Edmond Sun bares its soul
Roundtables tackle credibility issues - The Edmond Sun recently participated in the National Credibility Roundtables Project to determine how the community felt about the credibility of local news coverage. Newspapers in all 50 states participated in the project which was supported by a grant from The Ford Foundation.
Several recent events in the community caused concern and precipitated the roundtable. The sale of the local paper to a national network and fear of loss of the local connection and more importantly, the coverage of the accidental death of a popular youth in a skiing accident. In the second story about the incident, it was revealed that the boy was using someone else's lift ticket and the word theft was used in the headline. This front page headline outraged the community, generating 2 pages of negative letters to the editor and 20 canceled subscriptions.
The roundtable provided a face to face meeting ground for the newspaper staff with members of the community including students, a pastor, the city manager, several professors, a high school principal and teachers.
By hosting a roundtable, editors show they are willing to listen to readers about their concerns and are open to explaining the work of journalism. They also hope to better understand their community.
Nominees sought for Openness Awards.
FOI Oklahoma is looking for elected officials and public employees who are advocates for Oklahoma's Open Meeting/ Open Record laws. Awards will be presented at the 1st Amendment Congress November 8-9, 2001.
Letters of nomination should include detailed examples of how the nominee supports Oklahoma's Openness Laws. Nominations can be mailed to P. O. Box 2408, Edmond, OK. 73083.
California Governor contracts in secret with energy suppliers
The governor of California is negotiating long-term contracts to purchase electric power in secret, saying that's the only way to get the best deal for the consumer. A recent California First Amendment Coalition statewide poll showed that 86% of citizens said they'd want details of the contracts made public, despite the fact that some argue it would mean higher prices.
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer took a strong stance at the National Freedom of Information Coalition meeting May 26 in opposition to California governor Gray Davis' policy of keeping state contracts with energy suppliers secret. "In my mind, and as a matter of philosophy, the expenditures are so extraordinary, the issues are so important, that the contracts, I think, need to be made public," Lockyer told 70 people at a luncheon during the NFOIC's annual conference in Newport Beach, Calif. Lockyer regaled the audience with his self-deprecating humor and admitted that he was getting a lot of flack for his recent attempt to attract some attention to his office's investigation of energy companies by telling the Wall Street Journal, 'I would love to personally escort [Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth] Lay to an 8-by-10 cell that he could share with a tattooed dude who says, 'Hi my name is Spike, honey.' "
Attendees also heard Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley who told them open government is good politics. FOI advocates have praised Cooley for enforcing the state's open meetings law, known as the Brown Act, for the first time in 30 years. He said he was surprised at all the positive response he got from citizens about the new policy to hold officials accountable for their secret meetings.
Challenge to the press A reporter speaking at the national meeting issued this challenge to the press… The media has an important role in education. "In order for the public to believe this stuff is important we have to cover it and cover it constantly". "If you tell people what's really going on they'll do the right thing. If people know how the government really runs, they will make the changes. It was suggested that reporters not only summarize the documents relevant to their stories but also to print, show or post them. "Let people read the source material; publish the memo that shows the problem."
Open Meeting Law praised by long time school board member
R.D. "Bucky" Carroll served on the Olive school board 28 years before retiring in April. Olive is a small rural independent school district east of Drumright off SH-33.
Throughout his years in office Bucky said he felt the best thing to ever happen was the Open Meeting law. He believes the district's patrons have a right to hear the school's business discussed openly and intelligently. So reported the Drumright Gusher in a top of page one feature 11 April 2001.