Tagged: Sunshine Week

A couple of weeks ago a couple of harbingers of Spring came and went, and each acknowledges how we depend on sunshine.

One was Daylight Savings Time, letting us think about spring and more sunlight, and the other was “Sunshine Week,” a time to promote and praise transparency in government: open government.

Effective representative government depends on transparency through open meetings, open records and public notices. If any of those three is absent, government collapses into secrecy and darkness.

Most journalists occasionally are confronted by angry newsmakers (usually powerful ones). Some journalists get threatening calls or emails, rude posted comments or letters to the editor, and that’s about it. But this week, as the seventh annual Sunshine Week is underway, it’s appropriate to also note that some journalists are killed for being part of the handful of human beings whose job – whose calling – is to run toward danger.

The panelists talk about Sunshine Week, which is being observed this week.

Sunshine Week is described as a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. It's held to coincide with the March 16 anniversary of the birth of James Madison. Sunshine Week was launched by the American Society of News Editors in 2005.