RALEIGH, N.C. — On March 22, 2023, Old School Productions (OSP) and Marc Rotterman, former host of Front Row with Marc Rotterman on PBSNC, filed a verified complaint in Wake County Superior Court to compel PBS North Carolina (PBSNC) to immediately comply with OSP’s open records request, submitted more than two-and-a-half months ago. The complaint was filed by attorney Kieran J. Shanahan of Shanahan Law Group, PLLC.

On January 4, 2023, Shanahan sent a letter to PBSNC outlining a detailed Public Records Request related to PBSNC’s recent cancellation of a highly popular political panel discussion show, Front Row with Marc Rotterman, because the complaint alleges the show was moving too far to the right. In an email dated September 1, 2022, Kelly McCullen, Director of Original Productions for PBSNC, wrote that Front Row was “slipping farther and farther to the right and it’s not necessary.”

“It’s unfortunate that PBSNC, a taxpayer-funded entity under the UNC system, has chosen to stonewall a legitimate public records request for over two-and-a-half months despite having the legal obligation and duty to furnish the documents as ‘promptly as possible,’” said Shanahan. “Because PBSNC has not acted in good faith we had no choice but to file an action with the Court to compel PBSNC to comply with its legal duty and produce the requested records by a date certain.”

“I find it very troubling that Mr. Rotterman was not given a written notice or a written explanation of why PBSNC canceled the Front Row series,” Shanahan added. “What’s even more troubling according to the filing is that after PBSNC’s General Manager, David Crabtree, unceremoniously and without explanation told Mr. Rotterman that Front Row would be canceled, Crabtree began ‘making false and defamatory statements’ about OSP and specifically Mr. Rotterman to one or more third parties by stating that Mr. Rotterman and his firm did not fulfill its 2022 contract.”

PBSNC claims its “values start with trust.” Shanahan concluded, “If that claim is true, then it is in the public interest that PBSNC immediately comply with Mr. Rotterman’s open record request."

Kieran J. Shanahan is a former federal prosecutor and experienced senior counsel with extensive trial court experience in federal and state courts around the country. For more information, visit https://shanahanlawgroup.com.

SOURCE: See a copy of the complaint by clicking here to view as a PDF.