Thursday, March 27, 2008
State may seal off state workers' personal data
Home addresses, home phone numbers and cell phone numbers would be off-limits.
Legislature weighs closing gun records -- and jailing journalists who publish the info
Free press advocates say the provision to criminalize publication of the information amounts to unconstitutional prior restraint. Says Lucy Dalglish, executive director of The Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press: "You can't criminalize the publication of truthful information. Just can't be done. It's completely illegal, (and) I'm sure there are any number of thoughtful lawyers and judges who will be happy to point this out to them."
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Vanderbilt wants NYT, USAT for students, not Tennessean
Students will get free copies of the two national publications. University officials said they wanted to give students a broader perspective, and they feared The Tennessean could hurt student media economically. (Honest disclosure: Your chapter Webmaster is both a Tennessean employee and a former editor of The Vanderbilt Hustler. These facts are no surprise to the three people who actually read this blog, but we include that note here just as a matter of principle.)
'Volunteer Voters' blogger lands new gig at NashvillePost.com
Blogger A.C. Kleinheider, whose "Volunteer Voters" political blog got dropped by WKRN-Channel 2 recently, is going to work next week blogging for NashvillePost.com. Read more on the Post's Web site.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
WSMV's radioactive dumping probe wins IRE certificate
Channel 4, which outed the practice of the dumping of radioactive materials at Middle Point Landfill near Murfreesboro, has been honored with a certificate from IRE in its national contest. This just in from the press release:
Below Top 20 Markets — Demetria Kalodimos and David Sussman of WSMV-Nashville for “Radioactive Dumping.” This original investigation revealed that the state of Tennessee had, for 20 years, been allowing the dumping of low-level radioactive waste in ordinary landfills located around the state. They followed the story from the local level all the way to the national, including tracing the origin of much of the radioactive material. The pieces led to dramatic results, state government action and a moratorium on the dumping.
Below Top 20 Markets — Demetria Kalodimos and David Sussman of WSMV-Nashville for “Radioactive Dumping.” This original investigation revealed that the state of Tennessee had, for 20 years, been allowing the dumping of low-level radioactive waste in ordinary landfills located around the state. They followed the story from the local level all the way to the national, including tracing the origin of much of the radioactive material. The pieces led to dramatic results, state government action and a moratorium on the dumping.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Channel 2 pulls plug on 'Volunteer Voters' political blog
Its last post was Friday, blogger A.C. Kleinheider wrote in a going-away message, ascribing the move to those "unfortunate media budget cuts you hear about all too often these days." An excerpt:
It has been quite a journey and if I said everything I feel in my heart to say I’d be here writing deep into the weekend and you’d probably stop reading after the 800th word. That said, I am very proud of what we cobbled together here. While there are always things that one looks back on with regret, with a wish to be able to go back and do things differently, that is, for the most part, not the case here. Not for me.
(Your chapter Webmaster was both a competitor and a fan of "V-Squared.")
It has been quite a journey and if I said everything I feel in my heart to say I’d be here writing deep into the weekend and you’d probably stop reading after the 800th word. That said, I am very proud of what we cobbled together here. While there are always things that one looks back on with regret, with a wish to be able to go back and do things differently, that is, for the most part, not the case here. Not for me.
(Your chapter Webmaster was both a competitor and a fan of "V-Squared.")
Sunshine Week 2008 is here!
There's been lots of coverage in the local media of Sunshine Week so far, too much to list it all here. But here are some highlights:
An editorial from The Jackson Sun about proposed changes to the state's open government laws: For too long, public officials have been able to play fast and loose with the rules and deny the public access to important information. If we'd like to see anything more this year, it would be for language to be added to the law which would specifically open up e-mail records to public inspection. On the open meetings front, we'd like to see meetings where school superintendents' evaluations are discussed remain open. And we'd like to finally see substantial penalties adopted for those who knowingly choose to flout the law.
An editorial from The Commercial Appeal: Under Mayor Willie Herenton, Commercial Appeal reporter Trevor Aaronson reports in today's editions, access to public documents is a snap for those with political or business connections to city government. Requests for documents from the general public and the press, however, are met with a formal process that routes everything through a bottleneck at the City Attorney's Office and delays the flow.
An excerpt of an interview with John Seigenthaler in Sunday's Tennessean: People want to know and, indeed, need to know. When people talk to me about, "Is there a people's right to know?" — there is a people's need to know. And that need really cries out for openness in government.
An editorial from The Jackson Sun about proposed changes to the state's open government laws: For too long, public officials have been able to play fast and loose with the rules and deny the public access to important information. If we'd like to see anything more this year, it would be for language to be added to the law which would specifically open up e-mail records to public inspection. On the open meetings front, we'd like to see meetings where school superintendents' evaluations are discussed remain open. And we'd like to finally see substantial penalties adopted for those who knowingly choose to flout the law.
An editorial from The Commercial Appeal: Under Mayor Willie Herenton, Commercial Appeal reporter Trevor Aaronson reports in today's editions, access to public documents is a snap for those with political or business connections to city government. Requests for documents from the general public and the press, however, are met with a formal process that routes everything through a bottleneck at the City Attorney's Office and delays the flow.
An excerpt of an interview with John Seigenthaler in Sunday's Tennessean: People want to know and, indeed, need to know. When people talk to me about, "Is there a people's right to know?" — there is a people's need to know. And that need really cries out for openness in government.
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