The Art of Access: Strategies for getting public records to improve your reporting and life

Stretched thin with daily stories, Web postings, and extra responsibilities? Feel like you can’t do the kind of depth reporting you want? Or maybe you just want to improve your reporting skills and bolster your already stellar stories? Then make sure to attend this special session on strategies for acquiring public records by Society of Professional Journalist Freedom of Information Committee Chairman David Cuillier.

When: Tuesday, May 11 | 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Where: Murphy Hall Room 100 | University of Minnesota | 206 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 [Parking info]

Cost: Cost: $10 (SPJ Members) | $15 (non-members)

Sign up now!

Here is what he’ll cover:
• Great ideas for document-based stories you can do in your community
• Strategies for effective records requests and overcoming denials
• Psychological skills for getting officials to give you what you need
• Tips for making records part of your daily routine
• Rousing inspiration for doing great journalism in tough times

Each participant will receive an FOI resources binder.

David Cuillier is chairman of the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee and has been a FOI newsroom trainer for SPJ for five years. He is a former reporter and editor and now teaches journalism at the University of Arizona. He is co-author of “The Art of Access: Strategies for Acquiring Public Records,” teaches courses on access, and conducts research on access strategies.

Sponsors
This tour is funded by the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, a non-profit organization that aids SPJ and journalism initiatives, with assistance from the University of Arizona School of Journalism.

For more information visit: http://www.mnspj.org

When: Tuesday, March 16 | 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Where: Minneapolis Central Library

This event is free and open to the public.

Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric J. Magnuson will deliver the keynote speech and Reed Anfinson, publisher of the Swift County Monitor-News, will receive the 2010 John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award.   

Chief Justice Eric J. Magnuson will deliver the keynote speech at the 21^st annual Freedom of Information Day Award Ceremony on Tuesday, March 16, Noon-1:00 at Minneapolis Central Library Pohlad Auditorium. Chief Justice Magnuson will explore the freedom of information implications of two significant processes with which he has been closely involved – the Minnesota Senate election recount and the ongoing debate surrounding the issue of cameras in the courtroom.

A highlight of the Freedom of Information Day event is the presentation of the 2010 John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award.  Reed Anfinson, publisher and owner of the Swift County Monitor-News will receive the 2010 award, recognizing his commitment to transparency and open government at the local and national levels.  Anfinson is extremely involved with the Minnesota Newspaper Association, and  is on the Board of the Minnesota News Council and the National Newspaper Association; in 2012 he will assume the national presidency of the association.   Finnegan, for whom the award was named two decades ago, will make the presentation.  The Award is a testament to Finnegan’s lifetime commitment to a free press and a transparent government.

Open government advocates celebrate Freedom of Information Day each year on March 16, the birth date of James Madison.  Often identified as the Father (or one of the fathers) of the Constitution, Madison is a hero of freedom of information proponents who are wont to quote Madison’s admonition that “a popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or perhaps both.”

Sponsors of Freedom of Information Day at the national and levels include a host of professional and advocacy organizations – journalists and newspaper editors, librarians, researchers and archivists, diverse nonprofit groups committed to open and accessible  government, particularly in an era of economic, political and technological change. Freedom of Information Day is the highlight of Sunshine Week, an initiative of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

Local sponsor of FOI is the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information.  The event is free and open to the public.

For additional information about Freedom of Information Day, Sunshine Week, or the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information contact:

Mary Treacy, Executive Director
Minnesota Coalition on Government Information
mtreacy@onvoymail.com

The Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MnCOGI) announced Feb. 8 that Reed Anfinson, publisher of the Swift County Monitor-News, will receive the 2010 John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award.    Anfinson will be honored at the annual Freedom of Information Day recognition event, on Tuesday, March 16, noon-1:00 at the Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis.

Anfinson is a long-term journalist and advocate for access to government information at the local, state and national levels.  He has testified frequently before both the Minnesota Legislature and the U.S. Congress on Freedom of Information and First Amendment issues.

Since 1994 he has co-chaired the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s legislative committee and currently chairs the National Newspaper Association Government Relations Committee. In 2012 Anfinson becomes President of the National Newspaper Association.

For the past 30 years Anfinson has been associated with the Swift County Monitor-News as a reporter, managing editor, and now publisher and owner.  In this role he has published frequent editorials and articles on open government, including articles on the state’s Data Practices Act, open meeting regulations and discussions of the impact of video and digital technology on public access.

The Minnesota Coalition on Government Information, a nonprofit corporation formed in 1989, is dedicated to ensuring access to government information and public records.  MnCOGI provides public education programs, manages a website and blog, maintains links with other state coalitions and promotes public awareness of information policy issues.  In June 2009 MnCOGI hosted the annual Summit of the National Freedom of Information Coalition in Minneapolis.

The Freedom of Information Award, established by the Coalition in 1989, is named for John R. Finnegan, Sr, retired senior vice president and assistant publisher of the St Paul Pioneer Press. Finnegan is founder and stalwart of the Minnesota Joint Media Committee which has consistently supported open records, open meetings and other First Amendment-related causes in the Legislature and other public arenas in Minnesota.

The Freedom of Information Day event is free and open to the public.

Additional information on the MnCOGI website at www.mncogi.org or contact mtreacy@onvoymail.com or 612 781 4234.

Minneapolis (Aug. 29, 2008) – Police confiscating reporting equipment, prohibiting journalists from covering news events, and hassling photographers are definite warning signs as we head into the Republican National Convention. The Society of Professional Journalists is discouraged to learn of such tactics recently in the name of public safety. We hope these are isolated missteps by local law enforcement officials before the big event arrives and police have more important matters to attend to.

Three out-of-town citizen journalists, here to document events happening outside the Xcel Energy Center, had their belongings–including cameras and notebooks–confiscated by Minneapolis police while in Northeast Minneapolis.  Police claim the three were trespassing, but no charges have yet been filed. The three who where detained maintain there was no such trespassing and their interaction with police was an attempt to intimidate them because the group they represent has documented police abuse in the past.

A KSTP-TV photographer entered a Minneapolis city office where a group of protesters staged a sit-in. Police informed the photographer he could not shoot pictures and pushed him out of the room.

Let’s hope our local police are not as reckless as those in Denver, who arrested an ABC TV producer this week. The producer was investigating the influence of wealthy donors at the Democratic National Convention. Police grabbed him by the neck, handcuffed him and hauled him downtown for ‘trespassing’ on a public sidewalk. Is this the type of threat the public should be worried about during a high profile political event?

Attempts to intimidate journalists, whether professional or volunteer, never work. Such misplaced heavy-handedness only escalates tensions–something we don’t need as thousands of respected delegates fill the convention hall next week and thousand more citizens take to the streets to express themselves. Certainly, police face an honorable and difficult task protecting the public from those who intend harm. But those same protectors lose credibility when they invoke “Homeland Security” as a pretext for stifling attempts at legitimate expression.

How well the Twin Cities are portrayed on the worldwide political stage relies on cool heads prevailing, even when rhetoric runs hot. It is something Minnesotans are and should be known for.

Contact:
Dave Aeikens, President-Elect, National Society of Professional Journalists; 320-249-3545
Nicole Garrison-Sprenger, President, Society of Professional Journalists Minnesota Pro Chapter; (651) 228-5580; (651) 331-1238.

*Also read SPJ Board Member Art Hughes’ guest editorial in the Pioneer Press (8/29/08).