Sunshine Week
| Sunshine Week | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date | The week containing March 16 |
| 2024 date | March 10–16 |
| 2025 date | March 16–22 |
| 2026 date | March 15–21 |
| 2027 date | March 14–20 |
Sunshine Week is a U.S. nonpartisan collaboration among groups in the journalism, civic, government, education and private sectors that shines a light on the importance of public records and open government. It is based at the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications.
In recognition of the 20th anniversary of national Sunshine Week, there will be a Sunshine Fest held in Washington, D.C. March 19–20, 2025.
Overview
[edit]Sunshine Week each year is the week that includes James Madison's birthday, which is March 16. It is the week that contains the third Friday of March.
During Sunshine Week, news organizations, civic and watchdog groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and other participants engage public discussion on the importance of open government through news and feature articles and opinion columns; social media campaigns; infographics; editorial cartoons; public service advertising; public seminars and online or in-person forums. The purpose of the week is to highlight the fact that "government functions best when it operates in the open".[1] In many states, however, legislatures exempt themselves from public-records laws, claiming "legislative immunity",[2] and growing secrecy limits government accountability.[3]
History
[edit]The Florida Society of Newspaper Editors launched Sunshine Sunday in 2002 in response to efforts by some Florida legislators to create scores of new exemptions to the state's public records law. The following year, the idea of a national Sunshine Sunday was raised at an American Society of Newspaper Editors Freedom of Information summit.
In the planning stages, it was decided that the initiative needed to be more than a single Sunday, and Sunshine Week was established in March 2005 by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The first nationwide Sunshine Week took place March 13–19, 2005.
In 2019, ASNE and the Associated Press Media Editors merged to form the News Leaders Association (NLA). In the wake of the NLA's decision to dissolve,[4] in December 2023 NLA placed Sunshine Week with the Brechner FOI Project.
See also
[edit]- Freedom of information legislation
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Personally identifiable information (PII)
- Privacy laws of the United States
- Public Record Office
- Public records
- General Register Office
References
[edit]- ^ Dukes, Tyler (March 13, 2016). "Sunshine Week to celebrate government transparency". WRAL. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
- ^ Lieb, David (March 14, 2016). "Many state legislatures exempt themselves from record laws". thenewstribune.com. Associated Press. Retrieved March 14, 2016.
- ^ Cuillier, David (March 12, 2024). "Growing secrecy limits government accountability". The Conversation. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
- ^ "News Leaders Association". News Leaders Association. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
External links
[edit]- Sunshine Week
- Brechner FOI Project to lead Sunshine Week
- Freedom of Information Act and FOI resources
- How to file a public records request
- FOI/FOIA tips (videos)
- Freedom of information fun quizzes, playlists and humorous videos
- American Library Association page for: Freedom of Information Day
- Publications from the U.S. Government from USA.gov
- It Took a FOIA Lawsuit to Uncover How the Obama Administration Killed FOIA Reform, Vice News
- Firing of FOIA officers leaves experts worried about public records access under Trump, Poynter