Freedom of Information and Government Transparency

Debra Gersh Hernandez
Sunshine Week Coordinator
Friday, March 21, 2008 12:00 PM

Debra Gersh Hernandez, Sunshine Week coordinator for the American Society of Newspaper Editors, was online Friday, March 21 at noon ET to take your questions about government transparency, freedom of information and related issues.

The transcript follows.

Gersh Hernandez previously was vice president of communications and editor of Presstime, magazine of Newspaper Association of America. Before that she spent nearly 12 years as a writer and editor for Editor and Publisher magazine.

____________________

Freising, Germany: Under which circumstances can the government refuse access to information requested under the Freedom of Information Act?

Debra Gersh Hernandez: At the federal level, there are several exemptions. They include classified or national security information, personnel matters, trade secrets, law enforcement methods or investigatory details -- things that generally reasonably can be expected to be withheld.

_______________________

West Lafayette, Ind.: Why is it okay for the vice president's e-mails to be any more private than the average U.S. citizen's? Does the administration want to see our communications but hide theirs behind the terrorist banner? If so, that's really un-American and probably unconstitutional isn't it? I don't know, I'm just a non-college-educated black man asking a question. Thanks!

Debra Gersh Hernandez: It's not okay -- you're right on that. As a publicly elected official, the vice president should have a level of accountability above the average citizen (it is that citizen whom he works for, after all). Though his office maintains there's a special level of exemption for records and such, many argue against that.

_______________________

Washington: This year you had an academic institution, the law school at American University, involved in Sunshine Week. Did that work out well, and does it broaden Sunshine Week's effectiveness?

Debra Gersh Hernandez: The AU forum was one of many that was held, not only in Washington, but around the country this week. It, like the others, was an excellent gathering of people interested in open government/freedom of information issues. Any time we can get people talking about this and focusing on how we can move forward is great.

_______________________

Government employee: I am glad that government records are open to the public. I want to know, how does the press self-police itself? I ask because, in the government agency where I work, there was a screaming headline about employees getting a 10 percent raise. This confused me, because I know employees were evaluated and given raises of 3.5 percent, 1.5 percent, or nothing. The article, though, made it sound like most of us got 10 percent raises, although it admitted most only got 4 percent raises (I guess they rounded up 3.5 percent).

There was one sentence in the article that noted that some of the employees who received raises were people promoted to higher positions. Thus, it is ordinary and normal that people would also be given a higher pay grade, which indeed would be approximately a 10 percent increase. I looked at the headline and the article, and thought this was a very shabby attempt to create a story of outlandish pay increases where nothing unusual happened. What are we supposed to do as employees to counteract the image that we are feeding off the public trough and raking in outrageous pay increases?

Debra Gersh Hernandez: I would suggest your best recourse is to contact the newspaper's editor or ombudsman, if it has one. An ombudsman can be a great resource for readers. You also might consider a letter to the editor. In terms of self-policing, most newspapers want to get it right and will act quickly to fix something that's factually wrong.

_______________________

Washington: Have most of the presidential candidates been forthcoming about their positions on openness and secrecy? I see Hillary Clinton has responded. What about McCain and Obama?

Debra Gersh Hernandez: Sens. McCain and Obama have not yet responded to the Sunshine Week survey. We were very pleased to see Sen. Clinton respond with some very specific proposals, some of which she'd not said before, including that she would appoint an attorney general with a track record for openness. If that holds, it's a big deal, because it sets a tone for openness (or not) throughout government agencies.

Sen. Obama has outlined a very detailed plan about using technology to enhance openness, particularly under the new "Technology Guru" he'd appoint. The plan calls for utilizing the Internet to Web cast agency meetings and post legislation online before he signs it.

Sen. McCain's focus on openness -- as far as we've been able to see -- has looked at the issue from lobbying and campaign-finance-reform angles. Other reports have shown some cases where he backed "tolerable" speech controls for what he saw as larger interests.

On the Sunshine Week Web site there are roundups of each candidate's position, with links to the source material. There's also Sen. Clinton's survey response.

_______________________

Washington: I think Sen. Leahy may be taking another look at FOIA, which is needed, as the law is not really working as intended. The exceptions/exemptions have swallowed the rule.

Debra Gersh Hernandez: Sens. Leahy and Cornyn both have been great champions of FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) reform, and continue to introduce legislation to make the act more useful and useable.

But exemptions are not the only cause for delay. Agencies are reporting growing backlogs, reduced personnel and other resources -- all while the cost of handling requests has climbed.

There's some great data on FOIA performance on the Web site of the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government, under freedom of information backgrounders.

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: How do the leading presidential candidates compare on commitment to openness in government?

Debra Gersh Hernandez: Each has expressed an interest/commitment to openness at some level. Comparatively, Sens. Clinton and Obama probably have talked about it specifically the most, while Sen. McCain has focused it in the areas of lobbying and campaign finance reform.

You can see the specifics of each plan in a write up on the Sunshine Week site.

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: There's been a lot of talk about openness at the federal level. How are things in the states? What have the local newspapers been uncovering during Sunshine Week?

Debra Gersh Hernandez: During Sunshine Week, local newspapers focus on open government in a variety of ways.

Some do large projects using documents or other information, or they conduct audits to determine how easy or difficult it is to get the data. Others publish great how-to guides for readers, often incorporating their Web sites for links to FOIA offices, letter generators and interactive graphics. Sunshine Week is an opportunity also to demonstrate how much of the news readers receive comes from official sources, whether police blotters or long form reports.

There are as many different state situations on openness, as you could imagine. Some are very progressive, such as Florida, where the governor has taken up the cause very seriously. In other states, it's a constant battle.

_______________________

Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.