Newspaper: Dayton Daily New

Date: May 5, 2005

Topic: An Ohio law permits journalists — but not the public — access to the identities of people licensed to carry a concealed weapon. What is the role of the Dayton Daily News in obtaining and printing information about people with concealed-carry licenses? Can the paper find a balance between the public's right to know and the gun holder's right to privacy?

Format: Panel plus audience.

Follow-up 1: The day after the Roundtable, the Dayton Daily News sponsored a Q&A workshop in which citizens met with a state attorney to learn how they can obtain government records.

Follow-up 2: The paper held a second Freedom of Information Roundtable on July 28, 2005, on the subject of reporters who use anonymous sources.

Newspaper: The News Journal of Delaware

Date: August 25, 2005

Topic: The Delaware General Assembly is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Law. How can citizens, government officials and The News Journal work together to see that the public has the information it needs about air quality, water safety and other environmental issues?

Format: Panel plus audience.

Follow-up 1: The News Journal plans to partner with the League of Women Voters in early 2006 to hold a second Freedom of Information Roundtable.

Follow-up 2: During the Freedom of Information Roundtable, the state attorney general, Jane Brady, praised the session, saying the dialogue helped her to understand some aspects of The News Journal's coverage for the first time. A few weeks later, she issued an attorney general's opinion declaring autopsies investigative files, not open to public scrutiny. Saying that this decision overturned decades of tradition and transparency in Delaware, The News Journal has filed suit.

Newspaper: Times Union of Albany

Date: September 7, 2005

Topic: What happens when values collide over the public's right to know, the rights of a minor, and the privacy of hospital records? The paper set out to help readers understand the state FOI law and its intent, and then see how it is put to use, how it is tested, how it is circumvented and how it is ignored.

Format: Panel plus audience. The FOI Roundtable was taped and broadcast on WNYT-TV, the local NBC station, in a time slot that generally has 150,000 viewers.

Follow-up 1: The Times Union sponsored a Q&A workshop in which citizens met with the executive director of the state's Committee on Open Government to learn how they can obtain government records.

Follow-up 2: The Times Union will give copies of the FOI Roundtable DVD to college and high school journalism programs in the Albany area. In addition, the New York Newspaper Publishers Association is making 60 copies of the FOI Roundtable DVD for its member newspapers.

Follow-up 3: The Times Union plans to hold a second FOI Roundtable during Sunshine Week in 2006.

Newspapers: The Arizona Republic and The Arizona Daily Star

Date: September 13, 2005

Topic: At what point does privacy trump the public's right to know? What should Arizona newspapers do to help the public understand the role and use of public records?

Format: Panel plus audience

Follow-up 1: In response to a suggestion by a reader at the FOI Roundtable, The Arizona Republic is examining ways to give readers contact information for public information officers in government agencies.

Follow-up 2: The Arizona Daily Star has decided to tell readers when information in a story comes from public records, and will publish lists of contact names and guidelines for obtaining a public record.