Access & Accountability 2021: Seize the Day is the theme for the annual conference that brings together “law school clinicians, investigative journalists, practicing lawyers, academics, and activists to focus on some of the key impediments to government accountability and openness. The goal is to foster conversation and problem solving,” according to the website for the event, to be held virtually Oct. 1-2, 2021.
The event is free of charge to attend online, but you must register to get the Zoom access.
SPJ DC Pro Chapter Recording Secretary and FOI advocate Kathryn Foxhall will be leading a session on her area of expertise, censorship by public information officer, at 9:45 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Oct. 2. The posted schedule lists the session as “Fighting ‘Censorship by PIO.’” Foxhall is the newest recipient of national SPJ’s highest honor, the Wells Key. It was presented to her Sept. 4 during the virtual President’s Banquet and Awards Ceremony during the SPJ21 Journalism Conference. Her efforts to open up government access was cited as a major reason she received the award for 2021. The SPJ press release on the award says that “Owing to her efforts, the Knight Columbia Institute made removing government-imposed gag orders its first ‘to-do’ priority for the incoming Biden administration.” The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University recently scored a victory in getting a court to order the CDC to release information about the Trump administration policies restricting CDC employees’ ability to talk to the press and public about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The session description for Oct. 2 reads:
“Governments have increasingly imposed gag rules on their employees, barring staff from talking to journalists and providing information only through a public information office. With their careers on the line, employees have little incentive to litigate their speech rights, leaving the public blind to what the government is doing beyond the information officially approved for release through press officers. This panel will discuss the legal theories for mounting a journalist’s challenge to such gag rules, the procedural hurdles such a case would face, and the legal research and factual development that has already been done on this issue. It will explore opportunities for collaboration among clinics in bringing one or more test cases.”
Foxhall has led a similar session during other conferences, most recently at the Sept. 2-4 SPJ21 Journalism Conference.
Other discussants on Oct. 2 are:
- Gregg Leslie, Arizona State University
- Michael Linhorst, Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic (MFIA), a law student clinic dedicated to increasing government transparency
- Frank LoMonte, Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.
The Access & Accountability conference kicks off at 9 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 1. An opening keynote address explores the question “Time to fix FOIA?” That’s followed by a session discussing the Biden administration as a “unique opportunity to advance major reform to America’s transparency structures, particularly FOIA, whose failures have been documented for years.”
On Saturday, Oct. 2, preceding the Foxhall session, there is one at 9 a.m. on the importance of shoring up local news. “There is a compelling need to reinvigorate local journalism for democracy to thrive,” the description reads. “This panel will review various approaches being taken at law school clinics and elsewhere to provide the types of legal services needed to sustain robust investigative journalism, and lead an open discussion exploring additional ways that law school clinics might be a part of the solution to this pressing problem.”
Be sure to check out the full schedule here.