Lack of common sense in Florida MSM

Several news media outlets are suing the state of Florida so as to be able to see autopsy photos of Carlie Brucia. Carlie was the 11-year-old Florida girl brutally murdered in 2004 by Joseph Smith.

The trial judge in Smith's case blocked access to these materials by t he media. Florida has what is known as Sunshine Laws that allow public access to most goverment documents and proceedings. In wake of Dale Earnhardt's death at the 2001 Daytona 500, a law was passed that exempted autopsy photos. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Tampa Tribune, Bradenton Herald and WFLA-TV News Channel 8 have appealed the trial judge's ruling all the way to the Florida Supreme Court. A ruling should be handed down shortly.

I believe in Florida Sunshine Laws for the most part. Our government and its work should be done out in the open. What I don't get here is why these media outlets are suing? Let me quote this part of the AP article.

Attorney General Charlie Crist has asked the high court to block a Nov. 22 appellate court ruling that would let representatives of three newspapers and a television station examine, but not publish, broadcast or post on the Internet, crime-scene photos and tapes introduced against Joseph P. Smith.

They won't publish them but then why do they need them? I guess they are fighting over a principle here, that this should be an open matter. Here is something else.

"A stay by this court would necessarily mean that, for the first time in Florida history, a death-penalty proceeding will be conducted based upon evidence hidden from representatives of the public," the media lawyers wrote in papers filed Monday.

The media lawyers are dead wrong. As the article points out, the photos were introduced at trial. They were available to the public then.

What I'm getting to is I think these media outlets should drop the suit. The Brucia family has been t hrough enough of an ordeal, and they don't need the MSM viewing the carnage done to their daughter just so they can stand on principle. The family has a right to privacy too. Or does that just apply to abortion?

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