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A Mississippi judge ordered the removal of an editorial from a small-town newspaper that was critical of city officials in the town of Clarksdale. That action has sparked complaints from press freedom advocates who say that it is clearly unconstitutional. Michael McEwen from Mississippi Public Broadcasting reports.
MICHAEL MCEWEN, BYLINE: If you ask Wyatt Emmerich, owner of the Clarksdale Press Register, the city's lawsuit against his paper is the result of a contentious relationship that started four years ago.
WYATT EMMERICH: With reporting that the mayor and the city council gave themselves shockingly big raises. We reported on it, and the citizens got outraged, and the mayor didn't really see why we needed to report on that. And then it's just gone on since then.
MCEWEN: Now, a judge has issued a temporary restraining order, requiring him to take down the editorial. It questions why city officials didn't give notice to the media about a meeting on a proposed tax increase. They taped a hard-copy piece of paper on a bulletin board at City Hall but didn't send notice to the paper. The city says that was just a mistake.
EMMERICH: We never got a chance to present our side of the case at all - never even served process. The judge just listened to their side and ruled against us.
MCEWEN: Hinds County judge Crystal Wise Martin called the editorial defamation of public officials. The editorial, at one point, asked the question, quote, "have commissioners or the mayor gotten kickback from the community?" The city attorney would not go on tape but accused the paper of lying and told us, quote, "they said we're getting kickbacks in the editorial." But the paper says the phrase was merely used as a synonym for pushback.
SETH STERN: It should take five minutes of legal research to figure out that this ruling was unconstitutional.
MCEWEN: That's attorney Seth Stern with the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
STERN: Either the judge did not put in that five minutes of legal research and entered this ruling out of ignorance, or they did put in that five minutes of legal research, knew that their ruling was wrong, but didn't care.
MCEWEN: Judge Wise Martin did not respond to a request for comment on the ruling. She set a hearing for later this month. Emmerich's paper has been around since 1865 and serves a community of about 14,000. He says this lawsuit shows that what they write matters.
EMMERICH: In a way, I'm encouraged that we're being read and we're having an impact. And the city of Clarksdale feels like we are a watchdog - they just don't want to be watched.
MCEWEN: He's also vowed to file a federal lawsuit over First Amendment violations should the judge ultimately not rule in the paper's favor.
For NPR News, I'm Michael McEwen in Jackson, Mississippi. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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