Big News Outlets Are Fighting A Gag Order To Access An Indicted Coal Baron’s Court Records

Right now, the criminal indictment of former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship — charged with responsibility for the deaths of 29 coal miners in an April 2010 mine explosion — is not available to the public. The families of the explosion’s victims, and the parties to the lawsuit, are not allowed to speak to the press. Court personnel are banned from making any statements to the media about what’s going on with the case.

All of those restrictions were placed by U.S. District Judge Irene Berger, who issued the sweeping gag order shortly after Blankenship’s indictment. But five prominent news organizations are challenging Judge Berger’s decision in court, saying the gag order unreasonably prevents the news media from reporting on a case too important to be ignored.

“A reporter’s First Amendment right to publish is meaningless if it is prevented from gathering news in the first place,” the legal challenge, filed by The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, National Public Radio, The Charleston Gazette, and the Friends of Public Broadcasting, reads. “In this case, the court’s gag order prevents the news media intervenors and other members of the press from court records and those most knowledgeable about it, the participants and those affected by the underlying events.”

Blankenship’s criminal indictment earlier this month was a big deal. The explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine was the worst mining disaster in decades, killing miners over a mile away. Afterward, Blankenship was accused of willfully allowing and covering up safety violations in the name of profit. Blankenship denied this — he even released a 51-minute video this year portraying himself as a champion of miner health and safety, and claiming the disaster was due to a build-up of natural gas.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/12/01/3597873/news-outlets-intervene-don-blankenship-gag-order/