A message to FSNE membership

Aug. 24, 2007

To: the FSNE membership
From: Jeanne Grinstead, FSNE president

I would like to offer tremendous thanks to editors Pat Rice of the NW Florida Daily News and Bob Gabordi of the Tallahassee Democrat, and to FSNE board members Rosemary Goudreau (vice president; editorial page editor, Tampa Tribune) and Pat Yack (First Amendment Foundation board representative to FSNE; editor, Florida Times-Union) for speaking this week in Tallahassee before the governor’s Commission on Open Government Reform. Their smart thinking and specific examples on the media’s challenges obtaining public records brought a powerful message and momentum to the conversation.

We have an historic opportunity for Florida media to actively and loudly speak out to champion government in the Sunshine. There is an incredible amount of work ahead; it is incredible work before us.

Tallahassee was the first of the commission’s four scheduled meetings/public hearings. The next is scheduled Oct. 16-17 in Orlando, followed by Feb. 12-13 in Sarasota and May 20-21 in Fort Lauderdale.

After May the commission, an advisory panel in the executive branch created within the governor’s Office of Open Government, will meet to evaluate and issue recommendations in December to the governor concerning Florida’s laws as they relate to the public’s right to access to government meetings and records. The commission will not interpret individual cases, but is charged with the broader review of the laws with an eye toward changing them. Among the issues before the commission are relevance and redundancy of all exemptions to government meetings and records; fees and charges imposed for inspecting and copying public records; the collection, storage, retrieval and accessibility of public records through advanced technologies.

As you know, the nine-member commission includes, among others, the Chair, Barbara Petersen, who represents the First Amendment Foundation on the panel; the Vice Chair, Judge John Carassas of the Pinellas County Sixth Judicial Circuit; Secretary Bob Butterworth of DCF and former attorney general, representing a state agency; and Commissioner Gerald Bailey of FDLE, representing law enforcement. I was honored to be named to the commission as the representative of the media, in my role as current president of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors.

I want to fully represent the voice of Florida media, and that means your participation in this important work ahead.

Here is an immediate plan of action:

FSNE is reactivating its Freedom of Information committee to focus on the media and open government issues. We had such a committee in the late 1970s to push for Sunshine/public records laws, and again in the ’90s when we founded Sunshine Sunday. Florida sets a standard on open government throughout the nation, but the media still face multiple hurdles as we do our jobs for the citizenry.

A group of editors representing the FSNE board and membership in general will teleconference weekly to discuss specific issues, and will send a representative from the committee to speak at commission hearings to offer experience and advice on improving public access to official records, meetings and decisions.

“Our Sunshine Law is under attack, and so is open government,” Pat Yack told the commission members in Tallahassee. Among other work, this committee will:

• Gather specific examples from throughout the state on how open government is under attack, on officials operating in secrecy and on the hoops we have to go through to get information.
• Examine access changes in the electronic age.
• Review of fees and charges for obtaining information.
• Cite cases of information withheld from the media and the public through exemptions.
• Collect questions/experiences common to journalists. Examples: Public officials conducting official business using non-public email addresses. Questions asked of journalists when they request documents.
• Review the Sunshine and public records laws, and the more than 1,000 exemptions, to offer counsel on reforms that I may bring to the commission as its media representative.  

Participating on the FOI committee thus far are:

• Mike Connelly, board member of FSNE and FAF; executive editor, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
• Manny Garcia, assistant managing editor/metro, Miami Herald
• Cory Lancaster, managing editor, Daytona Beach News-Journal
• Kate Marymont, executive editor, (Fort Myers) News-Press
• Pat Rice, editor, NW Florida Daily News
• Bob Shaw, board member FAF and state/nation editor, Orlando Sentinel
• Robyn Tomlin, FSNE board member; executive editor, Ocala Star-Banner
• Pat Yack, board member of FSNE and FAF; editor, Florida Times-Union

Please contact FSNE if you are interested in participating.

FSNE also strongly encourages Florida journalists to attend and testify at upcoming commission hearings about specific issues involving the laws and access. Pat Rice spoke up in Tallahassee about public officials who try to limit the public’s right to know, elaborating on officials who refused to release information to a reporter. Bob Gabordi urged Florida to foster a culture of openness throughout its vast bureaucracy. We want to hear from you.

Contacts:

• Gil Thelen, FSNE executive director, gthelen@cas.usf.edu
• JoAnn Carrin, Director, Office of Open Government, joann.carrin@myflorida.com