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Freedom of Information
Let the Sunshine In!
It’s our duty as journalists, and a key mission for SPJ, to shine light into the dark recesses of government secrecy. To that end, this SPJ Web site provides ideas for chapters, newsrooms and instructors to promote and further freedom of information in their communities. We’ve gleaned the best of chapter FOI programs from recent years as well as great Sunshine Week projects. We’ve gathered tips, facts and quotable expert sources for writing stories or editorials about FOI. We’ve provided classroom activities for instructors and ideas for newsroom brown-bags. Let the sun shine in!
• Visit SPJ's Sunshine Week page
• Chapter FOI program ideas
• Campus FOI resources
• FOI activities for newsrooms
• Writing about FOI
• Quotable expert sources
• FOI studies and reports
• Curriculum and classroom ideas for teachers
• FOI resources
FOI Toolkit:
FOI Audits are a great way to monitor FOI compliance, build a group of journalists who have come up close and personal with FOI laws and demonstrate, once and for all, the weaknesses in state FOI laws. We've compiled everything you need to get started: training, do's and don'ts, document ideas for your requests and lots more.
A Uniform Act Limiting Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation:
It is crucial that the journalism community thoughtfully considers the role it will assume in pushing for the future enactment of anti-SLAPP legislation. As we keep our goals and roles in mind, we can also benefit from these tips, which several anti-SLAPP experts have offered.
SPJ leaders urge Bush Administration, Department of Justice to forego shield law legislation opposition
Leaders of the Society of Professional Journalists today urged members of the Bush Administration, the United States Department of Justice and members of the United States Senate to forego attempts to stifle the passage of S. 2035, the Free Flow of Information Act. To read the complete release, click here.
Related Links
— SPJ's Shield Law page
— Dept. of Justice Office of Public Affairs Web site: Media Shield section
— FoxNews.com: Administration Launches Web Site Opposing Journalist Media Shield
— Associated Press: Media Shield Law Remains in Doubt
— Letters from Dept. of Defense urging members of the U.S. Senate to reject the Free Flow of Information Act (S. 2035) [PDF, 188 KB]
— Letters from Dept. of Homeland Security urging members of the U.S. Senate to reject S. 2035 [PDF, 2.6 MB]
— Letter from Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence J.M. McConnell urging Sens. Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell to reject S. 2035 [PDF, 416 KB]
Covering Prisons:
Restrictive prison policies continue to be an issue for journalists. SPJ is working to keep prisons accessible and has developed this state-by-state resource of access policies relating to the media.
Legal advocacy annual report:
SPJ's legal team at Baker & Hostetler LLP never sleeps. Visit this page for a comprehensive report detailing all that has been accomplished in the past year, as well as a glimpse at what lies ahead.
Open Doors: Accessing Government Records:
What would our profession do without the ability to access information held by government agencies? What would we do without state and federal Freedom of Information laws? SPJ's Open Doors project is a comprehensive guide not only to the Freedom of Information Act, but also to freedom of information in general and how it applies to your work and even your life.
FOI Centers:
See a state-by-state list of FOI Groups & academic centers. Presented by the National Freedom of Information Coalition.
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See archive for more articles
News: SPJ to launch Citizen Journalism Academy in Chicago
Quill: Use the Internet effectively to find data
News: Chamberlin wins FOI Award from SPJ, NFOIC
News: SPJ leaders pleased with Democratic hopefuls’ support of a federal shield law
News: SPJ leaders pleased with Sen. John McCain’s support of a federal shield law
News: SPJ leaders urge Bush Administration, Department of Justice to forego shield law legislation opposition
— How Far Out of the Sunshine is Your State?
— FOIA 40 Years Later
Project Sunshine:
Project Sunshine is most important and visible to the people who need it the most: working reporters and editors. Project Sunshine focuses the attention of SPJ chapters and leaders on Freedom of Information problems, issues, needs and solutions at the local, chapter and state level. State sunshine chairs also are leaders in national access debates.
Creating Document- driven Newsrooms :
Want to get your newsroom incorporating documents more into its reporting? Take a look at these PowerPoint presentations, all of which have been incorporated into SPJ's FOI newsroom training programs.
SPJ fights long and hard for the public to have greater access to government records. Former Miami Herald Managing Editor Pete Weitzel, now coordinator of the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government, recently explained to SPJ members in Fort Worth, Texas, why journalists must "remain vigilant" in their fight for openness. Former U.S. Department of Justice attorney Ty Clevenger, now in private practice in Texas, agrees. Find out how a search concerning President Clinton's DNA led to a much larger analysis of the feds' sluggishness to produce public information.
Essential links:
— So How Did George W. Bush Celebrate Sunshine Week? Sorry, That's Classified
— Don’t Expect the Feds to Enforce FOIA
— SPJ's Freedom of Information page
— How and why to conduct public records searches
— Fight for access. Contact FOI Chairman Joel Campbell today.
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Freedom of Information
About/History
FOI Alerts
News/Articles
Covering Prisons
Project Sunshine: Find FOI Help
Accessing Government Records
Shield Law Campaign
FOI Audit Tookit | PDF
Anti-SLAPP: Protect Free Speech
Official Secrets Act bill
FOI Groups
Annual FOI Reports
FOI Committee Roster
Links/Resources
Message Board
FOI FYI:
SPJ's FOI Committee Blog
• Locy arguments begin Friday, then she speaks in Philly to FOI crowd
• Got suggestions for FOI FYI blog content?
• Wisconsin AG says it's OK for police to release some information from motor vehicle records
FOI Committee
This committee is the watchdog of press freedoms across the nation. It relies upon a network of volunteers in each state organized under Project Sunshine. These SPJ members are on the front lines for assaults to the First Amendment and when lawmakers attempt to restrict the public's access to documents and the government's business. The committee often is called upon to intervene in instances where the media is restricted.
Freedom of Information Committee Chair
David Cuillier
Assistant Professor
Department of Journalism
University of Arizona
Marshall Building, Room 323
Tucson, AZ 85721-0158
Work: 520/626-9694
Fax: 520/621-7557
E-mail
Bio (click to expand)
David Cuillier, a former newspaper reporter and editor, is an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism at the University of Arizona. He researches public attitudes toward freedom of information and is one of the SPJ newsroom trainers for acquiring government documents.
FOI Committee Members
Joe Adams
Editorial writer
The Florida Times-Union
One Riverside Avenue
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Work: 904-359-4534
Fax: 904-359-4390
E-mail
Bio (click to expand)
Joe Adams is an editorial writer at The Florida Times-Union and author of The Florida Public Records Handbook published by the First Amendment Foundation in Tallahassee.
Eight universities in Florida have used the book as a textbook, the only one of its kind in the nation, and more than 1,000 journalists have attended his workshops on how to use public records for success. He is the recipient of the national 2007 Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award sponsored by the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation and has earned two national Sunshine Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. In December 2000, Presstime magazine profiled him as one of the top 20 under 40 newspaper industry professionals to watch in the future.
As an editorial writer, Adams has received awards from the Florida Press Club, Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and the Society of Professional Journalists. His year of public records research of the Jacksonville City Council uncovered widespread open meetings abuses. The resulting work by Adams and the newsroom inspired a grand jury probe and prompted the council in 2007 to create the state's first known local ordinance to ensure better compliance with Florida's Sunshine Law. He is originator of the www.iDigAnswers.com Web site about Florida FOI news and public records use.
Adams is founder and past coordinator of Times-Union University, the Jacksonville newspaper's newsroom training program, and is also former director of the National Newspaper Diversity Job Bank on the Internet. He also taught information gathering for two years as an adjunct professor at the University of North Florida.
Joel Campbell
360 BRMB
Dept. of Communications
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
Work:801/422-2125
Fax: 801/422-0160
E-mail
Bio (click to expand)
Joel Campbell is an assistant professor in the Department of Communications at Brigham Young University. He was a reporter and editor at the (Salt Lake City) Deseret Morning News for 15 years covering everything from the night police beat to Salt Lake's Olympic bid. He holds a master's degree from Ohio State University and bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University.
He is active in many First Amendment and Freedom of Information causes and is past president of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and Chairman of Society of Professional Journalists Freedom of Information Committee.
He has received the SPJ Outstanding Chapter Member Award, Utah SPJ chapter's Clifford Cheney Service to Journalism Award and the Utah Press Association's Honorary Publisher Award.
Carolyn S. Carlson
Bio (click to expand)
Carolyn S. Carlson is co-chairman of the SPJ FOI Committee’s Subcommittee On Campus Crime. For the past decade, she has been a leader in the effort to improve public access to records involving student discipline and crime on the nation’s college campuses. She founded the multi-organizational Campus Courts Task Force, which received an SPJ Freedom of Information Award in 1998 for its success in changing federal law to increase public access to college disciplinary records involving serious crime. Carlson has a doctorate from Georgia State University, where she is a lecturer in the Communications Department. She is a former political press secretary and a longtime reporter and editor for The Associated Press. She was national president of SPJ in 1989-1990, chaired the SPJ Ethics Committee in 1993-94, received SPJ’s Wells Key in 1994, and was named to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers in 2002, 2005 and 2006.
David Chartrand
Bio (click to expand)
The humor and commentary of David Chartrand have appeared in publications throughout North America. His essays on families, children, education, and health issues are distributed to daily newspapers by Universal Press Syndicate as well as by his own distribution company.
David has confronted numerous First Amendment, Freedom of Information, and public-access issues during coverage of local and state government, as well as public schools.
His Web site is www.davidchartrand.com.
David is the author of, “A View from the Heartland” (2003, Globe-Pequot Press), a collection of stories and essays about midwestern families and the resiliency of the human spirit. He currently is completing work on a work of narrative nonfiction that examines attitudes toward mental illness in successful, middle-class communities.
In 2002, David received a First Place Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
Mark Victor Hansen, co-creator of the CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL book series, says that David Chartrand’s writing “embraces the mundane, everyday things that make us laugh, weep or pound the table in frustration.” David’s 1994 essay, "A Father's Letter to Santa" was included in CHICKEN SOUP: A CHRISTMAS TREASURY, where the publishers cited it as among the most memorable Christmas essays of all time.
David is a 1975 Kansas State University journalism graduate and a member of the journalism school’s advisory board.
Charles Davis
Bio (click to expand)
Charles N. Davis is executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and an associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
Davis worked for nearly ten years as a journalist, working for newspapers, magazines and a news service in Georgia and Florida. As a national correspondent for Lafferty Publications, a Dublin-based news wire service for UK publications, Davis reported from the US on banking, international finance and regulatory issues for seven years before leaving full-time journalism to seek a doctorate in mass communication from the University of Florida.
At Florida, Davis served as a research fellow in the College of Journalism and Communication’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, assisting reporters and citizens with FOI questions at the state and federal level. He earned his Ph.D. in 1995 and has since taught at Georgia Southern University and Southern Methodist University before joining the MU faculty in 1999.
Ana-Klara Hering
University of Florida
PO Box 118400
Gainesville, FL 32611-8400
Work: 352-392-2273
E-mail
Bio (click to expand)
Ana-Klara Hering is a joint degree candidate seeking her law degree and doctorate in media law and policy. She holds a masters in communication from the University of Florida and a bachelors in international affairs and journalism from The George Washington University. She has worked at The Jospeh L. Brechner Center for Freedom of Information (www.brechner.org) since January 2005, serving as a research assistant and editor of The Brechner Report. She is also a legal research assistant at the Marion Brechner Citizen Access Project (www.citizenaccess.org).
Ana-Klara is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, where she served as a captain and deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in 2003 during the Iraq War. Her first-person accounts of the war have been featured in Women’s World and The Palm Beach Post. She has interned for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Miami Herald and Dallas Morning News. She also worked as a news clerk for The Washington Post and as an intern for Sen. Connie Mack.
Ana-Klara is the president-elect of the Gainesville professional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and a member of the Florida Press Club. She has been an instructor of record for public speaking at UF and a teaching assistant in media law and mass communication courses. She has presented her research in the areas of media law and mass communication at national and international conferences of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications and the International Communications Association. She is also a research editor for the Journal of Law and Public Policy at the Levin College of Law at UF and has contributed to Media Law Notes on issues of press access to U.S. military operations.
She will be a summer associate in 2008 for the law firm of Thomas & LoCicero PL in Tampa, Florida.
Julie Kay
Florida Bureau Chief
National Law Journal
633 S. Andrews Ave.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Pager: 954-468-2622
E-mail
Bio (click to expand)
Julie Kay is the Florida Bureau Chief for The National Law Journal, where she covers the southeast United States. She previously worked at The Daily Business Review in Miami for seven years, covering legal affairs and the Florida Legislature. Kay has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Palm Beach Post and was a business writer in New York in the early 1990s. She is also a consultant to C-SPAN and a contributor to WLRN, the public radio station in Miami.
Kay has won awards for her work from the local Society of Professional Journalists, the Green Eyeshades, the Florida Press Club, the Florida Bar Media Awards and the Association of Health Care Journalists. She served as president of the South Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists from 2003 to 2005 and on the Legal Defense Fund Committee since 2006.
Robert Leger
Assistant Editorial
Page Editor
Scottsdale Republic
16277 Greenway-Hayden Loop
Suite 200
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
E-mail
Bio (click to expand)
Robert Leger is assistant editorial page editor at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, responsible for an opinion page focused on Scottsdale and the Northeast Valley of the Sun. He was president of the Society of Professional Journalists in 2002-03 and has served on the SDX board since 2000. Among his other SPJ activities: He serves as a co-chair of the Freedom of Information Committee and as a member of the steering committee of OpenTheGovernment.org. He pioneered an exchange relationship with the Journalists Association of Korea.
Before moving to Phoenix, Leger won numerous writing awards as editorial page editor of the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader.
Donald W. Meyers
Utah County Reporter
The Salt Lake Tribune
801/257-8610
E-mail
Bio (click to expand)
Donald W. Meyers has been at a reporter at The Salt Lake Tribune since July 2007. Prior to that, he was the editorial page editor of the Daily Herald in Provo, Utah for more than eight years, as well as having been a reporter at daily and weekly newspapers in Utah and New Jersey. He majored in Journalism at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey and Brigham Young University. He is a past-president of the Utah Headliners Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists and is a member of the Utah Foundation for Open Government.
Meghan E. Murphy
Bio (click to expand)
Meghan E. Murphy is the senior reporter for Evergreen Newspapers in Colorado. She reports on politics, courts and the environment for the Canyon Courier and Clear Creek Courant. After college, she worked as an editor for two online magazines, Britannica.com and AOL's Digital City. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a bachelor's degree in 2000. Murphy is also the webmaster for the SPJ Colorado Pro Chapter website.
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