Eastern Airline Creditors Seek Bankruptcy Gag Order

Eastern Airlines’ creditors are seeking a gag order to stop press leaks in the troubled carrier’s 10-month-old bankruptcy proceeding, and two major newspapers have intervened to oppose the request.

The latest tangle in the Eastern saga pits the creditors’ committee against the New York Times and Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Wall Street Journal, and centers on unauthorized disclosure of creditor views.

If U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton R. Lifland grants the creditor committee request, violators could be held in contempt of court. The New York Times and Dow Jones said a gag order would violate First Amendment guarantees and prevent reporting on a story in which much of the information has been derived via tips and leaks.

Attorneys for the New York Times and Dow Jones have sent letters to Lifland, who is scheduled to hear the case Jan. 30. The New York Times has filed legal briefs. Dow Jones expects to do so by the Jan. 15 deadline, spokesman Roger May said Tuesday.

Eastern workers struck last March in an emotional walkout that almost immediately sent the money-losing airline into bankruptcy court. Pilots and flight attendants quit the strike in November but machinists remain out.