By: Mark Fitzgerald The "Sunshine Sunday" campaign that newspapers in Florida, South Carolina, and Alabama have conducted in recent years to bolster public support for open-government measures is going national and expanding to an entire week beginning next March 13.
During "Sunshine Sunday/Sunshine Week," newspapers, broadcasters, and online news organizations nationwide will present editorials, commentary, cartoons, and news and feature stories to encourage a nationwide discussion about open government that emphasizes why transparency benefits all citizens, and not just journalists, Cox Newspapers Washington bureau chief Andy Alexander said Tuesday afternoon in a conference call announcing the campaign.
Alexander chairs the Freedom of Information Committee for the American Society of Newspaper Editors, which is leading the effort. Top executives from more than 50 newspapers, industry associations, and journalism programs have so far joined the effort, which is funded by grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to ASNE and the Radio-Television News Directors Association.
Associated Press President and CEO Tom Curley said a national campaign is needed to fight government secrecy "that seems to be growing at an epidemic rate."
"From City Hall to Congress, from police chief offices to the Attorney General's Office, the trend towards secrecy is unmistakable," he said. With nine journalists now facing prison or under house imprisonment, Curley added, "it behooves us in the media to move to the balls of our feet and become more aggressive about defending open government. We need to connect to the people, and we ourselves need to be out there fighting for access."
The first Sunshine Sunday was launched by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors in March of 2002 because they were concerned about the dozens of bills to restrict access that were proposed in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks.
ASNE's Alexander said the national project will include stories of ordinary people who benefit from public records or freedom of information laws, and will emphasize the dangers that can occur when government information is restricted.
He and Newspaper Association of America President and CEO John Sturm noted that the Homeland Security Act restricts previously public so-called "critical infrastructure" information. "You can't find information about natural gas lines that may be corroded, so people won't know if there's something corroding at the end of the block," Alexander said. Similarly, the public can no longer learn whether foreigners who commit felonies are deported or released back into the community after serving their sentences.
Organizers said the first national Sunshine Sunday/Sunshine Week campaign will be "very broad based," involving librarians, schools and the electronic media.
Broadcasters are having increasing problems getting access to some government meetings and documents, said Barbara Cochran, president of the radio and television group. "Broadcasters often run into situations where our cameras and microphones are prohibited," she said. She noted that cameras are barred from all federal courts.
The campaign will launch a Web site,
www.sunshineweek.org, next month that will include op-eds and article that can be used by print or online media; story ideas; video news packages; information for setting up community FOI programs in local libraries; and links to FOI resources.
The national coordinator for the Sunshine campaign is Ray Ollwerther, former vice president of news and executive editor of The Asbury Park (N.J.) Press. The Washington coordinator is Debra Gersh Hernandez, former vice president of communications for NAA and a former E&P Washington editor.
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