Johnson Newspaper Corp v. Melino

Mercure, J. (dissenting).

I respectfully dissent. The Court of Appeals held in Matter of Herald Co. v Weisenberg (59 NY2d 378, 380) that the presumption of public access extends to quasi-judicial administrative proceedings, which "may not be closed to the public unless there is demonstrated a compelling reason for closure and only after the affected members of the news media are given an opportunity to be heard”. This presumption of openness will be overcome only by statutory exception, expressed in specific language and strictly con*218strued (supra, at 381-382). The unwritten policy of the…