The Proprietors Of Public Information

There is, in our culture, a free and easy trade of ideas and opinions — almost too free and easy. Most information is not hard to come by. We put our opinions in this prominent space so they won’t be missed and because we know these few words are competing with millions of other messages in circulation within easy reach of the remote controls and computers of our readers. We want your attention for this information, and as proprietors of this space we make sure it is up front and up top on our front page every week.

But there is a class of information more important than our opinions or many of the other bits of information promulgated for our consumption. It is critical to the conduct of our lives as free men and women. It is detailed information about how our local, state, and federal governments work, and it sits in filing cabinets and on computer hard drives that are not within easy reach for most of us. It is information essential to our understanding of how well our elected leaders are representing us, and because our elected leaders are the keepers of that information — information that sometimes proves embarrassing to them — it is sometimes hidden away and purposefully kept out of view.

This week is National Sunshine Week, which celebrates open government at all levels of our democratic society. It reminds us that while our elected leaders may be the keepers of this important information, they are not its proprietors. The people are. And insofar as release of that information does not directly undermine our national security, or public health and welfare, or the personal privacy of citizens, that information should be as freely available as what is offered up here weekly on our front page or in any of the other media vying for attention.

While freedom of information laws are important tools for journalists, their provisions apply to everyone, not just the media. For the law to remain robust and effective in bringing accountability to the conduct of the public’s business, it is important for citizens to know their rights. Most public documents are available for public inspection without restriction. You do not need to give your name. You do not need to give a reason for wanting the information. You do not need to submit a request in writing. You do not need a lawyer to appeal a request denial to the Freedom of Information Commission. Most simple requests should yield the requested information immediately.

Know your rights under the law. Visit www.state.ct.us/foi/ for the full text of the Freedom of Information Act and a summary of the law’s highlights.

In this post-9/11 world, we need to be extra cautious about the dissemination of information that might aid and abet those intent on destroying innocent lives and our democratic institutions in acts of terror. But we must also be mindful that when too much of what our governments do is hidden from view in the shadows of secrecy, the keepers of that information may be tempted to interpret self-interest as the public interest, secure in the knowledge that they will never be held to account. We, as proprietors of that information, need to remind them at every opportunity that this lack of accountability can also be a threat to our lives and our liberty.