Short Take: Government favors media access to Gates interviews

Antitrust prosecutors told a federal appeals court that it should affirm a lower court ruling granting reporters access to pretrial interviews of Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and other top executives. Earlier, Microsoft appealed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson holding that an 85-year-old law requires the depositions to be open to the public. In its brief filed today, the government said that "doubts about the wisdom of statute provide no basis for judicial repeal of the law."