Sunshine Week one tool to help public

It seems as if lately more and more questions keep surfacing in regards to how much information (and access to information) citizens of the United States are allowed when it comes to our government, all the way from the federal level to local municipal boards and panels.

Do you know what your rights are? Do you know what the laws say? Do you know what documents you can see? Do you know how to request documents? Do you know what meetings you should be allowed access to? Sunshine Week is a tool to help highlight the answers to those questions and more. The annual national initiative also seeks to focus on the importance of open government and freedom of information.

While we understand that for the average reader, this all may seem like insider journalism talk, it is actually a chance to share with the public what this newspaper (and others around the nation) do best - watch the government on your behalf.

Obviously, citizens can't be at every meeting (though they should be allowed) or take time to look over every budget (though it should be easily accessed). So The Times makes it our job to do that and then report our findings fairly and in a concise form.

The sad part is that government doesn't always make things easy for us or anyone who wants to know what's happening. While we're not saying that all hitches are the result of some kind of official subterfuge (though that certainly can exist), most problems occur from an ignorance of the law or just plain shoddy record-keeping.

Simply put: Most folks just don't know what they are legally entitled to. And often those in charge of records themselves don't know what's public and what's not, which further clouds the matter.

- Shreveport, La. Times