KFOR honored for defending Oklahoma journalists

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The KFOR-TV newsroom was honored this week for its fight to protect the rights of journalists. Specifically, the right to attend open meetings in the state of Oklahoma.

The Ben Blackstock award was presented during the University of Central Oklahoma’s Media Ethics Conference.  The theme of the conference was “Dying in Silence: The First Amendment’s Last Breath”.

During the conference’s second day, the University hosted several speakers during its “First Amendment Congress”. 

KFOR’s News Director Natalie Hughes was asked to speak on “The First Amendment Fight in Oklahoma.”  She addressed UCO students, staff and fellow journalists recounting KFOR’s decision to sue State Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters in 2024. Throughout that year, Walters and his communications director Dan Isett had repeatedly barred KFOR reporters and photographers from attending state school board meetings and press conferences.  The television station filed a federal lawsuit alleging violations of the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of the press.  Months later, Federal Judge Bernard Jones issued a court order barring Walters and his team from denying access to KFOR journalists from public meetings in the future.

The award presented to KFOR was named after Ben Blackstock, a longtime Oklahoma journalist who served as the manager for the Oklahoma Press Association for 44 years. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 1973.  Blackstock passed away in 2016 at the age of 90.

Blackstock’s son, Sam, and grandson, Brady, were in attendance at UCO’s event.