Sunshine Week is a time to celebrate a simple motto: Open government is good government. The sun should never set on our project to reify that principle — and we say that not just as journalists but as citizens.
Yes, Sunshine Week beams particularly brightly for newspapers and other journalistic entities. We are proud to be a part of the institution enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — the free press — tasked with informing readers, keeping the powerful honest and facilitating the free flow of information. But reporters, editors and photojournalists doggedly gather and curate that information because that information belongs to all of us — including whoever is reading this right now.
Or at least it should. A government by, of and for the citizenry requires that we the people have a view and understanding of how government structures and agents operate. Healthy democracy demands that the electorate be educated on who and what is on the ballot. Holding officials accountable is only truly possible when we can observe what they do while representing us and spending our tax dollars.
Whenever any of these are not available to any citizen, we take seriously our ultimate responsibility of shedding light on the corners of power and governance where transparency is lacking. Sunlight, it is said, is the best disinfectant. What that wise observation from the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis implies, we state explicitly: Official opacity and severance of the people from the people’s business are diseases infecting our body politic. From this sickness reliably spring symptoms like corruption, mendacity and authoritarianism which offend what should be our society’s highest-held ideals. If we truly value democracy, freedom and accountability, then it is up to all of us to preserve them against the undermining forces of secrecy.
When a North Adams man asked the city’s Airport Commission for meeting minutes from previous years, he wasn’t asking for a public entity to provide a service for him; it was a citizen asking that entity to furnish public records that already belong to him and all other citizens. And when the Airport Commission said city files were missing at least a decade of minutes, that’s not simply a blunder of official disorganization; it’s a failure to live up to the social contract of a free society, wherein citizens should have open and easy access to the information needed to hold responsible those who represent us.
With any institution, from the North Adams Airport Commission to the U.S. Congress and every governmental body in between, transparency should never be taken for granted. Officials, agencies and power-brokers are often predisposed toward secrecy. Ultimately, though they work for us. We call on all our leaders to live up to their job as custodians of public information rather than stonewall constituents as protectors of public power.
Seeking and maintaining transparency is a responsibility we’re all tasked with in a democratic society, including Those righteous pushes take many forms. We urge officials at the municipal, state and federal level to do better at maintaining and preserving public records, and we embrace our responsibility to underscore when and how they don’t.
We reiterate our call for Massachusetts to shed a shameful distinction as the only state in which all three branches of government — the Legislature, governor’s office and judiciary — claim exemption from public records laws. If local planning boards and conservation commissions can do it, then so can our representatives on Beacon Hill.
Welcome the opportunity to engage government where it hits home and you can have the biggest impact: at the local level. Participate in local democracy; attend meetings; talk to and question your leaders. Further, you can familiarize yourself with the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA request procedures and other resources for keeping government accountable and accessible at every level, from the National Freedom of Information Coalition to the First Amendment Coalition.
Whatever we might disagree on politically, we should all find common ground on these principles: Our government works for us, public records belong to us, and it’s up to all of us to foster a more informed citizenry toward a freer and more democratic society. Sunshine Week comes to a close in a couple days, but the principles it espouses require defending every day. The forces of secrecy don’t take days off, so neither can the pursuit of transparent government and the free flow of information.
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Originally Appeared Here