Calif. Judge Sides with Media--Orders Church Leaders in Sex Scandal Be Named

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ruling that the public interest in shielding children from sexual abuse trumps individuals' privacy rights, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Emilie H. Elias sided with the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press and ordered the names of the hierarchy of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles ("ALA") cited in internal investigatory records of child molestation allegations not be redacted, the Times reported.

Judge Elias's ruling reverses a decision by private mediator and retired federal Judge Dickran Tevrizian, who favored blacking out the names of archdiocese staffers from the 30,000 pages of records of the ALA probe of sexual allegations that are scheduled for public release to spare the ALA further embarrassment. Judge Tevrizian had also ordered redacting the names of priests accused of a single allegation of sexual abuse of minors, which Judge Elias also overturned.

The decision to identify church leaders and purported pedophile priests in the records, some of  which contain decades-old charges of sexual molestation, evoked a predictable negative response from church lawyers, but also drew criticism from the California Psychiatric Association, according to the Times article, which addressed privacy concerns and possible harm to confidential doctor-patient relationships. Church lawyers, who already had redacted the documents in compliance with Judge Tevrizian's decision, warned that having to restore the names of church officials could delay release of the documents by months.

The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times  petitioned the court for release of the names under the California Public Records Act [Calif. Govt. Code secs. 6250-6276.48], contending that the public needed to know the names of ALA leaders to help it grasp the scope of the massive child sex abuse scandal, that the Times reported involved accusations against 200 priests and prompted payments from insurers and others of more than $720 million to settle lawsuits.

The ALA is the largest archdiocese in the U.S.  Pursuant to a 2007 settlement agreement hammered out by the ALA and 500 victims, the ALA records, said to include psychiatric files, Vatican correspondence, complaints from victims' parents and investigative reports, are to be made public.

Judge Elias supported her decision by noting that parishioners were entitled to know the goings-on in their church.

Will SF Chronicle Erect Paywall or Golden Gate?

Image via WikipediaThe Hearst Corp-owned San Francisco Chronicle is moving closer to greeting visitors to its online edition with a paywall, according to the Bay Guardian and Medialifemagazine.com.

In contrast to the metered payment model recently introduced by The New York Times, the Chronicle is contemplating a "hard paywall" model that would charge online visitors for every article. Although the Chronicle has declined to confirm plans to charge online users, the Bay Guardian story said digital subscribers might be charged $9.99 a month. If the Hearst property follows the trend of other dailies, print edition subscribers would have free access to the online version.

Although no start-up date was mentioned by the Bay Guardian or Medialifemagazine.com, it is expected the Chronicle may introduce a paywall at the same time it debuts its iPad application, which could be as soon as the end of April.

Okla. Daily Erects Paywall to Draw Subscribers in and Keep Bison Out

Image via WikipediaOklahoma's second-largest circulating newspaper, The Tulsa World, next week will institute a metered payment paywall, the paper reported today.

Those already receiving the print version will have unlimited access to the daily's digital platforms, including tulsaworld.com and the paper's mobile, iPad, iPhone and Blackberry applications. Non-subscribers will be able to browse section index home pages such as sports, business, news and obituaries for free.

However, once non-subscribers have reached 10 pay views in a 30-day period, they will be asked to subscribe, from a variety of options.  For $14.99 a month, viewers can receive a 1-year digital subscription, whereas a 6-month subscription runs $15.99 a month and a 30-day subscription, $16.99 a month.  In contrast, a combined print and digital  7-days-a-week subscription costs $20 a month. Those who decline a digital subscription after reaching their 10 page-view maximum have to wait until the end of a 30-day period before having access to another 10 page views on the Website.

The Tulsa World, based in the nation's 61st largest media market, has been owned by the Lorton family since 1917. Other daily newspapers, such as the Dallas Morning News, have opted for a metered system to restrict the number of free views of locally produced articles before imposing a fee.