7th Cir. to Hear Press Access to High School Sports Case Friday

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The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit will hear arguments tomorrow in Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletics Association & American HiFi, Inc. v. Gannett Co., Inc. & Wisconsin Newspaper Association, Inc. (Case No. 10-2627), involving whether the press has a First Amendment right of access to streaming Internet coverage of high school sports tournaments, according to a story in The Wisconsin Rapids Tribune.

The WIAA, which entered into exclusive contracts to stream high school sports tournaments over the Internet, sued in 2008 after The Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wisc. broadcast high school football playoffs using Internet streaming without WIAA permission (Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletics Association & American HiFi, Inc. v. Gannett Co., Inc. & Wisconsin Newspaper Association, Inc., W.D. Wisc. Case No. 3:09-cv-00155-wmc).

U.S. District Court Judge William Conley sided with the plaintiffs last June in a 51-page ruling in which he said commerce, not freedom of the press, was the underlying issue of the case.  The news organizations appealed the ruling to the 7th Circuit.  The appellants contend they should be entitled to cover the Internet streamed games because they are school-sponsored and  therefore, taxpayer-funded. As a public entity, the appellants argue, the WIAA is constitutionally bound to provide media access to sports events through available technology.