Washington judge orders journalism professor to hand over interview notes

The Associated Press

03.24.00

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(Editor's note: The state Court of Appeals has agreed to decide whether Doug Underwood must turn over his interview notes. The court order requiring Underwood to surrender the notes has been postponed pending the appeals court's decision.)

SEATTLE — A King County Superior Court judge has ordered a University of Washington journalism professor to turn over his interview notes to former reporters suing the publisher of an Arizona newspaper.

On March 22, Judge Sharon Armstrong ordered Doug Underwood to turn over his notes to lawyers representing 18 laid-off Arizona Republic reporters who have filed a defamation lawsuit against Phoenix Newspapers Inc.

Lawyers for the reporters sought access to Underwood's interview notes and rough drafts from a story he wrote in 1998 for the Columbia Journalism Review about the separation between newsroom and business operations of newspapers around the country. The lawyers argued that the notes were critical evidence to present to a jury.

Underwood quoted Steve Knickmeyer, then-managing editor of the Republic, who referred to the laid-off reporters as "fat, lazy, incompetent and slow." Knickmeyer was responding to claims by the former reporters that the company had laid off its most aggressive staffers after closing The Phoenix Gazette, the Republic's sister newspaper.

After the CJR article appeared, Republic Executive Editor Pam Johnson said Knickmeyer's remarks "did not accurately reflect the selection process used when we closed The Phoenix Gazette and had to let 60 staff members go."

The notes are not legally protected because Knickmeyer was not a confidential source, the lawyers said.

Bruce Johnson, Underwood's attorney, countered that the First Amendment protected all of Underwood's notes from being used without his consent.

Underwood did not return a telephone call yesterday from the Associated Press.

However, Bruce Johnson told The Seattle Times that Armstrong's decision was the first time in decades that a judge in Washington had compelled a reporter to turn over notes.

Underwood could comply with the order, appeal the decision or risk jail time, his attorney said.

The lawsuit was the second filed by a group of former Republic reporters against comments made by Knickmeyer. The first lawsuit was dismissed by an Arizona judge because the reporters weren't part of a group to which the comments referred.