Augusta-Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree agreed to give The Augusta Press equal access to information his department disseminates to the public and other media.
The decision follows a First Amendment lawsuit the online newspaper filed Dec. 1 in Richmond County Superior Court. The suit alleged Roundtree discriminated against The Augusta Press by withholding information his department routinely distributed to other news media.
Tameka Haynes, the sheriff’s department’s lawyer, asked via a Dec. 21 email for the lawsuit to be dismissed. She sent the email to the newspaper’s attorney David Hudson (no relation to the reporter).
“Per our phone call, this is to confirm that the sheriff agrees to add The Augusta Press to the Sheriff’s Office media release emails and conferences. Please let us know if The Augusta Press will agree to dismiss the complaint,” Haynes wrote.
Court documents highlighted an incident on Nov. 12 when Roundtree’s office “circulated a media release concerning the arrest of a deputy. This media information was not sent to The Augusta Press, but it was sent by Defendant’s office to TV, radio and print media in Richmond County and McDuffie County, Georgia, and in Aiken.”
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The paper has also been excluded from the department’s Media Day and from access to information the Sheriff’s Department routinely supplies to other Augusta news organizations, according to the complaint.
The Augusta Press has tried to work with the sheriff’s department to find a solution to the problem since last February, according to Publisher Joe Edge. That was when Edge learned the sheriff had decided to withhold all cooperation because Austin Rhodes wrote three columns for the paper after it first began publication. Rhodes has not written for the paper since February, Edge added.
Most recently, the newspaper sent Roundtree a letter dated Nov. 15 that tried “to persuade the defendant from continuing to exclude The Augusta Press from media releases and conferences,” Edge said.
When that attempt failed, Edge said the newspaper had no other option but to take the sheriff to court.
“We were forced to sue on behalf of the community we serve and the people who read our paper. The sheriff knew we are a daily news media organization, and he chose to exclude our paper from getting information that is vital to the public interest,” Edge said.
According to Hudson, the case is poised to be settled “without prejudice,” which means that if the sheriff returns to excluding The Augusta Press from obtaining information in the public interest, it can be revived.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at [email protected]
Well I certainly feel left out as The Augusta Press is my only source of local news !!!!
We get it..Roundtree doesn’t like AR. To bad..he is in public office he needs thicker skin or he should resign.
Since Roundtree made this a personal vendetta, any settlement should require him to pay TAP’s legal fees and any monetary settlement out of his own pocket. The RCSO attorney should be fired as she failed to advise and convince Roundtree that his actions were unconstitutional. Does anyone in Augusta’s government every stop and ask themselves, “Is what we are planning or doing the right thing, and is it legal and constitutional”?
Well. trust me we asked for our legal fees. The RCSO lawyer is who convinced sheriff he had to comply.
Joe, can you clarify? Did you ask for legal fees in the original suit and again in the proposed settlement? No way can Tree just agree to play nice. RCSO must pay your expense as well as play nice or they will never learn.
Sad business, reflecting poorly on the leadership of a public agency that we all depend on. We should expect better, particularly from a sheriff!
The fact that AR is considered ‘working press’ by anyone is baffling. The right thing to do by Roundtree is to add TAP to the media list BUT continue his blackout to AR and The Austin Rhodes Show.
…and why would that be, Sarah? Media is media. TMZ is not excluded from police press events…The White House has allowed Fox News and MSNBC in the Press Room for years. Why is it you think that I somehow should be banished from government media functions and correspondence in a way that others are not?
Hi Austin, I haven’t listened to your program or read a column of yours in years. Have you finally learned not to take yourself so blankety blank seriously? By now you should be able to afford to relax! It could happen. After all, even Al Franken’s Stuart Smalley had one thing to be proud of, doggone it
Roundtree not agreeing because of AR. Huge eyeroll!! Get over it! AR keeps us informed around here… he lives in Roundtree and Davis’ heads rent free! Hahaha
Interesting that the article refers to The Augusta Press as a “paper” and “newspaper” yet there’s no paper. ????♂️ How about TAP, news outlet or online news service …
The Augusta Press AND Austin Rhodes are the only reliable source of information for/in the CSRA.