Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan released her office’s annual Public Access Report Wednesday, the timing of which coincided with Sunshine Week, the celebration of laws that ensure Illinoisans’ access to governmental records and meetings.
Madigan reported that the state’s Public Access Bureau received thousands of requests in 2015 for help in gaining access to public information – 4,770, to be exact.
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Read More… from Editorial: Public access woes in Illinois cloud Sunshine Week
When we kicked off Sunshine Week, we noted that FOIA reform — already passed by the House — was being considered by the Senate.
Now, with some important modifications, it has passed the Senate, so let's take a look at what will change for requesters.
The first thing to know is that the FOIA reform that passed the House and Senate is actually two different bills, S.337 and H.R.653. Continue…
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Read More… from FOIA reform passes! Now what’s actually in it?
It’s easy during Sunshine Week, the national effort to promote awareness of open-government issues, to feel exasperated by the many recent and ongoing attempts to shield public information from public view.
State lawmakers tried to kill a program that helps citizens resolve FOI disputes. States are keeping secret their execution protocols. A police chief prohibited a citizen from photographing public records as he reviewed them. The list is long, and I even wrote in January that government secrecy was the most serious threat last year to a free press in the US.
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Read More… from Editorial: Three FOI successes to celebrate during Sunshine Week
Is Wisconsin tough on doctors who make big mistakes, costing people their lives? No.
Is soil at the former Royster-Clark plant on Madison’s East Side still contaminated? Yes.
Was a Waupun prison guard suspended for making a lynching joke about President Barack Obama? Yes. '
Was a UW-Madison football player really acting in self-defense — as the athletic department contended — during a fight last fall at his off-campus residence? No. (He actually threw the first punch.)
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Read More… from Editorial: Sunshine laws help answer big questions
To commemorate Sunshine Week and the National Freedom of Information Day, the First Amendment Foundation and The Poynter Institute have launched a new online “Sunshine Certificate” to help educate elected officials, attorneys, journalists and citizens on open government laws.
The online “Sunshine Certificate” programs combine the best of the First Amendment Foundation’s training with the flexibility of online learning. Florida public officials, attorneys, journalists and citizens are able to choose the training that meets their needs.
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Read More… from First Amendment Foundation, Poynter Institute launch the ‘Sunshine Certificate’
In various locales around Missouri, government officials have engaged in wanton violations of the state’s Sunshine Law either through carelessness or willful defiance. Whatever the excuse, there is no excuse.
The public has a right to know how decisions are made and taxpayer dollars are spent. Keeping tabs on officials becomes much harder when they cloak their activities in secrecy. The denial of public access serves as an open invitation for corrupt practices and mischief.
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Read More… from Editorial: Let the sun shine on public meetings and records
In honor of Sunshine Week, investigative reporter Kelly Hinchcliffe asked fellow journalists on Twitter to share their favorite open government stories from around the country.
Here are some of their top picks along with a few of her favorites, including a story she worked on with several news organizations in North Carolina.
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Read More… from Poynter: Here are 13 of the best open-records stories so far this year
When the editor of a gay-oriented newspaper in Florida requested records that he thought should be public, he cast a wide net, asking that the email of every employee of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office be searched for specific gay slurs over a five-month period.
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Read More… from Obtaining police emails can take months, cost thousands
Transparency in government is essential to upholding American democracy. When citizens have access to behind-the-scenes information about local and federal administrations, politicians are held accountable. The public is educated and engaged. And our nation is strengthened.
It is popular to pledge honest and open leadership while on the campaign trail, but America does not have the best track record in keeping these promises. In fact, Pew research finds that just five percent of Americans believe the government is doing a good job of sharing key information.
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Read More… from Op-ed: Encouraging transparency in government in 2016
Correspondence related to public business by elected officials is public record. All of it. That means "snail mail," faxes and emails.
But muddying the public records law process is perhaps the most popular, quickest and often most creative way people communicate — text messages.
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Read More… from Obtaining Florida elected officials’ texts can be tricky — and costly
