, the big media company that owns newspapers, magazines and television stations, filed a lawsuit against the Texas governors office, seeking access to a clemency report in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 but whose guilt is now in doubt. It is the sort of case Mr. Willingham may have been innocent, but there is no way of saving him now that one might not expect to be taken up by a news organization amid a wrenching economic downturn that has forced a trimming of journalistic resources across the industry. But [some] big companies, like Hearst and The Associated Press, have been quietly ramping up their legal efforts, by doing more of the work in-house and saving costs by not hiring outside lawyers and being more aggressive in states where they can recoup legal fees and at the federal level, which also allows plaintiffs in such access cases to sue for legal fees when they win. At Hearst, the companys top lawyer says it has never had more First Amendment lawsuits in courtrooms around the country than it does now. I think wed be the only media company that would say that were at an all-time high with the number of access cases were bringing, said Eve Burton, vice president and general counsel at Hearst.
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