Missouri radio and TV newsrooms have lost access to names in state crash reports, and their trade group has gone to court to get them back. The Missouri Broadcasters Association and the Missouri Press Association filed a petition in Cole County Circuit Court against the Missouri State Highway Patrol. They say the Patrol is unlawfully redacting basic information from traffic and boating crash reports.
According to the petition, the Patrol published those reports online without redactions for nearly 30 years. Sometime in 2024 it changed course. It now withholds names and other details, including the names of people killed in crashes. The petition says this applies both to the online database and to responses to records requests.
Gray Local Media Inc., Warden Publishing Co. and managing editor Roxie Murphy joined the two associations as plaintiffs. The petition cites Missouri's Sunshine Law, the state open records statute, which it says provides that crash reports "shall be open records." The plaintiffs want the court to order the Patrol to hand over full, unredacted reports and to restore complete online access. They are also asking for civil penalties and attorney's fees.
The filing argues that complete reports let communities learn who was hurt or killed and help the public spot dangerous roads and intersections. It also says journalists have long used the reports to confirm identities and to cover public safety.
"People have been calling our member stations upset that they didn't know that their neighbors or prominent community members were in a crash," said Chad Mahoney, president-CEO of the Missouri Broadcasters Association. "We are asking the court to restore the access Missourians have always had."
Chad Stebbins, executive director of the Missouri Press Association, said, "When the government blacks out the name of someone killed on a public road, it is the whole community that is kept in the dark."