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Let the Sunshine In!
FOI Activities for Chapters, Classrooms and Newsrooms

Links
Sunshine Week home 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
Fostering FOI
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. These ideas can be applied during national Sunshine Week, which is March 16-22, or any time of the year. Let the sun shine in!

Sunshine Week
National Sunshine Week has been celebrated every March since 2005, coordinated by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, civics groups, non-profits, schools, and libraries. The activities are funded from a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to enlighten the public about their right to government information and strengthen their communities.



Click here to contact the Project Sunshine Chair in your state.

 

Project Sunshine
Information
Project Chairs
A Winning Strategy


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) picture 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.

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