Categories: OLD Media Moves

Lawsuit filed to prevent San Antonio Biz Journal’s open records request

Two real estate consulting companies sued to block the release of public information requested by the San Antonio Business Journal regarding work performed for CPS Energy in its search for a new headquarters building, reports Sergio Chapa of the weekly newspaper.

Chapa writes, “The San Antonio Business Journal had sought to report on how much CPS Energy has paid for such services.

“CPS Energy contracted DTZ earlier this year to help in the search for a new headquarters building. The San Antonio Business Journal subsequently filed an open records request with CPS Energy in April asking for a copy of the contract and the amount paid by the municipally owned utility to DTZ.

“At DTZ’s request, CPS Energy asked the Texas Attorney General’s Office for an opinion on whether the records could be exempt from the state’s open records law. CPS Energy took ‘no position’ in the request, but DTZ — as a third-party — took exception, saying that the ‘release of this information may implicate propriety interests.'”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.