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Sunshine Week 2006 Online Gallery Seven

Published: June 16, 2006
Last Updated: June 16, 2006

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Cleveland Plain Dealer Editor Doug Clifton set a somewhat Orwellian mood for his readers as he explained the importance of the First Amendment and Sunshine Week.

"Imagine, for example, trying to organize a protest of government action if the government refuses to tell you what it is. Imagine trying to speak out against a regulation if you can't learn it exists. Imagine trying to disprove a government assertion if you can't have access to the documents upon which it bases that assertion," Clifton wrote.

The Plain Dealer launched a week's worth of open government coverage in print and on its Web site with articles and editorials that carried readers through the week.

On Monday, the paper produced a special feature (pictured above, left) that not only explained what a public record is, but also helped readers understand how they can access government information and where they can find resources online.

To promote the Sunshine Week focus on the first Sunday, The Plain Dealer incorporated the Sunshine Week poster created by The Buffalo News into a house ad (pictured at right) giving readers an idea of what was ahead. "We will tell you what citizens and government groups are doing to protect your right to know—and what you can do," it read, in part.

The Plain Dealer's coverage can be viewed as PDF files here: Sunday, March 12-Tuesday, March 14; and Wednesday, March 15-Sunday, March 19. Coverage also can be seen in The Plain Dealer's online Public Records Special Report.

In an official proclamation, Gov. Dave Freudenthal declared March 11-17, 2006 as Sunshine Week in Wyoming.

Noting that among the nation's founding liberties were the rights encompassed by the First Amendment, Freudenthal's proclamation declared that, "the democratic process is built upon the rights of citizens to question and hold their elected officials accountable on their actions and motives while they are representing them."

The text of the proclamation is on the governor's Web site.

The First Amendment Center, based in Nashville, hosted its eighth annual National Freedom of Information Day at The Freedom Forum World Headquarters in Arlington, Va. The event was co-sponsored by Sunshine Week in cooperation with the American Library Association.

"For those who care about a government of laws, a democracy based on the informed consent of the governed, these are times that should try our souls," remarked Hodding Carter II in his keynote address opening the conference. "These are days in which basic tenets of this democratic republic are being subjected to unrelenting, full-court assault.

"In ways unseen for the last half-century—since the height of the Cold War—government is systematically shutting down the taps, drying up the flow of information to the American people, cutting back on the intent and spirit of the Freedom of Information Act—and the Bill of Rights," noted Carter, Sunshine Week 2006 honorary chairman.

Carter, an award-winning print and broadcast journalist, former State Department spokesman, and past president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, is now professor of leadership and public policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Panels looked at the impact of a recent executive order regarding FOIA; the difficulties facing whistleblowers; and a legislative review of access issues (click here or on photo below for panelist identifications).

In addition, 21 "champions of open government" were inducted into the National FOIA Hall of Fame.

The American Library Association also presented its James Madison Award to Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, and the Eileen Cooke State and Local Madison Award to Holly Manheimer of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.

"It's time for another push," read the Sunshine Week kickoff editorial in The Journal News of White Plains, N.Y.

Last year, the paper produced extensive Sunshine Week coverage, including an FOI audit of local government offices. While the overall results were "mixed," the Journal News reported that the worst responders were police departments. The chiefs' association promised to make amends, but whatever may have been done "obviously wasn't enough," as evidenced by the "gloomy front-page story [that] reports that the results were, again, dismal."

Lauding the actions of lawmakers who support legislation to strengthen the state Freedom of Information Law, the Journal News updated the bills' status.

Along with the Sunshine Week reports posted on its Web site, reporters' audit notebooks and a link to its special coverage last year, The Journal News ran its interactive Ten Steps to Getting Government Information.

As users progress through the 10 steps, they are prompted with tips, cautions and even the opportunity to utilize sample letters. Of course there also is a step for writing an appeal when a request is denied.

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