2010 National FOI Day conference at the First Amendment Center

 Published Date: March 11, 2010

The 12th annual National FOI Day Conference will be held on Monday, March 15, 2010. The conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 12:30 p.m. It will be held at the Knight Conference Center at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., 7th Floor, Washington, D.C. (Freedom Forum & 6th Street Entrance).

The annual FOI Day Conference, hosted by the First Amendment Center, brings together access advocates, government officials, judges, lawyers, librarians, journalists, educators and others to discuss timely issues related to transparency in government. The conference is co-sponsored by Sunshine Week and held in cooperation with the American Library Association, OpenTheGovernment.org and the Sunshine in Government Initiative.

Program Schedule

  • 8:30 a.m. — Program starts

    8:50 a.m. — Preview of week to come
      • Patrice McDermott, director, OpenTheGovernment.org
      • Dan Metcalfe, executive director, Collaboration on Government Secrecy
    9:00 a.m. — Public Interview
      Remarks about disclosure of government information:
      • Miriam Nisbet, director, Office of Government Information
      • Norman Eisen, special counsel to President Obama for Ethics and Government Reform

      Interviewers:

      • Tom Blanton, director, National Security Archive, George Washington University
      • Gary Bass, founder, executive director, OMB Watch
    10:15 a.m. — Q & A
    10:40 a.m. — Break
    11:00 a.m. — Keynote address: “Freedom of Information: More Than Just the FOIA”
      • Rep. William L. Clay, D-Mo., chairman, House Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives
    11:40 a.m. — Brief remarks
      • Charles N. Davis, executive director, National Freedom of Information Coalition; associate professor, University of Missouri School of Journalism
    11:45 a.m. — American Library Association’s James Madison Award Presentation
    12:15 p.m. — Adjourn