SPJ Hits Seizure of Reporters' Cell Phone Records

By: A national media group says the St. Paul Police Department's move to obtain a reporter's phone records was an abuse of power and an affront to freedom of the press.

The department obtained the cell phone records of KMSP-TV reporter Tom Lyden without giving the station the opportunity to fight the action in court.

At issue was a 7-year-old arrest report the reporter obtained after the department refused to release it. Both the station and Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher say the document was public information.

Leaders of the Society of Professional Journalists weighed in last night.

Clint Brewer is the national president of SPJ. He says the police department's actions were "nothing less than an attack on the First Amendment and the notion of open government."

The group says St. Paul police should return Lyden's phone records and apologize.