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Secrecy erodes democracy
By: Bob Sigman, Opinion Page Editor
This is Sunshine Week, a reminder that citizens’ access to their government is a fundamental right to be protected and cherished. Look around the world. People in some places are denied even scant bits of information that would give them insight into the performance of their elected or self-appointed officials.
I need to say something up front here. Sunshine Week is a media initiative. The American Society of Newspaper Editors leads it and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Miami, is the main sponsor.
That does not mean the observation is solely for the press. Journalists feel strongly about open government because we see firsthand what can happen when public officials meet in secret to hash out decisions. Or when they refuse to provide access to records that are by law available to taxpayers.
Accountability in these instances is zero.
Reporters are, in effect, the eyes and ears of the citizenry. When they are locked out, so, in effect, are the citizens.
This zeal for transparency drives other efforts. Through the Kansas Press Association, members propose and support legislation that strengthens the Kansas Open Meetings Act and the Kansas Open Records Act.
On the legislative front, the KPA and other backers of reforms are seeking passage of a shield law in the current session of the Kansas Legislature. The purpose is to protect reporters’ confidential sources when the journalists are ordered to reveal them in court proceedings.
It provides the procedure for “determining when a journalist has a privilege not to testify in response to a subpoena,” according to Mike Kautsch, a journalism educator and director of the Media, Law and Policy program at the University of Kansas School of Law. The law professor testified for the bill at a hearing of the Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee last week.
“Journalists who have no protection against orders to disclose their confidential sources may not even dare to begin an investigation of suspected wrongdoing in government,” Kautsch explained
Thus, the shield matter reaches far beyond journalists. If they cannot assure confidential sources of protection, the public stands to lose vital information that could reveal corruption, waste of taxpayer money and the like.
Attorney General Steve Six is a key player in open government in Kansas. His office investigates alleged violations and offers to help educate the public on rights to information.
The attorney general’s Web site, www.ksag.org, maintains a report on complaints made against public agencies in each county. Currently it shows allegations between July 2006 and January 2007.
An assistant Johnson County district attorney said there were no complaints here on the Kansas Open Meetings Act and two covered by the Kansas Open Records Act. Both were identical and were against the city of Spring Hill.
The office determined, the report related, that the city had complied with the law by providing a detailed explanation of the cause for a delay in providing requested records.
The site lists frequently asked questions about both Kansas open government laws. For the KOMA they include who is covered, requirement provisions, meeting notice rules and policies on executive sessions. They describe the procedure for obtaining records, the charges for copying them and the mandated response time.
The attorney general’s site also has a link to the Sunshine Week Web site.
Bottom line, information is the life blood of our system of government. If the voters are not well-informed about how their government is functioning, they cannot make optimum decisions at the ballot box.
Contact Bob Sigman at 385-6034 or e-mail bsigman@npgco.com.
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I need to say something up front here. Sunshine Week is a media initiative. The American Society of Newspaper Editors leads it and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Miami, is the main sponsor.
That does not mean the observation is solely for the press. Journalists feel strongly about open government because we see firsthand what can happen when public officials meet in secret to hash out decisions. Or when they refuse to provide access to records that are by law available to taxpayers.
Accountability in these instances is zero.
Reporters are, in effect, the eyes and ears of the citizenry. When they are locked out, so, in effect, are the citizens.
This zeal for transparency drives other efforts. Through the Kansas Press Association, members propose and support legislation that strengthens the Kansas Open Meetings Act and the Kansas Open Records Act.
On the legislative front, the KPA and other backers of reforms are seeking passage of a shield law in the current session of the Kansas Legislature. The purpose is to protect reporters’ confidential sources when the journalists are ordered to reveal them in court proceedings.
It provides the procedure for “determining when a journalist has a privilege not to testify in response to a subpoena,” according to Mike Kautsch, a journalism educator and director of the Media, Law and Policy program at the University of Kansas School of Law. The law professor testified for the bill at a hearing of the Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee last week.
“Journalists who have no protection against orders to disclose their confidential sources may not even dare to begin an investigation of suspected wrongdoing in government,” Kautsch explained
Thus, the shield matter reaches far beyond journalists. If they cannot assure confidential sources of protection, the public stands to lose vital information that could reveal corruption, waste of taxpayer money and the like.
Attorney General Steve Six is a key player in open government in Kansas. His office investigates alleged violations and offers to help educate the public on rights to information.
The attorney general’s Web site, www.ksag.org, maintains a report on complaints made against public agencies in each county. Currently it shows allegations between July 2006 and January 2007.
An assistant Johnson County district attorney said there were no complaints here on the Kansas Open Meetings Act and two covered by the Kansas Open Records Act. Both were identical and were against the city of Spring Hill.
The office determined, the report related, that the city had complied with the law by providing a detailed explanation of the cause for a delay in providing requested records.
The site lists frequently asked questions about both Kansas open government laws. For the KOMA they include who is covered, requirement provisions, meeting notice rules and policies on executive sessions. They describe the procedure for obtaining records, the charges for copying them and the mandated response time.
The attorney general’s site also has a link to the Sunshine Week Web site.
Bottom line, information is the life blood of our system of government. If the voters are not well-informed about how their government is functioning, they cannot make optimum decisions at the ballot box.
Contact Bob Sigman at 385-6034 or e-mail bsigman@npgco.com.