Brechner News

Posted: December 30, 2023

David Cuillier, director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, is quoted in “Locked Out of Local Government: Residents Decry Increased Secrecy AmongTowns, Counties, Schools,” published by The Associated Press on Dec. 18. The article focuses on the lack of disclosure regarding a major property-tax hike in a small Pennsylvania town. It’s an example of the trend toward government secrecy and how access to public records is worsening. “It’s been going on for decades, but it’s accelerated the past 10 years,” said Cuillier. Few states compile data on public records requests, and laws governing open records differ by state, making a…

Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: David Cuillier, MuckRock, public records, secrecy, The Associated Press

Posted: December 29, 2023

David Cuillier, director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, is quoted in “Washington Tax Agency Pressured to End Controversial Secrecy Policy” published on crosscut.com on Dec. 13. The article focuses on a recently revealed policy from the State of Washington Department of Revenue that supposedly allowed it to black out certain public records with a controversial secrecy exemption claimed by state lawmakers. The legislative privilege claim has raised questions about the separation of government powers. According to Cuillier, around the U.S., notions of privilege are increasingly being used to conceal taxpayer-funded records from the public. “As Washington’s Democratic-controlled Legislature pursues…

Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: David Cuillier, public records, Washington

Posted: December 15, 2023

David Cuillier, director of the  Brechner Freedom of Information Project, is quoted in “How Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers in Florida Get Taxpayer Funds With Almost No Oversight” published on revealnews.org on Dec. 13. The story focuses on the Florida Pregnancy Care Network, a nonprofit in charge of distributing state funds to qualifying agencies. However, financial troubles at one pregnancy center highlight gaps in its review of organizations that receive money. According to Cuillier, outsourcing the alternatives-to-abortion program’s operations creates barriers around the public’s ability to scrutinize how taxpayer funds are spent – a practice he equated to “laundering public information through…

Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: Anti-Abortion Center Funding, David Cuillier, Florida Pregnancy Care Network

Posted: December 11, 2023

The Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications will educate Americans about the right to public records by coordinating national Sunshine Week, starting in March 2024. The News Leaders Association (NLA), which has led Sunshine Week since 2005, is transferring the public awareness campaign to Brechner. The Brechner FOI Project has provided education and research in acquiring civic information since its inception in 1977. Sunshine Week, to be held March 11-15, 2024, highlights the importance of open government and the dangers of excessive and unnecessary secrecy. Dave Cuillier “It is an honor to carry on this…

Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: David Cuillier, Sunshine Week

Posted: December 7, 2023

David Cuillier, director of the  Brechner Freedom of Information Project, is quoted in “WATCHDOG REPORT: Researchers say YSU’s Secret President Search May Not Have Been the Best Option” published on wfmj.com, the NBC television affiliate in Youngstown, Ohio on Dec. 4. The story focuses on Youngstown State University’s (YSU) search for a new president. Rather than conducting an open search, they chose a private firm to find and vet candidates. “If you or I apply for a job, we may not want our employer to know, [but] there are other times where we want them to know and it ends…

Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: #governmentgagged, Dave Cuillier, Ohio, public records, secrecy, Youngstown State University

Posted: December 1, 2023

David Cuillier, director of the  Brechner Freedom of Information Project, will provide a national overview of the ability for people to access government information at the Newspaper Association Managers conference on Dec. 4 in Washington, D.C. The organization represents directors of state, regional, national and international press associations, which assist community newspapers in improving their news coverage and ability to remain financially viable. Cuillier is scheduled to discuss trends in public records legislation and increased government secrecy in the states, based on the Brechner Project’s research, as well as tools to help press associations better monitor secrecy.

Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: David Cuillier, Newspaper Association Managers, public records, secrecy

Posted: December 1, 2023

The November 2023 edition of the Journal of Civic Information, published by the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Freedom of Information Project, features a new study “Owning the Police: Crime Data, Copyright, and Public Information” by Jay Wagner of Marquette University. The study indicates that about half of the nation’s police departments that post crime data online through commercial companies grant the websites exclusive control of that public information – curtailing the ability for other people to acquire and analyze that information for themselves. Wagner examined 250 of the nation’s largest police departments and found that about two-thirds…

Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: copyright, David Cuillier, Jay Wagner, Journal of Civic Education, Police, public records

Posted: November 29, 2023

Student newspapers are integral to the free flow of ideas and information on college campuses. But with campus closures, business shutdowns and student enrollment declines during COVID-19, the independence of these publications is in question. University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) doctoral student Jessica Sparks, CNN Counsel and former Brechner Center for Freedom of Information Director Frank LoMonte, and UFCJC alumna April Rubin wanted to determine how student media was affected by the global pandemic and whether student media has been forever changed. Their research showed that student newspapers have transitioned to a more diverse revenue model and will continue some pandemic-specific…

Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: April Rubin, College Media, COVID-19, Frank LoMonte, Jessica Sparks, Student Journalists, Student Press

Posted: November 8, 2023

A leading journalism scholar from Cameroon, Africa, will spend the next nine months at the University of Florida developing laws to foster democracy in his home country. Kingsley Ngange, a former broadcast journalist and current deputy vice-chancellor of research at the University of Buea, began studying this month at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications’ Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project. “I consider information the stock and trade of journalists, and they need to have a good quantity and good quality of information,” Ngange said. “A better-informed population will perform better democratic functions.” Ngange will examine how the…

Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: Africa, Cameroon, David Cuillier, journalism ethics, Kingsley Ngange, press rights

Posted: November 8, 2023

People seeking government information to make their communities better face frustrations and obstacles because of high copy fees, according to a new study “To Fee or Not to Fee: Requester Attitude Toward Freedom of Information Charges, co-authored by David Cuillier, director of the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida. The study was published in October in Government Information Quarterly. Cuillier and co-author A. Jay Wagner of Marquette University surveyed 330 people across the United States who have requested public records from the government through state and federal freedom of information laws. They compared two different kinds…

Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: David Cuillier, FOI, FOIA, FOIA Fees, public records

Posted: November 8, 2023

The Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information (FOI) Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications partnered with the Student Press Law Center to launch the 2023 Student Freedom of Information (FOI) Awards. The two inaugural recipients in the college and high school divisions received cash awards of $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. In the college division, student journalists from The Citizen, a student-run publication at Laney College in Oakland, California, were recognized for their extraordinary persistence in using public records to investigate their community college district’s campus safety program. Public records requests revealed the college’s security guards weren’t licensed or local. They also found that…

Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: David Cuillier, FOI, FOIA, public records, Student Press Law Center

Posted: November 5, 2023

David Cuillier, director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, is quoted in “Curious Commonwealth Asks: Are Virginia Open Records Laws Weaker Than Other States?” published on the website for Virginia Public Media on Oct. 25. The story investigates the strength of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) laws in Virginia and if they foster governmental transparency. According to Cuillier, some aspects of Virginia FOIA laws have less government transparency compared to other states. “Virginia is among about one-third of states that can charge for the time it takes staff to search for and redact records — which some agencies interpret…

Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: David Cuillier, FOI, FOIA, Government Transparency, Virginia