Supreme Court upholds open records law

By By Bob Martin, The Alabama Scene
In a strongly-worded opinion, the Alabama Supreme Court has upheld the state’s 86-year-old open records law, saying it represents a long history of openness and should be interpreted in a manner favorable to the public.
Last Friday the court followed that statement up by ordering state prison officials to make public their internal reports on inmate assaults at a state prison and the official findings in the death of an inmate who had been convicted of killing two Athens police officers. However, the court wrote that prison officials could black out sensitive information if it would subject a person to harm or jeopardize a pending investigation.
The decision upheld Montgomery Circuit Judge Eugene Reese who ruled that the incident reports must be made public, but that certain parts could be blacked out. In its opinion the court stated that the incident reports include virtually everything “from the mundane to the serious” and are public records. However they are not investigative reports that may lead to criminal prosecution which may be withheld from public viewing, the court said.
Nation’s newspaper leaders meet in Mobile
This significant court decision comes as The National Newspaper Association’s annual convention starts this Thursday at the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel located in the heart of Mobile’s downtown business and entertainment district overlooking Mobile Bay.
Established in 1885, the NNA is the voice of America’s community newspapers and the largest newspaper association in the country. The nation’s community papers serve nearly 150 million readers every week.
The association is led this year by Alabama’s own John Stevenson, the publisher of the Randolph Leader in Roanoke, who serves as the association’s president.
Change at the state’s largest newspapers
Advance Publications, formerly Newhouse Newspapers, owns the state’s three largest newspapers, The Birmingham News, The Press Register in Mobile and The Huntsville Times. There has been recent change at the top of the News and the Press Register.
In August Ricky Mathews, former president and publisher of the Sun Herald in Biloxi, was named president and publisher of the Press-Register. Mathews, 52, a Birmingham native, replaced Howard Bronson as publisher of the Press-Register. The Sun Herald, under Mathews and Editor Stan Tiner, received a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2006 for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Tiner is the former editor of the Press-Register.
Last week Bronson, 72, who became publisher of the paper in 1991, filed a lawsuit against the ownership, claiming “breach of contract” and other wrongful acts that he says were the cause of his exit. He claims that the paper’s ownership abandoned a job security pledge made to the paper’s full-time employees who were not represented by a union.
Meanwhile, at the News in Birmingham Victor Hanson III, 53, the fourth generation of his family to serve as that paper’s publisher, announced his retirement, effective on Dec. 1. Hanson said that in making his plans public now, he wanted to give Don Newhouse time to recruit a new publisher. Newhouse is president of Advance Publications, owner of the News. The Newhouse organization purchased the paper from the Hanson family in 1955. So it appears that change, probably caused by a downturn in the economy, is the word at the state’s largest papers as it is in many other businesses. Folks in the industry are wondering where the ax will next fall?
Dinner with Mrs. Palin
Cathy Maples of Huntsville paid $63,500 to have a meal with Sarah Palin. She won it in an internet auction to benefit a charity that aids wounded veterans. Maples, who owns a defense contracting company, also says she’s a big fan of Palin, and would love to see her as president.
By-the-way, she must provide her own transportation to Alaska and her lodging while she is there. Maybe, just maybe, she can view Russia with the former governor.
Bob Martin is editor and publisher of The Montgomery Independent. Email him at: bob@montgomeryindependent.com