Judge Lets Newspapers Report on Sensational Story But Pulls Plug on TV Coverage

(Fox News) - A judge in Boston Wednesday barred a local TV station from reporting the findings of autopsies on two firefighters who died in action in August.

The firefighters union asked the judge to stop WHDH-TV from airing the results because they are supposed to be confidential. The station said it got the results from sources and broke no laws. But the judge sided with the union — saying the findings could not have been obtained legally. Lawyers for the TV station say this is prior restraint.

But since the order applied only to the TV station — two Boston newspapers were able to break the story that the autopsies revealed one of the firefighters was legally intoxicated and the other had cocaine in his system. An appellate judge overturned the ruling today.