Sunshine Week March 13-19, 2022

In 2005 the American Society of News Editors, now the News Leaders Association, launched Sunshine Week, observed March 13-19, 2022. The purpose of Sunshine week is to celebrate the role newspapers play in the access to public information. Encompassed within this week is also Freedom of Information Day, March 16. 

Sunshine Week is meant to shine a light on the actions of the government in order to maintain an informed citizenry. In the late 1960’s Iowain’s enacted a progressive freedom of information statutes to help maintain the value and benefits of government openness and accountability, thus encompassing the state motto, “Our liberties we prize, our rights we will maintain.” Although it is assumed there is transparency in public records and open meetings statutes, often it and accountability can be assured only through vigilance, and sometimes litigation. 

In 1967 the Iowa Open Records Act, Iowa Code Chapter 22, required state and local agencies (but not the legislature) to permit public access to information and records in possession of a government agency or otherwise “of or belonging to” that body. Since the implementation of the General Assembly’s 1967 Act there have been 73 exemptions added to limit disclosure and what is considered public records. In response to citizen complaints about the denial of access to public records, the Open Records act was enacted. Prior to its adoption, case law held that "Not every document which comes into the possession or custody of a public official is a public record." Linder v. Eckard, 152 N.W.2d 833, 835 (Iowa 1967). 

Modern Iowa law, practice, and public policy clarify that disclosure of government records and information serves the needs and interests of the State and its people.  This follows because the Open Records act and the cases applying and enforcing it: (i) start with a presumption of openness, and (ii) favor results that enhance the public’s ability to stay informed about governmental activities, the citizenry’s right to hold officials accountable and the taxpayers’ prerogative to know how agencies spend their money. Under Chapter 22, “every person shall have the right to examine and copy a public record and to publish or otherwise disseminate a public record or the information contained in a public record.” Iowa Code § 22.2.

Freedom of Information Day, March 16, is also the birthday of James Madison, our fourth President and one of the major figures in the Constitutional Convention. Madison, the principal architect of the Bill of Rights, wanted to ensure open access to information. Through the interaction of the government and its citizens, facilitated by a free press and open access to information, Madison believed that government could be the most responsive to the people it serves.