Press Releases

12/14/04

Journalists launch 'Sunshine Week' to press for government openness

By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Journalism organizations are planning a nationwide campaign to press for government access, which they say is being denied more often by officials who claim post-Sept. 11 security concerns warrant keeping information secret.

For a week beginning March 13, news outlets will run stories, editorials and cartoons on the subject. The effort announced Tuesday has been dubbed "Sunshine Week."
"From city hall to Congress, and from police chiefs' offices to the attorney general's office, the trend toward secrecy is unmistakable," said Tom Curley, president and CEO of The Associated Press.

"The most important thing from our standpoint, of course, is to connect what we do to the public interest, and to line up with the people and remind them how important it is that they get access to what their elected representatives are doing," he said.

The project, joined by more than 50 news outlets, journalism groups, universities and the American Library Association, was inspired by a campaign in Florida two years ago during which newspapers across the state ran editorials, op-ed columns, cartoons and stories about the importance of government openness.

The Florida Society of Newspaper Editors estimates that about 300 exemptions to open government laws were defeated in subsequent legislative sessions.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, government agencies must provide the public with access to government information, unless the information falls under certain exemptions. However, the agencies can decide on their own to disclose the exempted information.

In October 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft changed the FOIA policy by requiring agencies to carefully consider national security, effective law enforcement and personal privacy before releasing information. Ashcroft cited security concerns in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks as the reason for the changes to open government laws.

Andy Alexander, chairman of the American Society of Newspaper Editors' Freedom of Information Committee, said Ashcroft's order turned "the basic concept of open government on its head."

"It used to be the presumption was that information would be public unless the government could show a compelling reason that it should remain secret," Alexander said. "And Attorney General Ashcroft's directive basically turned that upside down and put the onus on citizens to show that they needed the information."

The Justice Department issued a statement Tuesday saying Ashcroft's order was not aimed at limiting the public's access to information. "Rather, it reflects a change in FOIA policy that is largely a matter of emphasis and tone."

Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association, said reporters are under increasing pressure to disclose confidential sources. She cited last week's decision by a judge to sentence Jim Taricani, a Providence, R.I., television reporter, to six months of home confinement for refusing to say who leaked him an FBI videotape of a politician taking a bribe.

"We need to make it clear to the public why reporters like Jim are willing to take these risks," Cochran said. "It's not because of their own professional standing. It's because he's preserving a very important right of the public to have access to a flow of information. And certainly being able to maintain the confidentiality of sources is important to that flow."

Deanna Sands of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, president of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, said, "We all have a stake in open government that responds to the needs and wishes of the people it serves. ... We must pay attention either through our own efforts or through those of skilled journalists who act as watchdogs." The APME is on the Sunshine steering committee.

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American Society of Newspaper Editors: http://www.asne.org