July 6, 2005: Headlines: Figures: Staff: Journalism: FOIA: Freedom of Information: Sarasota Herald-Tribune: According to Bill Moyers, LBJ "hated the very idea of the Freedom of Information Act; hated the thought of journalists rummaging in government closets; hated them challenging the official view of reality."
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July 6, 2005: Headlines: Figures: Staff: Journalism: FOIA: Freedom of Information: Sarasota Herald-Tribune: According to Bill Moyers, LBJ "hated the very idea of the Freedom of Information Act; hated the thought of journalists rummaging in government closets; hated them challenging the official view of reality."
According to Bill Moyers, LBJ "hated the very idea of the Freedom of Information Act; hated the thought of journalists rummaging in government closets; hated them challenging the official view of reality."
Thirty-nine years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act at a Fourth of July ceremony. The timing was rich in symbolism, but LBJ apparently had trouble getting into the spirit of the occasion. Bill Moyers, who was Johnson's press secretary, later recounted on his PBS show that Johnson "had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the signing ceremony." Journalist Bill Moyers was the Deputy Director of the Peace Corps under founding Director Sargent Shriver.
According to Bill Moyers, LBJ "hated the very idea of the Freedom of Information Act; hated the thought of journalists rummaging in government closets; hated them challenging the official view of reality."
Opening act
Bill would highlight exemptions to information law
[Excerpt]
Thirty-nine years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act at a Fourth of July ceremony. The timing was rich in symbolism, but LBJ apparently had trouble getting into the spirit of the occasion.
Bill Moyers, who was Johnson's press secretary, later recounted on his PBS show that Johnson "had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the signing ceremony."
According to Moyers, LBJ "hated the very idea of the Freedom of Information Act; hated the thought of journalists rummaging in government closets; hated them challenging the official view of reality."
Whether he liked it or not, Johnson set into motion a series of changes that enabled U.S. citizens to gain greater access to public records and meetings than ever before.
But the distrust expressed by Johnson hasn't faded away in the passing years. Many public officials, from the courthouse to the statehouse to the White House, still don't like the notion of journalists or anyone else "rummaging in government closets."
Secrecy has become more prevalent in recent years, in fact. In 2004, federal officials declared records off-limits to the public 15.6 million times, a 10 percent jump over 2003 and almost twice the number in 2002, according to opengovernment.org, a coalition of government-watchdog groups.
The trend prompted Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., to launch a bipartisan effort to update the Freedom of Information Act. The Senate recently passed a vital element of the update -- a measure that would require bills to state explicitly if they contain any new exemptions to the act. The bill is headed to the House.
Cornyn and Leahy proposed the change to discourage lawmakers from burying new exemptions in lengthy bills. According to a 2003 report by the U.S. Justice Department, at least 140 exemptions have been created with little or no debate or notice.
"Congress should not establish new secrecy provisions through secret means," Cornyn says. "If Congress is to establish a new exemption to FOIA, it should do so in the open and in the light of day."
As Cornyn points out, ensuring the public's right to know would honor the intentions of the nation's founders, including James Madison, who once wrote that "a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."
Sometimes that means rummaging in government closets and challenging the official view
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Story Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; Staff; Journalism; FOIA; Freedom of Information
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