Author Archive
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The Kicker
Tomorrow’s Sanford Headlines Today
June 24, 2009 03:19 PMOver a year ago, when (then) New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was caught in a prostitution scandal, CJR's staff threw some potential tabloid headlines against the wall. In honor of (still) South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's admission today... Continue reading
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The Kicker
St. Pete Times tackles Scientology leader
June 24, 2009 01:40 PMThe St. Petersburg Times, which in 1980 won a national reporting Pulitzer for a series on the Church of Scientology, is at it again with a series based on the first public reckonings of a handful of departed... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Freely Quoting
June 24, 2009 12:28 PMWired editor in chief Chris Anderson is in the opening rounds of a depressingly familiar plagiarism scandal, kicked off after Waldo Jaquith pointed out long passages from Anderson's forthcoming book Free: The Future of a Radical Price that seem to... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Not Sweatin’ It
June 23, 2009 12:33 PMAs Obama kicks off his first day-time press conference, here's a Tweeted guess from David Westphal, former D.C. bureau chief for McClatchy, of why the event, originally scheduled for the White House Rose Garden, was moved inside to... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Logged Out
June 19, 2009 10:51 AMIn October of 2006, a federal district court judge ruled that White House visitor logs fell under the reach of the Freedom of Information Act. In December of 2007, another district judge agreed. And just this January, the same judge... Continue reading
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The Kicker
“We know that a bear scats in the woods…”
June 19, 2009 09:54 AMBecause it's Friday, here's a nice little tale from suburbia, well told. Don't miss reporter Todd Meany (of Cleveland's Own WJW/Fox 8) as he dons a plush rabbit costume and wiggles an ursine cardboard cutout to bring us the story.... Continue reading
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The Kicker
The News From Iran
June 15, 2009 09:27 AMAccording to Associated Press writer Sally Buzbee: Iranian authorities criticized international media reports and took steps to control the flow of information from independent news sources as anti-government protests raged in the country for a second day... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
A Shrinking Sunshine Week
June 12, 2009 03:43 PMIn case you haven’t heard, it’s tough times out there for newspapers: Jobs are disappearing, pages are shrinking, bureaus are closing. Here’s one more casualty for the count: unless some unexpected funding comes through, Sunshine Week, the annual... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Best. Press Release. Ever.
June 12, 2009 10:42 AMWithout any further ado: STATEMENT OF SEN. HOWELL HEFLIN HANDKERCHIEF JULY 19, 1994 I mistakenly picked up a pair of my wife's white panties and put them in my pocket while I was rushing out the door to go... Continue reading
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The Kicker
FOIA’s New Ombudsman
June 10, 2009 04:06 PMThe National Archives and Records Administration has just announced that Miriam Nisbet will be the first director of the Office of Government Information Services. OGIS was created by congress in 2007 to serve as a monitor and mediator for... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Declined
June 5, 2009 04:24 PMAlex Wood readily admits that he can be described as a “dissatisfied litigant.” And he would have good reason to be dissatisfied: the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that he, with no formal legal training, personally saw through to a... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Mark Mahoney, Open Government Wrecking Ball
May 29, 2009 11:43 AMYesterday, at the annual Pulitzer Prize banquet, Mark Mahoney laughed and pressed his forehead to the table as he and his fellow winners were congratulated on joining an exclusive club that counts Sylvia Plath, Walter Lippman, and Ernest Hemingway as... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Openness Ombudsman: Lucy Dalglish on the OGIS and FOIA
May 28, 2009 11:50 AMLucy Dalglish is the executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Earlier this year, CJR spoke with Dalglish about the successful effort to establish the Office of Government Information Services at the National... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Parsing Obama on State Secrets
May 21, 2009 04:40 PMThis morning, President Barack Obama stood before the Constitution at the National Archives and gave an hour-long speech on the interrelated issues of torture, detention, tribunals, and government secrecy. While some of the discussion was quite detailed, other parts were... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Tracking the Money: Craig Jennings on Bailout Transparency
May 21, 2009 12:05 PMCraig Jennings is a federal fiscal policy analyst at OMB Watch, a non-profit advocacy and research organization that promotes government transparency and accountability. CJR spoke with Jennings in January 2009 about transparency and accountability in the government’s... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Obama WANTS YOU to comment on the Open Government Directive
May 21, 2009 10:01 AMA request for public comment on the Obama administration’s Open Government Directive has just been published in the Federal Register. The directive—aimed at promoting transparency, collaboration and participation in government—was envisioned in a presidential directive signed... Continue reading
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Transparency
Top Secret: Bill Leonard on Classified Documents
May 18, 2009 12:29 PMFrom 2002 to 2007, Bill Leonard served as director of the Information Security Oversight Office, a division of the National Archives and Records Administration, which oversees all governmental classification activity. CJR spoke with Leonard about the history of... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Four More Years?
May 13, 2009 05:40 PMIn an unexpected policy reversal, the Obama administration today announced it would not release forty-four photos depicting prisoner abuse in at least seven different locations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The decision comes in response to the American Civil Liberties Union’s... Continue reading
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Transparency
Shadows and Light: Dan Metcalfe on Government Transparency
May 13, 2009 11:26 AMDaniel J. Metcalfe served as head of the Justice Department’s Office of Information and Privacy from 1981 to 2007. He now runs American University’s Collaboration on Government Secrecy at the Washington College of Law. CJR spoke with Metcalfe... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Senate Goes XML
May 11, 2009 04:26 PMLast week, the Senate took a small but significant step into the twenty-first century when it started providing voting data publicly via XML. Short for eXtensible Mark-up Language, the format is a good method for releasing data because it makes... Continue reading
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The Audit Business
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