Event

"Before Transparency: Disclosure As Political And Cultural 
Practice 1960s-1980s."

Michael Schudson, Columbia University.

Abstract: Today "transparency" is a familiar term but transparency as  a cultural value was not a central part of republican political theory 
in the 18th century and did not begin to become prominent until after 
World War II. While it became very important in the post-Watergate 
era, the groundwork for it was laid in the 1950s and 1960s -- spurred 
by (liberal) elites with relatively little public support. This paper 
focuses on the origins of the Freedom of Information Act (1966), 
environmental impact statements (1970), consumer information rights 
(1966, 1968), and more aggressive media coverage of Congress (early 
1970s) and seeks to understand the broad cultural change that these 
developments contributed to.

Lunch will be served.