PADUCAH — There is an update to WPSD Local 6’s monthslong effort to obtain public records from Murray State University located in Murray, Kentucky.
On Monday, WPSD-TV filed a lawsuit against Murray State University to obtain records Murray State has previously withheld and/or redacted. WPSD-TV is seeking the public documents related to the university’s attempts to interfere with reporting by WKMS, a national public radio-affiliated station operated by Murray State.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron previously ruled that the university violated the Kentucky Open Records Act when it improperly invoked the preliminary records exemption and when it refused to search for some records claiming the request was unreasonably burdensome.
That ruling also summarily rejected Murray State’s contention that the First Amendment somehow protected administrators’ emails simply because they may be related to WKMS, a news gathering operation.
WPSD-TV’s lawsuit reads, in part, “A cursory review of MSU’s redactions makes plain that MSU is willfully mis-applying the Act’s exemptions to withhold records it would rather not see the light of day.”
The television station’s open records request followed a ruling from the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission that former 42nd Circuit Court Judge Jamie Jameson of Marshall and Calloway counties improperly used his position seeking to kill an unflattering story.
At the time, Jameson called Murray State President Robert Jackson to complain. Jack
