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Freedom of Information (RSS)

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:25 AM

Shield Law Slam Dunk

What a day. What an amazing day for journalism and democracy. In a historic, landslide victory, the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 sailed through the U.S. House of Representatives on a 398 to 21 vote Tuesday, enjoying clear bipartisan support.
posted by ClintBrewer | 0 Comments
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Monday, August 06, 2007 12:07 AM

FOI Reform: In sight thanks in part to SPJ

This note arrived in the e-mail inbox Friday night from lawyer Laurie Babinski, who works for Baker & Hostetler, SPJ's law firm in Washington, D.C.: All, The Senate passed the FOIA reform bill, S. 849 (the OPEN Government Act), on unanimous consent
posted by christinetatum | 0 Comments
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Monday, June 18, 2007 11:48 PM

Not so over the Hill ...

Random thoughts from last week's whirlwind trip to Washington, D.C.: Your correspondence really does matter. As I zipped in and out of the offices of more than a dozen members of Congress, I heard one thing over and over: they want to know what
posted by christinetatum | 1 Comments
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Wednesday, May 30, 2007 1:38 PM

Senators who should be ashamed of themselves -- and their staff

As we work to smoke out Senator Secrecy (bear in mind, we could be looking for more than one person), just wanted to share with you some of the comments I have received from SPJ members who have placed calls. I'll add more as they roll in  ...
posted by christinetatum | 0 Comments
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Friday, May 25, 2007 6:58 PM

Help us out a coward (or two or three)!

Hustling right now to make a few phone calls. Hope you will, too. "Senator Secrecy" is out there somewhere, and I want him or her (unfortunately, more than one may be deserving of the title) unmasked as soon as possible. The sooner, the better so that
posted by christinetatum | 1 Comments
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Monday, March 12, 2007 8:27 PM

Sunshine Week: This year's a biggie!

I wrote this column for Sunshine Week and am incredibly grateful to the dozens of newspaper editors who have agreed to run it this week on their Op/Ed pages. The column appeared today in The Denver Post and the Chicago Sun-Times. Plenty more will follow
posted by christinetatum | 2 Comments
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Tuesday, March 06, 2007 5:45 PM

Kill the Kyl Amendment!

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) appears to be determined to criminalize the leaking -- and publishing -- of classified information. The Senate could vote as early as this week on what amounts to a backdoor approach to an official secrets act. Here's some brief
posted by christinetatum | 3 Comments
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Wednesday, February 28, 2007 12:43 AM

Hellooo! Anybody out there?!

Wake up, everybody! Where the heck are we?! This nation has a potential Offical Secrets Act on its hands -- and at this hour, I'm seeing only ONE byline on the Web addressing the issue. And even that news item was posted on a blog a week ago ...
posted by christinetatum | 3 Comments
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Wednesday, February 14, 2007 10:03 PM

Meaningful FOIA reform on the horizon?

The U.S. House Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and the National Archives met today to discuss the need for reform of the Freedom of Information Act. The Sunshine in Government Initiative, of which SPJ is a part, has pushed hard for meaningful
posted by christinetatum | 0 Comments
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Wednesday, January 24, 2007 11:29 PM

Update: Federal Shield Law/FOI Reform

An update from Laurie Babinski of Baker & Hostetler in Washington, D.C., SPJ's legal counsel: As the new Congress settles in and the picture becomes clearer as to how the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate will deal with the federal shield
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Thursday, January 11, 2007 3:18 AM

Moving and shaking for OPEN Government

Here's a summary of a recent meeting focused on the reintroduction of the OPEN Government Act to the new Congress. This summary was filed by Laurie A. Babinski of SPJ's law firm, Baker Hostetler in Washington, D.C.: In the past few weeks, members of
posted by christinetatum | 0 Comments
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Thursday, September 28, 2006 12:52 AM

OPEN Government's got a chance

Occasionally, members of Congress realize just how ridiculously secretive government is and actually do something to promote the free flow of public information. Wonder of wonders, the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Management,
posted by christinetatum | 0 Comments
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Thursday, September 14, 2006 10:26 PM

If you must be in the Congressional Record ...

For some odd reason, it never occurred to me that serving as SPJ's president would land my name in the Congressional Record. But that's indeed what happened today. To be honest, I cringed at first. After all, respectable journalists diligently monitor
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