Wednesday of Sunshine Week is a bit of a potpourri. This recognizes the fact that Sunshine Week is celebrated all over the United States. For example, here is a YouTube production assembled by The National Archives about Freedom of Information Act requests:
National Archives Sunshine Week Celebration: Making Access Happen: FOIA at the National Archives.
What could be more timely than the National Archives commenting during Sunshine Week which as I understand it is also celebrated in Mar-A-SomethingOrOther?
On Tuesday, our sister blog published an article about the Fox and Dominion Voting Systems case: Tuesdays With More Sunshine Week! And Ashley Moody! Specifically, the article referenced a pleading filed in that case by Fox on Friday, March 10, 2023. It is titled, Fox Defendants' Application for Continued Sealing of Summary Judgment Materials, and you can read it here: Download Fox Defendants' Application for Continued Sealing of Summary Judgment Materials filed 03.10.23 in US Dominion Inc. v. Fox News Netwk. LLC (Del. Super. Ct. No. N21C-03-257 EMD .CONSOLIDATED).
See what you think. This is the argument in a nutshell, and it goes to the heart of Dominion's defamation case against Fox: "For a media company like Fox, proprietary newsgathering processes are the kind of competitive business information that justifies maintaining the seal." This includes sealing "concrete details" of "how editorial decisions are made," "how reporters source their stories," and how Fox conducts its "fact-checks." (Id., at 12.) "Prematurely disclosing these other details on Fox's internal and proprietary journalistic processes may allow competitors to appropriate these processes for their own competitive advantage, to Fox's detriment, and may chill future newsgathering activity." (Id., at 14.)
Convinced?
Maybe this will change your mind, when you consider that Fox deserves "extra protection" from the Court "[i]n a high-profile case like this". (Id., at 18.)
Speaking of Fox and yesterday's article, recall Ashley Moody. If you do not watch Fox regularly, you might not know that Ms. Moody is the current Attorney General of the State of Florida. You would not be likely to learn that fact from other TV outlets, because she rarely if ever appears anywhere except on Fox shows. She regularly issues a press release at this time of year that she "vows" to "safeguard" Sunshine Laws in Florida.
So, in the spirit of transparency in this Sunshine Week that Ms. Moody has "vowed" to "safeguard," after all, what does the Attorney General of the State of Florida get from Fox, and what does Fox get from the Attorney General of the State of Florida?
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