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Federal judge approves suit against State Department on FOIA requests

donal brown October 3, 2011

A federal judge ruled that an author could proceed with his lawsuit against the State Department and other government agencies who allegedly ignored a requirement to provide Freedom of Information Act requesters estimates of the time it would take to fulfill requests. The author was after information about the Iraq oil industry. -db From Politico, September 29, 2011, by Josh Gerstein. Full story

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Kurdish human rights director obtains visa – finally

donal brown October 3, 2011

The State Department announced that British citizen Kerim Yildiz, director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project would be granted a visa to travel to the United States. Yildiz has waited over a year for the visa. He is scheduled to meet with State Department officials to discuss Kurdish human rights issues, lecture in New York and at Harvard and receive a prize for his organization from the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, a group promoting

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Defense Department working to improve access to information about Guantanamo trials

donal brown October 3, 2011

With reporters complaining about unnecessary secrecy in the conduct of military trials of terrorists, the Defense Department has been working with the press to improve transparency. Defense has also announced the launching of a website that provides the public with timely information on the trials. -db From The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, September 30, 2011, by Kirsten Berg. Full story

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Free press: Reporters are encountering barriers in attempting to cover college sports

donal brown October 3, 2011

A legal fellow from the Student  Press Law Center writes that reporting on college sports is becoming more difficult and cites the recent case at the University of Kentucky where a media relations administrator banned the student newspaper from an important media event for the basketball team. The administrator was punishing the newspaper for the actions of a reporter who contacted two varsity basketball players for an interview without permission. The administrator also said this

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Professor censors profanity on student free speech wall

donal brown October 3, 2011

A Sam Houston State University professor removed an insult to President Barack Obama posted by a student on the student free speech wall. Incensed by the censorship, students reported the vandalism to the campus police. Rather than come to the aid of the student in support of the First Amendment, the police threatened students with a charge of disturbing the peace and required them to remove all profanity or take the wall down. -db From

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