For Immediate Release
Sept. 29, 2022
Scholarship honors Ralph Langer, longtime FOI Foundation president and news executive
AUSTIN – The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas announced Thursday the creation of a journalism scholarship honoring Ralph Langer, a guiding light as the foundation became the state’s leading voice on transparency and the First Amendment.
The $5,000 scholarship will be awarded in early 2023 to a journalism or photojournalism undergraduate student at a Texas college or university for the 2023-24 academic year. Applications will be accepted beginning in December 2022.
Langer, who died in August 2021 at age 84, was editor and vice president of The Dallas Morning News before his retirement in the late 1990s. He was a longtime president of the nonprofit FOI Foundation of Texas and served as the founding president of the National Freedom of Information Coalition. He continued to support the FOI Foundation of Texas by serving on the board of the FOI Supporting Foundation board until he passed away.
Kathy Langer, his wife of 61 years and a dedicated volunteer with the FOI Foundation, has provided leadership and a generous contribution to create the memorial scholarship.
“Ralph’s whole professional life revolved around the importance of freedom of information and what it means to every American,” Kathy Langer said. “I am proud to support a student in journalism or photojournalism who shares Ralph’s passion and who will appreciate what he did to make those who make the laws realize they owe us the right to know that they are doing, often behind closed doors.”
Of utmost importance when an FOI committee selects the scholarship recipient will be the student’s passion for news and the public’s right to know. Photos can also show that passion, Kathy Langer noted.
“We believe this scholarship will help the next generation of journalists appreciate the history of open government efforts in Texas while forging their own path to advocate for transparency in the future,” said Kelley Shannon, executive director of the FOI Foundation.
Langer guided The Dallas Morning News to six Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure. In 1992, the newspaper won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for a series exposing the use of excessive — and often deadly — force by Texas law enforcement. Much of the information and data for the series came from open records requests to police departments and sheriff’s offices. As part of the series, Langer approved the filing of lawsuits by The News to enforce the right of news media access to public information.
In his leadership role at the FOI Foundation of Texas, Langer recruited editors from the state’s largest daily newspapers to the foundation’s board along with many lawyers who fought First Amendment battles for those newspapers. He shepherded the FOI Foundation’s first annual conferences into existence and attracted keynote speakers to foundation events from among prominent state and national journalists and thought leaders. With Langer showing the way, Texas legislators would pay heed to the foundation on bills affecting open government. Langer also led the foundation in offering open government seminars to the public, journalists and government employees.
This is the second scholarship the FOI Foundation has offered. The foundation last year launched its first scholarship with creation of the Joel White Memorial Scholarship for law students in Texas. White, also a longtime foundation president, was an attorney who championed free speech and open government. He died in 2018.
The FOI Foundation of Texas, founded in 1978, is dedicated to protecting the rights of free speech and free press and to enhancing the public’s right to know about government through access to records and meetings.
Ralph Langer
Contact: Kelley Shannon, Executive Director
Email: [email protected]