“Government
Secrecy: Censoring Your Right to Know”
March 19, 2008, 1 – 2:30 PM (EDT) Participate in person at the National Press
Club in Washington DC, at a Registered Site, or Online Anywhere
If you have questions please contact: Chris Green, Program Associate, OpenTheGovernment.org,
cgreen at openthegovernment.org.
Registration is now open: click
here to register; see here for technical details and materials – and a poster
for your use!
Note: Individual viewers of the webcast need only register at the National
Press Club’s webcast page. The registration process with OpenTheGovernment.org
is for groups hosting events.
What?
I. The Secret Executive — What Can Congress and the Public Do?
Confirmed Speakers: Ann Beeson, Director of U.S. Programs at the Open Society
Institute and previously Associate Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties
Union, Mickey Edwards, Director of the Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellowships in
Public Leadership and former Republican member of Congress from Oklahoma for
16 years (1977-92), and John Podesta, President and Chief Executive Officer
of the Center for American Progress, Chief of Staff to President William J.
Clinton from October 1998 until January 2001, and formerly in senior staff positions
in Congress, will discuss executive branch power and secrecy, congressional
rights and responsibilities, the role of the courts and of the public and public
interest sector in combating government secrecy. Patrice McDermott, Director
of OpenTheGovernment.org, will moderate the discussion.
II. Citizen Self-Help: Finding the Information You Need
We will be visiting and talking with creators of websites that help the public
avoid having to file official requests or go to offices and meetings to learn
what our government is doing: Bill Allison (Sunlight Foundation), Sheila Krumholz
(Center for Responsive Politics/OpenSecrets.org), David Moore (OpenCongress.org),
Sean Moulton (FedSpending.org), and Daniel X. O’Neil (EveryBlock); Greg Elin
of Sunlight Labs will moderate. These sites make hard-to-find government information
— federal, state and local — easy for the public to find and use and may inspire
you to do likewise. A quick report will be given, as well, on an initiative
to develop a 21st Century Right-to-Know agenda and recommendations for the next
President and Congress.
In each segment, opportunities will be available for audience questions from
all participants.
Where?
The event will be held in the Holeman Lounge of the National Press Club in
Washington, D.C and webcast to sites around the country. A satellite downlink
option will be available for a fee.
We’re inviting you to host a program in your community! Participants are encouraged
to show the national program and plan local programs tailored to open government
issues in their communities.
Audience members at all sites viewing the live event will have an opportunity
to call in (using any telephone) and email questions to our live panels. We
will answer as many questions as time permits.
Sites are encouraged to show the national program and plan local programs tailored
to open government issues in their communities. Audience members at all sites
viewing the live event will have an opportunity to call in (using any telephone)
and email questions to our live panels. We will answer as many questions as
time permits.
When?
The event will be held on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 1:00pm- 2:30pm (EDT). Once
registered, sites may access the archived webcast for about one month after
the program. If you are not able to show the program live, please consider showing
it at a later date! It will also be up on the OpenTheGovernment.org website
and be available by DVD.
How?
You will be able to watch the webcast for free! We request that you register
to do so.
[See OpenTheGovernment.org for many more details and further information.]
Full Calendar of Sunshine Week Events
* Friday, March 14: National FOI Day Conference (news release, with registration
details), hosted by the First Amendment Center.
* Monday, March 17: Freedom of Information Day Celebration (register here),
hosted by the Collaboration on Government Secrecy.
* Tuesday, March 18: Remarks by Tom Curley, National Press Club.
* Wednesday, March 19: OpenTheGovernment.org’s Government Secrecy: Censoring
Your Right to Know.
* Thursday, March 20: Professor Lawrence Lessig’s lecture on corruption in American
democracy, sponsored by the Sunlight Foundation.
Background
The first national “Sunshine Week: Your Right to Know” was launched
in March 2005 and will be celebrated in 2008 from March 16-22. Sunshine Week’s
intent is to raise awareness of the importance of open government to everyone
in the community, not just journalists. SunShine Week 2008 National Dialogue
is brought to you in celebration of Sunshine Week by the American Association
of Law Libraries, American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries,
League of Women Voters, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Freedom
of Information Coalition, National Press Club, OpenTheGovernment.org, Public
Citizen, Special Libraries Association, Sunshine Week, the Project on Government
Oversight (POGO), and the Sunlight Foundation.
Source, and much more information: http://www.openthegovernment.org/article/subarchive/109