Iowa Newspaper Foundation and Iowa Freedom of Information Council team up

The Iowa Newspaper Foundation and Iowa Freedom of Information Council are teaming up to on a new series of training videos this summer to help inform journalists about the laws affecting government meetings and access to government records.

The library of videos will be archived by the INA staff and will be available at no charge whenever a new reporter joins your staff or when you and your employees want to brush up on some aspect of what are called Iowa’s “sunshine” laws.

Randy Evans, the FOI Council’s executive director, is preparing the videos in consultation with the Council’s lawyers.

Each video will be approximately 15 minutes in length. Some will also direct viewers to longer, more in-depth videos to address more complex aspects of the meetings law or the records law.

The training series will include such topics as:

• What the law requires government boards to provide in advance notice and a tentative agenda before a meeting can be held;
  
• What the law says about journalists or citizens recording, photographing or live-streaming government board meetings;
  
• When and what is required before board members meet in closed sessions;
  
• What you can learn about the reasons for closed sessions;

• What governments are required to release when an employee is terminated;
  
• How to request copies of government records;
  
• What law enforcement records are you entitled to obtain;
  
• What the law says about access to government employees’ personnel records.

Suggestions for these training videos can be directed to Evans at IowaFOICouncil@gmail.com.