From Associated Press:
The Associated Press and the Tennessee Press Association will hold their annual Newsmakers Session Thursday, Feb. 5, at the Doubletree Nashville, 315 Fourth Ave. North, downtown Nashville. The event is part of the TPA’s annual winter convention.
The AP session starts at 8:30 a.m. in Salon E and concludes about 11:45 a.m. It’s open to all media organizations and focuses on public policy issues as the General Assembly starts its work this session.
Here’s the lineup:
9 a.m., New polling about Medicaid expansion and other issues by Middle Tennessee State University pollster Jason Reineke
9:30 a.m., Tennessee GOP Chairman Chris Devaney discusses politics headed into a presidential election year in 2016 and a proposal that seeks clod party primaries in Tennessee.
10 a.m., Deborah Fisher, executive director, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, discusses the fight to keep public meetings and records open.
10:15 a.m., Vanderbilt University pollsters John Geer and Joshua Clinton discuss their latest findings on key issues in Tennessee.
10:40 a.m., “In the Trenches: The Fight for Transparency in Government,” a panel discussion examining the trend of citizen activists in Tennessee increasingly locked in disputes with local governments over open meetings and public records. The panel features citizen activist Helen Sharp of Chattanooga, who won a recent open meetings lawsuit; Elisha Hodge, former state Open Records Counsel; Frank “Buzz” Trexler, managing editor of The Maryville Daily Times; and TCOG executive director Deborah Fisher. Moderated by Scott Stroud, AP’s news editor for Tennessee and Kentucky.
Gov. Bill Haslam will speak at the TPA luncheon immediately following the session. Contact the TPA’s Robyn Gentile at [email protected]m if you would like credentials.
Tennessee Newspapers
The Tennessee Press Association is the trade association of Tennessee’s daily and non-daily newspapers, and it is the parent organization of Tennessee Press Service and Tennessee Press Association Foundation. It was founded in 1870-71 for the purpose of creating a unified voice for the newspaper industry of Tennessee.
