Yale Law School recently announced its launch of a Media Freedom and Information Access Practicum (MFIA), in which students use impact litigation and policy work to increase government transparency through the use of traditional and emerging avenues of gathering news information. MFIA, which was founded by four Yale Law students and is an initiative of Yale’s Information Society Project and the Knight Law & Media Program, has a twofold mission: to assist thorough investigations for news organizations, many of which currently face crippling economic limitations, as well as to champion the public’s right to access information.
MFIA already has a list of future projects with which students can be involved, including doing policy research on First Amendment Rights online for the Electronic Frontier Foundation; working with a journalist who is being denied court records in a corporate whistleblower case; taking on Freedom of Information Act requests and appeals put in by The New York Times; and taking a supportive role in an appeal to the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission. MFIA also plans to pursue federal and state Freedom of Information Act requests in regards to fusion centers, which are state and local intelligence-mining programs funded by the federal government.
In addition to this litigation work, MFIA plans to draft policy papers, coordinate speakers to come to Yale’s campus to discuss important issues, and plan and sponsor a Freedom of Information Boot Camp.
Linda Greenhouse ’78 MSL, the Knight Distinguished Journalist-in-Residence and Joseph Goldstein Lecturer in Law at Yale, stated her support for MFIA, saying it follows the pro bono public legal tradition, as Yale students will work against government secrecy, helping creating both an accountable government and a healthier democracy. Yale Law School Dean Robert Post ’77, a First Amendment scholar, agrees, stating that this practicum is also important because it will help traverse the changing economic and technological media communications industry.
