Freedom of Information Sessions at SEJ's 2013 Annual Conference in Chattanooga

It's not too late to register for SEJ's October 2-6, 2013, Annual Conference in Chattanooga —- and some key freedom-of-information sessions there. Register online here.

• At 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 5, SEJ FOI Task Force Chair Tim Wheeler of the Baltimore Sun will moderate a session on "Obstacles to Access: Strategies for the Stonewalled." The session will focus on overcoming obstacles put up by agency press offices to reporters who want to interview government officials. Speakers include: Elizabeth Grossman, Freelance Journalist; John Messeder, Freelance Journalist; Camilla Mortensen, Associate Editor and Reporter, Eugene (Ore.) Weekly; Karen Schaefer, Freelance Journalist and Independent Radio Producer; and Rae Tyson, Staff, Environmental Health News.
• At 10:45 a.m. on Saturday, October 5, WatchDog Editor Joe Davis will present tips for sleuthing dam and levee stories using federal databases like the National Inventory of Dams and the National Levee Database. It will be a hands-on session, so bring your laptop. Special attention will be given to getting data which the Corps of Engineers has made hard to access.