The Obama administration announced that it wants to use prizes and challenges to promote open government in federal agencies. -db
Secrrecy News
Federation of American Scientists
March 11, 2010
By Steven Aftergood
Executive branch agencies should “increase the use of prizes and challenges as tools for promoting open government,” the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a [...]
The Federal Communications Commission’s plan for national broadband access has great potential to speed communication and enhance public access to government information and services but faces obstacles in funding and net neutrality. -db
OMB Watch
March 9, 2010
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is gearing up to release its plan for national broadband access on March 17. The [...]
A freelance journalist is appealing a federal court ruling that the U.S. Marshals Service could deny a Freedom of Information Act request for a mug shot of securities fraud fugitive, Luis Giro. -db
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
March 3, 2010
By Curry Andrew
A freelance journalist has asked a federal appeals court to consider whether [...]
Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to allow online journalists and bloggers press credentials. The proposal comes in the wake of a lawsuit filed by three bloggers denied access to city events. -db
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
March 3, 2010
By Christine Beckett
New York City and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a new policy that would allow [...]
A MediaShift blogger says that the smartphone app is allowing savvy politicians to communicate their platforms, generate support for their positions, get out the vote and raise money. New apps are also expected to allow citizens greater access to government records. -db
MediaShift
Commentary
February 25, 2010
By Steven Davy
The importance of social media in politics was made [...]
Scholars say that there is increasing interest in the academic community in studying the effect of the government’s open government initiatives. -db
NextGov
March 1, 2010
By Aliya Sternstein
The practice of disclosing government data in a way that is meaningful to the public and holds the government accountable could become a growing area of scholarly interest, partly [...]
With more of the public gaining their news from online sources rather than print media and using the social media to become more interactive and participatory in accessing the news, a CMLP blogger argues that bloggers should be entitled to the same protection as mainstream press. -db
Citizen Media Law Project
Commentary
March 1, 2010
By Andrew Moshirnia
Well, it [...]
The California Newspaper Publishers Association may sponsor revisions to current law requiring disclosure of children’s deaths to address the growing trend among state and county child welfare agencies to withhold information. -db
California Newspaper Publishers Association
February 22, 2010
There is a growing trend among the state and at least one county child welfare agency to withhold information [...]
A federal district judge sentenced one of the most feared drug lords to 25 years in prison in a proceeding closed to the public, a rare occurrence for a sentencing phase. The judge offered no explanation for the secrecy. -db
Houston Chronicle
February 24, 2010
By Dane Schiller and Jacquee Petchel
Behind armed guards and locked doors [...]
OMB Watch designated “leaders and laggards” after it conducted a study of government web pages designed to give citizens access to crucial information. -db
OMB Watch
February 23, 2010
Complying with requirements of the Open Government Directive (OGD), federal agencies launched transparency pages on their websites Feb. 6. The content and functionality of the pages varied from non-compliant [...]
Obama has not held a full-scale press conference since July prompting critics to charge he is avoiding the White House press corps to avoid hard questions and chances of committing an error. -db
The Washington Post
Commentary
February 8, 2010
By Howard Kurtz
Six months ago, network executives were complaining that the White House was costing them tens of [...]
Blocked from reporting on student government spending decisions and irresponsible acts at UC Santa Barbara, the student newspaper staff wrote a letter to California state officials and the legislature asking for a law to hold UC student governments to open government standards. -db
Daily Nexus
February 9, 2010
By Nexus Staff
To Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, UC President Mark Yudof, [...]
The Washington Post reports that federal agencies are still balking at releasing records to the public, claiming that it would interfere with internal decision-making or compromise national security. In Obama’s first year, the number of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits filed exceeds the number filed in each of Bush’s last two years. -DB
The Washington Post
January [...]
One day after the Supreme court ruled that the public must be allowed into court during jury selection, a federal judge in Dallas declared a mistrial in a case because the jury was selected in a closed session. -DB
Politico
January 20, 2010
By Josh Gerstein
The Supreme Court gets results.
Just yesterday morning, the justices issued a 7-2 [...]
Bloggers using Twitter and Facebook are filling the void to cover local government meetings, taking the place of mainstream media suffering losses of revenue as the internet takes its share of ads. -DB
MediaShift
January 14, 201
By Steven Davy
Traditionally, newspaper reporters were dispatched to cover the mundane proceedings of a local government in action: the city council meeting. [...]
The Associated Press and other media outlets gained a partial victory in contesting a judge’s decision to close jury selection for the trial of a man who allegedly murdered a late-term abortion provider in Kansas. The Kansas Supreme Court asked the judge to reconsider his decision and in a subsequent ruling granted courtroom access only after the [...]
With almost 90 percent of California state publications online with no print counterpart, it is clear that any of these records are disappearing regularly, and there is no legal requirement for the executive branch of state government to preserve the information. -DB
Cal Watchdog
Commentary
January 14, 2010
By Anthony Pignataro
If there’s one thing our state government does exceptionally [...]
A Citizen Media Law Project blogger argues that the Supreme Court should recognize that it is against California law to assault witnesses and that not televising the proceedings will not protect witnesses in what promises to be a widely publicized event. To allow the broadcast on YouTube would provide a boost to freedom of the [...]
A university journalism professor argues that with the increase in non-profit investigative centers, it is imperative to adopt policies to deal with ethical dilemmas resulting from collaborations with a small number of funders. -DB
MediaShift
Commentary
January 4, 2010
By Stephen Ward
The nature of non-profit journalism invites ethical dilemmas.
Over the past few years, dozens of centers of investigative journalism [...]
C-SPAN has written to Congressional leaders asking them to open all negotiations over health care reforms including conference meetings to coverage by broadcast media. -DB
abc News
January 5, 2010
By Jake Tapper
C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb last week wrote to Congressional leaders asking that they “open all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings, to electronic media coverage” [...]
A federal judge allowed the Roanoke Times to use electronic devices to file reports from a trial of a neo-Nazi accused of harassing a reporter. Federal courts still generally prohibit photos, broadcasting and most electronic devices. -DB
Full story: The Roanoke Times
December 23, 2009
By Jordan Fifer
After publishing a number of high-profile leaks on its site, WikiLeaks has been made the target of Congressional investigations and possible criminal charges. -DB
Citizen Media Law Project
Opinion
December 11, 2009
By Kimberley Isbell
The holiday season is in full swing, as evidenced by the marked uptick in the number of gift-giving guides clogging up my browser.
We here [...]
To put the lid on excessive publicity, Los Angeles Judge Robert Perry ruled that there would be no TV for the trial of Johannes Mehserle for shooting an unarmed rider January 1 in Oakland, California. -DB
San Francisco Chronicle
November 3, 2009
By Demian Bulwa
LOS ANGELES — Hours after being assigned to preside over the murder trial of former [...]
Twenty-three news organizations have asked the Supreme Court to review federal rules prohibiting in-person interviews that block inmates from informing the press of treatment and conditions. -DB
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Press Release
November 25, 2009
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press today filed a friend-of-the-court brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review [...]
By Donal Brown
Wall Street Journal reporter Alexandra Berzon said that favorable circumstances set the stage for the stories on Las Vegas construction deaths that earned her a 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service when she was with the Las Vegas Sun. It is clear, though, that her success in the project derived centrally from her [...]
The Sunlight Foundation criticized Adobe for only publishing budget summary tables in PDF saying that that format prevents manipulation of data for adequate analysis. Adobe said it would keep PDF since in some cases it expedited access to information but wanted to present information in other useful formats as well if the government would support those [...]
Citizens and organizations seeking information about the relationships between officials, corporations and policy makers can tap into a myriad of resources. Here is a description of ten of the most helpful watchdog projects. -DB
MediaShift
November 3, 2009
By Katie Donnelly
With the 2010 U.S. elections coming into view, many people are looking for more information about the people [...]
Tags: database, Follow the Money, GovernmentDoc.org, GovTrack.us, Little Sis, Maplight, open government, OpenCongress, OpenSecrets, SourceWatch, Sunlight Foundation, The Foreign Lobbying Influence Tracker, transparency, Watchdog, watchdogs
The Citizen Media Law Project is offering online its updated guide on laws regarding newsgathering at the polls. -DB
Citizen Media Law Project
October 28, 2009
By Sam Bayard
Voters head to the polls again on November 3 to cast their ballots in mayoral [1], city council [2], and even a handful of gubernatorial [3] elections. In addition, there [...]
Saying that he had never found evidence that exit polling created disorder at a polling place, a federal judge issued an injunction against New Jersey in its attempts to ban the polling with 100 feet of polling places. -DB
Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press
October 26, 2009
By Rory Eastburg
Judge blocks New Jersey ban on exit [...]
Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune
October 26, 2009
By Jennifer Dobner, Associated Press
A federal judge ordered most court records in the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case in Salt Lake City released for public scrutiny. The judge cited concerns about a fair trial in keeping some records sealed including competency reports on the kidnapper, Brian David Mitchell. A number [...]
Openthegovernment.org has released a “secrecy report card” that shows only limited changes in operations over the last year to withhold government information from the public. -DB
Secrecy News
Federation of American Scientists
September 8, 2009
By Steven Aftergood
The vast apparatus of government secrecy persisted through the last year with only limited changes in the contours of its multi-billion dollar operations, [...]
Healthcare blogs are contributing much needed information about the complications attendant to health care reform, but it remains to be seen if the blogs can make a difference given the mainstream media focus on personalities and politics. -DB
Media Shift
September 4, 2009
By Simon Owens
Paul Testa recently checked his voicemail and listened to a message from a hospice [...]
To end four lawsuits by a watchdog group, the Obama White House has reversed a policy keeping visitor logs secret now allowing news organizations and others a chance to see who is influencing administration policy on vital issues. -DB
USA TODAY
September 4, 2009
By Richard Wolf
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration plans to change White House policy by [...]
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has filed a brief with 16 other news organizations to argue that the Freedom of Information Act was properly applied in an appeals court decision requiring the release of images of detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. -DB
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Press Release
September 8, 2009
The Reporters [...]
AP settled their lawsuit against All headline News who had rewritten and posted AP stories online without assigning credit. AP used the “hot news” doctrine as the basis for their claim. -DB
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
July 14, 2009
By Lucas Tanglen
The Associated Press settled its lawsuit against All headline News over AP stories that were [...]
Head of the new stimulus oversight board says there will be times that information posted on Recovery.gov will embarrass bodies receiving stimulous money but promises to conduct thorough monitoring of spending to prevent waste and fraud. -DB
National Journal
July 16, 2009
By John Maggs
After 10 years as inspector general of the Interior Department, Earl Devaney is on leave [...]
BY PETER SCHEER—With one unforgettable gesture–the uncrossing and crossing of her legs—actress Sharon Stone famously demonstrated that, physically speaking, she has nothing to hide. Her legal affairs, however, are another matter.
Despite court rules mandating openness in judicial proceedings, Stone was recently allowed to file a suit in Los Angeles Superior Court under conditions of secrecy [...]
By Donal Brown
The California First Amendment Coalition today announced that the 2009 Sunlight Award has been given to reporter Alexandra Berzon and the Las Vegas Sun for an investigative series of 50 articles on the high rate of accidental deaths among construction workers at a huge casino construction site on the Las Vegas strip. [...]
By Peter Scheer
A debate rages in what remains of the newspaper industry over the question of whether papers should charge for their content online or, as most papers now do, give it away for free in hopes of reaping faster overall revenue growth through internet advertising. As more and more publications contemplate their own [...]
