Brechner News

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 –…

The Los Angeles Times has been named the winner of the 29th Annual Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Award for its investigative series. The award-winning series titled: “Lifting a Cloak of Secrecy,” details the fight for access to information about ownership of the Los Angeles Coliseum. UF’s College of…

The Ledger (Lakeland) has been named the winner of the 28th Annual Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Award for its investigative series. The award-winning series highlights the difficulties reporters and citizens face when they try to exercise their fundamental constitutional right to access government information. “The series exposed blatant…

The Associated Press has been named the winner of the 27th Annual Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Award for its ground-breaking investigative series, “Access Denied,” which tested the right-to-information laws in the more than 100 counties that have them. “This series highlighted the importance of access to government information…

The News & Observer uses investigative reporting to expose public employees protected by North Carolina's secret personnel records