News
FIRST FOR A REASON: OPEN COURTS, OPEN MEETINGS & PUBLIC RECORDS
Access To Court Proceedings And Court Records In addition to the cases that recognize a Constitutional right of access to court files and court proceedings, North Carolina’s Constitution provides that all courts shall be open. C. Const. art. I, § […]
Read MoreFIRST FOR A REASON: THE REPORTER’S PRIVILEGE
North Carolina has a robust reporter’s privilege. G.S. § 8-53.11. 8-53-1 The privilege applies regardless of whether information is confidential or nonconfidential, published or not published and applies to all aspects of a news operation. A journalist can waive the […]
Read MoreFIRST FOR A REASON: COURT ORDERS RELEASE OF POLICE VIDEO
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video must be worth a million. Until a year ago, though, the law with regard to law enforcement videos was muddy. Some departments took the position that video (particularly of officer-involved […]
Read MoreCan We Talk? Getting Information from Sources Who May Be Breaking the Law
If asked whether a reporter faces liability for asking a source to provide information that legally is secret, most media lawyers will answer: “No, it’s never illegal to ask questions. You may not bribe, coerce or hack … but just […]
Read MoreTake That Down! Expunged Records and Newspaper Archives
Have you gotten a call or letter or email from a lawyer saying his client’s record has been expunged, and so the story you posted last year no longer is accurate? The lawyer wants you to take it down. What […]
Read MoreTWEAKS TO NC REVENGE PORN LAW
Governor Cooper has signed into law a handful of amendments to NC’s so-called revenge porn law. (§ 14-190.5A. Disclosure of private images ) As amended, the law applies to live transmissions as well as static images. It also now applies not only […]
Read MorePublic Agencies Putting Records Online
Public Agencies Putting Records Online You may be familiar with the provision of the Public Records Law that says you get to ask for public records in whatever format you want, so long as they can be provided that […]
Read MoreSUPREME COURT ORDERS RECONSIDERATION OF GERRYMANDERING REMEDY
The United States Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s ruling that North Carolina’s districts were gerrymandered but found: “[W]e cannot have confidence that the court adequately grappled with the interests on both sides of the remedial question before us.And because […]
Read MoreUPDATE: UNC TO RELEASE EMAILS
UPDATE: Applying the wrong law to analyze the situation — and abdicating its public records duties to the Union County DA’s office — the University of North Carolina now has agreed to release the records requested by WBTV reporter Nick […]
Read MoreUNC SCHOOL OF GOV’T EMAILS ARE NOT LAW ENFORCEMENT RECORDS
The latest legal position taken by the University of North Carolina would be shocking if the University had not taken outrageous legal positions in the past. At one point the University claimed that a photograph taken by a professional photographer […]
Read More