Oklahoma Publishing Co. v. District Court

In Oklahoma Publishing Co. v. District Court, 430 U.S. 308 (1977), the Supreme Court reached the same result as to information not released in public records, but otherwise publicly available. Several reporters, including those employed by the petitioner company, had been present in the courtroom during the hearing of an eleven-year-old boy charged with second degree murder. The district court of Oklahoma County enjoined members of the news media from " 'publishing, broadcasting, or disseminating, in any manner, the name or picture of a minor child' " in coverage of pending juvenile court proceedings. Id. at 308. The Supreme Court held that "the First and Fourteenth Amendments will not permit a state court to prohibit the publication of widely disseminated information obtained at court proceedings which were in fact opened to the public." Id. at 310. The Supreme Court found that this made no difference, but held that the critical fact was that the information published, that is "the name and picture of the juvenile" were " 'publicly revealed in connection with the prosecution of the crime.' " Id. at 311.