Contact:

Katherine Garner, (214) 977-6658, kgarner@airmail.net

Bob Jensen, (512) 471-1990, rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Symposium to Celebrate Anniversary of Open Records Law

AUSTIN--   One of the nation's leading experts on media law will discuss contemporary threats to open government at a symposium celebrating the 30 th anniversary of the state's Open Records Act in the Bass Lecture Hall at the University of Texas Wednesday, March 26.

      The keynote address by University of Minnesota professor Jane Kirtley, former executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, will focus on the tensions between access to information and government control that have emerged since Sept. 11, 2001. (For more information on Kirtley, see http://www.silha.umn.edu/jane.htm.)

      The program also will include a discussion about the scandals and politics that gave rise to the Open Records Act by Don Adams, who was a member of the Texas Senate when the law was passed. That will be followed by a panel discussion about the current challenges faced by reporters and activists who most often use open records laws. Panelists include:

--Tony Pederson, senior vice president and executive editor of the Houston Chronicle .

--Chip Babcock, a Dallas attorney and one of the country's most well-known media lawyers.

--Lorraine Branham, a former editor of the Tallahassee Democrat and director of the UT School of Journalism.

--Steve McGonigle, an award-winning reporter for The Dallas Morning News .

--Henry Holcomb, a former Houston Post and Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter and editor now at the Philadelphia Inquirer .

      The Open Records Act, which was amended and renamed the Texas Public Information Act in 1995, was passed in 1973 to ensure people's right of access to most state and local government information.

      The symposium, from 9 a.m. to noon, is free and open to the public. The Bass Lecture Hall is in the Sid Richardson Hall at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, at the corner of Dean Keeton and Red River streets. Free parking is available in lots on Red River. (For a map, see http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/areas/lbj.html.)

The event is sponsored by the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas (www.foift.org) and the UT School of Journalism (http://journalism.utexas.edu/).

For more information contact Katherine Garner at (214) 977-6658, kgarner@airmail.net or Bob Jensen at (512) 471-1990, rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.