Times Hosts Online Archive of Public Records

Posted by Terry Francke, General Counsel | Jul 13, 2011 | Legal Issue: Public Information | 0 |

“The Los Angeles Times has begun a novel, crowd sourced public records repository where the paper archives source documents obtained by its reporters alongside documents submitted by the general public,” reports the VR Research blog.

To submit a document, readers can either mail the record to the paper or attach it to an e-mail addressed to documents@latimes.com. Once submitted (and accepted), the paper posts the records it receives here. The paper also hosts a very detailed primer on the California Public Records Act at the site. This site (and those of other major papers if they follow suit) is a wonderful resource for finding letters, studies and other attachments that are referenced in news coverage but seldom released beyond the press corps. These types of sites will also be useful for getting quick access to records that are normally only available pursuant to a written request.

About The Editor

Terry Francke, General Counsel

Terry Francke has a 39-year history of helping journalists, citizens and public officials understand and use their First Amendment and open government rights. With CalAware, Francke has authored comprehensive and authoritative guidebooks to California law on access to government meetings and public records and the news gathering and publication rights of journalists. Focusing on these issues in public forum law, he supervises CalAware's legislative and litigation initiatives; conducts workshops on legal compliance; helps design public records audits; supports local sunshine ordinance drafting efforts; writes CalAware Today, a blog on current developments and proposals in the law and best practices; and answers countless queries by phone and e-mail from citizens, journalists, public officials and employees, and lawyers. Francke previously served 14 years as executive director and general counsel to the California First Amendment Coalition, after a 10-year post as legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association. He has served as an advisory panel member to the National Center on Courts and the Media; taught journalism law at the Department of Communication at Stanford University; and served as an expert contributor to the 1994 major revisions to the Ralph M. Brown Act and the 2004 ballot proposition making open government a basic right of citizens under the California Constitution. Francke is a 1967 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a 1979 graduate of McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. Prior to his legal career, Francke worked as a weekly newspaper editor and in military and local government public affairs positions.

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