pna legal update - Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association

DECEMBER 19, 2014
PNA LEGAL UPDATE
LEGAL AND LEGISLATIVE ISSUES AFFECTING THE NEWS INDUSTRY
Please note: This is the last edition of PNA Legal Update in 2014. Please look for our next
issue on January 9. The PNA wishes everyone a happy and safe holiday season!
IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL ROUNDUP
The Times-Tribune (Scranton) – FOIA bill boosts access
Altoona Mirror – Bedford secrecy backfires
The Express-Times (Easton) - Teacher discipline cases are rare, but more transparency
necessary
EDITORIAL
ROUNDUP
LEGISLATIVE
UPDATE
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE:
Legislators continue to prepare for the 2015-2016 legislative session by circulating cosponsorship memos. Representative Kate Harper (R-Montgomery) this week circulated a
co-sponsorship memo for a resolution that would direct the Legislative Budget & Finance
Committee to review the fiscal impact of Right to Know Law implementation on agencies
and local government agencies. The co-sponsorship memo is available here.
LEGAL ISSUES FROM AROUND THE COMMONWEALTH:
RTKL records show pension penalties for SERS participants
The Associated Press used the Right to Know Law to obtain pension records from the
State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS), concluding that more than two hundred
individuals have been stripped of their pensions for various reasons, including criminal
convictions. Read more from the AP in The Evening Sun (Hanover).
911 time response log info shows mistakes, highlight lack of staff
LEGAL ISSUES
FROM AROUND THE
COMMONWEALTH
ISSUES BEYOND
PENNSYLVANIA
FROM THE
LEGAL HOTLINE:
OBITUARIES
The Times-Tribune (Scranton) explores two local cases in which 911 dispatchers sent
ambulances to the wrong address, causing delay, in cases where the patients ultimately
died. Read more from The Times-Tribune.
Legislator consultant charges explored
The Morning Call used the Right to Know Law and the state Treasury’s website to obtain
information about legislators’ expenditures on consultants. In this edition, the paper explores
one legislator’s use of consultants to promote his acting. Read more from The Morning
Call (Allentown).
Police deny access to allegedly sexual text messages sent by teacher
Attorneys representing the Coal Township police department are seeking to quash a
subpoena seeking information about allegedly sexual text messages sent by a former
substitute teacher for the Shamokin School District to four girls who are now suing the
district in federal court. In court filings, police department attorneys cited the RTKL’s
investigative exemption as a reason not to provide the alleged victims with information.
Read more in the The Daily Item (Sunbury).
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QUESTION FOR THE
LEGAL HOTLINE?
CONTACT 717-703-3080
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PAGE 2
PNA LEGAL UPDATE
LEGAL AND LEGISLATIVE ISSUES AFFECTING THE NEWS INDUSTRY
LEGAL ISSUES FROM AROUND THE COMMONWEALTH (CONT.):
Lack of transparency when teachers fired
explored
AOPC receives court statistics reporting
excellence award
As part of its Bad Apple series, The Express-Times (Easton)
explores the lack of transparency under the RTKL when
teachers and other public employees are fired or demoted.
Read more from The Express-Times.
A special tool Pennsylvania uses to collect and manage
information from hundreds of thousands of civil cases filed
annually has won acclaim from a national court managers’
organization. The AOPC received the Court Statistics Project
2014 Reporting Excellence Award for its creation and use of a
civil cover sheet that provides detailed case data in a way not
previously available. The Conference of State Court
Administrators Court Statistics Committee presented the
award to Court Administrator of Pennsylvania Zygmont A.
Pines last weekend in Savannah, GA. Read more from the
AOPC here.
School’s private finance committee meetings
create concern
Steelton-Highspire School Board’s finance committee met
privately in late November, and when questioned by the press,
Superintendent Ellen Castignato said the district’s committee
or “subcommittee” meetings are never public meetings. Read
more from the Press And Journal (Middletown).
PNA note: The Sunshine Act defines “agency” as the body
and all committees thereof authorized to render advice or take
official action on matters of agency business.
Underwater drones now on the radar for
outdoor enthusiasts in PA
PETA is selling underwater drones for use in documenting
fishing activity, mirroring its efforts last year to sell aerial
drones to monitor hunting, trapping and agricultural activities.
Several bills were proposed last session by PA legislators to
curb the use of aerial drones, but the proposals were quite
broad, with the potential to infringe on legitimate uses. Read
more from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
ISSUES BEYOND PENNSYLVANIA:
Tennessee town bans negative social media
comments about government
Raising significant First Amendment issues, South Pittsburg,
Tennessee recently approved a policy banning anyone
professionally associated with the town from posting negative
comments online about the town’s government. Read more
here.
Bill would shed light on for-profit prisons
Federal legislation has been introduced to provide more
transparency about federal for-profit prisons. The bill was
introduced last week by a Texas Congresswoman, Sheila
Jackson Lee. This is the sixth time the Texas Democrat has
introduced the Private Prison Information Act.
A SUPPLEMENT TO HEADLINES & DEADLINES
PAGE 3
PNA LEGAL UPDATE
LEGAL AND LEGISLATIVE ISSUES AFFECTING THE NEWS INDUSTRY
LEGAL HOTLINE:
Q: Is there a law that requires newspapers to refuse
obituaries that don’t come from a funeral home? What
should we do when we get more than one obituary for the
same person?
A: Pennsylvania law does not address who can submit an
obituary for publication, and newspapers are free to publish
more than one obituary for the same person.
Likewise, Pennsylvania law does not govern the type of
information that must appear in an obituary, although many
follow a similar general format.
Occasionally, newspapers get two or more different
obituaries for the same person. In this situation, one obituary
often comes from the funeral home, while the others come
from family members who are not directly involved with the
funeral. Ultimately, this is an issue for the family of the
P E N N S Y L V A N I A
A S S O C I A T I O N
deceased, but newspapers are free to publish more than one
obituary for the same person, and there is no law that restricts
how many obituaries may appear for one person. Some
newspapers do have a policy that restricts obituaries to those
that come from the funeral home. They often print the
obituary from the funeral home and suggest that any additional
obituaries appear as memorial ads. Other newspapers simply
print both obituaries.
Regardless of how newspapers choose to handle multiple
obituaries for the same person, newspapers should be careful
to ensure that obituaries are accurate and free from
defamation prior to publication.
As always, this is not intended to be, nor should it be
construed as, legal advice. Please contact your newspaper’s
private attorney or the Legal Hotline at (717) 703-3080 with
legal questions.
Teri Henning, President
Paula Knudsen, Dir., Legal Affairs
Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Counsel Deborah Musselman, Dir., Govt. Affairs
terih@pa-news.org
paulak@pa-news.org
melissam@pa-news.org
deborahm@pa-news.org
717.703.3076
717.703.3032
717.703.3048
717.703.3077