Story originally printed in the Vernon Broadcaster or online at www.vernonbroadcaster.com
Published - Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Keeping the light of openness on government is important
Ensuring that open meetings and open records remain open to the public is one of the most important missions of any newspaper.
It doesn't matter if it's the New York Times or the Westby Times, newspapers exist today because of our First Amendment right to free speech. Walking in equal step with that is the fundamental requirement that government hold open meetings and similarly be transparent and open with its records.
This week, dubbed "Sunshine Week," March 16-22, is when the media focuses on open government. It is a nonpartisan initiative led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. It has been adopted by just about every entity that exists thanks to our First Amendment rights, from online and broadcast media, to libraries, religious leaders and civic groups.
A survey conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University found that 74 percent of Americans believe that government is "very or somewhat" secretive. This is up 12 percent from two years ago.
Newspapers butt heads with local, state and federal government on a regular basis trying to ensure that meetings that should be open are open and records that should be public are public. Much of this battle takes place in private, done through face-to-face meetings, phone calls and letters, many letters, sent to governmental entities requesting public records and proof that meetings were correctly posted and held in accordance with the law.
In Wisconsin, the state's open records and open meetings laws are comprehensive and strong. However, journalists regularly contact governments concerned about usage of exceptions to closed session meetings and to request public documents. Furthermore, citizens concerned about possible open meetings or open records infractions usually end up discussing the matter with journalists, who invariably help sort out the matter.
The principles behind open government are fundamental, they go back to a time when the United States was not the United States, but a colony of England. British bureaucrats doing the King's business treated colonists as taxable residents with no rights. The ideals put forth in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were written to ensure that no citizen of this nation would have to deal with tyranny.
Journalists are the front-line defenders of the people's right to freedom of speech, open meetings and open records. They make sure that the sun keeps shining on the government, keeping all things that should be in the public realm as open as the law requires.
—Matt Johnson
All stories copyright 2006 Vernon Broadcaster and other attributed sources.