May 5More robust shield laws are required to protect watchdog reporting.By Emily Garcia In 2021, AG Merrick Garland announced that the Department of Justice will no longer seize journalists’ records — however, there is still a need to codify his promise into a law for succeeding administrations. In previous administrations, press freedom advocates witnessed flippant degradations of the fourth estate’s…FOIA3 min read
Mar 18How NOT to Write an Open Records LawBy Emily Garcia Open records laws are written with the expressed intention to make the government more accountable to the people it serves. …FOIA4 min read
Feb 10How IRS Funding Deficits Harm Accountability Effortsby Sophia Lam As April approaches, the IRS has warned taxpayers that current staffing shortages and backlogs will translate to “another frustrating filing season,” as there is currently only one IRS staffer available for every 16,000 incoming calls. …Irs3 min read
Aug 6, 2021A World Without Surveillance AdvertisingBy Michael Clauw Last week, Facebook announced that it would be changing its policy to ban advertisers from targeting minors based on interest categories. Going forward, advertisers will only be able to target underage users based on their age, gender, and location. …Surveillance Capitalism4 min read
Jul 30, 2021An agency paralyzed by partisan deadlock: Why Congress must reform the FECBy Eric Dai The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent federal regulatory agency that holds the all-important responsibility of enforcing campaign finance laws. Because of its inherently partisan structure, however, the FEC is failing utterly to meet its mission. The FEC is composed of six commissioners, all appointed by…Fec3 min read
Jul 9, 2021Critical Race Theory: A Manufactured OutrageBy Eric Dai If you don’t watch certain news, it may seem like “critical race theory” became a cultural flashpoint seemingly out of nowhere. Pundits on cable news have railed against critical race theory as “neo-Marxist rhetoric,” “mandatory indoctrination,” and “a disease born from the hateful halls of left-wing academia.”…Critical Race Theory5 min read
Jun 17, 2021The Downfall of Local News:How the newest member of the Fortune 500 is crushing local journalism. By Nathaniel Hylton Earlier this month, Sinclair Broadcast Group was thrilled to share with the world that the telecommunications company, after decades of growth, had finally made its way into the coveted Fortune 500 list. …Local News4 min read
Jun 3, 2021Reforms for Accessing Federal Public Court Records Are Long OverdueIt’s time for Congress to Overhaul PACER. By Rita Wegner The American courts system is a vast, sprawling behemoth, broken up by level of government and location. Access to records from local and state courts varies widely, but in 1988 the federal government created the Public Access to Court Electronic…Accountability4 min read
Apr 27, 2021Open Records Laws, Ignored Amid the Pandemic, Must Be RevitalizedBy Sacha Sloan Last month during Sunshine Week — an annual initiative launched in 2005 to promote open government — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland proclaimed that “democratic accountability requires the kind of transparency that [the Freedom of Information Act] makes possible.” Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and parallel…FOIA5 min read
Apr 16, 2021Facebook’s Algorithmic Priorities: Why Zuckerberg Denied Facebook’s Addictive NatureBy Nathaniel Hylton “Time well spent.” That’s the phrase Mark Zuckerberg has used to describe Facebook, always focusing on how the platform is “bringing people closer together.” The co-opting of this phrase — first used by Facebook critics — seems carefully designed to hide Facebook’s highly addictive nature. “It’s as…Facebook3 min read