UNC-TV turns over subpoenaed footage, data and records to state Senate

About a dozen North Carolina Senators on Tuesday (July 6) watched unaired news footage that the state’s public TV network had been ordered to provide, reports Bloomberg Business Week. The subpoena from the Senate Judiciary Committee was part of its ongoing investigation into Alocoa’s efforts to secure a new federal license for hydroelectric dams. UNC-TV on July 5 turned over news report footage, data and records on the issue, prior to broadcast. Steve Volstad, a spokesman for UNC-TV, told local TV station WRAL that the network decided not to fight the subpoena because state law requires public agencies to turn over information sought by any legislative committee, and UNC-TV attorneys weren’t sure the footage would fall under the state’s 1999 press shield law. The move to subpoena UNC-TV — as well as the network’s response — was widely criticized locally, including editorials in the Winston-Salem Journal and the News & Record, as well as a column in the News & Observer.