Category Archives: News

Shelley offers thoughts on Free Speech Week

RTDNA Executive Director Dan Shelley is using Free Speech Week as an opportunity to illustrate how free speech benefits local communities and what would happen without it. In his column, Shelley highlights attacks on journalists and how journalists are charged with continuing to produce trustworthy journalism in the face... - MORE -

Reporter highlights secret records about lawmaker behavior

A report from Amanda St. Hilaire on WITI-TV in Milwaukee is drawing attention to records about investigations of state lawmaker behavior that are not available to the public. She found that most state lawmakers didn’t care to comment on the practice. The story includes comments from Wisconsin FOIC members April... - MORE -

Monitor fees charged by records custodians

How much have you been charged to get copies of public records? Wisconsin law allows records custodians to charge a reasonable fee, but it’s not always easy to determine what’s “reasonable.” The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council discussed this at a meeting on Thursday after this report of lawmakers using... - MORE -

Take steps to reduce newsroom negativity

The stress inherent in newsrooms can lead to negativity, but it doesn’t have to. Kevin Benz, writing for RTDNA, is offering these tips for how news teams – and their managers – can make our newsrooms better places to work, a little at a time, every day. Benz was also... - MORE -

Wisconsin FOIC to meet Thursday

The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is scheduled to hold one of its quarterly meetings on Thursday, Oct. 17. The meeting will be held at Capitol Newspapers on Fish Hatchery Road in Madison. The meeting is open to the public. The agenda can be found here. Among the topics... - MORE -

Don’t ignore your comments section

Many newsrooms continue to have an uneasy relationship with the comments section on their website and social media channels. RTDNA is addressing the toll it’s taking on newsrooms in this article. The article suggests that newsrooms should take into consideration what comment moderation does to the moderators who spend... - MORE -