The Fight Against Secrecy p.

By: Debra Gersh

The continual battle to open records is SPJ conference topic
THE FIGHT AGAINST secrecy, be it in the government or on the college campus, is one that never ends.
"Some battles are fought with a certain finality to them and, indeed, that does characterize some of the specific cases on which we go to war," said Louis D. Boccardi, president and CEO of the Associated Press.
"But in a broader sense, this fight against secrecy, against the closing of the public processes from public scrutiny, this fight is one that simply does not end," added Boccardi, the keynote speaker at the Society of Professional Journalists First Amendment Center's Sunshine Conference.
The two-day meeting in Arlington, Va., brought together some of the SPJ's state leaders on Project Sunshine, a watchdog program designed to monitor and fight against government attempts to shut out the press and public.
"These values we talk about at Sunshine meetings, these fights we say we wage on behalf of the people's right to know, they mean a great deal to the freedoms that are at the core of our country," Boccardi continued.
"But they must, in the end, rest on public understanding and public support ? not of everything we do, of course," he said, "but understanding and support of the role we are playing in their lives.
"In this area, I think we have work to do," Boccardi said, adding that "for all our talk of doing more to explain ourselves to the people we say we serve, my own experience, unscientific but I think echoed, is that much of our public is unsympathetic."
Identifying the problem may be easier than doing something about it, however, so Georgiana Vines, SPJ president and managing editor of the Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel, offered suggestions for what state Sunshine chairs can do.
First, she suggested linking local Sunshine and Freedom of Information committees, as well as writing to local officials to remind them of the importance of sunshine-in-government laws.
In addition, Vines said, visits should be made to state legislators, governors, local officials and judges, since even though someone may have been a friend of the press in the past, that relationship may not hold in the future.
Vines also stressed the importance of training programs for local officials and of monitoring all departments of government.
Finally, she said, journalists should not hesitate to include in their stories any trouble they may have had getting information.
Ernie Ford, SPJ executive director, also advised the state chairs not to try to work on this issue alone.
He suggested that they make allies with other media in their markets, as well as with local lawyers who might be willing to get involved, and with public interest groups such as Common Cause.
"When you talk about freedom of information, don't just talk about journalists' rights. It's everyone's right," Ford added.
These problems also are not exclusive to the professional press. College journalists face similar, if not more difficult, problems when dealing with school administration officials.
One of the more publicized battles has been over access to campus-police crime reports.
Although great gains have been made on this front ? thanks to legal and congressional actions ? "the battle isn't over, by any means," said Mark Goodman, director of the Student Press Law Center in Washington, D.C.
While a limited right of access to these documents has been recognized, school officials who do not want to give up the information are finding new ways to cover it up, Goodman explained.
For example, some universities are supplying student journalists with only a sanitized weekly synopsis, not the original crime reports, he said.
While there has been a move in some states ? notably California and Massachusetts ? to require public and private colleges and universities to open their records, basing their demand on public funding received, Goodman warned that "This issue is not going to go away."
Even if it does, new areas of focus will include access to administrative functions, including how schools conduct judiciary proceedings, he said.
Other fronts to watch include access to information about college and university foundations, searches for university presidents, sexual harassment reports, and athletic revenue and expenses, Goodman explained.