The New York Times Co. v. City of New York Fire Dept. (2005)

New York Court of Appeals
2/09/2005, C-SPAN Product ID: 185516-1

From C-SPAN's Description:

The New York Court of Appeals heard oral argument in the matter of The New York Times Company v. City of New York Fire Department.

The New York Times filed a state Freedom of Information Law request in January 2002 to receive access to transcripts of radio calls, 911 calls, and 500 FDNY oral histories regarding the September 11th attacks. The FDNY denied the request, saying these materials are not public record - and in addition that they will be used in the investigation and prosecution of accused September 11 hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui. The New York Times, supported by nine September 11 family members, appealed the denial and won a split decision. They are appealing to the state high court in an attempt to have all three categories of material made public.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• uscourts.gov
• public.resource.org

[VR61661]

Is there any information on what the eventual ruling was in this case and the matters the judges held as the most important in coming to whatever conclusion they arrived in? I would be interested to read their reasoning behind their ruling. The specific issue that maybe tipped the scale so to speak. It's a very interesting case of privacy vs. public's right to know about emergency service related events and management during a disaster.

[VR61661]

Very interesting. I have to say it sounded quite questionable how the fdny representative basically admitted they wanted to effectively cencor all kind of criticisms made by the firefighters concerning the rescue operation or the departments management capabilities. I believe that could have been because of the issues with faulty or somewhat obsolete communications equipment that some firemen may have complained about, or so I have read.

- Continues