Brechner News

Frank LoMonte, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information director, was the quoted in “Does Morgan Freeman Have a Defamation Case Against CNN for Misconduct Story?” published on TheWrap on May 30. The article focuses on Morgan Freeman’s claim that CNN committed “journalistic…

In a case reminiscent of the dispute over President Trump’s blocking of critics from his Twitter feed, UF’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information and Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project are supporting the free-speech case of a Texas police critic who was forbidden from posting to the Facebook page…

Frank LoMonte, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information director, was the co-author of “Don’t Expect Professors to Get Fired When They Say Something You Don’t Like” published in The Conversation on May 7. In the article, LoMonte and co-author David Jadon, a…

Frank LoMonte, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information director, was the author of “Beyond the Hashtag: Saving Student Newsrooms” published on Medium on April 25. LoMonte discusses the UF-born #SaveStudentNewsrooms awareness campaign created in response to First Amendment issues at U.S. colleges…

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…