InkBlots

Emmerich dailies Clarksdale Press Register, Greenville Delta Democrat Times and Greenwood Commonwealth all announced recently their papers will discontinue TV listings. Some readers are not amused with the move, which was bound to happen in the era of instantaneous Internet listings and the advent of Tivo and DVRs.

The tab sections for many papers are often considered little more than a weekly expense (it’s been years since we’ve seen a viable one with strong ad support). Still, with home Internet penetration in Mississippi not cracking 60 percent, one wonders if the customer goodwill generated from them was worth more than the cost of ink and newsprint.

Open access to public meetings and public records is essential to government accountability, yet Mississippi’s laws are full of exemptions that perpetuate a culture of secrecy.

Legislation is being filed this year to try to tighten some of the exemptions and to give people a better chance to see the workings of their local and state governments - the governments that taxpayers support with their hard-earned dollars.

News organizations across Mississippi have produced an eight-day series of reports about secrecy in government. These articles represent an extraordinary effort by reporters and editors who are concerned that the lack of transparency in Mississippi is harmful to the state’s well-being.

The legislative declaration at the beginning of Mississippi’s Open Meetings Act is a practical statement for the need for open government.

It is “essential” to the operation of our government that citizens be aware of the actions of public officials in determining the policies that affect their lives. While this idea is generally accepted, it is not always practiced.

The newspapers, the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information, the AP and the Mississippi Press Association hope to get the attention of the public and the Legislature and get some much-needed sunshine law reforms.

MORE:

• Public boards shouldn’t go into closed meetings just because they can.
• The Clarion-Ledger’s two-year investigation into the state Department of Health faced an uphill climb as the administration, led by then-State Health Officer Brian Amy, required open-records requests for every piece of information the newspaper sought.
• Ronnie Agnew: “Millions of dollars in taxpayer money are wasted each year in Mississippi and the public doesn’t even know it.”
• David Hampton: “Until 1975, there were no laws in Mississippi requiring that government meetings be open to the public.”
• Three Adams County Supervisors shut out the public last week as they met illegally; circumventing state laws intended to protect the very citizens who pay the supervisors’ salaries.
• The Sun Herald: “Don’t wait until a government door is slammed in your face or you are tossed out of a public meeting or you are denied a public document of vital importance to you to become concerned about these issues. The time to concern yourself is now.”