The Iowa Freedom of Information Council was organized in the fall of 1976 and formally incorporated in 1977 as a non-profit consortium of newspapers, radio and television stations, media associations, educators, publishers, broadcasters and others interested in openness in government and First Amendment rights.
About 22 such statewide organizations are active in the nation today, and the Iowa FOI Council is among the oldest, if not the oldest.
The Iowa Council was established primarily in response to increases in the amount and the costs of litigation involving the news media. The Council's by-laws still provide that it can serve as a voluntary assessment district to finance lengthy court battles that would benefit Iowans interested in open government.
Over the years, however, the Council's work has been primarily educational in nature - acquainting journalists with the Iowa open records and meeting laws and conducting workshops for public officials and other citizens.
This fall the Council will publish the ninth edition of its IOWA OPEN MEETINGS, OPEN RECORDS HANDBOOK. The first edition was published in late 1978. That was soon after the Iowa Legislature had adopted a revised open meetings law to replace one that the Iowa Supreme Court found unconstitutional because of its combination of vagueness and criminal penalties. With the ninth edition, the number of handbooks distributed over the years - at cost or free of charge - will exceed 90,000.
In addition, the Council has provided material for First Amendment and Information-Access Resource Centers in each of some 575 public libraries in Iowa. The project was funded in part by a grant from the National FOI Coalition.
The Council operates on an annual budget of about $17,000. Most of the funds are from sustaining members, who pay annual dues of $500, and from the Iowa Broadcasters Association, which annually contributes $4,000 to help support Expanded Media Coverage of Iowa's courts.
The Council presidency rotates each year among three representatives of the founding organizations of the Council - the Iowa Broadcasters Association, the Iowa Newspaper Association, and the Des Moines Register and Tribune Company. The Council's trustees come from these three groups, other sustaining members, two representatives of the working news media and from the journalism programs at Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and Drake University.
Professor Herbert Strentz of the Drake University School of Journalism and Mass Communication served as the Council's executive secretary from its founding until June 2000, when Kathleen Richardson, a former news editor of the Des Moines Register, took over the day-to-day duties of the Council. Strentz remains in an advisory capacity. The Council pays its operating expenses at Drake and provides stipends for graduate students who assist the Council.
The expenses of officers and executive committee members are paid by their employers or by themselves.
| Jim Autry | C. Ross Martin |
| David Belin | Phil Marty |
| Wendell Benson | John McCormally |
| Ginny Benware | Forrest "Frosty" Mitchell |
| Ferne Bonomi | Louise Moon |
| Jerry Bretey | Buddy Murchison |
| Barbara Brooker | Dan C. Palen |
| Shirley Brown | Joe Patrick |
| Dale Cervin | Tom Quinlan |
| Gaye Charlton | Don Reid |
| Jim Crane | Carol C. Rick |
| Margaret De Lucia | Robert G. Riley |
| J. Michael Downey | Ron Rohr |
| John Eppenheimer | Dennis Schneider |
| Dean Gabbert | J.W. Schwartz |
| G. Michael Gartner | Chuck Seel |
| P.L. "Pinkie" George | Jack Shelley |
| Gary Gerlach | Bill Sherman |
| Jack Gilbert | Don Silcott |
| John Gilbert | Ann Smeltzer |
| Joan Hartsuck | Glenn L. Smith |
| Joe Hladky | Kenneth Starck |
| Jim Hoak | Herbert Strentz |
| John S. Janes | Wayne Svoboda |
| Phil Kelly | Jo VonStein |
| Howard Kennedy | Harrison Weber |
| Wes Krawcyk | Howard Weinberg |
| L.K. Brutin | Steve Weinberg |
| Frank M. Lane | Clarence W. Wilcox |
| Ed Lasko | Kirk Winkler |
| Kenneth MacDonald | Bob Woodward |
| George Zucker |
James A. Autry, Meredith Corporation
Roger Bryant, Consolidated, Inc., Iowegian & Citizen
John M. Butler, Iowa High School Press Association
Michael Downey, The Des Moines Register and Tribune
E.G. "Red" Faust, Iowa Radio Network, KJAN
David Feingold, WOI-AM-FM
Michael Gartner,The Des Moines Register and Tribune
Gary G. Gerlach, The Des Moines Register and Tribune
Fred Grawe, Iowa Press Association
Robert H. Harter, Palmer Broadcasting Co.
Sid Hayman, Cedar Rapids Television Co.
Rox Laird, Des Moines Pro Chapter, SPJ/SDX
Edwin J. Lasko, Iowa Broadcasters Association and KCRG-TV
John McCormally, The Burlington Hawk Eye
Louise Moon, Iowa League of Women Voters
David Nixon, Sr., Greater Sioux City Press Club
Bruce Northcott, WMT Stations, Inc.
Frank Nye, The Gazette Company
Joe R. Patrick, Drake University
James W. Schwartz Iowa State University
Charles J. Seel, Iowa Broadcast News Association and KRNT
Kenneth Starck, University of Iowa
Herbert Strentz, Drake University
William F. Turner, KCAU-TV, Forward of Iowa
Kirk Winkler, WOI-TV
Robert Woodward, Drake University
William Woodward, Iowa Daily Press Association, Dubuque Telegraph-Herald
George Zucker, The Associated Press
1977 Edwin Lasko, KCRG-TV, Cedar Rapids, Iowa Broadcasters Association
1978 John McCormally (1922-1993), Burlington Hawk Eye, Iowa Daily Press
Association
1979 C.W. "Bill" Wilcox (1925-1983), Madrid Register-News, Iowa
Press Association
1980 Gary Gerlach, Des Moines Register and Tribune
1981 Jack Shelley, Iowa State University, IBA
1982 C.W. "Bill" Wilcox, Madrid Register-News, Iowa Newspaper
Association
1983 Forrest Kilmer, Quad-City Times, INA
1984 Barbara Mack, Des Moines Register
1985 Jack Gilbert, KCAU-TV, Sioux City, IBA
1986 John Robertson, Cedar Rapids Gazette, INA
1987 David Witke, Des Moines Register
1988 Michael Giudicessi, WHO-TV, IBA
1989 Mark Hamilton, Iowa Falls Citizen, INA
1990 Rox Laird, Des Moines Register
1991 Mary Quass, KHAK Radio, IBA
1992 Bill Mertens, Burlington Hawk Eye, INA
1993 Diane Graham, Des Moines Register
1994 Bill Tubbs, North Scott Press, INA
1995 Bob Allen, KCRG-TV, Cedar Rapids, IBA
1996 Richard Doak, Des Moines Register
1997 Randall (Rusty) Cunningham, Ottumwa Courier
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