US District Court Rejects City of New York's Appeal on 'Central Park Five' Case

The United States District Court, Southern District of New York ruled on Wednesday, September 25, to quash the City of New York's appeal on their subpoena for footage from the filmmakers of the 2012 documentary The Central Park Five.

The appeal was the City's attempt to overturn the previous ruling in February denying the subpoena of outtakes from The Central Park Five. Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon produced the documentary, which examines the controversial and racially charged 1989 Central Park jogger rape case.

The court found that documentarians generally qualify as journalists with the benefits of Journalistic Privilege. In this case, the status of journalist was established in the face of arguments by City attorneys that Sarah Burns had learned of the case while working as a summer intern at a law firm. The City also argued that the filmmakers had lost the protection of  Journalistic Privilege when they advocated on behalf of the subjects of their film.

When the Central Park Five team was first subpoened by the City of New York last October, they contacted IDA, given the organization's past efforts on behalf of filmmaker Joe Berlinger and his battles with Chevron over his footage from his 2009 film Crude. IDA, in turn, enlisted Los Angeles-based entertainment attorney—and longtime advocate for documentary filmmakers—Michael C. Donaldson. He, along with New York attorney Andrew Ciell, prepared and filed an amicus brief on behalf of the independent film community. The brief was in support of a motion filed by the filmmakers to quash the subpoena for their notes and outtakes. The documentary community, led by IDA,along with NAMAC, Film Independent and many independent filmmakers, lent their names to the amicus brief to support the cause.

"Documentary filmmakers gather and disseminate information about significant social and political issues," said Donaldson in a statement. "Through their films, they uncover new information, advocate action and initiate public debate where none had previously existed. Preservation of Journalistic Privilege for documentary filmmakers, in spite of how they initially find out about a story and in spite of how passionately they advocate for their subjects, is essential to documentarians being able to work effectively." The ruling in this case supports this right.

This case was the dominant subject of a lively Doc U this past January that featured Donaldson and Sarah Burns, as well as filmmaker David France, as they discussed the intersections of documentary making and journalism.  For more on Doc U: The Doc Reporter, click here.