Coalition News

The First Amendment Coalition is pleased to announce the appointment of Glen A. Smith, a lawyer with more than 30 years of experience in First Amendment and media law, as the inaugural FAC Legal Fellow. Smith comes to FAC with a deep and widely varied background in media litigation, including substantial experience advocating for public and press access to government records, defending journalists against subpoenas, and litigation and advice relating to defamation and privacy law.

The First Amendment Coalition is delighted to announce the appointment of three new members to its Board of Directors, all working journalists who have made substantial contributions to their craft and to the cause of government transparency in California and beyond: Ed Chapuis, news director for KGTV-10 in San Diego; Katherine Ann Rowlands, owner of the Bay City News Service; and Juliet Williams, the Associated Press’s Northern California news editor. Chapuis is currently news director

Frank McCulloch, a giant in California journalism, played an important role in the founding of FAC in 1988. McCulloch was a key editor who helped transition a small Freedom of Information committee, sponsored by the California Newspaper Publishers Association, into an independent organization of journalists, attorneys and FOI/First Amendment experts  who would be serving the general public and not just newspapers. McCulloch attended the organization meeting and was a strong champion of FAC and its mission throughout

The First Amendment Coalition today announced a new partnership with MuckRock to extend the reach of FAC’s “Asked and Answered” resource, an extensive database of legal expertise on freedom of information laws and the First Amendment. Through the collaboration, users of MuckRock—a nonprofit that provides sophisticated but easy-to-use online tools to help people submit public records requests—will now have direct access to FAC’s vast “Asked and Answered” database on the MuckRock website. The searchable database,