12 /14/2004


AP's Tom Curley takes a leadership role in a new open government initiative focused on the public

NEW YORK -- Associated Press President and CEO Tom Curley says there is
a trend toward more secrecy and it is important for the media to renew
its commitment to open government in the United States. Curley and other
media leaders have announced a 2005 initiative called "Sunshine
Sunday-Sunshine Week: Your Right to Know" to foster a public dialogue on
the importance of maintaining access to government information.

The nationwide, multimedia initiative is designed to encourage print,
broadcast and online media to address open-government issues the week of
March 13, 2005 through news coverage, editorials, commentaries,
editorial cartoons and other journalistic vehicles.

The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) and the
Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) are spearheading the
project, funded by grants from the John S. and James L. Knight
Foundation in Miami. The across-the-media initiative is an expansion of
a state initiative led by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors
called "Sunshine Sunday" that began in Florida in 2002.

Curley discussed details of the national initiative in a media briefing
today along with Andy Alexander, Washington bureau chief of Cox
Newspapers and chair of the ASNE Freedom of Information committee;
Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio-Television News Directors
Association and John Sturm, president and CEO of the Newspaper
Association of America (NAA). They agreed with Curley that the American
media has to do a better job of explaining to the public why the fight
for open government is in the public interest.

"We ourselves need to be out there fighting for access," Curley said.

All four executives are on a 54-member steering committee representing
major news organizations, journalism groups and universities with
communications programs who have expressed their support for the public
awareness initiative, including the Associated Press Managing Editors
(APME).

Founded in 1848, The Associated Press is the world's oldest and largest
newsgathering organization, providing content to more than 15,000 news
outlets with a daily reach of 1 billion people around the world. Its
multimedia services are distributed by satellite and the Internet to
more than 120 nations.

On the Net:

http://www.ap.org
http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?id=5373
http://www.rtnda.org
http://www.apme.com

contact: Ellen Hale
AP Corporate Communications
212-621-1720