SacBee Wins Access to Forest-Fire Documents

Sacramento Bee reporters won access to depositions of US Forest Service employees about a 2007 forest fire in California that burned tens of thousands of acres.

A federal judge ruled that once the documents had been entered into court records as part of the evidence discovery process, they were presumptively public records and had to remain that way.

• "Federal Court Rules To Keep Calif. Fire Documents Public," Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (Media Law Resources), February 2, 2012, by Haley Behre.