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A new Knight fund provides urgently needed resources in FOI battles
- By: ASNE staff
- On: 01/06/2010 13:49:00
- In: Open government
Recent studies by the National Freedom of Information Coalition and the Media Law Resource Center indicated that open government lawsuits have "fallen dramatically" in most states as a result of a sharp decline in media-company resources available to fund them. Stepping into the breach is the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which approved a $2 million, three-year grant to NFOIC to support state open government groups. The Knight FOI Fund "will provide up-front costs such as court costs, filing and deposition fees, if attorneys are willing to take on a pro bono basis cases that otherwise would go unfilled," according to a release issued by the organizations.