TTT1010 Mar10-FreedomOfInfo2010
The annual Freedom of Information Day is upon us March 16, sponsored by the Minnesota Council on Government information (MN-COGI). You’d think this would not be a necessary day, but government at all levels, remains hell-bent on classifying or labeling as private or secret or confidential much of the information that should be made public. Freedom of Information Day is also the time when MN-COGI presents its annual John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award, given to an individual whose work is dedicated to opening up government and the public realm to all of us.
TTT’s ANDY DRISCOLL and LYNNELL MICKELSEN talk with this year’s awardee and the man for whom that award is named plus a couple of other FOI activists with MN-COGI about just what we can all do to demand openness in government business and ensuring the public receives the information it deserves in a democracy.
- JOHN R. FINNEGAN – retired Editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press
- REED ANFINSON – Publisher of the Swift County Monitor-News, Benson, MN; Winner of the 2010 Finnegan Award
- REED ANFINSON – Executive Director, Silha Center for Study of Media Ethics and Law
- MARY TREACY – Executive Director of the Minnesota Council on Government information
- ART HUGHES – Veteran Minnesota Journalist (Reporter/Producer, Bring Me the News) and MN-COGI Board Member