In the past year there have been several attempts by legislative leaders in Wisconsin to limit the scope of our state’s powerful Open Records Law, which dates back to the early 20th Century. Here’s an interesting article from Poynter with a brief example of the impact of Open Records laws in all 50 states.
There is a special section of the WBA Newsroom which gives a quick tutorial on Wisconsin’s Open Records law, which you can find here.
Posted by Tim Morrissey
The basic structure of most news stories is a form developed to accommodate the needs of the print medium hundreds of years ago, and even on the most modern news websites, the form really hasn’t changed much. Here are some thoughts on where it may be headed.
Posted by Tim Morrissey
Drones are being used for an increasing number of commercial enterprises, including news gathering. Here’s a brief article from a lawyer who’s an expert in use and regulation of drones as to what the Federal Aviation Administration may do next.
Posted by Tim Morrissey
The Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio/TV/Digital News Association met with White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest and discussed concerns regarding difficulties in obtaining government documents and a variety of other topics. Read a brief summary of the meeting here.
Posted by Tim Morrissey
As the state legislature in Wisconsin continues to close down access by journalists (and the public in general) to the workings of government, the RTDNA is fighting attempts to restrict access to information regarding the activity of the federal government and the communications it receives.
Posted by Tim Morrissey
The latest of the ongoing attempts to keep the people of Wisconsin from knowing what their state government is doing is the move by the State Public Records Board to decide that text messages are “transitory communications”, and as such, are not subject to the state’s Open Records law. As a reporter, you may know that this is an appointed, not an elected board, which itself failed to give required notice of the August 24th meeting where this “decision” was made behind closed doors and with no notice or publication.
It is common knowledge that a lot of business is conducted today by text message, and that the intent of the 1981 rewrite of our state’s Open Records law was clear, back then when text messaging hadn’t even been invented. Here’s an editorial from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel regarding this latest assault on openness, well worth your time to read.
And, for a quick tutorial on Wisconsin’s landmark Open Records Law, refer to this section of the WBA Newsroom.
Posted by Tim Morrissey
Written by Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone, a reporter with serious political chops, this analysis takes a few minutes to read, but it’s very interesting. It may even challenge some of your beliefs about how Journalists cover politicians.
Posted by Tim Morrissey
Each year the Radio/TV/Digital News Association runs a popular exchange with Germany, with a chance for a broadcast Journalist to spend two weeks in June reporting from Germany and Brussels. Details are here if you’re interested.
Posted by Tim Morrissey
Newsrooms are still debating the coverage of the home where the San Bernardino mass killers lived. Here are some more thoughts on the topic from a veteran reporter.
Posted by Tim Morrissey
My wife, a former on-camera TV reporter, and I went to see the movie “Spotlight” and thoroughly enjoyed it. Some other media friends who’ve seen the movie say it made them proud to be Journalists. Here’s an interesting article from the Center for Investigative Reporting with some great take-aways from the movie. The movie is based on the true story of a small team of print Journalists working for the Boston Globe newspaper, who uncovered the pedophilia scandal in the Catholic Church in Boston in 2001.
Posted by Tim Morrissey
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