Brechner News

Posted: April 24, 2020

COVID-19 is having a significant financial impact on U.S. newsrooms, at a time when accurate, unvarnished reporting is more critical than ever. As a result, the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information announced today the launch of Brechner Reporting Fellows, 10 fellowships for professional journalists experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19. Fellows will be granted $2,500 to create narrative projects that address, and identify solutions to, persistent problems that interfere with the public’s ability to get information about the workings of government. Applications for the fellowships are now open. More information and application forms are available here: https://brechner.org/brechner-home-2/brechner-reporting-fellowship/. “The fellowships…

Category: News
Tagged as: Brechner Center for Freedom of Informaiton, COVID-19, Frank LoMonte, Reporting Fellowship

Posted: July 26, 2019

University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications‘ Brechner Center for Freedom of Information Director Frank LoMonte commented on a federal appeals court decision affirming a student publication’s free press rights, in “Even ‘Offensive’ Publications Have Free Press Rights,” published on July 25 in Inside Higher Ed. Frank LoMonte The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on July 24 reinstated a lawsuit brought by University of California San Diego student humor publication The Koala alleging that the university violated its free press and free speech rights by barring access to funds after condemning the publication as “repugnant.”  The ruling overturned a 2017 lower court decision to…

Category: News
Tagged as: First Amendment, Frank LoMonte, Freedom of the Press, Student Press

Posted: September 11, 2018

Frank LoMonte, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information director, is the author “How Communities Can Increase Civic Engagement by Protecting Their Student Journalists’ Rights to Express Themselves” published in the Brown University Journal, “Reimagining a 21st Century Democracy,” Volume 1, 2018. In the article, LoMonte comments on how journalism-related activities that engage students in current community issues can nourish a lifetime of civic engagement. He discusses two routes at the local level that can protect student journalists’ First Amendment expression of rights. The first is legislative and grassroots activism and the second is…

Category: News
Tagged as: Frank LoMonte

Posted: October 30, 2017

Frank LoMonte, director of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, was interviewed for a law and journalism podcast series on The jPod.  In episode four, “Protecting Student Journalists Protects All Journalists,” LoMonte discusses a variety of topics related to law and journalism with independent journalist and jPod creator Jennifer Karchmer. LoMonte talks about the New Voices project he launched as the former executive director of the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) as well as Hazelwood, the landmark 1988 U.S. Supreme Court case that removed protections for student journalists.

Category: Uncategorized
Tagged as: Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, Frank LoMonte

Posted: October 30, 2017

Frank LoMonte, incoming director of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, was featured in “Breaking the Back of Hazelwood: A Press Lawyer’s Decade-Long Campaign” published on Poynter.org on July 17. The article focuses on the 2007 North Dakota John Wall New Voices Act and LoMonte’s efforts as executive director of the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) in Washington, D.C.. The act provides high school and college students with more free speech protection than their peers receive in most other states. The piece chronicles the efforts of LoMonte and his staff since the legislation passed. They…

Category: Uncategorized

Posted: October 30, 2017

The University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications today announced that Frank LoMonte is the new director of the Joseph L. Brechner Center for Freedom of Information. The Brechner Center, located in the College, is a non-profit educational center addressing issues around freedom of information, libel, privacy, prior restraints, “Sunshine” laws, access to courts and other First Amendment issues. LoMonte will be responsible for advancing the Center’s mission around freedom of information and the First Amendment and broaden it to address other media-related legal issues, including investigative and digital journalism, new technologies, policy and regulation. “Frank joins us at a time when…

Category: Uncategorized