Frank LoMonte, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information director, will be a member of the “Fighting ‘Censorship by PIO’” four-person virtual panel at the Access & Accountability 2021: Seize the Day Conference sponsored by the Yale Law School Information Society Project on Oct. 2.

The panel focuses on how governments have increasingly imposed gag rules on their employees, barring staff from talking to journalists and providing information only through a public information office. With their careers on the line, employees have little incentive to litigate their speech rights, leaving the public blind to what the government is doing beyond the information officially approved for release through press officers.

This panel will discuss the legal theories for mounting a journalist’s challenge to such gag rules, the procedural hurdles such a case would face, and the legal research and factual development that has already been done on this issue. It will explore opportunities for collaboration among clinics in bringing one or more test cases.

Posted: September 17, 2021
Category: Brechner Center, College News
Tagged as: Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, Frank LoMonte, Gag Rules