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The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper sued the city's police department after the agency demanded $4000 to cover staff time spent redacting hundreds of incident reports. Milwaukee County circuit judge sided with the city, and the newspaper appealed the case to the high court.
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The Journal Sentinel — The state Supreme Court announced Monday it will hear arguments over whether previous Supreme Court decisions authorized government officials to charge for time spent by employees to separate and redact confidential information from public records. The case stems from a lawsuit filed by the Journal Sentinel over fees the City of Milwaukee charged for public records.
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Journal Sentinel Online — Who should bear the cost of censoring Milwaukee police reports requested by the media under Wisconsin's public records law? Lawyers for the city and the Journal Sentinel argued both sides of that question Tuesday before the state Supreme Court, whose decision on the matter could have a significant impact on government accountability reporting.
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The Republic — Wisconsin Supreme Court rules that government entities can't charge the public for time spent deleting confidential information from records. The decision marks a major victory for open government advocates and the media amid an intense debate over whether taxpayers or requesters should foot the bill for redaction costs, which can sometimes stretch into the hundreds or thousands of dollars.