Court: YouTube channel not consider media under records law

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The Washington Supreme Court has ruled that a man who runs a YouTube channel in the state does not qualify as a member of the media under the state’s public records law. In a 7-2 opinion, the high court said that the statutory definition of “news media” requires an entity “to have a legal identity separate from the individual.” The ruling comes in the case of Brian Green, who runs the “Libertys Champion” YouTube channel and sought photographs and birth date information from personnel files of Pierce County jail staff and law enforcement employees. Such information is exempt from release to the public under current law, but an exception to the exemption exists for members of the news media.