It’s time to add another loss to Ryan Walters’ impressive run of legal defeats!
Yesterday afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Jones granted KFOR a “temporary injunction” in their free speech lawsuit against the OSDE and its tubby propaganda chief, Dan Isett.
If you remember, KFOR sued the OSDE and Isett because they weren’t allowed to sit at the big boy media table during State Board of Education meetings and were instead relegated to the card table in the den with the other plebs, commoners, and illegitimates.
This apparently bruised KFOR’s ego and, according to the lawsuit, inhibited their First Amendment rights to report the news. I guess the judge agreed.
Here are some details via Yawn Doc:
After an hour-long hearing this morning, U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Jones granted local news station KFOR’s request for a temporary injunction against State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters and State Department of Education Director of Communications Dan Isett.
The ruling means Walters and Isett will be forced to allow KFOR reporters to attend Thursday’s State Board of Education meeting and subsequent press availability in person.
Yep, that’s right. Scoot over and make room at the dinner table, Channel 5, Channel 9, Channel 25, and the 100 or so nonprofit news websites that have popped up over the last year. KFOR is back, and they mean business!
Here’s what the judge had to say:
“The court further finds that denying KFOR access to the upcoming OSBE meeting and press conference on Sept. 26 would cause irreparable harm. When constitutional rights — particularly First Amendment rights — are at stake, the harm is inherently irreparable,” Jones wrote in an order filed around 4 p.m. Wednesday.
“Greenlighting a governmental attempt to restrict access to a limited public forum based on its unilateral determination that a news organization’s reporting is factually untrue amounts to an unworkable standard,” Jones continued. “Such a standard, indeed, would empower the government to act as the final arbiter of truth, chilling investigative journalism and suppressing dissenting viewpoints.”
That’s pretty cool.
I’m a fan of free speech, and although I don’t think there’s any shortage of legitimate media coverage of State Board meetings, insane politicians and their wallowing bureaucrats shouldn’t be allowed to play favorites, picking and choosing who’s legitimate and who’s not.
On that note…
Does this mean TLO can grab a spot at the big kids' table and attend press conferences and board meetings?!
Seriously, imagine how much fun that could be:
“Mr. Walters, Scooter McGoo here with TLO News. Have you ever starred in gay porn, and what’s your favorite drink from Harbor Mountain Coffee Shop? First-time Johnny’s Press Conference attendee and I’ll take my answer off the air.”
No lie, what kind of worms did KFOR open up here?!
Sure, we may not follow their playbook and offer thrilling, legitimate reports about holes in the ground, but if allowing state agency PR flacks like Dan Isett to determine whether or not a media outlet gets press conference and meeting access “amounts to an unworkable standard,” then this totally opens the door for TLO to claim legitimacy and attend press conferences!
Well, if that’s what we wanted.
Sure, it would be nice to kick it with Wendy Suares, but the last thing I want to do is add real work to my plate. Plus, going legit would totally ruin our brand!
In addition to the judge’s ruling, there were a lot of cool and fun tidbits regarding the case.
For example, it was fun to read that Ryan's goobersmooch of a lawyer, Michael Beason, got obliterated by KFOR's free speech attorney Courtney Corbello. That's not surprising – as we've pointed out, the guy is essentially the Bob Loblaw of Oklahoma government attorneys – but it still felt good.
Another fun thing – KFOR hired a real-life sketch artist to cover the proceedings.
Here’s a sketch they provided of Dan Isett. I think the artist caught him mid-fart lean:
Seriously, I wonder how long the odor from that thing strenched through the courtroom air?
Here’s another drawing of KFOR reporter Dylan Brown awkwardly looking at the artist:
Dylan, what are you doing there? You’re not getting your caricature drawn at the Greek Festival, dude! Pay attention to the judge. I know it's hard, but you have to ignore the person in the back with the pastels.
Anyway, I’d like to congratulate KFOR on their legal victory—something I was never able to experience back when the ACLU and I sued Mary Fallin. I hope they enjoy their newfound legitimacy and milk it for all it’s worth.
As for us, well, I think we’ll stick to covering illustrated fart leans and pretending to ask Ryan Walters about his Harbor Mountain Coffee order. The world’s already full of legitimate media—we’d hate to make it even more boring.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
