Sunshine Week logos are available in color and black-and-white jpgs, in horizontal and vertical layouts. The logos may be used in any Sunshine Week-related materials, including but certainly not limited to news coverage, commentary, Web sites, posters, fliers and educational materials.

Click here for downloadable images in English and Spanish.

Fresh Victories For The Public's Right To Know; By Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.): When the Congress unanimously passed the OPEN Government Act, Democrats and Republicans alike joined together in promising the American people a more open and transparent government. FOIA's defenders in Congress must work to ensure that that this was not an empty promise. I intend to build on the FOIA reform work that Sen. Cornyn and I began several years ago by proposing new legislation to further strengthen FOIA. The bipartisan success with the OPEN Government Act and President Obama's FOIA directive shows that open government is not a partisan issue. Open government is an American value and a virtue that all Americans can embrace. More ….

Another Crumbling Infrastructure; By Edwin Bender: The lack of uniform disclosure for the 50 states is a failure by design. Fragmented campaign-finance reporting means it's more difficult for people to follow the actions of their elected representatives — otherwise known as holding them accountable. Many candidates don't want you getting too familiar with their donor base. And lobbyists certainly don’t want you looking over their shoulders, especially when their actions might cost you money as a taxpayer.More ….

New President Called on to Provide Government Information: By Marissa Eby: Less than a month after taking the oath of office, President Obama issued a memorandum demanding transparency and openness in the federal government and its agencies (whitehouse.gov). This is an excellent initiative which will improve the lives of Americans and society as a whole. American citizens deserve to know what their government is doing with their money, and deserve the benefits of the research conducted by means of their tax dollars. It is time to end the era of government secrecy once and for all. More ….

A Victory in the Fight for Sunshine in Canada; By Darce Fardy: Like too many democracies in the world Canada suffers from alarmingly low voter turnouts in our federal, provincial and municipal elections…. We believe that secrecy in government is a major cause of voter apathy and disengagement from the political process. Despite the requirements of our freedom of information legislation this "culture of secrecy" means that government bureaucrats put more effort and time into looking for reasons to prevent information from getting out than in finding ways to disclose information. More ….

Message to Federal Courts: It’s 2009!; By Robert J. Freeman: What had been "practically obscure" two decades ago isn't quite so obscure today. In fact, in New York and many jurisdictions, government agencies make histories of criminal convictions within the state available to anyone upon payment of a fee. And in general, under FOIL, when information is stored electronically, if an agency can find and retrieve information with reasonable effort, it is required to do so. We can find out who's in a New York prison, the crime involved, and the sentence on a state agency Web site. No request has to be made, and there’s no fee — the information is simply there for the taking. More ….

Officials' Criminal Background Info Should be Public Record; By Rep. Dan Greenberg: To state the obvious, public officials occupy a unique position of power and trust. I do not think that a criminal record is in all cases a disqualifier for public service, but I do think it is something that the public is entitled to know…. So when I first filed a bill that would make the criminal records of government officials public, I figured most people would think it's a good idea. And maybe it is: but most state legislators think differently. More ….

Respect. That’s what open government is all about; By Jane E. Kirtley: [M]ost of us are at least a little bit skeptical when the government says "No, you can't have that information." The government's business is the public's business. Unless there's a very good reason, we expect government to tell us what it's doing, and how it's doing it. In other words, we expect it to be accountable to us. After all, we're paying for it. More ….

Freedom of Information: The Battle Never Ends; By Michael R. Lemov: History’s message is clear. Advocates of more open government and maximum freedom of the press must continuously fight against claims of national security and executive privilege to ensure they are not extended beyond reasonable boundaries or used as a shield against the publication of information that might prove embarrassing. Every week is, in a real sense, Sunshine Week. More ….

Down the FERPA Rabbit Hole; By Frank LoMonte: At the Student Press Law Center, our phone rings daily with calls from exasperated student journalists who've been told by their principal some variation of the wacky urban legend that FERPA prevents them from publishing a photo of the homecoming queen unless they get a signed parental consent form in advance. That's not only wrong, it's just plain dumb — yet it is happening all over the country. More ….

The Senate Should Make Campaign Contributions Transparent; By Ellen S. Miller: Imagine if Google worked this way: You type in a search term, and, at Google headquarters, an army of workers in the search department printed out the contents of every responsive Web page, then hauled them in wheelbarrows to a results department, where another army of workers typed the contents of those pages back into their computers. Crazy? Indeed, but that's exactly how the Senate handles its campaign finance reports. More ….

Proyecto Tábano: "Piquetes" Contra la Opacidad; Por Manuel Mora MacBeath: La transparencia gubernamental está lejos de ser homogénea en todos los rincones de México: lo que en unos estados es público, en otros se considera información confidencial. El esfuerzo por homogeneizar los criterios para la clasificación de información corre por cuenta de periodistas y visores independientes, uno de ellos es "Proyecto Tábano. " Ver artículo completo.

Building Pennsylvania's Office of Open Records; By Terry Mutchler: Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law is only eight weeks old but the Office of Open Records, with five staffers, is already overworked. We have nearly 200 pending appeals from citizens denied access to records by state and local agencies. On appeal, the office has ordered the release of previously denied salary records, elevator maintenance records, e-mails, police incident reports, certified payroll records, and construction plans. We also have conducted more than 110 trainings statewide on how the law works. More ….

Reforming State Open Government Laws; By Barbara A. Petersen: The Commission's work was both a historic and Herculean effort on the part of its nine members. Now the task of reforming Florida's famed open government laws is in the hands of the Legislature and elected representatives at all levels of government. They should be mindful of this: The importance of open government — the inherent right of the people to oversee their government and hold it accountable for its actions — cannot be overstated. More ….

Instituciones Financieras Bajo la Lupa; Por Lilia Saúl Rodríguez: Las Instituciones Financieras Internacionales (IFIS) han tratado de mostrarse como ejemplo de transparencia. Desde 1999 el Fondo Monetario Internacional presentó un documento denominado "Código de Buenas Prácticas de Transparencia en las políticas monetarias y financieras: Declaración de Principios." El Banco Mundial presentó un Centro de Información Pública (CIP) y el BID, "Servicios de Información Pública." Sin embargo, las Instituciones Financieras Internacionales (IFIS) no son transparentes a pesar de que éstas exigen lo mismo a los gobiernos que les otorgan créditos, préstamos y donaciones. Ver artículo completo.

The Pentagon’s Media Coverage Policy: A Father’s Personal Perspective; By Jerry E. Stephens: If my son were to die in Afghanistan, I would not want a Pentagon policy hiding his return. I would want every American to know that my son is returning from Afghanistan. After all, he would be returning just the way he went there. He went as a proud and honorable soldier serving his nation. He would deserve nothing less than an honorable recognition by this nation of his contributions. I would want everyone to know that my son had returned from Afghanistan. More ….

Editorial cartoons have been donated for use only during Sunshine Week, March 15-21, by members of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.

A gallery of the cartoons is online here.

A variety of work created for Sunshine Week 2008 is available in the online 2008 Bright Ideas Gallery. Also viewable is the 2007 Bright Ideas Gallery.

"Bright Ideas for Sunshine Week," a collection of work from Sunshine Week 2006, is available for download by chapters.

It features a variety of news and opinion from print, broadcast and online outlets, photos from events, creative graphic presentations, examples of student work, and shows how newspapers incorporated Sunshine Week into print and online packages.

Also online: "Bright Ideas for Sunshine Week 2006."