The Media Law Center for Ethics and Access, originally named the Center for Privacy and the First Amendment, offers workshops and seminars in media ethics and access to government information. It provides advice and counsel for anyone -- journalists, government officials or members of the public -- with questions

Tim Smith Chair

Jan Leach Director

about ethics or access or related media law concerns. The Center was founded in 1991 to provide information and research on accessing government records and meetings. It was expanded in 2007 to include ethics training and to address issues of access and ethics in online journalism.

The Media Law Center is the only center of its kind in Ohio and one of the few in the Midwest.

The center coordinates the annual Poynter-KSU Media Ethics Workshops for professionals.

Prof. Timothy D. Smith, founder and chair of the Media Law Center, has been on the JMC faculty since 1986. Smith, a lawyer, is the former managing editor of the Akron Beacon Journal. Center Director Jan Leach, an assistant professor in JMC, joined the faculty in 2003 after leaving the Beacon Journal as editor. She has a bachelor's degree from Bowling Green State University and a master's degree from KSU. She is also an Ethics Fellow at the Poynter Institute.

Most services of the Center are free (including information and advice on the web site) There is a nominal charge for participants who attend the annual ethics workshop. Site-specific training in access to government records and ethics also is available.

For more information or to ask a question about access, contact Tim Smith at 330-672-8289 or tdsmith@kent.edu or Jan Leach at 330-672-4289 or jleach1@kent.edu. Inquiries may be mailed to:

Media Law Center
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Kent State University
P.O. Box 5190
Kent, OH 44242