Brickbat: Behind Closed Doors

In Oklahoma, U.S. District Judge Bernard Jones granted TV station KFOR a temporary restraining order to prevent the State Department of Education from barring KFOR journalists from the room in which State Board of Education meetings and news conferences are held. For several months, state Superintendent Ryan Walters and his spokesman, Dan Isett, have banned those reporters from the room during state school board meetings and from Walters' press conferences after the meetings. Jones said it appeared Walters is punishing the station for its editorial stance. Michael Beason, an attorney for the state Department of Education, at first said KFOR was being denied entry to the room for security and space concerns. But he later accused the station of "deliberately outright false reporting."