Today kicks off Sunshine Week, an initiative that highlights the critical role of open government and freedom of information.
Every year, journalists and First Amendment advocates try to impress upon the public the urgency of protecting a free press. But as weâve noted before, itâs not easy to get people stirred up about public records requests and to explain why Sunshine Week and the concept behind it should matter to you.
That shouldnât be a problem this year, because last week saw the improbable, the incomprehensible: the trial of an American reporter arrested while covering the news.
Sunshine Week: Access to public meetings moved online in last year
newarkadvocate.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newarkadvocate.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Sunshine Week starts today
kdhnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kdhnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.”
Louis Dembitz Brandeis, who served as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1916 to 1939, wrote that in a 1913 Harper’s Weekly article while discussing “a remedy for social and industrial diseases.”
We still have plenty of those diseases in society today, which is why the American Society of News Editors now the News Leaders Association launched “Sunshine Week” in 2005 to promote open government. Sunshine Week 2021 is March 14-20, and The Dispatch joins news organizations across the country in highlighting the importance of shining a bright light on the workings of government, business and community organizations.
Public records survey highlights unevenness of government tracking, responses
By Andrew Schotz and Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi
A one-month test of government agencies in Maryland revealed a patchwork of approaches in how public records are tracked and how requests for access are filled.
The Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association in February filed requests for public information with 31 state agencies, counties, municipalities and school systems. The idea was to look at trends in the number of public records requests they received over a three-year period and what effect the COVID-19 pandemic had, if any, on their responses.
Asked for their average response time each year in filling or denying Maryland Public Information Act requests and whether it changed during the pandemic only about one-fifth of the 31 government entities that MDDC surveyed provided a full answer, or data to easily figure out the answer.