Columbia, Mo. (Feb. 25, 2005) – An upcoming seminar will examine the off-the-record briefings, anonymous sourcing and official leaking that plague Washington — and the atmosphere of heightened government secrecy underlying them. Who benefits from anonymity? Why? Whom does it harm, and how?

Confronting the Seduction of Secrecy: Toward Improved Access to Government on the Record” is the title of this 5th Annual Curtis B. Hurley Symposium. The event will be held Thursday, March 17 in the ballroom of the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., beginning with a continental breakfast from 8:30-9 a.m. The program will begin at 9 a.m. and end at 10:45 a.m.

“To address the thicket of Washington secrecy requires us first to acknowledge some of the unspoken truths about its allure, both for government and for the press. We hope to emerge with actionable steps that address this longstanding problem,” said Geneva Overholser, moderator of the program and the Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Reporting.

Panelists include:

• Bill Kovach
  Chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists and Former New York Times Washington Bureau Chief
• Tom Curley
  President and CEO of the Associated Press
• Mike McCurry
  Former White House Press Secretary
• Ken Paulson
  Editor of USA Today
• Phil Taubman
  Washington Bureau Chief of the New York Times
• Jack Shafer
  Slate Editor-at-Large
• Jack Nelson
  Former Washington Bureau Chief of the Los Angeles Times
• Andy Alexander
  FOI Chair of American Society of Newspaper Editors
• Ron Hutcheson
  President of the White House Correspondents Association
• Pete Weitzel
  Head of the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government
• Lucy Dalglish
  Executive Director, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
• Pam Johnson
  Executive Director of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism
• Paul McMasters
  The Freedom Forum and First Amendment Center
• Charles Davis
  Professor and Director of the Freedom of Information Center at the Missouri School of Journalism

Sponsored by the Missouri School of Journalism and the National Press Club FOI Committee, the Hurley Symposium is just one of many special forums in Washington, D.C. during Sunshine Week. The events will focus on the public’s right of access to government information.