Sunshine Week
| Sunshine Week | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date | The week containing March 16 |
| 2023 date | March 12–18 |
| 2024 date | March 10–16 |
| 2025 date | March 16–22 |
Sunshine Week is a U.S. nonpartisan collaboration among groups in the journalism, civic, government and private sectors that shines a light on the importance of public records and open government. It is based at the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project
In 2025, there will be a Sunshine Fest held in Washington, D.C.
Overview
[edit]Sunshine Week occurs each year in mid-March, coinciding with James Madison's birthday.
During Sunshine Week, news organizations, civic and watchdog groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and other participants engage public discussion on the importance of open government through news and feature articles and opinion columns; social media campaigns; infographics; editorial cartoons; public service advertising; public seminars and online or in-person forums. The purpose of the week is to highlight the fact that "government functions best when it operates in the open."[1] In many states, however, legislatures exempt themselves from public-records laws, claiming "legislative immunity."[2]
History
[edit]The Florida Society of Newspaper Editors launched Sunshine Sunday in 2002 in response to efforts by some Florida legislators to create scores of new exemptions to the state's public records law. The following year, the idea of a national Sunshine Sunday was raised at an American Society of Newspaper Editors Freedom of Information summit.
In the planning stages, it was decided that the initiative needed to be more than a single Sunday, and Sunshine Week was established in March 2005 by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.The first nationwide Sunshine Week took place March 13–19, 2005.
In 2019, ASNE and the Associated Press Media Editors merged to form the News Leaders Association (NLA). In December 2023, NLA placed Sunshine Week with the Brechner FOI Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.
See also
[edit]- Freedom of information legislation
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Personally identifiable information (PII)
- Privacy laws of the United States
- Public Record Office
- Public records
- General Register Office
References
[edit]- ^ Dukes, Tyler (March 13, 2016). "Sunshine Week to celebrate government transparency". WRAL. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
- ^ Lieb, David (March 14, 2016). "Many state legislatures exempt themselves from record laws". thenewstribune.com. Associated Press. Retrieved March 14, 2016.
External links
[edit]- Sunshine Week
- Brechner FOI Project to lead Sunshine Week
- National Freedom of Information (FOI) Day
- American Library Association page for: Freedom of Information Day
- Guides to Public Records from UCB Libraries GovPubs
- Publications from the U.S. Government from USA.gov
- It Took a FOIA Lawsuit to Uncover How the Obama Administration Killed FOIA Reform, Vice News
- Microsoft: Government Public Records Tracker from Eskel Porter Consulting
- Media coalition sues McCrory administration over records, WRAL
- Delay game: The McCrory administration drags its feet on our public records lawsuit, IndyWeek