More than three years ago, a Guilford County district court judge seized a former Greensboro News & Record reporter’s notes from a family court hearing and issued an order prohibiting her from writing about it, which legal experts say violated state law and the U.S. Constitution. Despite several attempts, the paper hasn’t yet gotten those notes back or succeeded in overturning the judge’s order.
Mike Tadych, an attorney who represents the newspaper and its former reporter, Kenwyn Caranna, is now taking the fight to the North Carolina Supreme Court. (Tadych also represents The Assembly.) It is the third time he has gone to the state appellate courts for help, the first two times being with the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Tadych could not immediately be reached for comment.
The legal fight began on July 28, 2023, when Caranna, then a reporter for the News & Record, spent the day observing family court proceedings for a story. Under state law, court proceedings, including those involving juveniles, are open to the public unless a judge closes the courtroom. The judge, Ashley Watlington-Simms, closed the courtroom for only one of the nine cases she heard that day, during which Caranna left. Caranna returned when Watlington-Simms reopened the courtroom.
In an affidavit, Caranna said no one asked her to identify herself or informed her she couldn’t take notes during the other proceedings. When Watlington-Simms later asked who she was, Caranna said she told the judge she was a journalist monitoring the cases for a future story. Watlington-Simms then left the courtroom to consult with then-Chief District Judge Teresa Vincent. When Watlington-Simms returned, she ordered bailiffs to seize Caranna’s notes and issued an order barring the reporter from speaking publicly or writing about the cases she observed. Caranna was not allowed to call the paper’s attorneys.
Legal experts say Watlington-Simms likely violated two state laws as well as the U.S. Supreme Court’s prohibition against prior restraint, or the suppression of information a news organization has gathered.
To properly appeal the judge’s 2023 gag order, Tadych told the Court of Appeals that he needs either an audio recording or a transcript of the 2023 hearing, but Watlington-Simms denied his request in July 2024, saying the release would violate the confidentiality of the juveniles involved in the cases she heard that day, even if Tadych agreed to keep the documents sealed.
Similarly, when Tadych sought a transcript of the 2024 hearing to appeal the previous ruling, Watlington-Simms never responded to his request for more time. He successfully petitioned the Court of Appeals to force her to rule, but Watlington-Simms ultimately denied that request, too, saying that Tadych failed to follow the proper procedures when filing.
In addition to the transcripts, Tadych asked the appellate court to rescind Watlington-Simms’ gag order and return Caranna’s notes. The Court of Appeals granted Tadych’s request for the transcript of the July 2024 hearing, but denied everything else.
Tadych has said this effectively puts him back where he started, with no way to access the 2023 transcript and thus overturn the original gag order. He is now asking the state Supreme Court to intervene.
Watlington-Simms did not respond to a request for comment but has stated in court and in emails to The Assembly that her primary concern is protecting children’s privacy.
The state Supreme Court has not yet ruled on Tadych’s petition.
Disclosure: Assembly reporter Michael Hewlett has worked with Kenwyn Caranna at the Winston-Salem Journal and also worked, briefly, at the News & Record in the late 1990s.
