Radio, TV and Virginia’s newspapers put Freedom of Information in the spotlight in mid-March, as part of a nationwide observance of open government.
It was the state’s first “Sunshine Week,” and it drew widespread news coverage and editorial comment.
Dick Hammerstrom, a local news editor at The Free Lance-Star , called it “a time for journalists and other public-access advocates to talk about the importance of governing in the sunshine and about the state of public accountability in 2005.”
In some ways, he wrote, Virginia government is more transparent than ever before. He should know – he is chairman of the Virginia Press Association’s Freedom of Information Committee.
But, he added: “Some court records are now online, others are not. A disagreement over what should be available continues. There is no absolute access to police reports – each department in Virginia interprets the law differently. Some make reports readily available online, others decide what, if any, information is made available. And if police agencies don’t want to release information, they have plenty of ways to hide it.
“Thanks to a change in the law, each state agency must now publish its policies about open records and meetings, in plain English. Local governments have no such requirement. Some state and local agencies are wonderfully open to the public; others are woefully not.
“But tougher laws alone won’t solve all the problems. Too many in government hold to the belief that public information should not be public – even though it was compiled with our tax dollars. The fight for open government will be won or lost when citizens join it – with their votes.”