OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s oldest television station has sued the state superintendent and his communications director for allegedly barring its reporters from attending public meetings and news conferences.

Superintendent Ryan Walters and Dan Isett have repeatedly forced KFOR reporters into an overflow room during meetings, and barred them from press conferences, according to the lawsuit - and as witnessed by any number of other journalists.

Isett literally told a KFOR employee he doesn’t consider KFOR a “legitimate” news organization.

He didn’t offer any sort of reasoning for his opinion, nor did he explain why his opinion overrules state law and the U. S. Constitution, specifically the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

His remarks run counter to the state’s own recognition of KFOR earlier in the year, in which the TV station and its newsroom were lauded for journalistic excellence and community service.

The state erected a historical marker recognizing the station’s status as the first television broadcaster in the state in July of this year.

It has won several national Emmys, as well as numerous regional Emmys and a Peabody award over the years, along with any number of awards from the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters.

Neither Isett nor Walters have offered any kind of actual explanation behind their efforts to block KFOR-TV and its viewers from knowing what’s going on at the Oklahoma State Board of Education, nor have they publicly responded to the lawsuit.

There’s a hearing scheduled for Wednesday seeking a temporary injunction and restraining order against Walters and Isett, blocking them from keeping KFOR reporters out of public meetings and news conferences.

Walters is a defendant in more than a dozen lawsuits in both state and federal courts, accused of defamation, breach of contract, wrongful termination, violations of open meeting laws, improperly instituting regulations that are outside of his scope of authority, and more.

Many of those lawsuits will be defended with taxpayer funds.