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["Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>]

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap09-28-100520.asp?t=apnew&vts=92820041054<http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap09-28-100520.asp?t=apnew&vts=92820041054>

 

AP, Hattiesburg newspaper agree to end litigation over erasure of Scalia 
speech

By JACK ELLIOTT Jr.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

JACKSON, Miss., Sept. 28 - The Associated Press and the Hattiesburg American 
agreed Tuesday to end their litigation against the U.S. Marshals Service over 
the erasing of recordings of a speech by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

 

     The government had conceded in a filing on Sept. 10 that the Marshals 
Service violated federal law when a deputy marshal ordered reporters to erase 
their recordings of Scalia's April speech at a <>Hattiesburg high school. 
       The Justice Department also said the reporters and their employers are 
each entitled to $1,000 in damages and reasonable attorneys' fees, as sought 
by the media organizations. 
       In settlement documents filed Tuesday in federal court in Jackson, AP 
and the Hattiesburg American said they would drop the remainder of the suit, 
which sought an injunction to bar the government from taking similar actions 
in the future. 
       In its Sept. 10 filing, the government agreed the federal Privacy 
Protection Act forbids the seizure of the work product of a journalist. 
       That filing included a statement by Gerald Auerbach, general counsel 
for the Marshals Service, that the agency had formulated a policy limiting 
''the role and duties of deputy United State Marshals assigned to provide 
security to federal judicial officers appearing at public and private 
events.'' 
       Leonard Van Slyke, a lawyer for the AP and the Hattiesburg newspaper, 
said a key to accepting the offer of judgment was Auerbach's statement that 
the new policy was designed ''to ensure that events that gave rise to the 
litigation do not occur in the future.'' 
       ''The acknowledgment of wrongdoing and assurance that we will not have 
a repeat of such an incident were the goals of this litigation, and those 
goals have been met,'' Van Slyke said. 
       Auerbach said deputy marshals are to have ''no role or responsibility 
regarding photography, audiotaping and videotaping at such events except when 
the personal security and safety of the federal judicial officer is believed 
to be in jeopardy.'' 
       Charlotte Porter, AP bureau chief for Louisiana and Mississippi, said 
the AP is ''glad to see this matter behind us and hopes that the new policies 
will prevent cases like this in the future.'' 
       Added Jon K. Broadbooks, the Hattiesburg American's executive editor: 
''Our goal from the outset was to make it clear that this type of action was 
unacceptable and must never happen again.'' 
       Charles Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, said 
he had no comment on the action. 
       During the April 7 speech, a deputy federal marshal, Melanie Rube, 
demanded that AP reporter Denise Grones and Hattiesburg American reporter 
Antoinette Konz erase recordings of the justice's remarks. The reporters had 
not been told before the speech that they could not use tape recorders. 
       When Grones resisted, the marshal took the digital recorder out of her 
hands. The reporter then showed Rube how to erase the recording. 
       Rube then reached across Grones and demanded that Konz hand over her 
tape. Konz surrendered the tape and, after the speech, was able to get it 
back only after she erased the recording in front of the marshal. 
       The exchange occurred in the front row of the school auditorium while 
Scalia spoke on the Constitution. Scalia later apologized and said he would 
make it clear in the future that recording his remarks for the use of the 
print media would not be a problem. 
       The lawsuit filed in May contended the marshal's actions ''inhibited 
and interfered'' with the ability of the reporters to gather, analyze and 
disseminate complete information to their readers. It says the act violated 
due process and the constitutional protections from unreasonable search and 
seizure. 



© 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be 
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.