How to access open records – and how to fight back when you're denied [virtual]

Join the Minnesota Journalism Center and Minnesotans for Open Government for a midday conversation about open records and public meetings access in Minnesota. 

Three experts on Minnesota’s open records and meetings laws will walk you through ways to identify the records you might need for a story, what to do to get them, how to negotiate costs and what to do when your requests are denied.

This virtual session is led by a national-award winning investigative journalist, a legal investigator and Minnesota’s resident expert on open records laws. 

Register for the session: Sign up to join the training on Zoom

You will walk away with invaluable tools to help you access vital and powerful information for your audience, while holding institutions to account.

• Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2025
• Time: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
• Where: Zoom [register]
• Who it's for: All journalists — at any stage of their career, in any corner of the newsroom — who work in and around Minnesota. Whether you're a seasoned editor or in your first student role, you'll learn something new and useful that you can apply immediately to your work in the state.
• RSVP: Register for the virtual session via Zoom
   

This session is part of the Minnesota Journalism Center's series of events and training focused on connecting nonprofit and member-supported news organizations across the state.   |  Interested in joining the cohort? Sign up to stay in the loop about the group's meetups, events and other opportunities to connect, learn and grow together.

We hope to see you there!

Meet the speakers

Brandon Stahl is director of investigations at Minneapolis law firm Storms Dworak, where he applies his investigative skills to uncover crucial evidence and build cases. Before joining Storms Dworak, Brandon was one of the most accomplished investigative journalists in Minnesota history. In his 20-year career as an investigative journalist, Brandon exposed injustice throughout the state, including uncovering police corruption and misconduct, identifying routine failures to investigate and prosecute sexual assaults, and revealing systemic failures in child protection. 

MaryJo Webster has been a data journalist for about 25 years and currently heads up the Minnesota Star Tribune’s data team. Prior stints include the St. Paul Pioneer Press, USA Today and Center for Public Integrity. She started as a beat reporter in New Ulm., Minn., and later Oshkosh, Wis. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism. She is a senior fellow for the Center for Health Journalism and the board chair of Minnesotans for Open Government, the state's freedom of information coalition. 
 

Don Gemberling began working with issues of transparency, governmental accountability, the implications of technology on humans and data privacy in 1973. For more than three decades, either alone or as a staff team leader, Don managed functions in the state Department of Administration that helped government agencies comply with the Data Practices Act and related laws. He also helped citizens exercise their rights under those laws. He graduated from Macalester College and William Mitchell College of Law. In 2023, Don was inducted into the National Freedom of Information Coalition’s State Open Government Hall of Fame. He is the board secretary of Minnesotans for Open Government. 

Questions about the training? Contact the Minnesota Journalism Center's Meg Martin ([email protected])