Any time is a good time*
for us to share the 'why'
of open government

By Christian Trejbal

It was safe to predict that during Sunshine Week, March 11-17, no one would throw beads and dance in the streets during the annual celebration of government transparency, but maybe they should have. Without state and federal freedom of information laws, shadows would shroud our democracy.

If you�re reading this, you already know that. Odds are you�re a journalist or someone who cares about the watchdog function of the press. Our job during Sunshine Week is sharing that enthusiasm with readers, listeners and watchers. We remind them that they, too, must be watchdogs.

Our colleagues in news departments will share the what of sunshine. They will recall what stories the Freedom of Information Act made possible over the last year. They might even report about changes to the law pending in legislatures and citizens who held government accountable.

That is the easy part. Opinionators (for lack of a real word) have the harder and more important job of explaining why open government matters.

If we do our jobs right, our audiences will leave Sunshine Week understanding just how precious government transparency is. They will better understand that FOI laws make government accountable to the public.

FOI laws exist for the people, not for us, and we must remind them. An unfortunate perception permeates the public that open government laws are only tools for journalists, too often abused by media people out to serve their own ends, not the public's welfare.

We are not alone in fighting that misconception. We can share our columns and editorials with each other to fill pages during Sunshine Week. Sunshine Week organizers will gather pieces that people are willing to share. Send them to me ([email protected]) or Debra Hernandez with the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press ([email protected]).

If you need ideas about how to get started, stop by the Sunshine Week website. It has an idea bank (sunshineweek.org/Toolkits/IdeaBank.aspx) full of creative ways to approach coverage and opinion writing. It also collects reports that contain statistics and analysis about the current state of open government (sunshineweek.org/ReadingRoom.aspx).

We can turn to history for inspiration.

Louis Brandeis can claim perhaps the most famous line about open government. He wrote in 1913, �Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectant; electric light the most efficient policeman.�

Yet I prefer the more illuminating words of Woodrow Wilson, who would later appoint Brandeis to the Supreme Court. In 1884 Wilson wrote, �Light is the only thing that can sweeten our political atmosphere � light thrown upon every detail of administration in the departments; light diffused through every passage of policy; light blazed full upon every feature of legislation; light that can penetrate every recess or corner in which any intrigue might hide; light that will open to view the innermost chambers of government.�

Long before Wilson, James Madison advocated the public�s right to know. In an 1822 letter he wrote, �A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.�

The fight for government transparency is an old one, one that we must champion vigorously during Sunshine Week and every week.

  Christian Trejbal is an editorial writer for The Roanoke (Va.) Times. He chairs the AOJ open government committee.

The Masthead, published since 1948-49 by the National Conference of Editorial Writers, now the Association of Opinion Journalists. Winter 2012 published February 23, 2012, at opinionjournalists.org (c) 2012 AOJ (Updated with Sunshine logo (c) Sunshineweek.org with permission 2/5/2012 and "out of the dark" logo (c) NewsArt.com with permission 2/7/12)

* Headline and first paragraph updated 4/6/2012 to reflect editor's belief that sunshine is good 24/365(366). The toolkit links above are.