Reporters Committee hires new FOI Service Center director

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press announced Wednesday the hiring of Tacoma attorney Loren Cochran as director of its Freedom of Information Service Center.

“I am delighted that Loren has agreed to join us,” said Lucy A. Dalglish, Reporters Committee Executive Director. “He brings extensive experience in both the law and broadcast journalism, as well as a proven track record fighting for access to public records.”

The Reporters Committee is a 36-year-old non-profit organization that does legal defense and advocacy work for journalists working in the United States. Its Freedom of Information Service Center was started more than 20 years ago to help reporters gain access to federal, state and local public records and meetings.

In addition to managing the Reporters Committee’s FOI efforts, Cochran will supervise the organization’s popular internship program.

Cochran worked for almost 10 years as a television producer followed by several years as a media litigator in the Seattle/Tacoma area. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Washington with a major in political science and communications and graduated from the Boston College Law School in 2002.

For the past several years, he has worked as an associate at Gordon, Thomas, Honeywell, Malanca, Peterson & Daheim LLP in Tacoma, where he advised the newsroom at the Tacoma newspaper, and has handled defamation and freedom of information lawsuits. Cochran was an investigative news producer for about 10 years for television stations in Seattle, WBZ and WFXT in Boston, and WFTS in Tampa. He founded and managed investigative teams in both Boston and Tampa.

Loren and his wife, Shea, a television producer, will move to the Washington, D.C., area in July. They have a 20-month-old daughter.

Cochran replaces Rebecca Daugherty, who resigned in December after 18 years at the Reporters Committee.