Sunshine Week runs all this week: Event celebrates open government and offers plenty of free promotional materials.

Sunshine Week, an annual event highlighting the importance of open government and freedom of the press, starts on Sunday.

Now in its 19th year, this year's events run from March 16-22. National Freedom of Information Day is March 16, the birthday of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States and father of the First Amendment.



The Sunshine Week site offers free, promotional materials, including Zoom backdrops in English and Spanish, sample social media posts, op-eds, editorial cartoons, Sunshine Week logos, and a step-by-step Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) graphic. The website also features freedom of information resources with print and video explanations and the legislative history of FOIA.

Sunshine Week is coordinated by the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications. It is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and a growing list of public and private endorsers.

Explore Sunshine Week here

Small paper in Oregon wins its public records battle and receives Poynter Institute's First Amendment award

Les Zaitz

In 2017, Malheur County, Oregon, was promised a rail center that would change the economic future for the area. As the project got underway, Les Zaitz, publisher of the community's newspaper, the Malheur Enterprise followed its progress. When the buildout started to falter, Zaitz doggedly reported on it, reports Nicole Slaughter Graham of The Poynter Institute. "As the Enterprise continued to publish updates about the project, backlash from the county ensued, and records requests either went unanswered or took several weeks or even months to come through." To keep his community informed, the paper and Zaitz sued the county for access to the records, and won.

The project "could have been life-changing for the residents of Malheur County, 14.9% of which live in poverty — more than any other county in Oregon," Graham explains. Years later, the Treasure Valley Reload Center project remains unfinished, but many residents of Malheur County know some of the reasons why -- because their local paper reported on it. "Zaitz committed to publishing updates on the project. It was bleeding money with no real results. . . . Zaitz knew the community stakes were high."

Location of Malheur County in
Oregon (Wikipedia map)

The county tried to paint the Enterprise as being against the project. Zaitz responded by "publishing pieces that drew back the curtains on the journalistic process, letting readers know how the reporting was going, what documents had been acquired," Graham adds. Zaitz told her, “I’d explain to people why this fight is occurring, and that this is not the Malheur Enterprise’s information. [Public records] are your information, and this is how you judge what your public officials are doing.”

Many Enterprise readers were grateful for the integrity and information provided by their newspaper. Zaitz told Graham, "I found that people really appreciated someone to sort of stop and explain in plain terms." Graham reports, "In September 2022, the Malheur Enterprise and Zaitz sued (Greg) Smith," who was overseeing the project, "citing that the paper was repeatedly denied access to public records and that [the project's manager] had knowingly tampered with, and even destroyed documents."

Throughout the lawsuit process, the Enterprise continued to report on the Reload Center's progress. "In spring 2023, the county settled the lawsuit and agreed to pay the Enterprise $40,000. The payout was arguably the least substantial aspect of the settlement," Graham writes. "Additionally, the county’s lawyer, in a rare legal move, admitted to the county’s wrongdoing."

There's more to this happy ending for Zaitz's Malheur Enterprise -- it earned The First Amendment Award for 2024 from the Poynter Institute. Graham reports, "Judges pointed out that the Enterprise’s public records reporting was, 'A fantastic example of a small paper doing big work to effect real change in the local community.'"

The Institute for Rural Journalism, which is based at the University of Kentucky, presented Zaitz with the Tom and Pat Gish Award for tenacity, courage and integrity in rural journalism in 2018 during the early stages of his reporting on the project. 

Government officials often try to keep public records secret, and then taxpayers have to pay for the misdeeds

Nate Jones, FOIA Director

Nate Jones of The Washington Post explains what he and other journalists do when government officials refuse to turn over records and tallies what that resistance can cost taxpayers. Below is an excerpt from the latest installment of his "Revealing Records" series.

"If government officials refuse to release public records, they can be sued in court to force disclosure — and even ordered to pay the legal fees of the requester.

"That recently happened after a Post reporter requested the disciplinary records of a prominent D.C. police officer" who had been charged with two counts of sexual activity with a minor. "District officials denied the requests. But The Post sued in D.C. Superior Court, and a judge determined city officials had violated the D.C. Freedom of Information Act. He ordered the city to disclose the records and pay The Post's reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, as required by the D.C. FOIA statute. That reimbursement eventually totaled $70,347.48, as disclosed in a public court filing.

 Photo by Marissa Vonesh,
The Washington Post

"Nationwide, local and state police records are some of the most difficult for members of the public to obtain. Although each state has its own public records law — most of which were modeled after the federal Freedom of Information Act — state legislatures have carved out strong exemptions that block public access to many law enforcement records. Departments often refuse to release records based on exemptions for 'investigatory records' or 'personnel files.'

"Even when states have changed laws to make specific types of police records available, as in California, New York, Maryland, and Virginia, officials have resisted. . . . Last year, D.C.’s elected leaders took their own steps to ensure public access to police disciplinary records. The D.C. Council passed the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act last December, and it became law in May after President Biden vetoed congressional efforts to block it.

Jones wrote that "the primary reason that the Post seeks fees in this and other cases is to make government officials understand that there are consequences for improperly withholding important records from the public."

The Washington Post's first Freedom of Information Act director explains how to find important information

Image by Marissa Vonesh, The Washington Post

Nate Jones of The Washington Post reveals how he finds the materials others don't want found in his "Revealing Records" series. Below is an excerpted version of his first installment.

"Few things make a journalist happier than receiving a manila envelope full of internal government records. These days, a large email attachment is pretty good, too.

"As the Post's first Freedom of Information Act director, I work to ensure that our entire newsroom receives as many of those envelopes and email attachments as possible. Those documents have helped us publish stories that have exposed government waste and wrongdoing, and led to congressional hearings and new laws. Successful requests take strategy, creativity and a tenacity for overcoming bureaucratic resistance. Now, I'm writing a periodic column about how I do it.

"The federal Freedom of Information Act is one of a reporter's most powerful tools. Commonly known as FOIA, this law requires federal agencies to release records to the public upon request — unless the records are exempt for privacy, national security or other reasons. Each state also has its own version of the federal law that applies to state and local governments. When agencies refuse to produce the records, the laws allow those making the requests to sue.

"Unfortunately, the Post has had to turn to the courts to force state and federal agencies to follow FOIA laws. As a newly barred attorney, I research the chances of succeeding in a lawsuit, then work with The Post's legal counsel and outside lawyers to file a suit.

"Generally, the Post only sues when we believe we can make a strong case. When we do prevail, the agencies often have to pay our attorneys' fees. That is a cherry on top of any records the agencies are ordered to produce. 

"More often, we are able to use public records laws to obtain documents without going to court. After Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011, many people saw the famous photo of President Barack Obama and his aides tensely watching the raid on bin Laden's compound, one of just nine photos taken by the White House photographer that day and released on the official Flickr page. But I wanted to see what else was photographed that day, including pictures that might counter the official White House narrative.

"The Freedom of Information Act doesn't apply to records of presidents still in office. . . . At the time of the bin Laden raid, Obama was running for reelection. If he won, I would have to wait until 2017 to start the five-year clock to request his presidential records. So I marked my calendar. . . . On Jan. 20, 2022, five years to the day after Obama left office, I filed a slew of requests — including one for all official White House photographs taken the day bin Laden was killed. . . .After a year, the National Archives processed the request and provided a 161-page PDF of thumbnails and file names for all White House photographs taken between May 1 and 3, 2011. . . . These photographs — like all internal government records — are powerful because they help reveal what actually happened within our government, not just the view officials want to present.

"These manila envelopes and email attachments do not always come easily. Post reporters are constantly thinking and inquiring about the government documents behind public statements and official actions. I've helped them file requests for records in the federal government and every U.S. state, district and territory. Without public records laws, they would not be able to tear open the envelopes, download the attachments and share the stories of the documents within."

News-media roundup: Ark. sunshine; Okla. local-news study; week-long series on Neb. paper's role in community

Open-government advocates in Arkansas quashed efforts to carve large loopholes in the state's Freedom of Information Act, in a special session Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called to do that and to make secret information about her security arrangements. The latter measure passed. Rejected were open-records exemptions for attorney-prepared documents and the "deliberative process" leading to "governmental decisions and policies" and attorney-prepared documents, and a change that would have "made it harder for people to recover legal fees for lawsuits filed under" the act, reports Neal Farley of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Another rejected bill "would have shielded 'records reflecting communications between the governor or his or her staff and the secretary of a cabinet-level department'." The outcome showed "the power of citizen action," writes longtime FOI leader Sonny Albarado, editor of the Arkansas Advocate.

Counties in study (To enlarge the map, click on it.)

"Oklahomans statewide primarily rely on social media and local word of mouth for local news," and "rarely subscribe to local newspapers," media and political-science professors say in a study report after interviewing 352 news consumers in seven diverse counties in the state. The study is the "first qualitative observational study of both news deserts and under-served metro communities statewide in Oklahoma," says the Oklahoma Media Center, a nonprofit that funded the work by Rosemary Avance, assistant professor in the media school at Oklahoma State University, and Allyson Shortle, associate professor of political science and co-founder of the University of Oklahoma’s Community Engagement and Experiments Lab. They say "Small-town residents express more trust in local news when a local person is in charge of it."

"Final edititon of the Norfolk Daily News," trumpeted the main headline in the Aug. 17 edition of the Nebraska paper. "Or is it?" a subhead teased. Under it Kent Warnecke wrote, "The primary role of a headline is to attract a reader’s attention. Chances are, the headline on this story did just that. To be clear, this is NOT the final edition of the Norfolk Daily News. The Daily News will be published tomorrow, next week and into the future. But that isn’t the case elsewhere in the nation, and, as a result, it’s not an exaggeration to say our freedom as citizens is at risk." The story was part of a week-long "Protect the Pillar" series, referring to the news media as the fourth pillar of democracy. One story noted the demise of 16 Nebraska newspapers since 2004. Looks like good material for National Newspaper Week, Oct. 1-7.

Weekly editors give Minnesota's Reed Anfinson top award; Oregon's Bagwell has top editorial; 11 other writers honored

Reed Anfinson

Reed Anfinson, a longtime leader in rural journalism and community newspapers, won the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors' top prize, the Eugene Cervi Award, at the group's annual conference in Reno, Nevada, Saturday night.

Steve Bagwell of The News-Register in McMinnville, Oregon, won ISWNE's Golden Quill for editorial writing; he and 11 other weekly editors were in the group's Golden Dozen for editorials. Those are detailed on The Rural Blog tomorrow.

The Cervi Award, named for the crusading editor of the old Rocky Mountain Journal, recognizes an editor who consistently acts with the conviction that “good journalism begets good government,” with consistently aggressive reporting of local government, and has had a career of outstanding public service through community journalism that adhered to the highest standards of the craft, with the deep reverence for the English language that was the hallmark of Cervi’s writing.

Anfinson is co-owner of the Swift County Monitor-News in Benson, Minn., The Stevens County Times in Morris, Minn.; and the Grant County Herald in Elbow Lake, Minn., and partner in a printing plant. After graduation from the University of Minnesota, he worked for the Minnesota House and a congressional campaign, returning to Benson as Monitor-News editor in 1978. In 1996, he bought his brother's half-interest and became sole owner. He and his wife, Shelly, purchased the Grant County Herald in 2014 and the Stevens County Times in 2019. He  served as president of the Minnesota Newspaper Association and the National Newspaper Association, the main lobby for rural newspapers, and is again on the NNA board. He won NNA's 2019 James O. Amos Award for a career of distinguished service and leadership to the community press and the newspaper’s community, the 2003 Al McIntosh Distinguished Service to Journalism Award, MPA's highest honor; and First Amendment awards from the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information and St. Cloud State University. He was vice president of the old Minnesota News Council and is research chair of the Minnesota Center for Rural Policy and Development, which does research on the challenges of rural Minnesota. He has served on local economic-development groups and continues to cover city, county, school and hospital meetings, as well as laying out pages and writing columns.

Anfinson was nominated by MPA Executive Director Lisa Hills, who wrote, "Reed exemplifies the best in journalism and serves as an inspiration to others. . . . He is recognized as a respected expert and spokesman for community journalism, often appearing on public television or being interviewed by reporters for stories regarding community newspapers [but] his main focus has always been, covering and informing readers about their local government bodies and community."

Former NNA president Robert Williams seconded: "Reed’s valor in standing up to the money and power that controls many small towns proves his commitment to the values so many journalists, like Eugene Cervi, stood for. I know of no other editor who better deserves an award representing the worthwhile goals Mr. Cervi sought to achieve. Our nation would be in far better shape if every community could be so fortunate to have an editor with the wisdom, vision and ideals Reed Anfinson demonstrates through his newspaper every week."

Benson Mayor Jack Evenson wrote that Anfinson "upholds journalistic excellence" and "strives to ensure that this area engages in fact-based, researched debate rather than what is popular or learned through hearsay. . . . The effort he puts into every issue is evidenced through the sheer number of stories and their high quality when compared to other small-town papers."

Anfinson clearly has done a good job of helping local officials understand the role of a community paper. He recalls how longtime city manager Rob Wolfington, now retired, concluded a list of introductions at a City Council meeting, looking across four rows of empty chairs at him and saying, "And the newspaper, representing the people of Benson."

Tim Crews, fighter for open government, wins Gish Award for courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism

Tim Crews of the Sacramento Valley Mirror held up a toothbrush outside a county jail after serving five days in 2000 for refusing to give up an anonymous source. (Photo by Rich Pedroncelli, The Associated Press)

Tim Crews, a rural editor-publisher who fought for open government in California and went to jail to protect his sources, is the winner of the 2020 Tom and Pat Gish Award from the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues (publisher of The Rural Blog). The award recognizes rural journalists who demonstrate outstanding courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism.

Crews died at 77 on Nov. 12 after a long illness and nearly 30 years as publisher and editor of the twice-weekly Sacramento Valley Mirror in Willows, a town of 6,000 and the seat of Glenn County, pop. 28,000. He was known for relentless open-records requests and for spending five days in jail in 2000 for refusing to reveal sources for a story he published about theft of weapons by a former California Highway Patrol officer. That won him the Francis Frost Wood Award for courage in journalism from Hofstra University, the Bill Farr Freedom of Information Award from the California First Amendment Association and the California Society of Newspaper Editors, and the Shield of Courage Award from the California First Amendment Coalition, which had given him its First Amendment Beacon Award in 1996.

Crews told the Poynter Institute in 2017 that he averaged more than 20 records requests a year, sometimes going to court fight for access. In 2013, a judge said his suit to force a school district to turn over 3,000 withheld emails from the superintendent was frivolous, and ordered him to pay $56,595 in attorneys' fees and costs when his income was $20,000 a year. An appeals court reversed the ruling, and that helped Crews earn the California News Publishers Association Freedom of Information Award. When he received the California Press Foundation’s Newspaper Executive of the Year Award in 2009, the Mirror was called "California's most courageous newspaper." In 2011, the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists gave him its Norwin S. Yoffe Award for lifetime achievement in freedom of information.

As Crews fought battles for open government, he was known as "an old-time community journalist who stood up for regular people and published obituaries for free," The Associated Press reported after his death. "He dashed about the town of Willows, population 6,000, in red suspenders and with a bushy white beard, covering crime and politics but also community events."

"Tim Crews exemplified the best in rural journalism: broad community service that includes holding local officials and institutions accountable," said Al Cross, director of the institute and extension professor of journalism at the University of Kentucky. "We wish Tim had received the Gish Award while he was still with us, but we are still pleased to recognize his service." Presentation of this year's award has been delayed by the pandemic and will be announced later.

Tom and Pat Gish at award announcement

The award is named for Tom and Pat Gish, who published The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., for more than 50 years and repeatedly demonstrated courage, tenacity and integrity through advertiser boycotts, business competition, declining population, personal attacks, and even the burning of their office by a local policeman who state police believe was paid by coal companies.

The Gishes, who died in 2008 and 2014, respectively, were the first winners of the award, in 2005. The other winners, in chronological order, have been the Ezzell family of The Canadian (Texas) Record; Stanley Dearman (former publisher, now deceased) and Jim Prince (publisher), The Neshoba Democrat, Philadelphia, Miss.; Samantha Swindler of Portland, Oregon, for her work at the Jacksonville (Texas) Daily Progress and the daily Times-Tribune of Corbin, Ky.; Stanley Nelson and the Concordia Sentinel of Ferriday, La.; Jonathan and Susan Austin, publishers of the now-defunct Yancey County News in Burnsville, N.C.; the late Landon Wills of the McLean County News in Calhoun, Ky.; the Trapp family of the Rio Grande Sun in Española, N.M.; Ivan Foley of the Platte County Landmark in Platte City, Mo.; the Cullen family of the Storm Lake (Iowa) Times; Les Zaitz of the Malheur Enterprise in Vale, Oregon; and last year, Ken Ward Jr., then of the Charleston Gazette-Mail and now of Mountain State Spotlight; his mentor, the late Paul J. Nyden of the Charleston Gazette; and Howard Berkes, recently retired from NPR.

"Tim Crews fits nicely in this pantheon of courageous rural journalists," Cross said. "And he brings to the list one of the more varied backgrounds."

Crews was born and raised in western Washington, and served in the Marines and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. He had started in journalism in high school, and returned to it, working at papers in Washington, Colorado, Texas, California and Rome, and free-lanced from Crete. Between newspaper jobs, he was a steel-plant worker, had his own logging company in Washington, taught journalism at Evergreen State College, and worked for The Boeing Co. in Seattle. He started the Mirror after a dispute with an employer, and over the years attracted several promising interns from The Stanford Daily at Stanford University in Palo Alto.

One was Gerry Shih, now interim Beijing Bureau chief for The Washington Post. In a tribute to Crews, he wrote, "Within weeks, I knew this was what I wanted to do. Tim gave me clarity, purpose, focus. 'You have to have fire in your belly,' he said. People poisoned his dog and left death threats – hence the six-shot" in the drawer of his desk at the back of the Mirror office.

An intern who came back for a full-time job, Aimee Miles, wrote that Crews was "fiercely principled, and was willing to see those principles through to the end, even at the expense of his personal relationships. Once, after publicly condemning an elected official whom he had previously endorsed, Tim proclaimed, memorably, 'The truth is more important than friendship. It’s more important than everything.' He really believed that, and lived by it, although it sometimes meant making difficult choices. That unwavering integrity rattled some people, who read it as a ruthless willingness to betray. Many people have a threshold at which they are willing to part ways with their professed principles, the point at which fidelity imperils their personal interests. But Tim couldn’t be compromised, and nothing would dissuade him from holding public officials accountable for their actions, whether he liked them personally or not."

Miles also wrote, "One quality of his stands out in my memory. In addition to integrity and tenacity, Tim had more genuine empathy than anyone I know. I think that is what gave him the prodigious energy to do what he did for nearly 30 years. He had the rare gift of really seeing people, and was inquisitive about their lives to an extent that far surpassed his interests as an investigative journalist. He leant an ear to those who were struggling with one problem or another; people whom most others would have written off without a moment’s hesitation. I think many in the community sensed that quality as well, and that is why so many confided in him. He listened to people intently, recognized their humanity, and treated them with dignity. He truly cared for his community. That kind of profound empathy, above all, is what separates a competent journalist from an eminent one, and it’s what I remember Tim for more than anything else."

Governments at all levels delay responses to, or completely disregard, public-records requests, citing the pandemic

Governments at all levels are delaying or disregarding requests for records during the pandemic, according to a wide-ranging rundown by The New York Times editorial board, which says that some delay is understandable, but that responses to requests made under the federal Freedom of Information Act or state open-records laws should be considered an essential service.

"It is reasonable to expect delays in processing public records requests and even incomplete responses, especially where public entities may not have access to physical files or other resources," the board writes. "But work-from-home orders have demonstrated that government can carry on remotely. New data, contracts and communications are being created digitally every day that would certainly fall under public access laws. Fulfilling FOIA requests can be grueling grunt work, but such labor should be deemed essential during the pandemic."

The board notes, "Far too often, officials have sought to alter or disregard FOIA laws to obscure government conduct or mismanagement. Particularly as reports emerge of profligate state spending on protective masks and conflicting accounts of the federal response to the pandemic, Americans deserve to see freedom of information laws obeyed, not trampled."

Open-records laws are often violated with impunity due to lax laws and agencies' ability to use taxpayer-paid lawyers

Map shows jail time for violating state records laws. Only penalties explicitly included in those laws were included.

Maximum civil fine for a first offense of open records law. Only provisions which penalized under-disclosure were counted.

Sometimes not much happens when government officials and agencies violate a state’s open-records laws, the National Freedom of Information Coalition says in its latest white paper, “Blueprint to Transparency: Non-compliance and Lack of Enforcement of Open Records Laws in Select U.S. States.”

The paper looks at the varying enforcement mechanisms in state laws, including criminal penalties, civil penalties and "fee shifting," the disadvantage that record-seekers face in legal battles with government agencies that don't incur hourly legal fees because they have in-house attorneys.

The paper, which includes case studies of several states, makes five recommendations for improving open-records laws and policies to enforce them:

• Strengthen fee-shifting provisions, which are paramount to ensuring compliance, by allowing any plaintiff that substantially prevails to recover attorney’s fees, or even making it mandatory.
• Enforce civil penalties that accrue from the date of unlawful withholding of records; enact provisions to make the responding public official or agency head personally liable for civil fines; escalate penalties for repeated violations to encourage compliance.
• Increase accountability and powers among enforcement officials and agencies tasked with these roles, like attorneys general and ombuds, while considering new roles for inspectors general, public-information officers and citizen oversight boards.
• Initiate robust primary (alternative) dispute-resolution solutions that give requesters the ability to appeal a decision without the need to hire a lawyer.
• Advocate for imposition of other sanctions, such as mandatory open-government training, to prevent repeat violations; institute mandatory training for all public-record stewards, public employees and officials, to prevent violations from occurring in the first place.

NFOIC is publishing a series of white papers examining how freedom of information affects citizens' lives, offering comparative analysis of laws, practices and policies across the U.S. "If you know academics, government agencies or stakeholder groups who may be interested in online public records portal administration, please share this research with them," NFOIC says. "We hope this white paper can assist in the effort for improved records administration in cities and states across the U.S and look forward to hearing your feedback: nfoic@nfoic.org."

Map shows attorney-fee-shifting provisions. Indiana and Minnesota mandate fee-shifting only when a requester seeks enforcement after a state agency fails to release records in violation of an administrative advisory opinion. Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire and Rhode Island allow or mandate fee-shifting only when the violating agency has withheld the records knowingly, willingly, or otherwise in bad faith. (National Freedom of Information Coalition maps)

Bill would make online access to federal court records free

A bipartisan House bill has been introduced that would make accessing federal court records free to the public, and would also improve document accessibility. It would also be a boon to most journalists and news organizations, who aren't based in cities with federal courts.

"PACER, as the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system is otherwise known, currently charges between 10 cents and $3 for most searches, page views and PDF document downloads," Kayla Goggin reports for Courthouse News Service. "That would change under the [proposed] Electronic Court Records Reform Act, which is sponsored by Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., and Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill."

Collins, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, and Quigley, the co-founder and co-chair of the Transparency Caucus, said in statements last week that the bill would increase transparency and accountability, Goggin reports.

"Lawmakers introduced a similar bill in September but failed to get a hearing," Goggin reports. "The renewed proposal comes after a federal judge ruled last year that PACER fees have been unlawfully set above the amount authorized by Congress."

Muscogee (Creek) Nation National Council repeals freedom of press protections for its tribally-funded media outlet

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation's National Council passed a law on Nov. 7 repealing freedom of the press protections for the tribally-funded media outlet Mvskoke Media, dissolving the agency's editorial board, and putting the staff under the direction of the tribal government, Curtis Killman reports for Tulsa World.

Mvskoke Media comprises a newspaper, the Muscogee Nation News, plus television and radio outlets. Its manager, Sterling Cosper, resigned in protest after the measure passed 7-6. "I don’t want to be complicit in a non-independent press again," Cosper told Killman, referring to his time working for the tribe before 2015, when the National Council granted tribal media editorial independence with the passage of the Independent Media Act. "I saw what the previous model did . . . If you are going to say that you are going to give citizens access to information, the structure has to reflect it in something like a bill."

The move has been condemned by journalist groups like the Native American Journalists Association and Reporters Without Borders (the U.S. chapter of Reporters Sans Frontieres). In a joint statement, the two organizations and several others noted that, during debate of the measure, the National Council cited a desire to see "more positive stories" in the newspaper. Now, Mvskoke Media staff must receive prior approval from the tribal government on all published material.

NAJA President Tristan Ahtone of the Kiowa Tribe in Oklahoma, said he couldn't prove why the National Council passed the measure, "But I do think that we can probably say that those motivations don’t come from a very different place than other governments around the world that try to restrict press freedom," he told Cecily Hilleary of Voice of America. Ahtone also noted that, because non-Native media outlets rarely report on tribal governments, Native-run outlets are the only way tribe members can get unbiased information.

A group of concerned Muscogee (Creek) Nation tribe members are circulating a petition calling for a referendum on the decision, Hilleary reports.

It's World Press Freedom Day; U.S. drops to 45th in latest Reporters Without Borders ranking of news-media freedom

Apropos of World Press Freedom Day, which is today: The United States has dropped to 45th on an annual ranking of countries' press freedom, by Reporters Without Borders. That's down two spots from last year. "The survey ranked 180 countries based on factors such as pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information," Sally French reports for MarketWatch. "The index is compiled via a questionnaire distributed to experts based on both quantitative data and qualitative analysis.

The report cites President Trump's animosity toward the press as the reason for the lower ranking, noting that he has called reporters "enemies of the state," as Russian dictator Joseph Stalin once did. The report also cited Trump's attempts to block some media outlets from the White House, his routine use of the term "fake news" to discredit critical reporting, his calls to revoke some media outlets' broadcasting licenses, and anti-media tweets such as a "doctored pro wrestling video showing Trump body slamming an opponent who has the CNN logo superimposed over their head," French reports. See the complete rankings here.

Trump administration sets new record for censoring or withholding government files, AP finds

An Associated Press data analysis shows that over the past eight months under President Trump, "the federal government censored, withheld or said it couldn’t find records sought by citizens, journalists and others more often last year than at any point in the past decade," Ted Bridis reports for AP. "People who asked for records under the Freedom of Information Act received censored files or nothing in 78 percent of 823,222 requests, a record over the past decade."

In 63,749 of the requests, the government said it would be illegal to release the requested information, which is double the number of such claims from the previous year. And the government said it couldn't find any records related to a request 180,924 times, an increase of 18 percent over the year before. The AP couldn't determine whether journalists were asking for records that didn't exist in those cases, or whether federal employees weren't looking hard enough.

The federal government turned over everything requested about 20 percent of the time, the analysis found. And in two-thirds of the cases where it turned over anything at all, the documents were censored. Adam A. Marshall, the Knight Foundation-funded litigation attorney at the Washington-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told Bridis "Federal agencies are failing to take advantage of modern technology to store, locate and produce records in response to FOIA requests, and the public is losing out as a result."

When challenged, more than one-third of the time the government backed down and said it had improperly tried to withhold pages. But people filed only 14,713 appeals, or in 4.3 percent of cases in which the government said it had found records but wouldn't hand them over. Not fulfilling FOIA requests has been expensive for the government: it spent a record $40.6 million in legal fees last year defending decisions to withhold files. That number includes paying the winner's attorney's fees sometimes, if the government loses its case. The Trump administration said last week that it had received a record number of FOIA requests last year and that many agencies had reduced their backlogs of overdue requests.

This story is one in a series produced by the AP as part of Sunshine Week, which celebrates government transparency and freedom of the news media in the service of democracy.

Start planning for Sunshine Week, which begins Sunday

This Sunday the American Society of News Editors kicks off the 12th annual Sunshine Week, a celebration of open government and the free press. At a time when public trust in the news media is at an all-time low, Sunshine Week is an important reminder to readers that journalism serves democracy.

Click here for a reporting package produced by The Associated Press. Columns, cartoons, public-records data, Sunshine Week logos, sample proclamations for adoption by government officials and a page for educators are available in the Sunshine Week toolkit.

Sunshine Week is scheduled each year to include national Freedom of Information Day, March 16. That is the birthday of James Madison, father of the First Amendment. Sunshine Week is made possible by an endowment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and this year by a donation from The Gridiron Club and Foundation of Washington, D.C.

Start planning for Sunshine Week, March 11-17

This year marks the 13th anniversary of Sunshine Week, a celebration of access to public information and how it impacts your community. Led by the American Society of News Editors, this year's event runs from March 11-17.

With public trust of the news media at an all-time low, Sunshine Week has never been more important. Major publications are working on a special reporting package free for anyone to publish in print or online.

There's a full week of scheduled events you can participate in, starting March 9 with a free online discussion called "Sunshine Week 2018: Fighting for Transparency and Freedom of Information." ASNE has also published an idea bank with examples of "Bright Ideas" to inspire your coverage.

Register for free First Amendment webinar

The National Press Foundation is taking us back to the basics about our First Amendment with a free one-hour webinar at noon EST, Jan. 31. 

First Amendment 101 will cover "everything you need to know about the origins and evolution of the First Amendment, from James Madison’s role to court rulings that shaped its meaning to its critical significance to journalism today."

The featured speakers will be Stephen Wermiel, a professor at the American University Washington College of Law, and Lata Nott, the executive director of the Newseum Institute's First Amendment Center. 

Advanced registration is required; click here to do so.

Charges against reporter dropped; he appreciates support from employer, journalists and public

Dan Heyman
(Gazette-Mail photo)

By Al Cross
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The West Virginia reporter arrested for trying to question Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price won his case this week, but told a journalism conference that he would have been more likely to plea bargain if not for the support he received from his employer, journalism groups and the public. "People really love the First Amendment," Dan Heyman of Public News Service said at the Excellence in Journalism convention in Anaheim, Calif. "They found it shocking to see a headline, 'Reporter arrested while asking questions.'"

Heyman said he was holding his recorder toward Price as they walked through a hall of the state Capitol, and when he wouldn't answer questions, "I tried to reach past the security people and I was promptly arrested for that." He noted that the Charleston Gazette-Mail later reported that Price was trying very hard to focus on the opioid crisis, the reason for his visit, and was working hard to avoid questions about the health-care debate in Congress. The newspaper "filed a public records request for security footage of the event," it reported. "The Division of Protective Services denied the request."

The charge, disruption of governmental process, was dropped Wednesday. "Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Miller said that while Heyman may have been somewhat overzealous in his questioning, his conduct was protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and not criminal behavior," Jake Zuckerman reported for the Gazette-Mail. Heyman said he may file a complaint against the division because it lied in its account of the incident. Bruce Sanford, chief counsel for the Society of Professional Journalists, said at SPJ's Legal Defense Fund auction Saturday that the division falsely claimed that officers had told Heyman not to bother Price. 

Heyman spoke via Skype on a Friday panel titled "Enemies of the People: The Job of Journalists in 2017" at the conference sponsored by SPJ, the Radio Television Digital News Association and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. The title was taken from a line President Trump used to refer to the news media, and RTDNA Executive Director Dan Shelley said, "We believe there is a direct relationship between highest ranking public figures . . . giving permission to people who don't understand the media's role in society to lash out in more horrific ways."

Shelley said RTDNA formed a Voice of the First Amendment Task Force six months ago due to increasing reports of harassment of local reporters, and there have been dozens more since. He said the goal is to "try to help the public understand responsible journalism is essential to their daily lives," and showcase good examples of it. He said the Committee to Protect Journalists' US Freedom Tracker lists at least 20 arrests of journalists and 16 assaults on those "just trying to do their jobs."

Federal courts consider limiting remote access to records, a potential blow to rural journalism

Citing security fears surrounding an increase in deaths and threats to witnesses and informants, the federal judiciary has come up with new rules for sealing and sharing evidence, and is considering limiting remote access to court files, which would be a blow to rural journalists who live far from federal courthouses. The Public Access to Electronic Court Records system is widely used, even by urban reporters.

"Inmates determined to unmask a 'snitch' are . . . sophisticated, diving deep into court dockets and decoding sentencing motions filed by prosecutors for clues to who is talking. A proliferation of court records online on PACER . . . and smartphones have made it easier for criminal gangs to find files that could expose cooperators, according to judges and lawyers," reports Jacob Gershman of The Wall Street Journal.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan of Manhattan told the federal Judicial Conference’s criminal rules committee in April: "Anonymous remote public access to PACER is a source of much of the information that gets into prisons about who is cooperating." Federal inmates are can't access PACER themselves, but they can ask people outside the prison to search the online system and report the information back into the prison by phone, Gershman explains.

"Inmates also can ask courts for copies of their own sentencing files, and they often are pressured by other inmates to request the documents—known as paperwork—to prove they kept quiet, the judiciary survey found. In some prisons, according to judges, inmates are forcing other inmates to post the paperwork in their cells so others can come by and read them. At the moment, only the most confidential case files are treated as prison contraband, but inmates have been permitted to possess copies of other types of sensitive documents, such as sentencing minutes and plea agreements."

Close to 700 witnesses and informants believed to have cooperated with the authorities have been threatened, wounded or killed over the past three years; 61 of the murdered, according to estimates from a recent survey by the federal judiciary’s research arm.

West Virginia journalist arrested for persistently asking HHS secretary about Republican health bill

Dan Heyman mugshot

A West Virginia journalist was arrested Tuesday for asking Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price questions about the Republican health-care bill, Samantha Schmidt reports for The Washington Post. When Price was walking through the state Capitol, reporter Dan Heyman of Public News Service followed alongside him and "repeatedly asked the secretary whether domestic violence would be considered a pre-existing condition under the Republican bill to overhaul the nation’s health care system."

Heyman told reporters, “He didn’t say anything. So I persisted.” Schmidt writes, "Then, an officer in the capitol pulled him aside, handcuffed him and arrested him. Heyman was jailed on the charge of willful disruption of state government processes and was released later on $5,000 bail. Authorities said while Secret Service agents were providing security in the capitol for Price and Kellyanne Conway, special counsel to President Trump, Heyman was 'aggressively breaching' the agents to the point where they were 'forced to remove him a couple of times from the area,' according to a criminal complaint," which authorities said, “was causing a disturbance by yelling questions at Conway and Secretary Price."

Heyman told reporters, “This is my job, this is what I’m supposed to do. I think it’s a question that deserves to be answered. I think it’s my job to ask questions and I think it’s my job to try to get answers.” Lark Corbeil, chief executive and founder of Public News Service, defended Heyman, telling the Post, “From what we can understand, he did nothing out of the ordinary. He was doing what any journalist would normally do, calling out a question and trying to get an answer.” For more on PNS, go here.

Rural journalism well represented in SPJ's Sigma Delta Chi Awards for work in 2016

The Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Awards for excellence in journalism in 2016 include several stories with rural resonance. Judges chose the winners from entries in categories covering print, radio, television and online.

Jonathan D. Austin, a reporter for the Virgin Islands Daily News, won in Public Service Journalism for circulation 50,000 and under for his investigation into government officials refusing to account for expenses to a meeting in Seattle. Austin and his wife Susan won the 2012 Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism, given by the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, publisher of The Rural Blog.

Howard Berkes, Robert Little, Nicole Beemsterboer and Benny Becker, of Ohio Valley ReSource and National Public Radio, won for investigative reporting (1-100 market or network syndication) for their report, “Advanced Black Lung Cases Surge in Appalachia."

Sarah Butrymowicz and Jackie Mader of The Hechinger Report won for Investigative Reporting for circulations 50,000 and under for their five-part series “Mississippi Child Care Crisis.”

Jonathan Austin

Pat Duggins, Stan Ingold, Alex Aubuchon and MacKenzie Bates of Alabama Public Radio won for their series "... And Justice for All" in which they spent six months researching and producing a series on justice and prison reform. They won for Documentaries (101+ Market).

North Country Public Radio's David Sommerstein, Lauren Rosenthal, Brit Hanson and Martha Foley won for public service in radio journalism (101+ markets) for their series, “Small Town Justice: The Nick Hillary Trial,” that investigated the murder of a 12-year-old in New York and the methods used by police to arrest a man, who was later found not guilty, for the murder.

The Associated Press was named best Specialized Journalism Site for "Divided America," which examined the U.S. through arenas such as immigrants, the Latino vote, religion, refugees and the dwindling power of white men.

StateImpact Pennsylvania's Marie Cusick, Ian Sterling, Tom Downing and Tim Lambert won for Audio Slide Show for "After the Boom," which examined the impact of natural gas in rural Towanda, Pa.

Madeleine Baran, Samara Freemark, Natalie Jablonski and Catherine Winter of APM Reports won for Digital Audio for "In the Dark," an investigation into a child abduction in rural Minnesota that has remained unsolved for nearly 30 years.