Utah Mine Probe Won't Be Open to News Media [View All]

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

A federal judge yesterday rejected the news media’s request for access to the government’s investigation of the Crandall Canyon mine disaster.

U.S. District Judge Dee Benson said there’s nothing in the Constitution that gives reporters the right to watch interviews or get other access to an active investigation. He denied a request for an injunction.

“While it may be true that requiring all government investigations to be open would result in greater accountability and more accurate information, if such a requirement is to be imposed, it must come from a statute that is debated and passed by Congress and signed into law,” Benson said.

... “This court ruling allows MSHA’s law-enforcement investigation ... to continue without media interference that could deprive the public and the victims’ families of a full accounting of what happened at Crandall Canyon,” U.S. Labor Department spokesman David James said.

He said information gathered by MSHA eventually will be released unless deemed confidential.

Read more: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003657319