03/07/08

Associated Press, Star Tribune reporters to receive FOI honors

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Reporters from The Associated Press and the Star Tribune will receive awards for their investigative coverage following the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information announced Thursday.

AP writers Brian Bakst and Martiga Lohn and Star Tribune reporters Dan Browning, Kevin Diaz, Patrick Doyle, Mike Kaszuba and Paul McEnroe will receive the 2008 John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award during a ceremony March 14 at the Minneapolis Central Library.

The Minnesota coalition said this year's recipients "enhanced public understanding of the tragedy through their explicit use of the Freedom of Information Act and the Minnesota Data Practices Act to gain access to public information."

Honorable mention awards will go to Susan Albright, former Star Tribune editorial page editor, and to Susan Ledray and Katrina Zabinski, coordinators of the "Self Help Center" in Minnesota's 4th Judicial District.
Jane Kirtley, director of the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law at the University of Minnesota, will speak at the awards ceremony about the outlook for freedom of information.
___
On the Net:
Minnesota Coalition on Government Information: http://www.mncogi.org