Brechner Center

The Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida has launched the second season of the podcast “Why Don’t We Know” hosted by Sara Ganim, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Hearst Journalism Fellow at the Center. The second season focuses on secrecy in the criminal justice system and…

By Lila Greenberg, B.S. Telecommunication 2022 The Brechner Center for Freedom of Information hosted its inaugural Brechner Speaker Series event featuring award-winning investigative journalist Jason Leopold. In collaboration with the Bob Graham Center for Public Service and the UF College of Journalism and Communication, the Brechner Center invited Leopold to…

This article originally appeared in Human Rights, Vol. 47, No. 2, December 2021, by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission.  By Frank D. LoMonte Director, Brechner Center for Freedom of Information If you set out with a blank page to design a civics course meeting the challenges of the…

This column by University of Florida Brechner Center for Freedom of Information Director Frank LoMonte originally appeared on Inside Higher Ed on Dec. 13, 2021. Reprinted with permission. Social media is an empowering leveler for millions of young users. It gives teenagers a vast outlet to connect with faraway peers…

Journalist Miranda Spivack, a former Journalist-in-Residence at the University of Florida’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, published a series of articles on “clean state” laws, based on an investigation she began while at the Center. Clean slate laws are intended to remove criminal records from public view so that…

Frank LoMonte, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information director, is quoted in “4 First Amendment ‘Where America Stands’ Findings that Surprised Experts (and 3 that Didn’t)” published in Freedom Forum on Sept. 29. The article focuses on Freedom Forum’s newly released “The First Amendment: Where…

This article by Brechner Center Director Frank LoMonte originally appeared in The Conversation on July 9, 2021. Photo credit: “Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 From condo salesman to reality TV host to leader of the free world, Donald Trump has occupied several lifetimes’ worth of identities over a remarkable…

As the emergence of digital technologies has transformed the news industry, the way that journalism is taught and learned in the college classroom and in campus-based journalism laboratories, or news labs, has changed as well. Traditionally, college journalism students needed to find a summer internship at a professional news outlet…

COVID-19 is having a significant financial impact on U.S. newsrooms, at a time when accurate, unvarnished reporting is more critical than ever. As a result, the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information announced today the launch of Brechner Reporting Fellows, 10 fellowships for professional journalists experiencing financial hardship due to…

Frank LoMonte, director of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, published “Kent State Needs an Open Presidential Search” in the Record-Courier (Kent, Ohio) on Nov. 18. LoMonte comments on the transparency of a new search for the next Kent State president, after…