National Media Reform Conference Distilled

The intensity of the National Media Reform Conference held recently in Minneapolis was overwhelming. It’s taken me days to unravel and process the themes of the conference and its countless pre- and post- sessions. The one mainstream media report on the conference, buried in the back pages of the Star Tribune, did the conference a disservice. I can only conclude that Neil Justin and I just attended different sessions, or maybe different conferences.

The sessions in which I participated and the excellent exhibitor representatives, provided context and content to a real movement. This is a surge of energy that has been simmering for decades.

Bill Moyers’ keynote absorbed - and deserved - much of the media attention and garnered scores of ovations. And then there was the terrific exhibit of books sponsored by BirchBark Books, a local independent. The exhibit, offering an impressive selection of related titles, was doing a brisk business every time I ventured past.

One particular observation I have is that participants ranged from teens to people who have been fighting the good right even longer than I have. The session with George Stoney, the “father of public access”, and visionary FCC Commissioner Nicolas Johnson, both from the past century, well documented that fact.

In spite of the information overload I’m proud to have been a participant at this juncture of the media reform movement. Most of all, I’m proud that once again Minnesota played host to a conference devoted to openness, freedom of information, and an informed public.

Same time next year, Minnesota hosts the annual conference of the National Freedom of Information Coalition.

Live From Main Street

Whether or not folks are immediately involved with the Media Reform conference, this is a not-to-be-missed opportunity. This interactive town hall event will be distributed by an unprecedented collaboration of independent media including LinkTV, Free Speech TV, The National Radio Project and many more.

The first 150 guests to arrive will receive a free copy of Amy Goodman’s Standing Up To the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times courtesy of Progressive Book Club!
Free and Open! Doors open at 1 p.m.

Women’s Club of Minneapolis 410 Oak Grove Street, near Loring Park
Details including RSVP.

MnCOGI hosts the National Freedom of Information Coalition 2009!

The Board of the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information is pleased to announce that we have been invited to play host to the 2009 national conference of the National Freedom of Information Coalition. This coalition of coalitions brings together a unique network of advocates committed to transparency in government and freedom of expression.

Each state projects a unique profile of membership, priorities and services, ranging from major organizations with large staffs and massive budgets to fledgling coalitions such as MnCOGI. Many are supported by mainstream media organizations, others by media attorneys, still others by foundations and individual/organizational memberships. All sponsor websites, most post blogs and each employs unique and creative strategies to address the common purpose of open government. Headquarters of the national coalition of coalitions is at the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

We look forward to this opportunity to define and articulate the mission of MnCOGI, to learn from other coalitions and to involve Minnesotans as speakers, panelists and attendees.

NFOIC members will be meeting in Minneapolis at the end of May or early June 2009. Any individual or organization interested in open government and First Amendment issues can get involved NOW. Specifics about the conference program and logistics will appear on this blog as they unfold.

For details of past NFOIC conferences check here. Good stuff!

COGI-tations - Patrice McDermott on June 9

COGI-tations: A program of the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information

Patrice McDermott
Director, Open the Government

Monday, June 9, 2008 time: 5-7 p.m.

100 Murphy Hall, SJMC Conference Center
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
206 Church Street, Minneapolis
University of Minnesota East Bank Campus
( Parking in the Washington Ave or East River Road Ramp or try MTC! )

Since 2006 Patrice McDermott has been Director of Open the Government, one of Washington DC’s most effective advocacy organizations committed to transparency in government and an informed public. Previously Dr. McDermott served as Deputy Director of the Office of Government Relations at the American Library Association Washington Office and as the senior information policy analyst for OMB Watch.

Patrice earned her doctorate in political science from the University of Arizona and a Master of Science in Library and Information Management from Emory University. She is the author of several books including Who Needs to Know? The State of Public Access to Federal Government Information. Dr. McDermott is also a member of the prestigious National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame.

Sponsored by the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information
Minnesota Journalism Center
Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law
Institute for New Media Studies
University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Free and Open to the Public Information: mncogi@gmail.com

The Journalism That Matters MInnesota Gathering

Here's another great 21st century journalism conference coming to Minnesota on June 4-6. Here's a quick blurb from their flyer and a link for more info

One of the first national gatherings for local, online citizen journalists and entrepreneurs,
sometimes called "placebloggers." Designed for existing and prospective journalists and entrepreneurs. Learn more...

Media Reform conference set for Minneapolis June 6-8

The Media Reform conference set for Minneapolis June 6-8 is great in and of itself. Even more, it is the catalyst for a number of related gatherings, including a presentation by Patrice McDermott of Open the Government sponsored by the Minnesota Coalition on Government. Details on that TBA

Meantime, I’ve just learned of another really interesting pre-conference, aimed at the “New Pamphleteers” identified as Entrepreneurs Who Combine Journalism, Democracy, Place and Blogs” The conference, open to citizen journalists and those who care about informed citizen journalism, will be June 4-6 at the U of M Journalism Center. Planners have arranged a very attractive package deal for anyone registering for the pre-conference and the Media Reform conference itself. Details and registration

Keynote Address: “The Light at the End of the Tunnel: the Outlook for FOI.”

Keynote Address: “The Light at the End of the Tunnel: the Outlook for FOI.”
Presented by Jane E. Kirtley, Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota.

Delivered at the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information “Freedom of Information Day & Award Ceremony,” March 14, 2008, Minneapolis Central Library.


With higher temperatures and March sunshine, it really seems like our long Minnesota winter is coming to a close. This brings us a sense of optimism, and hope.

And it’s a metaphor for the future of freedom of information. I believe it is no coincidence that James Madison, drafter of the First Amendment, was born on March 16.

This year, for the first time in a long time, there seems to be a real prospect that transparency in government could be restored.

On the last day of 2007, President Bush signed the OPEN Government Act, making important procedural changes to strengthen the effectiveness of the Federal Freedom of Information Act. There are new penalties for agencies that drag their feet in replying to requests for records – or to put it in a more positive way, new incentives to encourage agencies to comply with the law in a timely fashion.

There is enhanced Congressional oversight – an essential to the proper functioning of FOIA, no matter who is in the White House and no matter which party is in the majority – because when the legislature fails to keep an eye on the executive branch, Freedom of Information is always at risk.

There is a new definition of “representative of the news media” – which is important, not because the press does or should have greater rights of access to government records than the rest of us, but because Congress recognizes that those who gather information in order to disseminate it to the widest possible audience deserve to receive fee breaks to make it possible for them to do so.

There are even new “public liaisons” for each agency, and a new FOI ombudsman to run interference between requesters and the government.

The bi-partisan team of Sen. Patrick Leahy and John Cornyn have joined forces again to introduce a new bill that will require members of Congress who introduce proposed legislation to create new exemptions to FOIA to “explicitly and clearly” state just that – in other words, to put a stop to the practice of burying stealth exemptions in complex bills.

These are all exciting and encouraging developments.

But let’s not kid ourselves. Eight years of government secrecy is not going to go away overnight. The rallying cry of 9/11 was the pretext for policies amounting to an information blackout on an unprecedented scale: secret intelligence, secret prisons, secret torture, secret trials, and secret surveillance – all in the name of protecting national security.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: secrecy does not equal security. In fact, it almost invariably undermines it.

We know that the current administration in Washington is hostile to the very idea of the public’s right to know. It is ironic that, less than a month after signing the OPEN Government Act, President Bush directed that the funding for that FOI ombudsman should be shifted from the independent National Archives and into the Department of Justice – a Department that, at least since October 2001, has demonstrated over and over again its contempt for open government and the public’s right to know.

This is the same Department that, instead of enforcing the FOIA, has zealously pursued leakers – people who have chosen to circumvent restrictive policies to make information to the public – and threatened those who receive leaks with prosecution under the Espionage laws.
This is the same Department that has condoned using sweeping subpoenas to try to force journalists to reveal their confidential sources – and not surprisingly, has obstinately opposed the enactment of a federal reporter’s shield law to protect journalists from the prospect of lengthy imprisonment or crippling monetary fines for simply doing their jobs.

Some will argue that the restrictions and secrecy were necessary. Others contend that they were purely opportunistic. Right or wrong, for better or worse, the tenure of this administration is coming to an end. Later this year, a national election will determine who will decide the future of FOI. Those who care about open government are hoping that the candidates will commit themselves to an agenda that will reject the directives, policies, and practices that have turned the executive branch into a virtual bunker of impenetrable secrecy, and reopen it to public scrutiny.

It is always risky to speculate about how a particular candidate will address these issues once he or she is in office. On the hustings, no candidate is against open government. Words like “accountability” and “transparency” may pepper their speeches. And, as they utter them, they may even believe them.

But I’ve observed government long enough to know that even the best intentions are often unfulfilled once an administration assumes office. Openness and accountability sound terrific in the abstract. But maintaining the commitment in the midst of the turmoil of political Washington is the challenge.

Nevertheless, I remain optimistic. A new generation of voters, who are accustomed to taking and sharing information through the Internet, will not settle, I predict, for business as usual. The old techniques of obfuscation and concealment simply won’t wash with young people who seek out the answers for themselves and who demand transparency from those who govern them.

That said, I do remain concerned about some things.

I worry that the judiciary, which for more than 75 years has maintained an almost unbroken tradition of expanding and enhancing the rights of freedom of speech, and of the press, is retrenching, rethinking, and in many cases, restricting those rights. Whether it is the failure to recognize a First Amendment-based reporters privilege, or a reluctance to allow meaningful access to digitized records because of theoretical concerns about security or privacy, or the continued refusal to expand the right of the public to observe judicial proceeding by allowing cameras into our courts – it all adds up to a net loss for the public’s right to know.

I worry that legitimate concerns about security at the upcoming Republican and Democratic National Conventions will prompt our law enforcement officials to extend and expand their surveillance activities in overly zealous and inappropriate ways that will intimidate and chill the rights of citizens to engage in peaceful protest.

And I worry that just at a time when my fellow citizens need in-depth news reporting – the news that is essential to making informed decisions – economic challenges will result in shrinking the resources that are necessary to support the kind of outstanding investigative reporting that we are honoring today.

You may share these worries. You may have others.

But however substantial and genuine these worries may be, I remain optimistic, because I recognize that those of us gathered here today, and many others like us around the state and around the nation, will not tolerate another decade of secrecy, predicated on fear.
So much of the secrecy that exists today was based on panic. It was justified as necessary to address threats on a scale that most of us found unfathomable – and terrifying. It shook our nation to the core.

But it is past time to get back to our first principles. It is past time to recognize that this nation is strong, that it was conceived in revolution, but born to live as a country bounded by the rule of law.

It is my hope that our return to these principles – our return to sanity – is already underway.
Our long journey through the dark tunnel of secrecy is coming to an end. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Thank you.



-30-

COGI-tations: A program of the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information

James Nobles
Legislative Auditor, State of Minnesota
“Bringing Light to How Government Works”

Tuesday, April 8, 2008
5:00 p.m.

TIES Administrative Building
1667 Larpenteur (SW corner of Snelling & Larpenteur)
St. Paul

Since 1983, Jim Nobles has diligently served the State of Minnesota as Legislative Auditor. The nonpartisan Legislative Auditor provides a critical link between the inner workings of state government and the taxpayers.

The work of the Legislative Auditor includes financial audits, program evaluations, and special reviews in cases of alleged misuse of state funds or resources, or alleged violations of the state code of conduct for employees in the Executive Branch. The Legislative Auditor’s authority extends to virtually all state funded programs and studies that affect state government. As we have recently seen in the news, audits in progress include the state’s JOBZ program, Green Acres and agricultural land preservation programs, charter schools, PERA and financial management of healthcare programs. We can also expect a legislative audit of our state’s highways and bridges to be released soon.

Though reports of the Legislative Auditor may at times escape the headlines, they capture the attention of elected officials, bureaucrats and advocacy groups because of the critical watchdog function played by Nobles’ office.

Come meet Jim Nobles and learn more about the mission of this unique agent of openness, who is responsible to a great extent for transparency in government, for public disclosure of problems, and for investigative reports essential to an informed citizenry.

Co-sponsored by
Common Cause Minnesota &
Minnesota Coalition on Government Information

Free and open to the public

Reminder: Still time to Register for Afloat on the Wireless Pond - Saturday, March 1

Minnesota’s Hidden Heroes in the News

• There are many things about MinnPost that are worthy of note - the first rate team of investigative journalists, the style, the tone, the format. From my perspective as an information junky, MinnPost adds a subtle but significant spin by focusing not just on the news but on the behind-the-scenes work. Yesterday’s blog was about hidden heroes of Minnesota history; today’s MinnPost offers some timely examples:
• There’s a great piece from the Minnesota Historical Society, a MinnPost partner, about how to locate death certificate information collected over the decades by meticulous government employees, now organized and made accessible through the Minnesota Historical Society. This incredible resource, representing countless hours of work by skilled and committed public servants, is now accessible on the web.
• A second article describes the ways in which the Poetry Foundation is opening up its extensive, and carefully maintained, poetry collection by engaging comic strip illustrators to add their creative interpretation to sometimes inscrutable literary works. Somebody logged and indexed and catalogs those hundreds of thousands of poems now enhanced and shared online.
• The third story spotlights a different “hidden heroine,” in this case a Spanish-English translator, a woman who connected the dots to solve the puzzle of the mysterious illness that struck packing house workers in Austin. If you ever want to observe the mind of a “hidden heroine” at work, here is a superb example
• And finally, MinnPost itself plays an essential role by sharing this latent information with a readership that will use that information to achieve its potential. Today is just one example of an ongoing emphasis of the journal.

All of which raises digital age questions: How will MinnPost and other digital resources be preserved, organized, made accessible for future Minnesotans who want to know about what’s going on today? What is the public good of that preserved and organized information? What is the responsibility of public institutions to take the long view? How are we addressing the preparation of Minnesotans to understand the power of information or their information rights?

Announcing: Hidden Heroes of Minnesota History Wiki *

Minnesota Sesquicentennial Question: Who is a “hidden hero” of Minnesota history? How do we know what we know about our state? Who gathered all those files, that data, the maps, the diaries, the photos that tell the story, that give us a glimpse into our past? And who is doing that now in our digital age? What were the skills of the archivist? The selector? The curator? The indexer? The librarian? The genealogist? The publisher?

Most of all, who are these people. For the most part, they didn’t make history - and they surely didn’t make it into the history books -- but they are essential links to understanding Minnesota at 150 years or at our Bicentennial in 2058.

These are the questions that keep coming to me as we’ve prepared for the March 2008 Afloat on the wireless pond conference. Compulsive surfer that I am I’ve sifted through the digital record to spot and shine a flicker of light on those hidden heroes and heroines. Knowing that I’m barely touching the surface, I’ve made no attempt to go beyond the digital record.

The Afloat conference is upon us now so I’m taking a break in the surfing expedition to post the little nuggets I’ve dug up so far. Just as the Minnesota History Center encourages the public to add to their Sesquicentennial wiki of famous folks I’m asking you to contribute to this mini-wiki by putting a name, maybe a face, on some of those self-effacing public servants, scholars, collectors, archivists, genealogists or much-maligned packrats who’ve seen to it that we know the stories. Be sure to include those who are exploring with gusto the ways in which information age technology is expanding and enhancing access.

That’s what the Afloat conference is all about - the jumpstart to a hidden hero wiki! Thanks for your help!

* My definition of “hero” is inclusive, particularly since an extraordinary number of these heroes are very female

Mary Treacy

Afloat in the Wireless Pond - A Week Away

Not your “in the box” day: We have room for a few more participants in the March 1 conference affectionately (?) known as “Afloat in the wireless pond.” All the details at www.mncogi.org. If you’re looking for the same old, same old this is not your venue, but if you’re looking for original perspectives on our digital environment, check it out! Where else will you find a noted journalist, a geographer, a poet, a philosopher, a data manager, city planner, librarian and high school students - plus numerous demos and a room full of creative thinkers -- all focused on the realities and possibilities of information age life in Minnesota. Note: Students are invited to participate at no charge.

Even Without Technology Youth Media Thrives

Even Without Technology Youth Media Thrives
Fascinating article about youth, media and technology – good background read for the “Afloat in the wireless pond” conference on March 1.

State Highways and Bridges

Because the Minnesota Legislative Auditor's Report on State Highways and Bridges grabbed all of the headlines today you probably know that it was little critical of MnDOT's decisions and forthright communication with the public. Che

Come to hear more from Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles at the premier "COGI-tations" program sponsored by MnCOGI and Common Cause Minnesota - Tuesday, April 8, 5:00 p.m. at the TIES administrative office, Snelling and Larpenteur in St. Paul.

New Media, New Journalism – Ethics in Online Journalism

New Media, New Journalism – Ethics in Online Journalism
A Minnesota SPJ Public Forum
Monday, February 25, 2008 7:00 p.m.
UBS Forum, Minnesota Public Radio
480 Cedar Street, St. Paul

Thoughts While Thinking

As I write, I’m listening to Garrison Keillor and a delightful rendition of “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” It reminds me of a dear friend, Ruth Myers, who used to speak of “perceptive paranoia” as the sine qua non of a good education.

Inspiration enough for me to remind you, dear surfer, to be sure you’re signed up for the March 1 “Afloat in the wireless pond” conference. This ambiguous title reflects not just society’s present state of being but conference planners’ invocation of the thought-provoking “Thoreau in Minnesota” conference organized by Dale Schwie. The Waldenesque image inspired the planning process.

Title notwithstanding, March 1 promises to be an “out of the box” day with a roster of speakers that includes a journalist, an historian, a city planner, a philosopher, a geographer, a poet, high school participants in History Day research, and David Wiggins, who defies categorization. Each speaker has a perspective on living in digital days informed by experience and by time devoted to thinking about life afloat on the wireless pond.

There will be time to connect with other “floaters” and to consider the oft-cited pernicious characteristics of technology. Above all, participants will explore the many ways in which people and organizations of good are capitalizing on the potential of information age tools to enhance access to information and thus expand the circle of informed participation.

Agenda and details abound. Reserve with just an email. Pay at the door.
($20 for lunch and materials)

By Mary Treacy

National Conference for Media Reform: Minneapolis, June 6-8, 2008

Join fellow activists, media makers, educators, journalists, policymakers and concerned citizens in calling for real and lasting changes to our nation's media system.

2008 provides us with a great opportunity to put the issue of media reform in the national spotlight. Join us in Minneapolis and help us build this critical movement.

Registration is now open. (Learn more)

Minnesotans Afloat in the Wireless Pond?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 15, 2008

Minnesotans Afloat in the Wireless Pond?
Journalist Keynotes Sesquicentennial Event

Kenneth Brusic, executive editor of the Orange County (CA) Register, will be the keynote speaker at conference whimsically entitled “Afloat in the Wireless Pond” on Saturday, March 1, 2008. Exploring the changes that the Internet is making in our lives on the state, local, and personal levels, the conference will take place at Luther Seminary, 2481 Como, St. Paul, from 9:00-4:00.

The conference, funded in part by the Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission as part of the celebration of Minnesota’s 150th anniversary of statehood, is cosponsored by the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information and the Minnesota Independent Scholars’ Forum.

Brusic will speak to the challenges that newspapers face in this time of Internet saturation. Under Brusic’s leadership the Orange County Register has been involved in rethinking the nature of the newspaper business. “We are more than a newspaper; we are really an information company,” he says. In addition to the daily and Sunday newspaper the OCR runs 23 community weeklies, an Orange County Home magazine and the OCRegister.com website.

Ken Brusic graduated from the University of Denver and has a Master’s Degree from the School of Journalism of the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has previously worked on the Boulder Daily Camera, the Wichita Eagle, and the Quincy (MA) Patriot Ledger. He joined the Orange County Register in 1989. Under his leadership the Register won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 1996. In late 2007 he was named Communicator of the Year by at he School of Communication at California State University in Fullerton.

Other scheduled speakers include David Wiggins, Mississippi River Visitor Center; Laura Waterman Wittstock, CEO of Wittstock Associates; Jane Leonard, Executive Director of the Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission; Thomas Leighton, Principal City Planner, City of Minneapolis; librarian and geographer Carol Urness; Jim Ramstrom of the Land Management Information Center; Helen Burke, Director of the federal depository library at Minneapolis Public Library; scholar and educator Peter Shea, and youth representatives of the state’s History Day program.

The day will also include demonstrations of initiatives that employ the Internet to expand access to public information. Emphasis is on raising public awareness of the profound impact of the Internet, the implicit but systemic changes and the potential – and limits – of technology to promote civic awareness and involvement. Participants will have an opportunity to focus on information as a public good to be produced, preserved and made accessible as essential to an informed citizenry – in the past and in the future.

Registration ( $20 payable at the door ) includes lunch and materials. Seating is limited; early registration is advised at mncogi@gmail.com.

Questions:
Lucy Brusic 612 860 2495 or lucy@brusic.net
Or check the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information website: www.mncogi.org
(Get .Doc of press release)

GOVERNMENT SECRECY: CENSORING YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW

Celebrate Sunshine Week 2008
Participate in the national satellite/webcast


Local site sponsored by the
Minnesota Coalition on Government Information

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
11:45 – 2:00 p.m.


Minneapolis Telecommunications Network
125 Main Street SE in St. Anthony Main
Just across the river from downtown Minneapolis

Free and open

Come early and pick up lunch at the Aster Cafe, Tuggs or another local eatery.
Enjoy lunch during the webcast. Stay for brief discussion of the issues and a quick tour of the MTN studios

Questions: mncogi@gmail.com

International Right to Know Day September 28, 2007

Though the annual recognition of International Right to Know Day is just five years old these have been five years of change – expansion and contraction of rights both within and among the nations of the world. The brief history of International Right to Know Day is recounted in a 2004 statement from the US Department of Justice FOIA Post.

An excellent map showing nation-by-nation steps is a bit dated, but useful.

The Canadians have mounted an energetic national campaign for 2007.

The political, human rights, technology and justice aspects of the universal Right to Know are tracked by numerous websites and rights organizations, including these and many more.
National Security Archives
International Right to Know

Check under the term “International Right to Know Day” to learn what a Big Deal this is around the world – Pakistan to the Cayman Islands to Moldova…..

Oct 18, 5:00 to 7:00 - Mark Ritchie, MN Sec of State

Mark Ritchie - Minnesota Secretary of State

Management of Information – Minnesota’s Renewable Asset

Thursday, October 18, 2007
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Retirement Systems of Minnesota Building
60 Empire Drive, St Paul, MN

Free and open

Sponsored by the
Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MnCOGI),
Telecommunications and Information Policy Roundtable (TIPR)
Minnesota Chapter, American Society of Information Science & Technology (ASIST)