Oklahoma
Dept. of Libraries

200 NE 18th St
Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma
73105-3298

Questions or Comments:
Bill Young,
Public Information Office

The 11th Annual
First Amendment Congress

Education Day
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tom Steed Conference Center, Rose State College

Professional Day
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Oklahoman Tower

The Annual Congress is hosted by
Freedom of Information Oklahoma, Inc.

Stop the Presses?

For more than 200 years, the United States has been able to depend on its press—the Fourth Estate—to scrutinize government.

As more citizens turn to Internet news sites, blogs, and social media technologies, newspapers and other traditional media are finding it difficult to survive financially. Cutting staff, newspapers are increasingly unable to encourage or support the investigative journalism that has exposed corruption and wrongdoing in the past. At the same time, in cyberspace and on cable television, “news” content is increasingly filled with commentary and opinion, rather than journalism.

Time and circumstance are muzzling our nation’s watchdog. How can we assure that respectable and ethical journalism survives in this new age? How can we keep the watchdog alive?

Schedules

Location and Parking

For Education Day

click for large map

For Professional Day

The Oklahoman Tower

Enter The Oklahoman campus off of the east access road to US 77 (Broadway Extension). The east access road is a one-way, north bound road.

Those traveling north on US 77 (Broadway Extension) may take the Britton Road exit.

Those driving south on US 77 (Broadway Extension) may take the Wilshire Blvd. exit and make two left turns to get on the east access road, heading north.

Guards at The Oklahoman will point you to the parking area.

Registration

Education Day Program • Wednesday, October 28—$15
Includes lunch and refreshments

Up to 10 students and teachers $35
Up to 25 students and teachers $50
Each additional student $5
Scholarships are available for schools.

Professional Program • Thursday, October 29—$35
Includes lunch and refreshments

Special Rate for Students—$15
Special Rate for FOI members—$15

CLE for Attorneys—$30

To register, or for more information, please contact the Oklahoma Library Association, 405–525–5100

or Download Invitations

Continuing Education

Attorneys who wish to receive continuing legal education credits for the “Ethical Journalism or Invasion of Privacy” session must pay this fee in addition to the registration fee(s) above.

Sponsors

Oklahoma's First Amendment Congress
is sponsored by:

Freedom of Information Oklahoma, Inc.
215 E. 6th Street
Edmond, OK 73034
(405) 341-3169
www.foioklahoma.org

Co-sponsors of the Congress are:

• Associated Press
• Association of Central Oklahoma Governments
• City Arts Center, Oklahoma City
• Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation
• Oklahoma Bar Association
• Oklahoma Department of Libraries
• Oklahoma Library Association
• Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation
• Oklahoma Press Association
• The Oklahoman
• Oklahoma State University School of Journalism and Broadcasting
• Tulsa World
• OSU School of Journalism and Broadcasting
• Southern Nazarine University

About the Presenters

Education Day

Jennifer Foster has been teaching for five years at Norman North High School and the University of Central Oklahoma. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Education and a Master’s degree in Education Administration. Foster is the Fine Arts Department Chair, Director of Debate and co-sponsor of the National Forensics League. In 2008, Foster was named the Outstanding Young High School Teacher by the Oklahoma Speech Theatre Communication Association. Speech and debate has made an enormous impact on her life, and she hopes to pass on those experiences.

Sue Hale has been active in freedom of information for more than 20 years, and is a founder of Freedom of Information Oklahoma Inc. Prior to her retirement in 2008, Hale served in a number of diverse leadership positions at The Oklahoman. She led the effort to establish an online presence for the newspaper in the 1990s, coordinated the paper’s move from downtown to the new headquarters on Broadway Extension, and has served as the paper’s managing editor and executive editor. She remains active in FOI Oklahoma, and assists the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

Jana Harrison is the debate and competitive coach at Edmond North High School. She has coached a student in the top 15 at the National Tournament in 2005, and has also coached students who have won multiple national level awards, including a team that received a bid for the Tournament of Champions hosted by the University of Kentucky. Harrison was awarded the Outstanding Coach of the Year in 2006, and is now in her sixth year coaching. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in Education.

Maureen Kelley is Community Outreach Director at Youth Services for Oklahoma County. In her position, she oversees the Supporting Kids in Independent Living Program, which assists high school students in the Oklahoma City Public Schools who live outside a home environment. She also has developed a program for teenagers and adults on Internet safety; she has spoken to groups across Oklahoma on the issue. Prior to joining Youth Services, she worked for the United Way of Central Oklahoma in its 2007 fundraising campaign. Maureen graduated from the University of North Texas with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology. She is a native of Oklahoma City and is a graduate of Bishop McGuinness High School.

Joey Senat, Ph.D., has been challenging and inspiring young people at the annual First Amendment Congress for nine years now. He is an associate professor at Oklahoma State University’s School of Journalism and Broadcasting, and is the author of Mass Communication Law in Oklahoma. He is recipient of the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists’ First Amendment Award, was honored with the Marian Opala First Amendment Award at the 2007 First Amendment Congress, and has served as FOI Oklahoma president. Senat has received two awards for his media law-related scholarship.

Professional Day

Kelly Burley joined Oklahoma Public Radio KOSU as Director in September 2007. Burley returned to public radio after more than four years as Associate State Director for AARP Oklahoma. Burley first joined KOSU in 1990, first as a reporter, then news director and eventually program director. During that time, he won three Edward R. Murrow awards from the Radio Television News Directors Association, the National Journalism Award from the Scripps Howard Foundation, and two national awards from Public Radio News Directors, Inc.

Mark Hanebutt is a professor of journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma. He has worked for newspapers in Indiana and Florida, including The Orlando Sentinel, as a reporter, magazine writer, syndicated feature writer and an editor. His work has appeared in newspapers and periodicals across the country. He is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association and maintains a legal practice limited to consulting on media-related issues. He is president of FOI Oklahoma, Inc.

Carlton Houston is the News Director for KTUL News Channel 8 in Tulsa. His background includes news management positions at television stations in Jackson, Mississippi, and Tampa, Florida. His career started as a reporter and anchor at stations in Kansas City and Norfolk, Virginia. The Emmy award-winning journalist got his start as a stringer for the Kansas City Star/Times.

Marvin Kalb is a James Clark Welling Presidential Fellow at George Washington University and Edward R. Murrow Professor Emeritus at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He serves as moderator of The Kalb Report and is a contributing news analyst for National Public Radio and Fox News. Kalb had a distinguished 30-year broadcast career, working for both CBS News and NBC News. Among his honors are two Peabody Awards, the DuPont Prize from Columbia University, the 2006 Fourth Estate Award from the National Press Club and more than a half-dozen Overseas Press Club awards.

Barbara Miller is an associate professor and government documents librarian at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. She has created for the American Library Association Government Documents Round Table a long list of government websites and publications which disappeared in the wake of 9/11, and has spoken on disappearing government information both at ALA and at the International Fire Protection Librarians Conference, as well as at several depository library meetings in Oklahoma. She is currently a Councilor of the American Library Association.

Bob Nelon is a shareholder with Hall, Estill, Hardwick, Gable, Golden & Nelson, P.C. in Oklahoma City. He practices primarily in the areas of media law and business litigation. Licensed to practice in Oklahoma, he is admitted before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second, Eighth, and Tenth Circuits, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the U.S. Supreme Court. His firm is a member of the Defense Counsel Section of the New York-based Media Law Resource Center, and Nelon currently serves on the DCS Executive Committee

Bob Sands is manager of network news at OETA, where he brings more than thirty years of experience in radio, television and journalism education. He has covered U.S. Presidents, the Oklahoma City bombing, and thousands of stories affecting the lives of Oklahomans. He was also instrumental in writing and passing the Oklahoma Open Records Act. The Oklahoma chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists honored Sands with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2007.

Joey Senat, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Oklahoma State University’s School of Journalism and Broadcasting, and is the author of Mass Communication Law in Oklahoma. He is recipient of the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists’ First Amendment Award, was honored with the Marian Opala First Amendment Award at the 2007 First Amendment Congress, and has served as FOI Oklahoma president. Senat has received two awards for his media law-related scholarship.

Mark Thomas is the executive director of the Oklahoma Press Association, the trade association of Oklahoma’s 220 daily and weekly newspapers. The mission of OPA is to advance and safeguard the newspaper industry to the benefit of the press and the public. Thomas has also served as director of the Colorado Press Association.

Gloria Trotter is current Oklahoma Press Association president, and the co-publisher of The Countywide & Sun newspaper in Tecumseh. She and her husband have published the paper since 1983. Trotter has worked in radio, in marketing, as a press aid to a U.S. representative, and in continuing education. As a journalist, she has won numerous awards, including the 2005 National Newspaper Association McKinney Award. She is the only Oklahoman to ever receive the NNA award.

Return to Previous Page

Copyright— All Rights Reserved
Oklahoma Department of Libraries