Please play along with me for a moment while I try to make a point.
You’ve just walked into a company meeting, none of your closest colleagues are there yet, and you have the option of joining one of three ongoing group conversations:
A) What happened on the latest episode of “American Idol.”
B) Which colleges are going to snag the top seeds in the upcoming March Madness tournament.
C) The importance of open government.
OK, let’s have a show of hands from everyone who chose Group C. Anyone? That’s what I thought.
Trying to convince the average citizen the importance of open government can be like getting your 8-year-old daughter to eat her vegetables.
Yes, she knows they are good for her, but she would prefer to skip right ahead to Mom’s yummy dessert.
Well, a funny thing is happening all across the country these days – citizens are starting to eat their vegetables. That is, they are showing a much greater appetite for information from their government that for many years was difficult to access.
What’s more, the government – at the federal and state levels – is starting to get the message.
Funny what a $700 billion TARP bailout, $787 billion stimulus program and a $3.55 trillion federal budget package will do for the public’s right to know what’s happening to their hard-earned money.
So welcome to the official start of Sunshine Week, the national initiative championed by the American Society of Newspaper Editors to engage you in a civic conversation about the importance of open government and access to public records.
As we’ve done in previous years, we plan to supplement publication of some national stories and opinion pieces this week with some sunshine-related stories of our own.
Two years ago, some of you may recall, we participated in a national survey by sending one of our reporting interns – posing as an average citizen – to eight local communities to ask for a copy of their Comprehensive Emergency Response Plan, a public document required by a federal law adopted in 1986.
Last spring, we sent another intern to eight school administration offices in the region in search of copies of teacher and superintendent contracts. (On his initial pass, he went 8-0 on the former; 0-8 on the latter.)
This year, we once again teamed up with journalists and open-government advocates across the country to survey the performance of state governments in meeting the needs of citizens by providing essential information online.
On today’s front page, you can read the results of the national survey, as well as staff reporter Albert McKeon’s assessment of the Web site maintained by the state of New Hampshire at www.nh.gov.
But that’s only the start of it. During the course of the week, we will present you with a series of news-you-can-use stories to better familiarize you with the information available on state and local government Web sites.
Specifically, you will learn:
– What state government is doing to help you track how New Hampshire’s share of the federal stimulus money is being prioritized and spent.
– What kind of information can be found (standardized test scores) and not found (teacher certification status) on the state Department of Education Web site.
– What court records are available on state and federal government Web sites.
– An overview broadly detailing the type of data you are likely to find on your city or town’s Web site.
We also will supplement these and other local stories on our Opinion pages with op-ed pieces and guest commentaries dedicated to the importance of freedom of information
And don’t worry if you aren’t able to keep up with all this information during the course of the week. All of the material will be available under the heading of “Open Government/Sunshine Week and Our Right to Know” in the “Special Reports” section of our Web site.
Finally, I would like to invite you to submit up to 300-word personal essays on why open government is important to you. We’ll publish as many as we can over the next six days.
Saying you believe in open government is one thing; becoming better versed in how you can take advantage of it in your daily life is quite another.
Please don’t miss this opportunity to become a more engaged citizen.
Nick Pappas is editorial page editor at The Telegraph. He can be reached at 594-6505 or npappas@nahsuatelegraph.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at TelegraphEdit.