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It's just too important not to get involvedby Mal Leary, President of the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition and director of NFOICJust about every day, reporters use the state or federal public records or open meetings laws to do their job. In fact, it becomes so much a part of the routine for most of us that we often forget how important it is to be advocates for open government. It is very, very important. Those laws allow us to do our jobs in reporting what is happening in our states and municipalities and today those laws are under attack on many fronts, often under cover of national security. In state after state, the mantra of homeland security has been used to take records that have been public and hide them from public view. We have had the specter of state and federal officials using homeland security as a reason to protect the public from knowing what witches brew of pollutants and pathogens were found in the flood waters of New Orleans. All too often we fight the open records or open meetings battles one at a time. Frequently it is just one news organization that fights the fight. We have to get smarter. I think an important reason why we have had some success in Maine is that journalists have joined in a broad coalition of open government advocates and have changed the process of establishing and reviewing exceptions to the records and meetings laws. Preventing bad law is a lot easier than getting it repealed. |
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