OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — KFOR has won a legal battle involving the Oklahoma State Department of Education, specifically State Superintendent Ryan Walters and his Press Secretary, Dan Isett.
Earlier this year, KFOR-TV and The Institute for Free Speech filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
For months, KFOR journalists have been refused access to public State Board of Education meetings and placed in an overflow room.
KFOR journalists have been excluded from press conferences held by Walters following those board meetings.
Walters and Isett claim News 4, with its 75-year broadcast history, is not a legitimate news organization.
KFOR has always held our duty and responsibility to inform viewers in high regard. This means holding government and elected officials accountable.
On Wednesday, a federal court ordered these terms by agreement:
Walters and Isett have agreed to allow KFOR journalists into all press conferences and meetings and add KFOR to the email list for press releases.
OSDE agreed to pay $17.91, which is a symbolic amount as 1791 was the year the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, protecting freedom of Speech and the Press.
Attorney fees have yet to be determined, but Ryan Walters and his attorneys did agree to pay them.
KFOR's lawyers called the court order a win. The Senior Attorney with the Institute for Free Speech, Charles Miller, said, "This is a huge victory for journalism,"
Last month, both Walters and Isett sat for depositions as lawyers for the Institute for Free Speech asked them about their decision to bar Channel 4 from public meetings.
KFOR's News Director, Natalie Hughes, said OSDE officials repeatedly ignored the constitution.
"When you have state officials violating the First Amendment, we really had no choice, but to go to the courts," said Natalie Hughes, News Director at KFOR.
KFOR's lawyer's said the biggest winners in this case are the citizens of Oklahoma.
"Getting media access to the government is how the people know what's going on," said Charles Miller, Senior Attorney with the Institute for Free Speech.
It's a commitment to Oklahomans that KFOR's General Manager Wes Milbourn takes seriously.
"Our viewers know that we've just celebrated our 75th anniversary of quality journalism, the first television station in the state of Oklahoma and for us to continue to do that, we had to resort to the federal court to allow us to provide you with the latest news," said Wes Milbourn, KFOR's General Manager.
News 4 reached out to the Department of Education for a comment on Wednesday's courtroom developments. Dan Isett, one of the defendants in the case, sent a statement that said," We don't respond to fake news".
The case hinged on the First Amendment to the Constitution and the protections that the Amendment affords the press. The order issued by the court on Wednesday falls just days before the Amendment celebrates its 233rd anniversary.
KFOR's attorney says this is a victory for the First Amendment
Read the original filing:
