Getting rid of nostalgia first, it's not the heart of the post, Johnny Northside (see here, here and here - the blogger left Twin Cities Metro heading south) and Twin Cities Daily Planet (last news post dated 2019) .
The TCDP was back then a larger operation, posting interesting stuff, enough said about it. Johnny Northside, a footer said, "Awesome Inc. theme. Powered by Blogger." Making the decision to post online for free, Blogger intrigued, and along the way writing some bad stuff, I learned the product and hypertext and choosing a template - and in intervening time a couple of sites got hacked but not Blogger, so far, so it has been the product used ever since.
THE NEWLY DISCOVERED SITE
The third JN link above, returned by a routine search today, archived that site's report on Jhonny winning on appeal after he lost a defamation jury verdict saying he owed the plaintiff $60,000:
Minnesota appeals court overturns jury award against blogger
John Hoff did not lie. Because of that, the Minneapolis blogger will not be held liable for the firing of…
By then, 2012, I'd already been using Blogger for some time. What was striking was the press-freedom identity of the operation, and the scope of its reach -
https://www.rcfp.org see also, https://www.rcfp.org/legal-hotline/
Prior to opening that returned item Crabgrass had no idea the operation existed. Given the concentration on freedom of the press, defense against defamation claims against the press, and regarding blogging as a press function whatever the focus of particular blogs, it rang a bell. (Crabgrass has not been sued ---yet).
From the RCFP "Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press," homepage site exploration one item was followed, https://www.rcfp.org/wbr-independent-lawsuit/ titled -
RCFP attorney defends Louisiana journalist sued by local government over public records requests
subheadlined, “This is a meritless attempt to deter reporting,” said RCFP’s Louisiana-based staff attorney, Virginia Hamrick.- Posted on
Louisiana pleading detail is a bit different from other states, but reading the countersuit the thought arose, this is a SLAPP suit, filed by a public entity against an individual reporter making data production requests, clearly from context, and SLAPP was not pleaded. Perhaps it is not original answer counterclaim stuff in Louisiana, but is to be raised later by motion. See, https://www.rcfp.org/litigation/in-re-request-john-summers/ ; https://www.rcfp.org/category/freedom-of-information/ ; https://www.rcfp.org/open-government-guide/ .
Blogging from Minnesota, there is an OPEN GOVERNMENT GUIDE page for Minnesots and other states. It is well structured and concise.
In closing, this is a special interest post more than a general interest item - where blog authors nationwide should know the site exists and they can use the hotline - as press members.
https://www.rcfp.org/legal-hotline/ (not to be confused with the generic "contact us.")
As a closing caveat, the site was not found by Crabgrass to specifically declare bloggers the equivalent of formal paid reporters for formal media outlets, but the nature of the Louisiana single-author paper, (not publishing as a daily), suggests a regular blogger such as Crabgrass would get fair attention, if seeking help. Even with Crabgrass having its own op-ed orientation more than as a news reporting outlet.
Finally, it appears RCFP might not offer help on copyright infringement vs. fair use complaints, but fair use is fundamentally an allowed freedom extended as a part of copyright law. Complaints would likely be an outlet or content provider claiming unfair usage of copyrighted material, i.e., one outlet vs another, and the committee might wish to not go there.
UPDATE: The usual public data disclosure litigation is originally filed by a requester being stonewalled. It appears this Louisiana case is some official shaking a lawyer at a requester thought to be a nuisance in hopes of making him go away; i.e., out of the ordinary per the plaintiff-defendant roles. A SLAPP against a data requesting party. Role reversal.