Sunshine Week Explained

Holiday Name:Sunshine Week
Type:national
Date:The week containing March 16

Sunshine Week is a U.S. nonpartisan collaboration among groups in the journalism, civic, government 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

In 2024, efforts being are coordinated by the Brechner FOI Project, MuckRock, Society of Professional Journalists, the Radio Television Digital News Association and a growing list of partners.

Overview

Sunshine Week occurs each year in mid-March, coinciding with James Madison's birthday.

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]

History

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 ASNE 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 December 2023, NLA placed Sunshine Week with the Brechner FOI Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Dukes. Tyler. Sunshine Week to celebrate government transparency. 13 March 2016. WRAL. 13 March 2016.
  2. News: Lieb. David. Many state legislatures exempt themselves from record laws. 14 March 2016. Associated Press. thenewstribune.com. 14 March 2016.