Brechner News

Frank LoMonte, director of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, is the author of “The Law That Made Facebook What It Is Today,” published in The Conversation on April 11. In the article, LoMonte discusses the impact of the Communications Decency…

Frank LoMonte, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information director, was quoted in “Clear Backpacks Another Target in the Widening War on Kids,” published in the Sun-Sentinel on April 3. The article focuses on a survey asking people to weigh in on whether…

The Joseph L. Brechner Center for Freedom of Information announced that Bethany Barnes, education reporter at The Oregonian in Portland, is the winner of the annual Brechner Freedom of Information Award. Barnes won for her dogged coverage of teacher sexual misconduct in Portland schools, which required her to battle repeatedly…

Confusing federal privacy laws are regularly misapplied to obstruct journalists’ and parents’ access to essential safety information about public schools, the Brechner Center’s Frank LoMonte writes in an opinion column for Education Week magazine. In the March 16 article — “Student Privacy Laws Have Been Distorted (And That’s a Problem)”…

In a brief filed with a New Mexico state court, the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information argues that public university foundations should be subject to state open-government laws, because they fulfill essential governmental duties interchangeably with their host universities. The Brechner Center, in collaboration with the New Mexico Foundation…

Journalism published or broadcast during 2017 that highlights the importance of open government in advancing the public’s right to know is eligible for a $3,000 cash award offered through the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida. The Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Award is…

Newsworthy video from school surveillance cameras can’t be withheld from the public on the grounds of student privacy, a group of open-government groups argues in a brief filed with a Pennsylvania appeals court. The brief, authored by the Brechner Center’s Frank LoMonte and David Jadon, supports television journalists from Harrisburg who used their state’s Right-to-Know-Law to request footage of a school-bus security camera that captured an altercation between a parent and a student.

In an opinion column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Frank LoMonte, director of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, cautions that the trend toward selecting presidents of public universities in total secrecy risks saddling institutions with ill-suited leaders who haven’t been properly…

Frank LoMonte, director of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information was quoted in “Criminal Charges Rare in Public Records Violations” published in the Palm Beach Post on Dec. 8. The article focuses on the lack of criminal charges against public officials…

Frank LoMonte, director of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, is the author of “A Free Press Shouldn’t Stop at the Schoolyard” published on CNN’s new special section featuring opinions on press freedom. In the article, LoMonte argues the case for…

Frank LoMonte, director of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, commented in “Mom Says Her 6-Year-Old Son Was Silenced by a Teacher After He Knelt for the Pledge of Allegiance” published in the Tampa Bay Times on Sept. 27. LoMonte remarks…

The Miami Herald has been named the winner of the 30th Annual Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Award for its groundbreaking investigative series titled: “Innocents Lost.” The two award-winning Herald reporters, Carol Marbin Miller and Audra D.S. Burch, investigated Florida’s child welfare system by following the lives – and deaths –…