Reading Your Rights Tackles Tattered Cover Case

This fall, a documentary on the well-publicized court case in which Denver's Tattered Cover Book Store fought to protect its customers' right to privacy will be shown on regional PBS stations and will be part of a free expression panel that will be held at three of the fall regional trade shows. The Just Media Fund, an organization that helps develop media that focuses on social justice issues, produced the 27-minute film, Reading Your Rights.

In the case, Denver's North Metro Drug Task Force had sought a suspect's book purchase records from the Tattered Cover after finding the bookstore's mailing envelope in a trash bin outside a methamphetamine lab. Tattered Cover owner Joyce Meskis refused to turn the customer records over, and the case went to court. On April 8, 2002, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the bookstore did not have to turn the records over.

The film is a "very dramatic portrayal of issues in the case as seen from the point-of-view of Joyce Meskis and Lori Moriarity [commander of the North Metro Drug Task Force], the officer who sought the bookstore records," noted Chris Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE). Finan will be showing the documentary as part of the panel "From Monica to the Patriot Act: Customer Privacy Today" at the Mountain & Plains Bookseller Association, Southeast Booksellers Association, and Great Lakes Bookseller Association fall trade shows. "The drama comes from the credibility that both sides bring to the argument. These women are both defending important but competing interests, and, as a result, the issue is very clearly defined," Finan said.

In April 2003, at a panel discussion following an initial screening of Reading Your Rights, the name of the book that the suspect purchased was finally revealed. The title, Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters by Kenneth G. Henshall, had nothing to do with a methamphetamine lab. Meskis, who knew the name of the book, chose to fight in court to protect the privacy of her customers' records. The compelling panel discussion, which was held at the Denver Press Club, was added to the end of the documentary.

In an interview conducted in April 2003, Henry Ansbacher, Just Media's executive director, told BTW that the film "tries to take an even-handed, balanced approach," he explained. "We spent time with Joyce and with Lori Moriarity, both dedicated women who happened to come down on opposite sides."

Ansbacher said that Just Media Fund decided to make the documentary because "it's a very timely story, with the war on drugs and terrorism, our civil liberties have come under attack," he explained. "This is one of the first cases that addressed that. We have to be ever vigilant against these incursions against our civil liberties."

Booksellers will be able to buy a video of the documentary from ABFFE, though a price has not yet been confirmed. "[The documentary] would be great for any bookstore that is doing a free expression program," Finan said. "It would spark a lively debate on the issue." --David Grogan