KC Judge censors press

Frankly, I thought the Pentagon Papers case had decided the question of prior restraint on the press. Perhaps this judge in Hounddog's territory didn't read that decision:

Kansas City, Mo. — A judge has ordered two Kansas City newspapers to remove articles about an area utility from their Web sites and temporarily barred the papers from publishing the story.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Kelly Moorhouse issued the temporary restraining order Friday against The Kansas City Star, a daily, and The Pitch, a weekly alternative newspaper that publishes on Thursdays.

The judge also ordered the papers to remove articles about the Board of Public Utilities of Kansas City, Kan., from their Web sites. Both papers had posted the stories Friday before the order but removed the articles by Saturday morning.

Both papers prepared stories about the operations at the BPU based on a confidential document they received. The document was prepared by Stanley Reigel, a Stinson Morrison Hecker attorney working for the utility.

The judge’s order said the document was privileged legal communication and BPU would be “irreparably harmed” if the newspapers didn’t remove the articles from their Web sites.