Charles Davis has helped loose a small army of journalists holding public officials to account when government strays from Georgia’s Sunshine Laws.
Dean of the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2013, Davis ensures reporters and editors leave UGA schooled in state open records and meetings laws. Those journalists then fan out across Georgia and elsewhere, reporting the news and protecting the public’s right to know.
Before he joined the UGA faculty, Davis spent 14 years as a journalism professor at the University of Missouri. He also served as executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and as executive director of the Freedom of Information Center. His scholarship focuses on government transparency, public records and meetings laws, and the role of a free press in democratic governments. He is the author or editor of four books, including “Access Denied: Freedom of Information in the Information Age” (2001) and “The Art of Access: Practical Strategies for Acquiring Public Records” (2010). He was a member of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation’s board of directors from 2014-2018.
How did Davis, an Athens native, come to be a champion for public access to governments acting on behalf of the people?
“My FOI roots began in Georgia, with my master’s thesis, a history of the Georgia Open Records Act, way back in 1992,” Davis said. “That’s what began my academic fixation with how and why governments can keep some things from the people, and not others. That power – the power to declare a document secret – animated my research, and continues to fascinate me. People undervalue openness and transparency, buzzwords that are easy to say and much harder to operationalize.”
His belief in the power of open government and his work to protect and expand it are why the Georgia First Amendment Foundation is honoring Davis with the 2025 Charles L. Weltner Freedom of Information Award. Davis will receive the award and give the keynote speech at GFAF’s 2025 Weltner Banquet, 6:30-9 p.m., Oct. 28, at the Emory Conference Center in Atlanta. For information about event sponsorships, please email info@gfaf.org. Individual tickets are available here.
Davis says open government laws are crucial not only because they support newsgathering but also empower ordinary citizens. For many people, he said, filing an open records request will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And the response they get can shape their views of their government officials from then on.
>>> Learn more about GFAF’s Weltner Award history and past honorees.
