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<blockquote data-quote="Dave70968" data-source="post: 2463282" data-attributes="member: 13624">Journalists don&#039;t have any more access to &quot;personal records&quot; than anybody else.Remember, the interest being protected by the First Amendment is the people&#039;s right to keep an eye on the actions of government.&nbsp; Being charged with a crime, including the disposition of such charges, is a matter of public interest specifically because it is a governmental act.&nbsp; Yes, there is some balancing to be done to avoid unnecessarily ruining a man&#039;s good name (see, e.g. Richad Jewell), but the public definitely needs to know whom the government is charging (or not charging), with what, and how those prosecutions are handled.&nbsp; Hiding those records moves us back in the direction of secret courts, and that&#039;s somewhere we really don&#039;t want to go.&nbsp; Public trials and such are not just to protect the defendant; they&#039;re also to give we, the people, confidence that the court system is working properly.&nbsp; Hide the records and we can&#039;t audit our government, with all that implies.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dave70968, post: 2463282, member: 13624"] Journalists don't have any more access to "personal records" than anybody else. Remember, the interest being protected by the First Amendment is the people's right to keep an eye on the actions of government. Being charged with a crime, including the disposition of such charges, is a matter of public interest specifically because it is a governmental act. Yes, there is some balancing to be done to avoid unnecessarily ruining a man's good name ([I]see, e.g.[/I] Richad Jewell), but the public [I]definitely[/I] needs to know whom the government is charging (or not charging), with what, and how those prosecutions are handled. Hiding those records moves us back in the direction of secret courts, and that's somewhere we really don't want to go. Public trials and such are not just to protect the defendant; they're also to give we, the people, confidence that the court system is working properly. Hide the records and we can't audit our government, with all that implies. [/QUOTE]

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