Pennsylvania editors asked to contribute to Sunshine Sunday and Sunshine Week    

By Susan Schwartz, Society of Professional Journalists, PA Chapter

Editors in Pennsylvania are being asked to publish articles, cartoons and editorials about the public’s right to government information as part of national Sunshine Sunday, March 13, and Sunshine Week.

The goal is to explain why open government is important to everyone, not just to journalists.

When advocates in Pennsylvania tried to change the open records law in 2002, legislators repeatedly rebuffed them, saying it was an issue that none of their constituents cared about.

But journalists in Florida found that participation in Sunshine Sunday convinced their state legislators otherwise.

The first Sunshine Sunday in Florida was held in March 2002. In November of that year, voters approved a ballot issue making it more difficult for the Legislature to approve exemptions to the state¹s Government-in-the-Sunshine Law. 

The Florida Society of Newspaper Editors estimates that some 300 exemptions to open government laws were defeated in legislative sessions that followed three Sunshine Sundays, many because of increased public awareness.

Last fall, Florida voters weighed in again. By a 3-to-1 margin, they approved an amendment to require that exceptions be approved by two-thirds of the lawmakers in both houses of the Legislature, rather than by simple majorities. 

The American Society of Newspaper Editors, with a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami, is expanding the Sunshine Sunday efforts nationally and across media. The Radio Television News Directors Association also has received a Knight grant to help broadcasters participate. 

“A better climate for keeping government as open as possible has to begin with improving public understanding and support for freedom of information,” said Associated Press President and CEO Tom Curley, a member of the Sunshine Week steering committee. “This project marks a great new start in promoting public awareness of these issues.”

The current initiative is spearheaded by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

Other journalism groups and media companies also support the project, and several state press associations are coordinating existing Sunshine Sunday programs with the national effort. The 54-member Steering Committee includes leaders from media companies, newspapers, magazines, academia and major journalism organizations.

“This is not just an issue for the press. It¹s an issue for the public,” said Andy Alexander, ASNE Freedom Of Information chair, who is chief of the Cox Newspapers’ Washington bureau. ³An alarming amount of public information is being kept secret from citizens and the problem is increasing by the month. Not only do citizens have a right to know, they have a need to know.”

“Our goal is to raise public awareness of this horrible trend that is hurting democracy,” he said of the Sunshine Week project. “We hope that it sparks a public dialogue about the value of open government and the damage to citizens from excessive government secrecy.”

In addition to media efforts, a partnership with the American Library Association will provide the opportunity for education and community discussion of Freedom of Information issues on the local level. Sunshine Week also ties in with the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center’s 2005 FOI Day March 16 in Arlington, Va.

The Sunshine Week Web site, www.sunshineweek.org, to be launched in early 2005, will be the clearinghouse for most of the materials, which are expected to include:

* A variety of op-eds and articles for use by print and online media
* Story ideas for print and broadcast news outlets
* Video news packages for television broadcasters
* Stories of citizens using FOI laws to get information to help their communities
* Information for libraries setting up community FOI programs
* Links to online FOI information and resources.

The Sunshine Sunday staff: National Coordinator Ray Ollwerther, former vice president of news and executive editor of The Asbury Park (N.J.) Press; and Washington Coordinator Debra Gersh Hernandez, former vice president of communications for the Newspaper Association of America and Washington editor of Editor & Publisher magazine. Working with Ollwerther and Hernandez are the staffs of ASNE and the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government.

If you have questions about Pennsylvania's part in Sunshine Sunday and Sunshine Week, please call Susan Schwartz, state Sunshine Share for the Society of Professional Journalists, at 570-752-3646.

Newspapers that publish anything in connection with Sunshine Sunday and Sunshine Week are asked to e-mail clips to Susan.S@pressenterprise.net. Here are two testimonials from Florida editors about the impact of Sunshine Sunday efforts: 

“Easy access to the documents, memoranda, budgets, plans and decisions of government at all levels ensures that citizens of any social, economic or political stature can monitor the effectiveness, the efficiency and the veracity those elected or appointed to do the people’s bidding. And when that access is blocked—or even hindered in any way—the community suffers.

“In its Sunshine Sunday events, members of the journalism community in Florida banded together to help our communities maintain and broaden their right to view government records, attend government meetings and applaud or criticize government action or inaction.

“Through stories, editorial comment and editorial cartoons, publications across the state demonstrated how public access is intended to work and exposed governments who impeded the process.

“Our efforts paid big dividends. The public was left with a better understanding of the rights of the citizenry in our state. And the newspapers emerged as the people’s champion against government abuse and deception. In short, everyone walked away a winner.”

—Jim Witters, managing editor, The Daily Commercial, Leesburg, Fla.

“Lawmakers keep chipping away at Sunshine Laws to keep lobbyists and constituents happy. In my time in Florida, it seems like it hasn¹t been getting any better. There seem to be more and more exemptions proposed every year. 

“What the average constituent might not realize is that public records laws are there to preserve democracy and open government for everyone, not just journalists. It affects all people and all citizens. We just see it first because we¹re usually the ones asking for records. They¹re not taking the records away from newspapers, they¹re taking them away from the public.

“Florida¹s annual Sunshine Sunday helps shed a light on the importance of open government. And it has had an impact. People noticed when every newspaper in the state focused on openness. Average citizens called, legislators noticed and people realized they had a voice. It hasn¹t stopped bills restricting access, but it has slowed the vote and has opened them up to more discussion.”

—Terry Eberle, executive editor of Florida Today in Melbourne and president of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors