Reporter, Publisher Arrested

Atmore, Alabama, newspaper finds itself in a fight for press freedom - The Washington Post

 

More deets, please. Post some grafs from the article. Make me care.

 

ATMORE, Ala. — When Don Fletcher checked the mailbox outside his newspaper’s office on Main Street in late September, he found a little gold mine waiting for him.

Folded up inside was a copy of a grand-jury subpoena served on two employees of the local school system. The confidential document indicated that a criminal investigation into potential financial abuse was underway — a solid lead for a veteran reporter like Fletcher.

It took a couple of weeks to confirm, but Fletcher soon broke the news in the weekly Atmore News that officials were probing the Escambia County Board of Education’s handling of federal covid-19 relief funds. What happened next, though, lifted Fletcher’s story far beyond this town nestled amid cotton fields north of the Florida panhandle.

Days later, the local district attorney ordered the arrest of Fletcher and his boss, Sherry Digmon, the News’ publisher and co-owner. He charged both with violating a state law that prohibits the disclosure of grand-jury information — a felony punishable by up to three years in prison.

The reporter, 69, and publisher, 72, were taken to the county lockup by police officers they had known for years. As a courtesy, the deputies waited until they were out of public view before placing handcuffs on them.

The arrests shocked legal scholars and press advocates, who say it’s a violation of the First Amendment to prosecute a newspaper for reporting the news. More specifically, they argue that District Attorney Stephen M. Billy misapplied Alabama’s secrecy law, which criminalizes leaks by anyone directly involved with a grand jury — jurors, witnesses, court officials — but not news outlets that publish the information.

 

Stephen Billy? Why isn’t his middle name Hill?

 

Another brick in the wall of growing U.S. fascism.

 

Teacher leave them kids alone!

 

This story is less about an assault on journalism and much more about small-town drama, politics and retribution and I can't get enough.

 

The small-town stuff is still blatantly against the U.S. Constitution, which I last checked Alabama was still a subject of.

 

Give it time.

 

That'll teach 'em!

 

I believe the correct local colloquialism is "that'll learn 'em."