Editor's Desk

Let the sun shine in

Posted by: John Beck

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 12:50 PM

The idea behind National Sunshine Week is that the public should have a right to know what its government is doing, and why. This should not be a controversial issue in our free society, yet we find obstacles to access to information at all levels of government.

But as this year's  Sunshine Week takes place, there are some encouraging signs, both on the national and state levels.

Sunshine Week, March 15-21 this year, is a national effort lead by the American Society of Newspaper Editors to reinforce the importance of open government and freedom of information to our democratic society. Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, libraries, schools, non-profit groups and others interested in the public's right to know.

The Bush administration's penchant for secrecy was often noted, while in Illinois, the administration of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich routinely fought or ignored requests for information.

But there's been a change in attitude at the top with new President Barack Obama and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. Both have acknowledged the importance of access to information and open government and have pledged to reverse the policies of their predecessors.

On his first day in office, Obama told all federal agencies to adopt a presumption of disclosure, reversing the Bush administration's policy of defending any legitimate excuse to withhold information, according to the Associated Press.

In Illinois, Quinn has ordered state agencies to study what information can be made available online.

"A government that shrouds itself in secrecy and shuts out the sunshine of public scrutiny is one that will neither earn nor deserve the respect and trust of the people," Quinn wrote to the agencies.

Quinn has told agencies to assume that information should be released under the state's Freedom of Information Act unless there is a clear prohibition against release.

Also, state Attorney General Lisa Madigan is proposing to put some teeth into the FOIA by backing legislation that would impose fines on government bodies that do not comply with requests for information.

These are encouraging signs, but we'll see how far these leaders can go in reversing what seems to be government's natural inclination toward secrecy. There's a long way to go. At the national level, there's a backlog of 150,000 FOI requests alone.

You should keep in mind that although Sunshine Week is led by a journalism organization, this is an issue that is important to all of us. Individuals and businesses rather than journalists are far more likely to use FOIA requests to get information from government at all levels.

 

 

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