Santa Fe Standard

The State of New Mexico has settled a lawsuit with the Santa Fe Reporter, according to recently released documents.

The state has agreed to pay The Reporter, a weekly newspaper, $360,000. Details about the settlement were made available to the public after a six-month confidentiality agreement had expired. 

In 2017, The Santa Fe Reporter won a lawsuit against the state. It said that former Gov. Susana Martinez had broken the law. Specifically, that her administration had been in violation of New Mexico’s Inspection of Public Records Act. The newspaper won that lawsuit, and the state was ordered to pay $400,000.

Additionally, The Reporter had also sued the state, saying that the Martinez administration had made information available to other news media in the state. However, it said that information had been restricted to The Reporter. Essentially, the paper said that the state was discriminating against the newspaper.

The Martinez administration filed an appeal in the lawsuit but withdrew it once it had reached an agreement with the newspaper in June 2019 for the $360,000 amount.

The agreement provides for payment of legal fees and to prevent future lawsuits.

“We undertook this litigation because we believe in the public’s right to know and we’re glad that our legal team has been compensated for successfully making that argument in court against the governor," said Julie Ann Grimm, who is both the newspaper’s editor and publisher.

Originally, the lawsuit filed by The Reporter was against the Martinez administration in 2013. Martinez was a Republican However, Martinez’s term as governor of New Mexico ended in 2018. The litigation was eventually settled by her Democratic successor Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The Santa Fe Reporter describes itself as “the city’s source for award-winning alternative news and culture.” It has been in publication since 1974.