Feb. 9, 2006

In the first year of APME's Freedom of Information Roundtables, five newspapers with readership of more than 2 million invited readers to sit down and talk about the papers' use of government records.

Editors and reporters of the five papers listened. They heard articulate, thought-provoking comments from citizens. Some readers said they want their newspapers to leave no stone unturned in obtaining government documents, yet they urged the press to exercise judgment before publishing information that could jeopardize someone's right to privacy. Government officials who attended offered tips that could smooth the way for journalists trying to get records. And newspaper staffers answered readers' questions about why it is important for newspapers to publish government documents they unearth.

You can read about these conversations with readers and find out how to hold your own FOI Roundtable in the book called Freedom of Information Roundtables: Conversations With Your Readers, distributed at the 2005 APME conference in San Jose. To obtain a printed copy of this book, contact project manager Rosalie Stemer via e-mail at rstemer@yahoo.com.

To download a PDF version of the FOI Roundtable book, click here:
FOI Roundtables: Conversations With Your Readers

To read the book on the web, click on these links:

• What is a Freedom of Information Roundtable?

• What about that one stubborn reader?

• What readers want

• How to plan a Freedom of Information Roundtable

• The Freedom of Information Roundtables so far

For more information about Freedom of Information Roundtables, contact: