Nov. 15, 2019 – The NewsGuild-CWA has joined the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Society of Professional Journalists and a coalition of more than 20 media organizations supporting a New York newspaper’s fight for attorneys’ fees after a state agency failed to promptly release documents in response to a Freedom of Information Law request.
As RCFP reported, the coalition filed a friend-of-the court brief on Nov. 8 asserting that the New York State Thruway Authority’s nine-month delay in producing records to the Journal News was unreasonable and that the paper is entitled to attorneys’ fees and costs. The media coalition’s brief urges the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, to reverse a trial court ruling, which concluded that the delay was not unreasonable and declined to award the newspaper attorneys’ fees.