A South Carolina judge is considering whether to release 911 calls and other documents from the shooting deaths of nine black church members at Emmanuel AME church this summer.
Judge J.C. Nicholson will hear from attorneys for the victims' families today in Charleston. The say the material should not be released because doing it violates the victims' rights to privacy.
News organizations, including the Associated Press, are challenging the judge's order.
"While we have great sympathy to those families who have lost loved ones, under South Carolina law these persons have no privacy rights that would outweigh the public interest in access to records which reveal the performance of government," the contend.
The judge has expressed concern that a right to a fair trial for Dylann Roof, who's charged in the case, could be jeopardized by pretrial publicity.
The jury selection for the federal case has been set for early November.
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