Sunshine Week 2021 is March 15-21
The Washington, D.C., Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is co-sponsoring an event with the D.C. Open Government Coalition and other groups to mark Sunshine Week. The March 18 virtual event — 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. — will look at several topics: how the COVID-19 pandemic has had an ongoing impact on government records access, the views regarding government transparency of two recently elected D.C. City Council members, and public and charter school transparency.
Open the Government, EmpowerEd and the D.C. Office of Open Government are other co-sponsors.
To register to attend, follow this link.
Ginger McCall, a DCOGC board member, will lead a wide-ranging discussion with the new City Council members: Christina Henderson (at-large) and Brooke Pinto (Ward 2). The session will explore their views on transparency laws that foster greater public knowledge of and participation in government decision-making, as well as enhanced accountability of agencies and officials.
Empower Ed’s Scott Goldstein and D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson will join Sandra Moscoso, another DCOGC board member, to explore continuing efforts to improve public access to records of D.C. public and charter schools, and meetings of charter school boards. They will discuss how greater access can empower parents and teachers to play a more effective role in shaping the District’s school systems.
Nate Jones, a Washington Post FOI expert, Niquelle Allen, D.C. Office of Open Government director, and Fritz Mulhauser, DCOGC blogger-in-chief, will assess the state of D.C.’s Freedom of Information Act today. They will address the novel coronavirus pandemic’s impact on FOIA compliance generally, the Metropolitan Police Department’s long-standing resistance against transparency, and the governmentwide failure to implement proactive disclosure requirements.
Tom Susman, DCOGC president, will conclude the Summit with a community call to action, outlining how individuals and organizations can use transparency tools to make local government more efficient and accountable.
OTHER SUNSHINE WEEK PROGRAMMING:
MARCH 15
Kick off the week of emphasis on efforts to promote open government and “sunshine” laws that require government business to be publicly accessible with the March 15 program at 11:30 a.m. EDT sponsored by the National Press Club’s Press Freedom Team and the National Press Club Journalism Institute, “Sunshine Week: Press freedom, investigative journalism and opening closed doors.”
They will lead a discussion on public access to information and the role that investigative journalism plays in restoring public trust, with practical advice from Associated Press global investigations editor Ron Nixon and The Markup president Nabiha Syed, moderated by CQ Roll Call senior writer John Donnelly.
Participants will learn:
— How to overcome obstacles and access government information
— Methods for diversifying investigative teams and what/who journalists investigate
— Ways news organizations are addressing escalating threats to journalists.
To participate, register in advance by clicking here.
MARCH 16
The SPJ International Community has organized a March 16 virtual program on “A Global View of Freedom of Information Laws,” at 6 p.m. EDT.
SPJ Freedom of Information Committee Chairman Haisten Willis leads the talk with Adam Marshall, senior staff attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Helen Darbishire, executive director of Access Info Europe, about the freedom of information/right to know laws around the world.
To join the discussion, register in advance here.
Adam A. Marshall is a senior staff attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. His work at RCFP includes federal and state public records litigation, writing amicus briefs and training journalists. He has been named a Forbes “30 Under 30” in Media for his work on promoting government transparency, including the development of the FOIA Wiki. He is the co-author of a chapter on the federal Freedom of Information Act in Troubling Transparency (Columbia University Press, 2018), and a chapter on public records in COVID-19: The Legal Challenges (Carolina Academic Press, 2020). Marshall has a J.D. degree from the George Washington University Law School.
Helen Darbishire is a human rights activist specializing in the right of public access to information (freedom of information) and the development of open and democratic societies with participatory and accountable governments. She is a member of the Open Government Partnership Global Steering Committee and the Advisory Board of the International Open Data Charter. She started her career as an activist and project manager at Article 19 (1989-1998), based in London and Paris. Afterward, for the Open Society Institute (1999-2005), she directed programs on freedom of expression and freedom of information in Budapest and New York. Darbishire has advised organizations such as UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the World Bank. She is founder and former president (2004-2010) of the Global Network of Freedom of Information Defenders. She holds a degree in philosophy of science and psychology from Durham University, United Kingdom.
Haisten Willis is the chair of the national SPJ organization’s Freedom of Information Committee, which serves as a watchdog of press freedoms across the nation. He is a freelance journalist who writes for the Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, among other outlets.
MARCH 18
Another SPJ virtual program, this one at 7 p.m. EDT on March 18: “Informing the public on the promise and perils of algorithms.”
The panel will discuss the growing issue of government use of algorithms to make major decisions, such as determining education funding, who gets a COVID-19 vaccine first, and even predicting risk of reoffending for people with criminal records. These algorithms are often biased, far from transparent and created by private contractors that refuse to disclose their origins, citing trade secrets.
Panel of journalists and subject matter experts will discuss the intricacies of the issue and its growing importance in American society.
Specific topics will include:
— How algorithms are constructed, and the big decisions that are now being left to them.
— The best ways for reporters to learn about and inform the public of the issue.
— How bias is baked into algorithms, and why it’s so important that their use becomes more transparent.
— How journalists and journalism advocacy organizations can push for transparency in algorithms, and how some already are.
— How to make artificial intelligence less biased.
Panelists include: Khari Johnson, AI reporter for Venture Beat; Michele Gilman, University of Baltimore professor and faculty fellow at the Data and Society Research Institute; Israel Balderas, assistant professor of convergence journalism at Palm Beach Atlantic University; and moderator Michael Savino, reporter at WFSB-TV in Hartford, Connecticut.
To participate, register by following this link.