Editor's Desk

It's Sunshine Week

Posted by: John Beck

Friday, March 14, 2008 2:26 PM

Sunday is the start of national Sunshine Week.You may not have heard of it, but it's important nevertheless. It's got nothing to do with the weather, but rather the public's right to know.


The week is intended to highlight the importance of open government and freedom of information, and to get people talking about these vital issues.


Openness in government is not a principle most people would disagree with, even government officials. But in practice, there are problems with government conducting the public's business in public at all levels.


Nationally, the Bush administration's penchant for secrecy in all matters, but especially on issues of national security, has often been noted.


However, there's better news elsewhere, according to an op-ed piece we're using Sunday in The News-Gazette's Commentary section. Alasdair Roberts, a professor of public administration in the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, writes that since 2001, almost 30 other countries have adopted U.S.-style freedom of information laws, which provide citizens with a right to government documents. Among the most recent adopters are the two most populous countries on earth: India and China.


The picture in our own state is mixed. Illinois has a Freedom of Information Act and an Open Meetings Act that are intended to open up the workings of government and to ensure that public information is available to citizens.


But in East Central Illinois and around the state, people find that government often isn't as open as it is supposed to be.


About eight years ago, The News-Gazette took part in an investigation along with the Associated Press and other newspapers around the state. Reporters, walking into government offices as regular citizens, asked for documents plainly and specifically covered by the Freedom of Information Act.


In about two-thirds of the cases, they walked out empty-handed. Even after the end of the seven-day legal deadline for governments to comply, about a quarter of the reporters hadn't gotten the records. Sometimes they never got them. I'd be willing to bet that the situation wouldn't be too different today.


What's worse, the state's Freedom of Information Act contains a ton of exemptions that allow governments to withhold vast amounts of information from disclosure.


Sunshine Week is led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, but don't think that openness in government is not an issue only, or even mainly, for journalists.


Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan several years ago established the position of public access counselor, held by Terry Mutchler, to work to ensure compliance with the state's open government laws and to help resolve disputes between citizens and government officials.


Statistics compiled by the public access counselor show that the vast majority of complaints about compliance with the Freedom of Information or Open Meetings Acts were not filed by journalists. Of 988 complaints logged in 2006, 80 percent were filed by members of the public.

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