Author: NFOIC

When Penelope ‘Penny’ Muse Abernathy was a high school senior in Laurinburg, N.C., her school newspaper made a projection: their editor would one day be at The New York Times. It was an accurate forecast, if an incomplete one. Abernathy’s career has led her to executive positions at the Times, Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal, and […]

Read More… from Groundbreaking researcher, former media executive Penny Abernathy to retire from UNC

Thirteen district courts around the country will livestream audio of select proceedings in civil cases of public interest next year as part of a two-year pilot program. Some of the courts already have begun making proceedings available via audio livestreams. The Northern District of Georgia on Dec. 7 streamed audio of a hearing on a […]

Read More… from Federal courts participate in audio livestream pilot

By The Associated Press Tim Crews, a longtime California newspaperman who relentlessly filed public records requests and even did a five-day stint in jail rather than give up anonymous sources, has died at age 77. Crews died Nov. 12 at Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, after weeks in the hospital. The cause of death […]

Read More… from Tim Crews, California journalist who went to jail rather than reveal sources, dies

A First Amendment challenge to a Texas law limiting drone photography may move forward, a federal district court in Texas recently ruled. The suit, brought by the National Press Photographers Association, the Texas Press Association and a Texas reporter, challenged a state law that declares it unlawful to use “an unmanned aircraft to capture an image of an […]

Read More… from Federal court upholds First Amendment challenge to drone restrictions

Gaston County commissioners are expected to vote Tuesday on whether to move ahead with a lawsuit filed last month against The Gaston Gazette. The story at the center of the suit had to do with how Gaston County commissioners handled worker’s compensation claims filed by former county employees. County staff claimed the story was inaccurate, […]

Read More… from North Carolina county commissioners file libel lawsuit against newspaper

Why should the public have to pay twice for access to its own records? That’s the question posed in a new research paper prepared for the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. A 2014 amendment to the Colorado Open Records Act capped the cost governmental entities could charge for reviewing and redacting requested records, but the […]

Read More… from High fees block public’s access to records

TALLAHASSEE — The First Amendment Foundation announced recently the winners of the Fourth Annual Lucy Morgan Award for Open Government Reporting: Julie K. Brown and Emily Michot of the Miami Herald for their investigative reporting that resulted in the “Perversion of Justice” series, exposing Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex trafficking crimes. The award honors Florida journalists who […]

Read More… from Miami Herald reporters win Florida’s Lucy Morgan Award

he legal bills born by Odessa taxpayers keep piling up as the city continues to fight the Odessa American’s efforts to force it to comply with state freedom of information laws. Freedom of Information requests filed by the newspaper show another $24,647.48 has been billed to the city by the Austin law firm hired to […]

Read More… from City legal bill tops $87,000 in FOI fight