Opinion

BRENDA BLAGG: Dimming the sunshine

Fewer newspapers = need for public to support open government

Arkansas' Freedom of Information Act escaped amendment last week.

That's the good news.

House Bill 1280 by Rep. Delia Haak, R-Gentry, would have allowed governing bodies to consider economic development projects in closed session, but the House City, County and Local Affairs Committee rejected it.

While the change might have been helpful to developers seeking support for such projects, it would have knocked the public out of the discussion, which likely would involve some sort of commitment of taxpayer money or public resources.

That's obviously public business and ought to be handled in the open. Such matters will continue to be, thanks to the House committee's action.

What's the bad news?

Unfortunately, House Bill 1280 isn't the only amendment proposed this session for the state's open-meetings/open-records law.

More bills are on the calendar, as seems to be the case every time the Legislature meets for a regular session.

A couple of the proposals have merit, but others of the proposed amendments to the FOI Act do not.

Arkansas' law, passed in 1967, remains among the strongest in the nation when it comes to protecting the public's right to know. Hopefully, the state's lawmakers will preserve that crucial right for Arkansans.

This week just happens to be Sunshine Week, a national observance marked annually by media organizations, civic groups, libraries and others to educate the public about the importance of open government.

The week celebrates "sunshine" laws like Arkansas' FOI Act designed to make governments more transparent to the people they serve.

This year's initiative comes as the public stake in open government laws grows ever more important.

Here's more bad news: The number of newspapers nationwide is diminishing. Many of those that survive do so with fewer reporters to cover all the governmental entities in their communities.

That's certainly true in this state, where the Arkansas Press Association now has 100 member newspapers, including 19 dailies and 81 weeklies. Those numbers compare to 33 Arkansas dailies and 108 weeklies in the state in 1995. The total of 148 back then was about half again as many Arkansas newspapers as now.

There are many reasons for the shrinking numbers, but the point here is that a lot of Arkansas towns find themselves without a local newspaper.

Seriously, Arkansas has 500 cities and towns in its 75 counties. And just 100 newspapers.

So, who is tracking how the city councils, county quorum courts, school boards or other entities are handling the public's business in all those places?

Maybe no one outside of the government.

But every one of those public bodies is spending taxpayer money and making policy that affects the local citizenry.

That's why it is particularly important that Arkansas citizens know that this state's open meetings and open records law gives every resident, not just journalists, access to their governments.

The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act has always been heralded as "the people's law." From the beginning, it was intended to protect the public's right to know, not just serve journalists' interests.

And now, with fewer journalists working for fewer newspapers, the public really needs to know -- and help preserve -- the rights protected by the FOI Act.

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