Davis, Edwards and a small staff of mostly part-time students labored to increase the center's presence on the Web, created an e-mail newsletter and encouraged academic research about freedom of information. Hammitt, in Virginia, has noticed the new mission.

"Paul Fisher saw his role more as an archivist, which was what the center was created for originally," he says. "Charles Davis has positioned the center as an advocate for many of the pro-access issues that are vital to all of us who use government."

Thanks in large part to Davis' prominence among those concerned about protecting citizens' access to government, the School of Journalism will become headquarters for the National Freedom of Information Coalition later this year. Previously based in Dallas, the coalition is the umbrella organization for various state freedom of information groups, including the Missouri Press Association.

The staff of Investigative Reporters and Editors, an international organization headquartered on the MU campus with about 5,000 dues-paying members, are also intimately acquainted with freedom of information issues. Among other things, IRE staff members counsel reporters on how to strike a proper balance between an individual's right to privacy and the public's need to know. Two veteran journalists, Brant Houston and Len Bruzzese, share responsibility for IRE's day-to-day operations. Both also serve as faculty members in the School of Journalism.

IRE's offices also house the National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting, where two more veteran journalists, David Herzog and Jeff Porter, help journalists across Missouri, the nation and the globe obtain and analyze huge amounts of government information available in digital formats.

One of hundreds of examples that could be offered is the IRE/NICAR Database Library, which includes the Environmental Protection Agency's Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Information System. Reporters investigating hazardous waste sites in their communities, for instance, can contact IRE/NICAR to gain access to the database, which has been configured by analysts so that it is easier to use than the government version.

Davis says the interaction between the FOI Center and professional organizations such as IRE/NICAR adds to the excitement of his job: "This is the journalism school, and the university, at their best -- thinking and doing."