For most journalists, I suspect, advocacy doesn’t come easily – especially if you have been in this business for as long as I have.

In fact, I’m doing this not just as editorial page editor of The Telegraph, but also as the 2008 New Hampshire Sunshine Week coordinator, a position I’ve volunteered to hold or share each year since 2005.

Why?

Because it has become increasingly clear to me during my 30-something years in this business that if we don’t, no one else will.

That’s why we are planning to do more this year than in previous years – on the news pages, here on the opinion pages and on our Web site – to engage you in a conversation about why open government should matter to you.

This isn’t about selling newspapers. This is about helping you become a more effective citizen.

That was precisely the point of today’s front-page story by intern Paul Landau, who played the role of Joe Citizen by walking into our local school administration buildings and requesting copies of the contracts for the school superintendent and teachers.

The good news is that he was able to get copies of all the school districts’ teacher contracts. The bad news is that for a variety of reasons he was not able to get any copies of the superintendent contracts.

To make matters worse, in most cases he was asked to identify himself and state the reason why he wanted the documents, neither of which is a requirement under the state’s Right-to-Know Law.

Why is that such a big deal, you ask?

Because these are supposed to be public documents – with the emphasis on "public." Who you are and especially why you want them is nobody’s business but your own.

Besides today’s update on the state’s Right-to-Know Law, a Sunshine Week editorial and some essays about the importance of open government by members of our Reader Advisory Network, here is a brief preview of what you can expect to see this week:

• National stories that examine public access to e-mail and text messages of elected officials, as well as congressional attempts to pass a media shield law.
• A series of staff-written stories that will explain what kind of public records are available to you – and how you can access them – in your pursuit of information from town hall, the courts, the Statehouse and the business community.
• And a look at some of the Right-to-Know requests Telegraph reporters have pending in its pursuit of watchdog stories to better serve the public.

All of these will be given a permanent home on a special Sunshine Week ’08 section of our Web site, www.nashuatelegraph.com.

But that’s really just the beginning. Since 2008 marks a presidential election year, Sunshine Week has been supersized to encompass the entire year. As such, journalists across the country will be asking candidates from city council to the presidency to state their positions on open government and First Amendment issues.

If you recall, we did just that in our coverage of the recently completed races for town offices. All candidates in contested races for selectman and school board were asked to state their philosophy of open government and their knowledge of the state’s Right-to-Know Law.

We will resume that line of questioning when we invite candidates for governor and Congress to meet with our editorial board later this year in the run-up to the state primary in September and the general election in November.

One of the things I like best about Sunshine Week is that it isn’t just for and about journalists. Civic groups, nonprofits, libraries, schools and other organizations around the country are either hosting or participating in events to mark the importance of the week.

As an example, the League of Women Voters plans to co-sponsor an open government discussion organized by OpenTheGovernment.org that will be Webcast from The National Press Club later this week.

Actually, the biggest challenge for people like me is convincing people like you that open government is important, that this matters, that this isn’t about some academic remnant from a high school civics class.

By the end of this week, it is my sincere hope that you will feel that way, too.

Nick Pappas is editorial page editor of The Telegraph and New  Hampshire coordinator of Sunshine Week. He can be reached at 594-6505 or npappas@nashuatelegraph.com.