2012 SPJ Black Hole Award: Nominations Open
The Society of Professional Journalists launched the Black Hole Award to highlight the most heinous violations of the public's right to know.
By exposing such abuses, SPJs Freedom of Information Committee seeks to educate the public about their rights and call attention to those who would interfere with openness and transparency.
Nominations are now open for the 2012 Black Hole Award. If you know of someone whom you feel is deserving of this "honor," click here to tell us about it.
2011 Recap: Utah the darkest pit in the United States
The SPJ Black Hole Award for 2011 goes to the Utah Legislature and Gov. Gary Herbert for plunging their state into an abyss of secrecy through the most regressive piece of freedom of information legislation in recent history. Click here to read more about last year's winner and the five runners-up.
Project Sunshine
Project Sunshine is most important and visible to the people who need it the most: working reporters and editors. Project Sunshine focuses the attention of SPJ chapters and leaders on Freedom of Information problems, issues, needs and solutions at the local, chapter and state level. State sunshine chairs also are leaders in national access debates.
Access Across America: What We Learned
Access Across America was a national FOI training tour for journalists that ran April through June 2010. It was sponsored by SPJ through a grant by the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation and aimed to spread training in acquiring public records. Freedom of Information Committee Chairman David Cuillier traveled the country by car providing training for chapters, newsrooms and open government coalitions. The intent was to reach as many journalists as possible, particularly those at smaller organizations who cant afford to send people to conferences.
Cuillier completed the tour June 10 when he returned to his home state, Arizona. Cuillier visited 33 states, held 55 programs, covered 14,135 miles and talked to 1,009 people. The FOI guru said the tour was the most rewarding experience of (his) professional life! And based on the helpful feedback, we can confidently say that the 1,009 people Cuillier met with walked away from the sessions with a rewarding experience, too. Cuillier shares what he learned on his tour in his final blog post.
Covering Prisons
Restrictive prison policies continue to be an issue for journalists. SPJ is working to keep prisons accessible and has developed this state-by-state resource of access policies relating to the media.
Open Doors: Accessing Government Records
What would our profession do without the ability to access information held by government agencies? What would we do without state and federal Freedom of Information laws? SPJ's Open Doors project is a comprehensive guide not only to the Freedom of Information Act, but also to freedom of information in general and how it applies to your work and even your life.