TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on May 29, 2026

Frank Gibson, founder and former executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government (TCOG), died earlier this month. Gibson, a longtime Tennessee journalist and advocate for government transparency, founded the coalition in 2003 and served as its executive director until 2011, later remaining active on its board. During his career, he worked for more than four decades as a journalist at The Tennessean, serving as a reporter, city editor and political editor, and later became public policy director for the Tennessee Press Association. Gibson was widely recognized for his work advancing Tennessee’s public records and open meetings laws, including helping draft reforms to the Tennessee Public Records Act and co-authoring “Keys to Open Government,” a guide to the state’s sunshine laws.