WILMINGTON, Del. A U.S. judge on Tuesday denied a request by media company Bloomberg LP to stay an order requiring more than 100 people to disclose information they shared with its reporters about the bankruptcy of the largest U.S. rare earth mining company, which Bloomberg said inhibits its free speech rights.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi in Wilmington, Delaware curtly dismissed the request by Bloomberg’s legal team to stay his order for 48 hours so the company could appeal.
Last week, Sontchi ordered 123 people to disclose by the end of Tuesday their contacts with Bloomberg reporters regarding Molycorp Inc over the prior 60 days.
Sontchi had ordered Molycorp and its creditors and other parties into confidential mediation in November, and information from the mediation was apparently reported by Bloomberg.
Sontchi’s order did not spell out what specific information in Bloomberg’s reporting troubled the judge. The order was prompted by the parties to the case, who consented to making the disclosures.
“The order issued by the Delaware bankruptcy court last Thursday strikes at the heart of the First Amendment and the fundamental mission of a free press: to provide transparency into important public events,” John Micklethwait, Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief, said in the statement.
Lawyers for Bloomberg declined to comment.
Bloomberg filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. District Court in Wilmington to stay the order, although no action by the court was publicly docketed at the close of business.
After the start of the confidential mediation, Bloomberg published three articles describing efforts to find a buyer for Molycorp. The articles, by Jodi Xu Klein, and one that included reporting by Steven Church and Fion Li, cited unidentified sources.
Bloomberg said in court papers the order cast too broad a net. It said the judge has ordered bankers, lawyers and advisers to give information even though their discussions with Bloomberg journalists may have had nothing to do with the Molycorp bankruptcy.
The order also required the parties to disclose if they knew who provided information to Bloomberg. The declarations, which began to appear on the docket late on Tuesday, were to be sealed from the public but shared with key parties.
Journalists organization Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said Sontchi’s order would have consequences beyond Molycorp’s bankruptcy.
“The repercussions from a single legal demand affect not just the work of the targeted journalist but all other journalists whose sources will hesitate and hold back information on matters of public concern, such as the operation of the judicial system,” the group said.
(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware- Editing by David Gregorio and Sandra Maler)
0 comments
Share
