Reporter Demands Information on Fox's Bill O'Reilly & Police
Reporter Demands Information on Fox's Bill O'Reilly & Police
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CN) - A reporter demands that the Nassau County Police Department fork over documents about Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's alleged attempt to have the police investigate a detective whom O'Reilly believed was having an affair with his wife.
Plaintiff John Cook, an editor and reporter for Gawker, is known for bringing in-depth investigations to a website better known for news aggregating.
Late last year, Cook sued the National Archives and Records Administration for information about how President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney tried to shape public opinion about their time in office.
Now the New York Civil Liberties Union has filed a new complaint on his behalf raising "serious questions about whether the NCPD used public resources for O'Reilly's private, personal benefit."
"In this Article 78 petition, John Cook, a journalist, seeks to compel the Nassau County Police Department ('NCPD') to disclose records pertaining to his investigation into allegations that NCPD improperly used public resources to conduct an internal investigation at the behest of a prominent news personality, William O'Reilly," the complaint states. "Petitioner seeks these records for the purpose of reporting on a story 'about O'Reilly's attempts to pressure the NCPD into launching an internal affairs investigation into an NCPD detective whom O'Reilly believed to be romantically involved with his wife,' Petition (Oct. 11, 2011) ¶ 9, a story that 'raised serious questions about the NCPD and whether it was contracting out its law enforcement capabilities for the private, personal benefit of a prominent broadcaster and potential NCPD Foundation donor.' Id. ¶ 12."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/11/42935.htm