NBCU's WNBC-TV New York and the New York Times Friday signaled to a bankruptcy court that they
would be seeking access to sealed files in the case of a number of Mets owners,
most prominently vs. investment scammer Bernie Madoff.
According to a copy of the filing posted by the Reporters
Committee for Freedom of the Press,
they argue that all the exhibits and sealed documents should be open to public
examination.
"[T]his sordid financial episode of unprecedented
magnitude undisputedly remains a subject of enormous interest," they said.
The news organizations said the issue was whether the public would be
privy to what the allegations and claims against Madoff were. (He bilked
his clients out of billions of dollars).
There is a heightened interest in the case that goes beyond
the iconic status of Mets owners to their employment of hundreds of people
and the fact that they received public financing for a new stadium.
Journalists, they said, are the proxies for that public.
