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Issues concerning freedom of information laws for public records are examined, focusing on the results of a study of laws in all 50 states, and grades assigned to each state to reflect the amount of access the public as the records. Topics include low grades for practically all states on such criteria as response time, appeals, expediency, attorney fees, and sanctions.

Many government officials have violated state law by refusing to release public records under the Freedom of Information Act. Reporters asking for access to crime logs and reports, school employee salaries, school board proceedings and death certificates have experienced high rates of denial.

Texas father's battle for daughter's school file typical of problems found in local arenas In 1993, 13-year-old Crystal Lett was sent to the principal's office by her eighth-grade choir teacher. [...]

The state lawmakers gathered on the energy security summit as well on the teleconference with the Council of State Governments discussed on energy security and related homeland security issues. The lawmakers attempted to balance the interests of safety and security with public access to information.

Corporations are placed on the honor system, it seems, and given discretion to do the right thing, as there are no penalties, not even for willful violations. Corporate information thus stamped would enjoy special protections from disclosure to the public under the Freedom of Information Act as once stamped with Critical Infrastructure Information (CII), the information essentially disappears from public view.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was enacted to limit agency discretion regarding disclosure and to close the loopholes used to deny legitimate information to the public. A brief history of FOIA is presented.

the special interest legislation on freedom of information (FOI) has helped to find what government is or is not doing. The status of 532 children missing from the child welfare system in Florida is investigated with the help of FOI.

The Bush administration wishes to carve the largest single exemption in the history of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by passing a bill in the congress. This bill relates to the super-exemption that will encourage private business to share information about potential vulnerabilities in nation's infrastructure.

Details regarding the US federal governmentEs No Child Left Behind law, a legislation that produces all sorts of school-testing data, are described. The federal law requires that student's scores be reported districtwide and for subgroups based on race, English proficiency, poverty and other factors.

The White House asked the interested parties to comment on proposed modifications to the rules that deal with medical privacy and the rules governing medical coding and financial transactions. This meant that, the frequent rule revisions by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services are expected.

In the statehouses across the country, the theme of security is accompanied by new legislation aimed at increasing government's control over information relating to virtually anything that could be labeled 'security'. As the public officials proposed new exemptions to FOI, it is crucial for reporters to pace the laws in the context of legislative history and of political reality.

The American government is following a policy of unilateralism after the terrorist attacks on many issues. It remains with the press to challenge President George Bush administration on the concentration of power in the executive branch.

The United States of America is showing the willingness to surrender hard-fought liberties in exchange for some measure of security. People who would cede limitless powers to law enforcement are targeting civil liberties enjoyed by citizens including freedom of information (FOI) that is expected to face a new round of proposals aimed at limiting access to information about the very things the American people need to know about the most.

Impacts of FOI audits vary more than results. It's an unbeatable formula: head out into the community, ask for records clearly covered by your state's public records law, then report [...]

The medical errors and the haphazard regulation of bad doctors are investigated. Hartford Courant and the Associated Press are using public records to identify doctors with large numbers of malpractice payments or disciplinary actions.

TMS Campus creates a virtual newsroom for student journalists across the country. From her office in Chicago, Society of Professional Journalists member Christine Tatum teaches journalism students all over the [...]

Sunshine Week covers a range of stories and is known for the level of secrecy it maintains along with a contradictory openness about the state that it offers in its stories. A new survey conducted for Sunshine Week revealed that out of 10 Americans are concerned about government secrecy and more than half think there's not enough access to public records.

AS the eyes and ears of the public, journalists stake their professional reputations on overcoming hurdles to access information held by government. Spend any amount of time with the true [...]

The time of presidential election, focuses on the Freedom of Information Act, bringing into action to know how exactly the funds of the people are utilized. The methods of getting the required data about election expenditure in terms of donors, interest groups, nonprofit organizations for influence-peddling, bribing etc. are discussed.

With 2003 in the books, it's time to recap a busy, busy year on the FOI front and prioritize for the battles ahead in 2004. Your FOI Committee spent the [...]

As journalists rush to the courthouses of America to cover the latest hot trial, most miss the quiet revolution taking place far from the courtrooms in the glass towers of [...]

Change is nothing new to media law scholars. In fact, many of us were drawn to the study of law because it can, and often does, change. The normative tradition [...]

Government officials, the flacks who curry favor with them by misshaping the events of the day and out-and-out propagandists are enjoying an unprecedented boom market these days, as the citizenry [...]

Ever wonder about those carnival rides at the county fair? How many times have you ridden past a shopping center mini-fair, with its glowing rides, and thought to yourself, 'Who [...]

Call them Abu Ghraib Redux, or the 87 Photos and Four Videos the Government Doesn't Want the World to See. One thing's for certain: a cadre of tax-payer-funded Pentagon lawyers [...]

After several years of near-constant encroachment on our ability to gather news, might we be seeing the first signs of media solidarity? It seems that the sheer volume of attacks [...]

'I, --, an individual official, employee, consultant, or subcontractor of or to -- (the Authorized Entity), intending to be legally bound, hereby consent to the terms in this agreement in [...]

So you might want to conduct a Freedom of Information audit. Do we have some help for you! Thanks to the generous support of SPJ's supporting foundation, Sigma Delta Chi, [...]

Once the province of academics and the occasional editor, freedom of information has gone big time--for all the wrong reasons. The near-constant showdowns with the Bush administration over access have [...]