Anna Wolfe, the Mississippi Today reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize for her investigation into improper use of welfare funds in the state and uncovered Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre’s involvement in the scandal, is fighting a losing battle against a defamation lawsuit by former Gov. Phil Bryant.
After a judge issued a court order compelling Wolfe and her editor Adam Ganucheau to hand over documents revealing their sources, Mississippi Today asked the state supreme court to overturn the order. Bryant in turn filed a motion to hold the nonprofit local outfit in contempt of court. In an Op-Ed this week for the New York Times, Ganucheau called Mississippi Today’s appeal to the state supreme court “politically perilous” because Bryan appointed four of the nine justices and endorsed two more.
The central issue in the defamation suit is not the initial reporting by Wolfe but subsequent, factually incorrect remarks by Mississippi Today CEO Mary Margaret White last year. White alleged Bryant embezzled money as part of the scandal, which Wolfe’s reporting showed involved the diversion of welfare funds to people like Favre for “promotional efforts” and projects around the state that well-connected people like Favre wanted while the state rejected the vast majority of welfare applicants.
“His lawsuit does not challenge the accuracy of the reporting, but he has made clear he wants everything we’ve got related to our acclaimed investigation that revealed the depths of his involvement in the state’s welfare scandal,” Ganucheau wrote of Bryant’s suit.
Wolfe and Ganucheau were added as defendants in the suit last year, and Ganucheau wrote that the legal fight has placed a significant strain on Mississippi Today’s books.
“We believe this legal tactic is intended to chill our reporting of the current state and federal investigations into the welfare misspending,” Ganucheau wrote.
Bryant’s lawyer told NBC News their lawsuit is intended to hold Mississippi Today accountable.
“The rabbit’s got the gun now; we’ll see who’s going to be accountable,” he said.
Favre filed defamation suits of his own against sports media personalities Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee following the revelations that he received payments from the state. Favre withdrew his claim against McAfee last May while a judge threw out a separate suit against Sharpe in October.
Mississippi is one of eight states that does not have a law protecting journalists from revealing sources. If the Mississippi state court does not overturn the order, Mississippi Today would be forced to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Ganucheau cited comments from U.S. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas seeking to reconsider the standards for libel claims by public officials as a warning of what could happen if Mississippi Today appealed to the country’s top court.
“It is not difficult to see how the lawsuit against us could become part of a broader effort to dismantle press freedoms for journalists across the nation,” Ganucheau wrote.
The landmark reporting by Wolfe in the outlet’s “The Backchannel” series led to significant change in Mississippi and earned her a Pulitzer Prize. But the backlash has been just as powerful, and could lead to even more significant change in First Amendment case law.