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Newspaper: Agencies Deleting emails of Former Administrators

Vanessaezekowitz
/
Wikimedia Commons

A southwest Missouri newspaper's recent attempts to obtain emails from three former public officials in Joplin resulted in two denials because the records were wiped clean soon after the leaders left office.

The Joplin Globe, which requested the records, reports the denials raise questions because bulk deletion of a public official's email records is inconsistent with state and local retention rules.

Emails are seen as public documents, and the rules say they should only be deleted immediately after they have been assessed — and only if the content has no public value.

The Globe couldn't obtain the emails of former Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr nor emails pertaining to Bruce Speck's tenure as president of Missouri Southern State University.

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.