Why Open Government is So Crucial To Our Society - Martha Mendoza @ TEDxSantaCruz

Martha Mendoza talks about the importance of open government and about using Freedom of Information laws around the globe to ensure transparency.

This TEDxSantaCruz talk is one of 16 surrounding our theme of "Open" at the second full-day TEDxSantaCruz event held September 15, 2012 at the Cabrillo College Crocker Theater in Aptos, CA (Santa Cruz County). http://www.tedxsantacruz.org/

Martha Mendoza is an Associated Press Writer whose reports have won numerous awards and prompted Congressional hearings, Pentagon investigations and White House responses. She won a 2000 Pulitzer Prize and George Polk Award for Investigative Reporting as part of a team that revealed, with extensive documentation, the decades-old secret of how American soldiers early in the Korean War killed hundreds of civilians at the No Gun Ri bridge. Mendoza is the recipient of numerous other state, regional, national and international journalism awards, including the Overseas Press Club's Madeline Dane Ross Award, the National Science Writers Association Award, California First Amendment Coalition Beacon Award for Freedom of Information, and repeated AP Managing Editors honors. She has reported for the AP since 1997, in Albuquerque, N.M., New York and Mexico City. She was a 2001 Knight Fellow at Stanford University and a 2007 Ferris Professor for Humanities at Princeton University. She lives in Santa Cruz, Calif. with her husband and four children.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)