Why Sunshine Week matters: A Q and A

The Associated Press has lost four staff members in Iraq. We know that three were executed. The media have become the target. We spend hours a day on security. Clearly, our movements are restricted, and our ability to gather information is hampered. We be | The Associated Press • Published March 11, 2007

A ssociated Press President and CEO Tom Curley discussed this year's Sunshine Week initiative.

Question: Sunshine Week 2007 marks the third year of the national effort to initiate a public dialogue in the United States about the people's right to know. What's different, compared with 2006 and 2005?

Answer: Efforts in several states reached turning points. The Sunshine Week momentum forced elected officials to choose between public service or self service. We saw some very powerful officials become openly defiant of efforts to do the public's business in public. In a strange way they inspired a new generation of investigative reporters and stiffened the resolve of editors. Persistent reporters at local, state and federal levels helped save billions of dollars and even lives by what they were able to uncover last year.

Q. Have congressional efforts to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act laws accomplished their intended goal?

A. No. Specifically, more documents than ever are becoming secret or classified. Government officials who cooperated with the press were targeted. Quiet coalitions of government officials at the federal level appear to have united to blunt the impact of FOIA efforts.

Q. In the trial of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby about how he learned the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame and whom he discussed it with, some reporters were called to testify. In the Balco steroids investigation, a federal judge ordered two reporters jailed after they refused to divulge their source for leaked testimony. What is the outlook for a federal shield law?

A. The Libby, eavesdropping and Balco cases showcased why a federal shield law is in the best interest of the democracy. Unfortunately, the prospects remain slim.

Q. Is the subpoenaing of high-profile journalists for trial testimony having an impact on the media's traditional role of being a watchdog of government activity on behalf of the public?

A. Frankly, this is the area of greatest concern. So far, the evidence is that journalists are too stubborn to be cowed by personal threats and jail time. However, the threat to jail sources has to have had a chilling effect on other prospective sources. Of course, we don't know what we're missing. So far Americans seem willing to stand up for the greater good.