First Amendment News

The new Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is putting up on the Internet all contracts with banks that received bailout money. This reverses Bush administration policy to shield the contracts from public view. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press January 28, 2009 By Hannah Bergman WASHINGTON. D.C. – In an abrupt turnaround from Bush administration policy, the Treasury Department has released details of its contracts with banks that received government money as part of

Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio is introducing a law to use the Web to make sure government agencies buy U.S. products when possible. The law is designed to help boost America out of recession. -DB Federal Computer Week Jan 28, 2009 By Matthew Weigelt The government should use the Web to track agencies’ waivers from the requirements of the Buy America Act, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said today. The waiver process, through which an

The public radio program “Forum” on KQED-FM devotes an hour to the topic of President Obama’s vow to achieve transparency in federal government. Host Michael Krasny discusses the prospects with Bruce Cain, executive director of the UC Washington Center and Heller professor of political science at UC Berkeley, Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California, Deborah Rhode, director of the Center on the Legal Profession

A reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune describes his long-running effort to use the federal Freedom of Information Act to learn how FEMA’s “Rapid Needs Assessment Teams” sized up needs in Louisiana’s storm-ravaged communities. Bottom line: He’s still waiting. – DR Point of View BROKEN RECORDS Three years later, FEMA still giving out excuses, not documents Sunday, January 25, 2009 Mark Schleifstein Last week, I got my annual letter from FEMA letting me know someone

In defending themselves against a current defamation charge, the Dixie Chicks may use the “fair report privilege”. The privilege holds that statements are not defamatory if they are fair and accurate and derived from official sources. Terry Hobbs is suing the Chicks of wrongly accusing him of murder. -DB Citizen Media Law Project Jan. 22, 2009 By Sam Bayard The defamation lawsuit against Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines and her band mates over an open