Sunshine Week

The American public increasingly finds its federal government secretive, according to a study conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University. In 2006, 62% of the adults surveyed believed the federal government was very or somewhat secretive; in 2008, the figure has gone up to 74%.

That means more people than ever should be interested in Sunshine Week, March 16-22. The concept behind the name and the group is the idea that, as the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis put it, "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants” -- that a bright light shed on government and on others who hold power ultimately is what keeps a democracy clean and healthy.

Perhaps you're among the 82% of those surveyed who, the study found, want access to more information about whom lawmakers meet with each day. Or maybe you are among the quarter of adults who believe the federal government has opened your mail or monitored your telephone conversations without a federal warrant.

The survey, which was commissioned by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, also finds that 92% of Americans say that "open government is important to them in assessing candidates for state offices such as governor or attorney general."

Journalists are behind Sunshine Week, a weeklong effort to get citizens thinking and talking about their year-round right to know what the government is doing, and why.

A number of other U.S. organizations, too, are dedicated to matters of open government and freedom of information. A permanent feature of the readers' representative journal (see right rail) is a link that lists just a few of those efforts. Some are run by journalists; others are coordinated by citizens who value freedom of information.

In the spirit of Sunshine Week, and your right to know, take some time to read up on our rights and who's working to keep them.