Transparency Group Urges Obama Action Plan
The Sunshine in Government Initiative, a transparency watchdog whose members include the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Associated Press, National Association of Broadcasters, Radio-Television News Directors Association and other media groups urged President-elect Barack Obama's administration Monday to take four steps "to counteract years of growing government secrecy in a climate in Washington increasingly hostile to the people’s right to know."
1. Restore the presumption of disclosure across the executive branch. Federal agencies should exercise their discretion to withhold information under the Freedom of Information Act only when a foreseeable harm would result from disclosure.
2. Create an independent, online ombudsman to help citizens access their government. The Obama administration should quickly ramp up the Office of Government Information Services at the National Archives and Records Administration to mediate disclosure disputes.
3. Ban agencies from proposing or endorsing unnecessary statutory exemptions from disclosure. Any new laws proposed or supported by the administration to specifically exempt certain information from disclosure should be limited in scope and life and include oversight.
4. Speak on the record, and urge his senior deputies and aides to do the same, in all statements about policy and news about public matters.
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