Fla. Papers Tackle FOI Opposition

By: Mark Fitzgerald Alarmed by legislators who have introduced nearly 100 bills to "weaken, or completely gut" the state's open-meetings and public-records laws, the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors (FSNE) is asking newspapers to support open government in editorials to be published March 10, "Sunshine Sunday."

"We're asking every newspaper in the state to write an editorial that day about the state's rich history of open government, and the consequences to citizens of shutting off access to information," Orlando Sentinel Editor Tim Franklin, co-chairman of FSNE's public-access committee, wrote in an e-mail message to members last week.