public records

Frank LoMonte, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information director, has developed the online course “Open Records Success: Strategies for Writing Requests and Overcoming Denials” for poynter.com. LoMonte and Barbara Allen, Poynter director of college programming, created a video lecture tutorial offering strategies…

Police who exercise arrest powers at private universities should abide by the same transparency standards as all other law-enforcement agencies, a coalition of open-government advocates argues in a brief filed with the Utah Supreme Court. In a brief filed Friday, the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information and nine other…

A string of mismanagement scandals at university foundations across the country demonstrates the urgency of opening foundations’ financial records to public scrutiny, open-government advocates told the Virginia Supreme Court in a brief filed Monday. A coalition of government-transparency organizations led by the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information is supporting…

Attorneys for the Brechner Center and a coalition of open-government groups are urging Pennsylvania’s highest court to reaffirm that journalists are entitled to view video from school surveillance cameras that capture newsworthy information. A brief filed Wednesday with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court argues that footage from security cameras cannot be…

Frank LoMonte, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information director, was quoted in “#317 – Making Access to Public Records a Public Priority” published on itsalljournalism.com on Aug. 2. The article focuses on how to get the average person to care about open…

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.