Ex-Solicitor Gen'l to Head Commission on Local News Loss
A former solicitor general and a Google executive with an engineering background are jointly at the helm of a new commission formed to explore how best to serve the information needs of citizens seeking to address problems through the democratic process.
The premise of the organizations funding the study group is that citizens today are getting less information in a more complex world about what is happening at home in their own local communities, reports the Associated Press.
Announced today in a press release, the new Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy will be headed by former solicitor general Theodore Olson and Marissa Mayer. She is Google’s vice president of search products and user experience.
Says Olson, who practices in Washington, D.C.: “We begin this inquiry with a totally open mind. We want to understand the state of local communities’ access to the information that citizens need for self-governance. We are open to input from all sources.”
