I really love Sunshine Week.
For one week each year, journalists and free speech advocates come together. We celebrate the First Amendment and the concept of open records and transparency in government.
But we should do this every week of every year.
As a journalism educator, I get asked about open records requests quite often. And it is usually something like “What are reporters looking for?”
That is a good question and deserves an answer. And that answer is sometimes “nothing.” And not “nothing” in the sense that reporters are just fishing. Sometimes they are. But most of the time it is just due diligence. It is asking about things that they need to know to do their jobs properly.
Another reason why reporters submit open records requests is to let agencies that run on taxpayer dollars know they are being watched. Are they doing anything wrong? Most of the time, no. But if journalists don’t check on occasion, the rare misdeed will likely go undiscovered. And if journalists do check with regularity, the temptation on the part of government to overstep its bounds is greatly checked.
But the Missouri Sunshine Law needs a sharper set of teeth. There should be real penalties for willful (and unintentional) violations of the statute. And Missouri should include a shield law that protects reporters’ ability to honor anonymous sources that shine light on government actions.
Recently, a colleague asked about a story written by one of The Chart’s reporters that utilized a “leaked” document. While this document was not intended for public dissemination, it was public record because (from what I gathered from the reporter) it was part of an e-mail sent on a government account. It was provided to the reporter by an anonymous source. My colleague asked how that was proper to use. I cited the Pentagon Papers.
In June 1971, The New York Times published top-secret documents from a secret official history of the Vietnam War. In New York Times v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court held that publication of the papers was protected. The 6-3 vote birthed many opinions from the justices, but Justice Hugo Black provided the most powerful language in defense of press freedom among them:
“In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell. In my view, far from deserving condemnation for their courageous reporting, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other newspapers should be commended for serving the purpose that the Founding Fathers saw so clearly. In revealing the workings of government that led to the Vietnam War, the newspapers nobly did precisely that which the Founders hoped and trusted they would do.”
News organizations should — and must – continue to make use of the Sunshine Law to keep check on public bodies. And news organizations should push for legislation to give the law real bite. And lawmakers should pass a shield law to give journalists the protection from government influence over journalists’ ability to cover the news.
I really love Sunshine Week.
Sunshine Week promotes good debate and First Amendment awareness. And in a strong, free representative democracy, that is good for everyone.
T.R. Hanrahan is an educator at Missouri Southern State University and the adviser to the university’s student-run newspaper, The Chart.
