| Former ASNE counsel receives open government award
Published: March 21, 2005
Last Updated: March 21, 2005
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Former ASNE counsel
Richard
M.
Schmidt is the 2005 recipient of the Madison Award, presented by the American
Library
Association
to honor those who have championed, protected,
and promoted public access to government information and the public’s right
to know.
Schmidt, who
died in October, devoted a long and productive career to open
government and a free press, each integral to a democracy. Throughout his
career, which included positions in government,
he fought for greater government openness.
The range of issues on which he worked is truly impressive, from the 1974 Freedom
of Information Act, to the “Official Secrets Act” of 2000, and
most recently provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act.
In addition to ASNE, Schmidt
had represented the Association of American Publishers,
the White House Correspondents Association and Knight Ridder.
The award, named
for President James Madison, was established in 1986 and is presented each
March.
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