You don’t know whether to jump for joy or bow your head and quietly sob. President Barack Obama’s white house fired off a press release Jan. 21 telling federal agencies to follow the Freedom of Information Act.
The Act applies to federal public documents. Our state’s Inspection of Public Records Act applies to state and lower level government documents.
Part of the press release states:
“A democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency. As Justice Louis Brandeis wrote, “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” In our democracy, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which encourages accountability through transparency, is the most prominent expression of a profound national commitment to ensuring an open Government.
“All agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in FOIA, and to usher in a new era of open Government. The presumption of disclosure should be applied to all decisions involving FOIA.
We should be happy because a president is telling federal agencies to follow the law and when in doubt, openness should prevail. We should bow our heads and quietly sob because the press release was necessary because of the poor or complete lack of regard for the federal Act during the George W. Bush years.
We would hope he never sent out an edict, opposite of Obama’s, stating, “I’m in charge now. Stop giving the public access to public documents.”
However, the fact Obama felt the need to tell federal agencies to start responding to requests and honoring them gives you the sinking feeling that, yes, Bush did send some sort of directions to the effect of closed and non-responsiveness on the part of federal agencies.
Obama’s press secretary should not have been required to send such a press release. We’re grateful that he did. We’re also sorry it got about three inches in the back section of the Miami Herald, two paragraphs in USA Today and a mere mention in the New York Times. If big newspapers want to know why readers aren’t with them in the same numbers they were a decade ago, they need look no farther than this current disservice.
We will test our president’s new direction of open government. We’re currently seeking documents from the Federal Emergency Management Agency regarding the Cerro Grande fire. We’ll see if they got the memo too.